The 2012 box set Classic Album Selection rounds up all the albums Soundgarden released between 1989 and 1996 – Louder Than Love, Badmotorfinger, Superunknown, Down on the Upside – and adds the 2011 live album Live on I-5, which itself is comprised of recordings from the 1996 tour supporting Down on the Upside. All five of the albums are presented as mini-LPs in paper sleeves, making this a handsome, easy way to acquire the prime of Soundgarden's career.

Jane's Addiction were one of the most hotly pursued rock bands when they gained notice in Los Angeles in the mid-'80s, with record companies at their feet. Flamboyant frontman Perry Farrell, formerly of the band Psi Com, had an undeniable charisma and an interest in provocative art (he designed the band's album covers), and Jane's Addiction played a hybrid of rock music: metal with strains of punk, folk, and jazz. The quartet, comprised of Farrell, bassist Eric Avery, drummer Stephen Perkins, and guitarist Dave Navarro, had already released its debut album as well, in the form of a live recording from the Roxy in Hollywood. Finally, Warner Bros. won the bidding war and released Nothing's Shocking in 1988. The band's abrasive sound and aggressive attitude (typified by the nude sculpture on the cover) led to some resistance, but Jane's Addiction began to break through to an audience – the album spent 35 weeks on the charts.

Left to their own devices on Here and Now, Nickelback have done the unthinkable: they’ve embraced who they are. Chad Kroeger’s brow is no longer furrowed, treating rock & roll as an ordeal; he’s stepped back a bit, allowing himself to have a good time. This doesn’t quite mean he’s left his misogyny behind – it lingers, infecting otherwise innocuous songs – but it does mean that Nickelback no longer rely solely on heavy-footed power chords set to lumbering rhythms. True, this signature sound still underpins much of Here and Now, but the group is now loose enough to throw in a disco-rock thumper (“Kiss It Goodbye,” another in a long line of anti-Hollywood, anti-plasticity anthems destined to be staples in Hollywood strip clubs) and even dabbles in a bit of power pop on “When We Stand Together,” giving it an actual swing, something unheard on previous Nickelback albums, and this isn’t an isolated incident. “Gotta Get Me Some” abandons the brutal four-on-the-floor Nickelback signature in favor of an actual groove and the group even sounds nimble on its power ballads.

At 15 years old, Seether are starting to slide into middle age and, appropriately, their music is beginning to mature on Isolate and Medicate, their sixth studio album. Once again working with Brendan O'Brien, the grunge-era superstar who helmed Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray, Seether gravitate toward the melodic, a shift apparent in both the verses and the riffs, although there's still a tendency to grind out thick neo-grunge guitar workouts both slow ("My Disaster") and fast ("Suffer It All")…

If In Utero is a suicide note, MTV Unplugged in New York is a message from beyond the grave, a summation of Kurt Cobain's talents and pain so fascinating, it's hard to listen to repeatedly…

Blind Melon is an American rock band formed in formed in Los Angeles, California by two musicians from Mississippi and one from Indiana. Best remembered for their 1993 single "No Rain", the group enjoyed critical and commercial success in the early 1990s with their neo-psychedelic take on alternative rock.

Limited edition, $5 "cheapy" CD available from the AmRep online store. Includes 2 heavy Melvins tracks from an upcoming LP & 2 insane covers, 1 of them featuring Matt Cameron of Soundgarden even.

The ultimate hardcover digi-Longbox for Surf music lovers! From the 60s pioneers to today's surfin' musicians! The 20 page booklet tells the history of Surf Music written by Alain Gardinier and includes the complete original record covers for each song on the set!