Despite its rather cheeky title, Greatest Hits 1977-1990 is a good place to sample the entire Stranglers output. From the squalor of the late-'70s material, to the smoothed-out gloom pop of songs like "Skin Deep" and other mid- to late-'80s neo-goth rock, this is a solid anthology that values substance over style and exhaustive track selection. For sure, a well-edited Stranglers anthology is the only way to enjoy them; they recorded way too much dross to spend time searching out all of their plentiful, marginal records.

Guitarist/singer/songwriter Chris Spedding has been a mainstay of the British session scene since the late '60s, playing with just about everyone from Nucleus, Jack Bruce, John Cale, Elton John, Iggy Pop, Mike Bratt to Paul McCartney, The Bay City Rollers and recently on Katie Mehlua's album. This collection from his most successful period on Harvest and RAK (1969-81), features all the singles, including his big hit 'Motorbikin', and the best of the B-sides and album tracks taken from his 6 classic EMI studio albums: Backwood Progression, The Only Lick I Know, Chris Spedding, Hurt, Guitar Graffiti & I'm Not Like Everybody Else. Chris himself has helped compile the tracklist, and assisted with the artwork, writing notes for the booklet.

The Electric Cows were among a plethora of 1960s beat bands in Western Canada that never got their 15 minutes of fame, whether due to poor management decisions, lack of musical talent, or simply never having their number drawn in the era's rock'n'roll lottery. More popular Winnipeg acts like The Guess Who, The Quid, Crescendos, and Buddy Knox took the limelight but whatever the Cows lacked in popularity, professionalism, and actual talent they made up for with gumption, grit, horse sense, and occasional bursts of raw garage band energy.

At this writing there are about a dozen "best-of" collections on the market of Iggy Pop's major-label work, and until someone compiles one more comprehensive than 2005's A Million in Prizes: The Anthology, there is no need to release another. Does everyone understand this? While there are already a bunch of dodgy collections of Iggy's music out there, 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection has the very serious drawback of having been drawn primarily from Pop's recordings for A&M Records.

Picking our list of the Top 100 '70s Rock Albums was no easy task, if only because that period boasted such sheer diversity. The decade saw rock branch into a series of intriguing new subgenres, beginning, at the dawn of the '70s, with heavy metal. Singer-songwriters came into their own; country-rock flourished. The era ended with the revitalizing energy of punk and New Wave. No list would be complete without climbing onto every one of those limbs. Here are the Top 100 '70s Rock Albums, presented chronologically from the start of the decade.

Teenage Kicks chronicles one of pop music's most exciting periods–the glory days of punk and new wave. Comprising knockout classics from The Jam, Teenage Kicks, The Clash, Ramones, Velvet Underground, Stranglers, The Buzzcocks, Siouxie & Banshees, Squeeze, Iggy Pop, The Boomtown Rats, B-52's, The Cure, Ian Dury, Graham Parker, Elvis Costello and many more, every single tune is an instant sing-a-long classic, sure to stir up fond memories of when music was vibrant, outspoken, and always refreshing.

Pacer is an album released in October 1995 by the Amps, Kim Deal's side project from her group the Breeders, who took a break from playing together beginning in late 1994. Deal recruited two new musicians and named the group the Amps. The band recorded Pacer at several studios in the USA and in Ireland, with different engineers each time, including Steve Albini, Bryce Goggin, and John Agnello. The album received mixed reviews, ranging from highly enthusiastic to quite dismissive. Despite radio airplay for its single, "Tipp City", Pacer did not sell well. The Amps toured in 1995 and 1996 with groups such as Sonic Youth, Guided By Voices, and Foo Fighters. In 1996, Deal changed the band's name back to the Breeders, making Pacer the Amps' only album.

Singles – The UA Years is a terrific double-album set that chronicles all of Dr. Feelgood's major singles, from 1976's "Roxette" to 1986's "See You Later Alligator." Although the hits-only approach leaves out some major Feelgood songs, Singles remains a first-rate retrospective, and for many years, it was the best Dr. Feelgood collection available. The 1997 double-disc Twenty Five Years of Dr. Feelgood later replaced Singles as the definitive retrospective, yet there are enough songs on this collection to make it worthwhile for serious fans who don't want to spring for either the box set Lookin' Back or the entire catalog.

This two-CD reissue of Ducks Deluxe's first two albums differs from the previous Edsel two-on-one release, as no tracks were omitted due to space constraints. In retrospect, these recordings seem more relevant after the passage of time, as they provide a clearer linkage between British blues-based album rock and late-'70s punk and post-punk new wave. In fact, the influences of British pub rock span back to '50s rock & roll and R&B. Their take on Eddie Cochran's "Nervous Breakdown" bears an uncanny resemblance to perhaps his biggest hit, "Summertime Blues." But it's Ducks Deluxe's original pieces that evoke echoes of artists like the Rolling Stones, Them, and Mott the Hoople. "Fireball" sounds like a direct outtake from All the Young Dudes or Mott, while the R&B-rich "Falling for That Woman" suggests Van Morrison at his soulful best. "Rio Grande," from Taxi to the Terminal Zone, wouldn't sound out of place on Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks.

2013 release, the first studio album to bear the name 'Iggy & The Stooges' since Raw Power was released in 1973! Ready To Die finds Iggy Pop, guitarist James Williamson and drummer Scott "Rock Action" Asheton reunited for a full album of all-new material with Mike Watt filling in for the late Ron Asheton on bass. The results are the closest thing to a time capsule to 1973 - or at least to Iggy's subsequent efforts with Williamson, including 1977's Kill City and 1979's New Values - that rock 'n' roll is likely to proffer in this millennium. The new album's opening one-two of 'Burn' and 'Sex & Money' pair sublimely blunt and self-explanatory subject matter with back alley razor-blade guitars and a troglodytic rhythmic stomp as intensely single-minded as Iggy's lyrical statements of intent. Elsewhere on the album, anthems abound in the form of the most dead-on rallying cry for the lower-working-class dispossessed to date–the succinctly and aptly titled 'Job' - as well as a title track that mixes a signature Iggy Pop mission statement of angry desperation with guitar pyrotechnics that recall those halcyon opening salvos of 'Search & Destroy'.

On his second album Heat Treatment, Graham Parker essentially offered more of the same thing that made Howlin' Wind such a bracing listen. However, his songwriting wasn't as consistent, with only a handful of songs – like "Pourin' It All Out" and the title track – making much of an impression. Unfortunately, the record was also tamed by the production of Mutt Lange, who polishes the record just enough to make the Rumour sound restrained. Which means, of course, the sheer musicality of the band can't save the lesser material. Heat Treatment remains an enjoyable listen – at this stage of the game, Parker hadn't soured into a curmudgeon, and his weaker songs were still endearing – but it's a disappointment in light of its predecessor.

For most intents and purposes, Graham Parker emerged fully formed on his debut album, Howlin' Wind. Sounding like the bastard offspring of Mick Jagger and Van Morrison, Parker sneers his way through a set of stunningly literate pub rockers. Instead of blindly sticking to the traditions of rock & roll, Parker invigorates them with cynicism and anger, turning his songs into distinctively original works. "Back to Schooldays" may be reconstituted rockabilly, "White Honey" may recall Morrison's white R&B bounce, and "Howlin' Wind" is a cross of Van's more mystical moments and the Band, but the songs themselves are original and terrific. Similarly, producer Nick Lowe gives the album a tough, spare feeling, which makes Parker and the Rumour sound like one of the best bar bands you've ever heard. Howlin' Wind remains a thoroughly invigorating fusion of rock tradition, singer/songwriter skill, and punk spirit, making it one of the classic debuts of all time.

Metallic K.O. is a live recording by American rock band The Stooges. In its original form, the album was purported to contain the last half of a performance at the Michigan Palace in Detroit, on February 9, 1974—the band's final live performance until their reformation in 2003. The performance was notable for the level of audience hostility, with the band being constantly pelted with pieces of ice, eggs, beer bottles and jelly beans, among other things, in response to Iggy Pop's audience-baiting. Subsequent investigation of the master tapes and the May 1988 release of the double album Metallic 2X K.O. reveals that the original album contained the last half of the February 9, 1974 show, but opened with the first half of an earlier show (from October 6, 1973) at the same venue. The 2X K.O. version features the full shows from both dates.

Telluric Chaos is a live album by the reunited Iggy Pop & The Stooges. The album chronicles the closing date of the band's first ever Japanese tour, which took place on March 22, 2004, at the Shibuya AX in Tokyo. The album documents a typical reunited Stooges set, primarily drawn from the band's first two albums (including all of Fun House) with no material from the James Williamson era (Raw Power, Kill City). The album/live set also includes some of the first live performances of three of the four Stooges reunion tracks from Iggy Pop's 2003 solo album Skull Ring plus one brand new song, "My Idea Of Fun" (a finalized version appears on their 2007 studio album The Weirdness).

Fun House is the second studio album by American rock band The Stooges. It was released on July 7, 1970 by Elektra Records. According to Billboard magazine, Fun House is set in hard rock and improvisation. Music critic Robert Christgau characterized the album as "genuinely 'avant-garde' rock" because of the music's apt "repetitiveness", "solitary new-thing saxophone", and "L.A. Blues", which showcases the "old avant-garde fallacy … trying to make art about chaos by reproducing same." Greg Kot called Fun House "the Stooges' punk jazz opus". In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Fun House number 191 on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.