Hot on the heels of the wildly successful Punk Floyd - A Tribute To Pink Floyd comes this punk rock salute to the bad boys of British rock, The Rolling Stones! Reverent but revolutionary takes on Stones classics performed by veteran punk/garage rockers FEAR, UK Subs, Dead Boys, The Members, The Vibrators, Anti-Nowhere League, Jah Wobble & Jon Klein, Flamin' Groovies and more! Longtime Stones fans and punk rock devotees will both be surprised to hear how well these familar songs transform into supercharged punk anthems!

On its one and only major-label release, Year of the Rat, NY Loose delivers powerful performances of a punk-pop musical blend that have nothing whatsoever to do with other '90s platinum purveyors of radio punk. Instead of simply being snide or just plain goofy rock stars like Green Day or the Offspring, NY Loose emits a refreshingly punk attitude of contrariness, if not actual rebellion, on this 1996 release. Founding members Brijitte West (guitars and vocals) and Danny Nordahl (bass) are joined on Year of the Rat by drummer Pete Lloyd and guitarist Marc Diamond. Each member seems versed well enough in the standard instrumental punk vocabulary, but West's saucy delivery and upfront lyrics make NY Loose special.

With 2 full albums by Spy Glass Blüe and 4 full albums by Scaterd Few in addition to 17 bonus tracks, the Scaterd Blüe Box is unquestionably an essential listening. All the music has been remastered by the competent Rob Colwell (Bombworks Sound), the impeccable box and album layout art by Scott Waters (No Life Til Metal), and is a collaborative between Retroactive Records and Allan Aguirre’s own Faceless Gen Recording Company. You also get an absurd amount of attention to detail, Allan Aguirre autographed lithograph prints, and six cool trading cards with the CD boxset. Only 500 of these will be made, so make sure to get yours. Two words: Get Stoked!! ….Doug Peterson / Music Critic

Little Bitch is the third album by Tito & Tarantula, released in 2000. It was the band's first album not to feature bassist Jennifer Condos, and showed a major departure from their former style. Instead, they now incorporated the use of synthesizer moog pedals, giving the music a much stronger pop-rock sound. In addition, they recruited the assistance of several female backing vocalists on most songs, instead of relying on the other band members to back up Tito Larriva's vocals. This musical element is something the band also featured on their next album, 2002's Andalucia, which featured bassist Io Perry singing backing vocals on almost every song. The rest of the new elements featured on Little Bitch were mostly abandoned on Andalucia, which returned a sound more similar to that featured on the band's second album, 1999's Hungry Sally & Other Killer Lullabies.

It's more mixing of stylized punk revival and hybridism with left-field musical experimentation and in-the-now pop culture lyrical references on Splinter, the Offspring's seventh full-length. "Never Gonna Find Me," "Long Way Home," and "Lightning Rod" each bristle with overdriven guitars and Dexter Holland's high-pitched bleating; they're somewhat workmanlike, but still roil with that precision fury particular to a veteran band. At the same time, Holland, guitarist Noodles, and bassist Greg Kriesel can't resist returning to the towel-slapping trash humor and mean-spirited loathing that typified past tracks like "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" and "Self Esteem." Lead single "Hit That" talks up baby daddies over a bopping bassline and keyboard right out of a Bloodhound Gang track, while "Spare Me the Details" subverts its lighthearted acoustic strum with foul-mouthed (on the clean version, anyway) attacks on a philandering girlfriend ("I'm not the one who acted like a ho"). "Da Hui" overdrives surf rock while paying homage to hardcore Hawaiian board riders, and "When You're in Prison" ends Splinter with sage advice about protecting your dignity in the clink.

The Pretenders' 1987 collection, The Singles, did a fine job of assembling most of the group's finest tracks up to that point in their career, so after another decade passed, their record company felt it was necessary to compile a more "updated" collection, 2000's Euro-only release Greatest Hits. Although it contains a total of 20 tracks, Greatest Hits ultimately fails to improve over its predecessor, for the simple fact that the early '80s was the Pretenders' artistic and commercial peak, and Greatest Hits contains too much latter-day material. Whereas it would have been a wise move to showcase such oft-overlooked classics as "Tattooed Love Boys," "Mystery Achievement," "Precious," "My City Was Gone," or "Birds of Paradise" (all of which weren't included on The Singles), Greatest Hits includes such not-as-strong selections as "Night in My Veins," "Breakfast in Bed," and "Human" instead. Although there are quite a few gems included ("Brass in Pocket," "Message of Love," "Talk of the Town," "Kid," "Back on the Chain Gang," etc.), Greatest Hits leaves out far too many prime selections to be considered truly definitive.

2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Ramones. This collection includes their earliest known studio recordings for Sire Records, many of which would be included in their paradigm-shifting 1976 debut, including "53rd and 3rd,' "Loudmouth," and "I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You" as well as handfuls of rare tracks. All tracks were, of course, produced by Tommy Ramone.