CD-Charts Position 1
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You Just Can't Beat It: the Best of the Beat

by: Beat

Release Date February 04, 2008
They made 3 albums, 'I Just Can't Stop It', 'Wha'ppen' and 'Special Beat Service' and if you're an 'The (English) Beat' fan (like i am for years) this compilation does'nt ad anything to what you already own. I'm 56 and still bouncin' 'round!! (Ranking Fullstop)

CD-Charts Position 2
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Greatest Hits

by: Selecter

Release Date May 13, 1996
Like all cut price compilations they are most telling for their omissions rather than what they include. This one has only one glaring omission debut side `The Selecter' the instrumental on the b-side of The Specials 45 `Gangsters' which created the initial excitement to start the band in the first place. Also absent is the classic version of the cover of `Train to Skaville' which with its 12" dub version was definitely a high point of the bands career.

However gripes aside it manages to include the non album singles `On My Radio' and my personal favourite `The Whisper' along with the best eight cuts from the debut LP `Too Much Pressure'. The remaining six songs are drawn from the bands disappointing second LP `Celebrate the Bullet' ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
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Ska'd for Life: A Personal Journey with the "Specials"

by: Horace Panter

Release Date February 01, 2008
This book tells it like it was from a man on the front line.Mr Panter shares the ups and downs of the beginning and end of one of the most infuential bands,from only just getting there to support The Clash to the number 1 of Ghost Town and beyond,this is one must read for all Rude Boys.Hopefully the reunion The Specials this year will result in a long awaited tour.Brilliant

CD-Charts Position 4
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The Specials

by: Specials

Release Date March 25, 2002
This is my favourite of the 2 Specials albums. 'More Specials' is quirkier, but this is equally fun and more up-tempo. I love to leap around to this record at every oportunity, (much to the annoyance of my neighbours). I could wiffle on about all of the profound lyrics and such and Terry Hall's deadpan style, but once you buy this record then you will find out for yourself. Suffice to say that this record is well worth getting for your collection. If you like that 2 tone sound, then it really doesn't get any better than this. And at this price it is a steal!!!!

CD-Charts Position 5
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Walking In The Sunshine - The Best Of Bad Manners

by: Bad Manners

Release Date May 26, 2008
This is my favourite of the 2 Specials albums. 'More Specials' is quirkier, but this is equally fun and more up-tempo. I love to leap around to this record at every oportunity, (much to the annoyance of my neighbours). I could wiffle on about all of the profound lyrics and such and Terry Hall's deadpan style, but once you buy this record then you will find out for yourself. Suffice to say that this record is well worth getting for your collection. If you like that 2 tone sound, then it really doesn't get any better than this. And at this price it is a steal!!!!

CD-Charts Position 6
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Pacific Ocean Blue/Bambu (The Caribou Sessions): Legacy Edition

by: Dennis Wilson

Release Date June 16, 2008
I bought POB on the strength of the reviews on here having never heard it (or heard of it) before and because I'm a big Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fan.
After several plays it still leaves me with mixed feelings. I admire much of the musical diversity of the tracks but often find the words hard to decipher (partly due to DW's diction and partly to the vocals often being set back in the mix) What the songs do have however is a soul-baring openess and honesty to them, which I think music should be about. POB is a worthwhile addition to an Beach Boy's collectors library but (at this stage) I cannot personally call it a 'classic' album. Listening on the ipod brings out more of the musics subtlety. I like the Bambu tracks (cd 2) as much ,if not more, than ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
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The Age Of The Understatement

by: The Last Shadow Puppets

Release Date April 21, 2008
This is SUCH a good album, with Alex Turner's nimble vocals to the fore set amidst some sumptuous string arrangements which take you right back to the 60s.
I heard this first whilst browsing in a music shop and instantly it touched a chord - and it only grows on you from there, with different songs staying in your head for days. You feel like dancing down Carnaby Street in your crushed velvet jacket when this is playing, with Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased of course) at your side. Trust me - and buy it. My album of the year.

CD-Charts Position 8
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Accelerate (digipack)

by: REM

Release Date March 31, 2008
Really enjoyed this fast-paced exhilerating album. It's actually the exactb album they promised after automatic but they gave us monster instead. Monster would be an interesting avant-guard sort of thing to be doing these days. Instead we get something so good we just don't deserve it. Unbelievably good and so reminiscent of lots of pre-green albums.

CD-Charts Position 9
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22 Dreams

by: Paul Weller

Release Date June 02, 2008
This has been variously described by others as a concept album, theatrical, self-indulgent and rubbish. I don't agree with any of those descriptions (and certainly not the last one!).

While I don't like every track on this album, there are more than enough great songs for anyone. I can understand that it's not everyone's bag, but let's face it, PW can't just keep on recording new versions of the changing man and peacock suit! We went to Paul's Bristol gig earlier this year where we heard lots of these for the first time. Sometimes difficult to hear a song for the first time, but you could still tell they were quality!

Have you made up your mind? is, for my money, an absolute classic, and one of the stand-out tracks on the album. But sea ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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The Best Of Joy Division

by: Joy Division

Release Date March 24, 2008
This album features the greatest song ever written or recorded "LOVE WILL TEAR US APART` - The rest of the songs are OK - but `Love Will Tear Us Apart` is a timeless classic, a work of art that I play about 30 times every day...it is playing now as I write this.
The vocal performance of the late great Ian Curtis is pure pop pefection...I want this song played at my funeral along with "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinead O`Connor and "My Death" by DAVID BOWIE.
Those three songs are better than any tonic, more moving then any hymn or national anthem and give more of a buzz than any drug.
If you dont like Joy Division or New Order - still BUY this album because "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is a reason for living...