Gold: Greatest Hits - Abba (1992)

Swedes show that although they haven't quite mastered building cars or furniture, they can make phenomenal pop music.  10/10.

Doppelgänger - Curve (1992)

Feisty genre mixer gets to second base and then some.  7/10.

Greatest Hits - ZZ Top (1992)

Two fine (but dated) rockers does not a greatest hits make.  5/10.

Licensed to Ill - Beastie Boys (1986)

Everything is wrong about this record, and that's why it works so fucking well.  9/10.

A Girl Like Me - Emma Bunton (2001)

Former Spice Girl finds that being blonde and having one fair single is just not good enough, duh.  2/10.

Exodus - Bob Marley (1977)

Overrated mush that requires you to be stoned to appreciate it at all.  4/10.

Dummy - Portishead (1994)

Trip-hop masters' finest audiorama sure to make ends of hair tingle most prominently.   8/10.

Bakesale - Sebadoh (1994)

Lo-fi spontaneity somehow becomes polished by relatively unknown and underrated pioneers - cracking stuff.  7/10.

Them Crooked Vultures (2009)

Borderline misogynistic, macho, and downright dirty - rock royalty super-group rises to the hype.   8/10.