The brilliance of this collection is that it combines the standard Brit-punk anthems by the Sex Pistols, the Damned, the Buzzcocks, and Stiff Little Fingers with other great songs that typify the variety and range of punk-era independent music from both sides of the Atlantic. The songs are so well chosen that the punk aesthetic is further revealed by the inclusion of songs that characterize pub rock, new wave, and other related genres. The usual punk suspects ("New Rose," "Anarchy in the UK") are all here, along with many other treasures: Dr. Feelgood's "Milk and Alcohol", Devo's "Mongoloid," Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner," Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer," and Television's "Marquee Moon." The less commonly anthologized punk selections are inspired, too: the Ruts' "Babylon Is Burning," Generation X's "Ready Steady Go," and X-Ray Spex's "Identity," along with the seminal "Sheena is a Punk Rocker." The conception of the genre is expanded further to include Elvis Costello, Iggy Pop, XTC, Joe Jackson, the Pretenders, the Tubes, and Blondie, and their presence overcomes the tendency for boring repetition on a very long collection.

Pure… Alternative collects 68 original hits featuring Adam & The Ants, The Stranglers, Prefab Sprout, Cyndi Lauper, Alison Moyet, and Lou Reed. Tracks by The Icicle Works, Cyndi Lauper, John Cooper Clarke, and Altered Images are also included on this four-disc compilation.

A new 7 CD box set The Bowie Years, exploring Iggy Pop’s Berlin-era albums is set for release on 29 May via UMC. The box set features remastered versions of The Idiot, Lust For Life, live album TV Eye and rare outtakes, alternate mixes and a 40 page book.

Like its parent film, T2 Trainspotting’s soundtrack eschews cosy Cool Britannia nostalgia for something weirder and better. The original soundtrack was a sharp mix of cult classics and of-the-moment artists. Rather than get Blur and co back, Danny Boyle has called on a more leftfield lineup of young guns, the likes of Mercury-winning Edinburgh alt hip-hop trio Young Fathers, Brixton scuzz rockers Fat White Family and deliciously demented Irish rappers Rubberbandits. The classic side of things is held up by Queen, Run DMC, Blondie and more, with the whole bookended by Trainspotting’s biggest tracks reborn: a mad-dog Prodigy remix of Iggy’s Lust for Life and Underworld’s Slow Slippy. In our retromaniac world, it might not attain the original’s classic status, but it’s all the better for its bravery. (The Guardian)

There's a reason why many consider Iggy Pop the ‘Godfather of Punk’: every single punk band of the past and present has either knowingly or unknowingly borrowed a thing or two from Pop. With his outrageous and sometimes dangerous stage antics and the relentless rock & roll that accompanied them, Iggy Pop prefigured Seventies punk (and also Nineties grunge). Acting as an eternal misfit and a saboteur of all convention, Iggy has parlayed twisted social commentary, raw-power vocal style, and survival smarts into a long career characterized by some commercial success, sizable critical notice, and huge amounts of respect all over the pop landscape. In The Many Faces of Iggy Pop we will dig deep into his career to discover a lesser known side of him. And for the first time, this journey will be led by Iggy Pop himself who has collaborated with us in the project giving us full access to his personal music vault, which has resulted in a unique work that includes recordings not available anywhere else.

Blah-Blah-Blah is the seventh studio album by Iggy Pop. Originally released in October 1986, on the label A&M, it remains his most commercially successful album to date. Blah-Blah-Blah appeared after a four-year hiatus for Pop, with David Bowie serving as his prime collaborator. It would be their final collaboration. A successful tour followed the album's release. The collection included a cover of Johnny O'Keefe's "Wild One" (here titled "Real Wild Child (Wild One)" and three original songs co-written with ex-Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones. The remaining tracks were co-written by Bowie, who also produced the album with David Richards but, unlike his previous work with Pop, The Idiot and Lust for Life (both 1977), did not sing or play any instruments. Bowie biographer David Buckley has reported that Pop "virtually disowned" the record, calling it "a Bowie album in all but name".