They appeared out of nowhere, as if they were transported from a parallel universe wherein blue-eyed soul was seen as rock & roll's salvation in the late ‘80s. Like-minded groups like Johnny Hates Jazz, Waterfront, Living in a Box, and Curiosity Killed the Cat all debuted and disappeared at the same time. Of the four, Curiosity Killed the Cat leaned more toward the teen girl population that hung "Smash Hits" posters on their bedroom walls…

"I'll Melt With You" will forever be the one specific moment that's Modern English's place in pop history, but the album it came from, After the Snow, isn't anything to sneeze at. Indeed, in transforming from the quite fine but dour young miserabilists on Mesh & Lace to a brighter incarnation that still had a melancholy side, the quintet found exactly the right combination best suited for their abilities. Like contemporaries B-Movie and the Sound, Modern English used punk and post-punk roots as a chance to introduce a haunting, beautiful take on romance and emotion, while the contributions of Stephen Walker on keyboard helped make the album both of its time and timeless. That said, the secret weapon on the album is the rhythm section of Michael Conroy and Richard Brown, able to shift from the polite but relentless tribal beat clatter on the excellent "Life in the Gladhouse" to the ever more intense punch of the title track, the album's unheralded masterpiece.

Long out of print and never reissued, this year FUTURISMO invite you to snake through the chaos with a Deluxe limited edition of DEVO’s 1990 album – Smooth Noodle Maps!

Universal Music will issue another great value three-CD Essential set under their budget Spectrum imprint, this time featuring Scottish rock band Big Country. This package includes all 13 of the band’s UK top 30 singles (including ‘Look Away’, ‘One Great Thing’, ‘Chance’ and ‘Wonderland’) as well as highlighting key album cuts (including the title track of 1986’s The Seer which features one Kate Bush) and offering a smattering of remixes. A live cover of the soul classic ‘The Tracks of My Tears’ features at the end of CD 2.

There was a time when you could walk into your average record store and find the singles section by spotting the big block of black rows. These rows signaled the whereabouts of the Ds and tended to eat up a disproportionate space of the singles section. In 2004, the Mute label condensed all of these releases into Remixes 81-04, which itself was ironically (or fittingly) presented in multiple versions. This particular version is a triple-disc set that attempts to function as a representative sampling of Depeche Mode's innumerable remixes. It does an admirable job, making a point to highlight glorified extended versions and radical reworkings alike.

Along with Songs from the Big Chair, The Seeds of Love was part of a one-two artistic punch in the late '80s that situated Tears for Fears as one of the decade's more ambitious pop groups. But at the time, Tears was more a platform for Roland Orzabal than a true band – Curt Smith is present only on the smash "Sowing the Seeds of Love" (his only co-writing credit), while Ian Stanley was replaced by Nicky Holland as a keyboardist and Orzabal's songwriting partner. Like their other albums, The Seeds of Love continues the concept of moving from hurting to healing to beginning anew (the hit "Sowing the Seeds of Love") to growing apart. The songs feature expansive melodies instead of blatant hooks, and the sound is more grounded in soul and gospel on songs like "Woman in Chains," the updated Philly-soul strain of "Advice for the Young at Heart" and "Badman's Song." Orazabal's passionate vocals are well matched by Oleta Adams' fervent contributions. The group even dabbles in jazz on "Standing on the Corner of the Third World," the fabulous "Swords and Knives," and the slow-burning "Year of the Knife".

Rare 1993 UK 68-track 4-CD collection including The Specials, Madness, The Selecter, The Beat, The Bodysnatchers, Rico, Elvis Costello and many more. This 4 CD box set collects the A-side and B-side of every single released on the label. Both sides of the Dutch Concrete Jungle single plus both tracks from the free single which accompanied initial copies of More Specials are also included. The Bodysnatchers live version of 007 is the only unreleased track in the set, however it did previously appear in the film Dance Craze but failed to make it on to the films soundtrack album. Jerry Dammers was less than impressed with its release and had this to say about it: "It's real train spotters stuff with every B-side from every free single and I wasn't even consulted about it. In some ways that (The Compact 2 Tone Story) is the worst." (Uncut Magazine interview 1998).

In 1972, Lou Reed was a minor cult hero to a handful of rock critics and left-of-center music fans who championed his former band, the Velvet Underground, but he was unknown to the mainstream music audience. By 1986, Reed was a rock & roll icon, widely hailed as a master songwriter and one of the founding fathers of punk, glam, noise rock, and any number of other vital rock subgenres; he even scored a few hits along the way. If you want to know what happened during those 14 years to make such a difference, the answer can be found in The RCA & Arista Album Collection, a 17-disc box set that brings together nearly all of Reed's recorded work from this period…