Various Artists: Multi-Volume Collections

Classic Country (1990s) -- Time Life's collection of country music from the 1940s to the 1980s is almost all the country music anyone will ever need, and every song is absolutely wonderful. (One day I'll review each volume individually.)

Hooked On Classics (1987) -- A goofy enough idea (to make a medley of famous classical pieces backed by a synthetic drum beat and other 80s arrangements) for me to like it a great deal.

Hooked On Big Bands (1993) -- From the Hooked On Classics series, the same thing done to big band music.

The Joyous Sounds of America Vol. II (1992) -- Perfect to break out on the Fourth of July or any other time you want to feel patriotic.

MTV: Club MTV Party To Go (1991) -- Only the first collection was named after "Club MTV," the dance show that was popular at the time. After that, this long-running series became simple "MTV Party To Go." This volume does what it intends to do, provide an hour of party/dance music to be used at an actual party, or just when you want to feel like it's a party when you're alone. All the songs are pretty irresistible in their own way, and they include the MC Hammer's "Turn This Mutha Out," DNA mix of Suzanne Vega's "Tom Diner," Digital Underground's "Humpty Dance," and Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" (the disc even opens with the Club MTV theme song). Most of the songs are remixes, different from the single versions, and all of the songs are expertly mixed together so the party just don't stop.

MTV: MTV Party To Go Volume 2 (1992) -- One of my favorite collections, this is radio music at its best. Everything's mixed together even better than volume one, and with a more fun selections of songs, including the Fresh Prince's "Summertime," Naughty By Nature's "O.P.P.," Boyz II Men's "Motownphilly," and Marky Mark's "Good Vibrations." While the first collection seemed suited for a dance party, this one is perfect for a sunny pool party. I've come to think of this as the quintessential summertime collection.

MTV: MTV Party To Go Volume 4 (1993) -- The Party To Go collection began to degrade a bit after this one, but this one retains much of the early goodness, featuring fun songs like Naughty By Nature's "Hip Hop Hooray," Kriss Kross's "Jump," and Snap's "Rhythm Is a Dancer."

Rock of the 80s (1990-1994) -- This fifteen volume collection of 80s is the best out there if you have the 80s radio taste that I do, which is the more "alternative" stuff from that era but while remaining truly radio pop as well. Not too much of the crap, lots of the good stuff, and many many songs that I had never even heard before. A very small sampling of the highlights are Haircut 100, Gary Numan, The Buggles, Spandau Ballet, Icicle Works, The Eurogliders, When In Rome, Men Without Hats, and Dexy's Midnight Runners. (One day I'll review each volume individually.)

Sound Effects Volume 5: Sounds of Passion -- One in a series of sound effects albums, this one with sounds like "Male Masturbation," "Cunnilingus," "Heavy Breathing," "Woman Climax," etc. I couldn't resist picking it up when I saw it sitting there used for four bucks. It's more goofy than sexy, however, since half of the stuff seems to be done by one guy and there's a large section in the middle of the album in which the guy climaxes doing racist impressions of a handful of ethnicities. The end of the CD has actual recordings of porn movies.

Street Jams: Electric Funk Part 2 (1992) -- A nice collection of pre-famous-rap rap, such as The Egyptian Lover's "Egypt, Egypt" and Newcleus's "Jam On It."

Wacky Favorites: Crazy Classics (1998) -- It's not an exhaustive collection, but Time Life's Wacky Favorites has some of the songs that are not only novelties but of pretty high quality, including -- in this collection -- "Witch Doctor," "Mule Skinner's Blues," "Surfin' Bird," and "The Leader of the Pack."

WCBS FM 101: History of Rock--The Doo-Wop Era, Part 1 (1991) -- Part one of a very good collection of doo-wop songs, featuring well-known classics such as "There's a Moon Out Tonight," "I Wonder Why," and "Rama Lama Ding Dong," but mostly songs you might not remember but will still enjoy very much, making this a good "rarities" supplement to something like The Doo Wop Box.