Fourth album proves crowning glory of Detroit duo's meteoric career to date

If you can remember the '90s, you have mediocre taste in music. Subtitled "The Best Of Britpop", this double CD ties in with the John Dower documentary about that media-stoked mirage, Cool Britannia. As Blair morphs into Thatcher and everyone wonders what they saw in the Gallaghers, it's not a fruitful time to hear this listless stodge. The track listing prompts an inner sigh—Cast, Shed Seven, the supremely flaccid Embrace. No wonder it was piss-easy for The Strokes to clean up with three Blondie riffs.

Original spin on '80s revival from Japanese ex-pat

Whitehouse now comprise just William Bennett and Philip Best, but the title track of what may be their finest record is a harrowing 15-minute cut-up of voices talking emotionally about child abuse, rape and murder with discreet accompaniment, assembled in Chicago by outgoing third member Peter Sotos and guest producer Steve Albini.

Second time around for intense Oxfordshire post-rock quartet

Excellent retrospective from demented one-time stadium rockers

Bunnymen guitarist's experimental 1978 demo

Sublime second LP from Chicago quartet

Second solo outing from Atari Teenage Riot singer features J Mascis, Alec Empire and Alex (Neubauten) Hacke

Not a genre Uncut features heavily, but the previous volume was one of the biggest-selling soundtrack-related CDs of recent years. It's an excuse to bung together top hits from everything from Grease to Charlie's Angels, but the real reason it's here is because by a fluke it includes, among 40 tracks, a run of about 10 which would make my Desert Island Discs—or 31 Songs, as we're now calling the concept.