Lyrically and musically, Chorus is less campy and more evangelical than other Erasure creations. It's certainly just as grandiose and danceable as previous albums, but it seems as if songwriter Vince Clarke decided to stop composing smiley-face songs for a while and make a slightly more introspective, more socially observant album. For this reason, Chorus is Erasure's most enduring, most powerful recording. Crowd-cheering samples resound in "Love to Hate You," lending it an almost epic feel. The uplifting "Chorus" hopes for a time when we all treat each other a little better. It may not be the favorite Erasure album among dance-pop enthusiasts, but it's definitely the Erasure album that is meant to be taken seriously. —Beth Bessmer

This is an excellent collection of one of the most popular and influential rock bands of all time, though it omits "We Are the Champions" and "Fat Bottomed Girls" (these, however, can be found on the Greatest Hits album, which together with Classic Queen gets you a comprehensive selection of their work). There's some great stuff here, including rockers like "Hammer to Fall,""Stone Cold Crazy,""I Want It All,""Headlong," and the hilarious "Tie Your Mother Down." There's also a good sampling of ballads, performed with an energy and sincerity that sets them apart: "Who Wants to Live Forever" is sorrowfully beautiful, and "The Show Must Go On" is only echoed by songs like Queensryche's "Is There Anybody Listening." Rounding things off is a fine selection of the unclassifiable, such as "Under Pressure,""I'm Going Slightly Mad," and "Radio Ga Ga."—Genevieve Williams

In retrospect, the second and final album by this Manchester postpunk band seems to point straight at singer Ian Curtis's suicide, which happened a few months before it was released. The band's reverberating mesh of minor-key lines and Curtis's tremorous bass voice are doomy enough on their own, and attention to the words reveals references to blacker-than-black stories by J.G. Ballard and Joseph Conrad; the void and its terrors were splitting Curtis apart from the inside. "I put my trust in you," he sings, and his voice leaves no doubt that that trust has been betrayed. But the music, grim and powerful as it is, points to the direction the surviving members took as New Order, incorporating the mechanical gravity of club rhythms. —Douglas Wolk

Contemporary Gospel Christmas // 1. Joy To The World - Francine Belcher 2. O Holy Night - Bob Bailey 3. Silent Night - Kelli Williams 4. Away In A Manger - Tomaz Vinson 5. What Child Is This? - Mark Baldwin, Mark Douthit 6. Hark! The Angels Sing - Beverly Crawford, Mike-E 7. It Came upon A Midnight Clear - Z-da James 8. Go, Tell It On The Mountain - Jackie Reddick 9. Auld Lang Syne - Jackie Reddick

Though lambasted in some quarters as cynical clones of the then-vaunted "Seattle sound" (in particular, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam) STP's 1993 debut nonetheless found a considerable following for its potent crunch and sly hooks. While some tracks do seem to ape the era's grunge ethos a bit too slavishly, there's also a sense that perhaps Weiland and company were merely sharing some of the same influences as their contemporaries—and on standouts like the riff-savvy "Sex Type Thing" and the moody acoustics of "Creep", accomplishing it with a bit more ambitious range. Indeed, the radio anthem "Crush" belies a devotion to songcraft disdained by many of their peers, one that served as an effective bridge between the stadium rock of the '70s and '80s and the more introspective alt-rock just then coming into vogue—even if the album's triple-platinum sales showed just how ironic and misplaced the "alternative" label could ultimately be. —Jerry McCulley

The Original Soundtrack to the Film Directed by Rennie Harlin, Starring Geena Davis, Matthew Modine and Frank Langella.