Released in October 1984, Them or Us is Frank Zappa's last studio rock album (unless one counts Thing-Fish). It contains a little of everything for everyone, but most of all it has that cold and dry early-'80s feel that made this and other albums like The Man From Utopia and Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention sound dated pretty quickly. The record begins and ends with covers…

Digitally re-mastered and expanded 40th Anniversary edition of this album from the Australian rockers fronted by Ross Wilson. Re-mastered from the original tapes by legendary mastering engineer Don Bartley, it sounds incredible. Ross Hannaford's guitar both grinds and shimmers. Gary Young's drums simultaneously swing and shuffle. Wayne Duncan's bass sounds fat in the best possible way. Wilson's vocals and guitar parts are delivered with such self-assuredness that it's hard to believe that this was a performance by a 23 year old from Melbourne, Australia. It's hard to underestimate the influence these youngsters had on Australian music. In addition to the original tracks re-mastered, the Daddy Who? 40th Anniversary Edition comes with four bonus tracks which were included on the Reprise Records international pressing. The artwork comes with all of the images from the original LP cover as designed by Ross Hannaford and Ian McCausland along with new liner notes by Ross Wilson, plus some vintage images from the Daddy Cool vault.

This triple-disc 79-song compilation looks pretty impressive, and in some ways it is, representing most of the best work of each incarnation of the Drifters from 1953 through 1976. There's a lot of classic music here, including all of the big hits and many interesting (even musically glorious) flops and B-sides, but the limitations of three CDs make this less than ideal. Atlantic had already released a pair of two-CD sets, Let the Boogie Woogie Roll: Greatest Hits 1953-58 and All-Time Greatest Hits & More: 1959-1965, eight years earlier, each of which covers those major periods in question far more generously than does this box – although it must be conceded that the sound on the cuts included on Rockin' & Driftin' is improved over those late-'80s digital transfers, good as they seemed at the time…

This is the definitive Cool. Grab it and run. You won't find a better compilation. Remixed and including notes by Mr Cool himself, Ross 'The Boss' Wilson, it sounds better than you'll ever remember. The 'hits' are on side 1 and include the extended version of 'Come Back Again'. Side 2 has live performances and some rare studio stuff. This, together with the impressive 2004 release ''The New Cool'', might be all you'll ever need to realign your swagger and cool, unless they release another.

Frank Zappa loved '50s doo wop music. He grew up with it, collected it, and it was the first kind of pop music he wrote ("Memories of El Monte," recorded by the Penguins in 1962). Cruising with Ruben & the Jets, the Mothers of Invention's fourth LP, is a collection of such music, all Zappa originals (some co-written with MOI singer Ray Collins)…

One of the most ambitious debuts in rock history, Freak Out! was a seminal concept album that somehow foreshadowed both art rock and punk at the same time. Its four LP sides deconstruct rock conventions right and left, eventually pushing into territory inspired by avant-garde classical composers…

Collectables Records' various-artists compilation The Ultimate Christmas Album has been released both on its own and as a tie-in with a series of radio stations. There are identical editions of the album associated with KLUV, K-Earth 101 FM, and WCBS FM-101.1 in addition to this version, WJMK 104.3 Chicago. The word "ultimate" has been overused and misused in record releases to the point that it doesn't mean very much to see it on the cover of an album. Whether or not one considers this album to justify its title will have a lot to do with individual musical taste. If the potential consumer is a listener to one of the radio stations listed above, which are oldies stations devoted to playing pop/rock music of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, he or she may agree that the album is the ultimate in holiday music of that period.

This fun collection celebrates that old-time rock 'n' roll. The nostalgic Malt Shop Memories includes 150 songs that defined the era from the mid-'50s to the mid-'60s. The five-volume set comes in a decorative box fashioned to look like a malt shop and includes radio and jukebox favorites by Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, the Beach Boys, the Everly Brothers, Bobby Darin, and the Supremes.