Kissed by Nature is another display of the marvelous talents of Eliane Elias, who always produces nice music but with this release achieves a pinnacle of beauty. The lovely Brazilian pianist authored all of the songs, save a Djavan medley with some bouncier piano work. Most were written while she was by the beach in the Hamptons, and the CD title reflects the soft, pretty, reflective nature that characterizes most of the music, rather than the greater forcefulness that she often displays.

Ironically, "Manhattan" (where she resides, in fact in my neighborhoood) is the most bossa nova (and liveliest) of the compositions, with Paulo Andre Tavares' steady guitar plucking and the percussion reminiscent of the classics of Jobim and others. But the spirit of Brazil is also experienced in "Balance," a rhythmic tune with sultry vocals by Eliane focusing on the waves of Bahia, and in the more laid-back yet rich "Luar." On "October" and "September," Eliane's pretty piano and fleeting vocal presence are complemented by some fine horn work, mellow and ponderous with a jazzy texture. The title cut and "Balance" are given livelier expression in bonus tracks enhanced by excellent remixes with alluring, vibrating sound effects, produced by Bossacucanova, a Brazilian DJ team.

Eliane's piano work is delivered with masterful phrasing. Most of it is soft and sensuous, and all is plain beautiful, and the same is true of her singing. At times her vocals are wordless and ethereal, as on "Perere," or whispered, as on "A Volta" (which also has some overdubbing). I simply love Eliane's voice, and it is just as much of a treat as her superb piano work.

All of Eliane's music is enjoyable, but with Kissed by Nature I do not have to say "the better came before" because it is my favorite CD of hers that I own and one of my favorite of all. Beauty can be captured with intensity, but also with a softer touch, and it is with this that she triumphs here.

They can bring on all the compilations of Doors' music they want, I don't care. It just gives one another perspective on what should be considered the group's best and most important songs, and provides more alternatives for millions of fans. On this CD, those who like long cuts are treated to both of the classics, "The End" (atmosphere and Oedipal drama) and "When the Music's Over" (social commentary and catharsis), but also the big singles and other great songs. "Not to Touch the Earth" and "Love Street" are my two favorite tracks from Waiting for the Sun, but aside from the obligatory #1 pop hit "Hello I Love You" and the beautiful flamenco "Spanish Caravan," the choices here from The Doors' third studio LP are the "political" anthems "Five to One" and "The Unknown Soldier." Many people are not aware that the latter was released as a single at the height of The Vietnam War but banned from airplay after reaching only #39 on the charts. This is in spite of the fact that, as keyboardist Ray Manzarek has said, it was more of an artistic than political statement--something to consider when reinforcing in one's mind what The Doors were all about. But "Five to One," with many elements subject to so many interpretations, most of all wrings forth with "They got the guns but we got the numbers/Gonna win, yeah we're taking over--Come on!" The Doors were always controversial--indeed, what other group could have another great song like "Love Me Two Times" unjustifiably chopped down from A.M. radio as well--you can probably figure out the reason, res ipsa loquitur, but that is a pretty lame excuse for submarining what would possibly have been a #1 hit (it reached only #25).

Still, this controversial group, Jim Morrison's arresting lyrics and all, is most distinguished by its great music. Crank up the dynamic dark opener of their debut album--"Break on Through to the Other Side"--no one had heard anything like it before and no one ever will. That is what you get here in 18 great songs, from the majesty of "Light My Fire" to the beauty of "The Crystal Ship" to the spirited beat of "L.A. Woman." The Doors could do it all--nightworld, drama, pop, straight blues--and they are the most highly evocative group there ever was. It is an interesting bit of trivia that "Waiting for the Sun" was delayed until Morrison Hotel, thus losing its status as a title cut. The one substitution I would make on this CD is replacing it with either of two "Hard Rock Cafe" (and yes, the naming of the restaurant chain had something to do with side one of vinyl Morrison Hotel) entries, "Peace Frog/Blue Sunday" or "Ship of Fools." But with The Doors, all the Music is Your Special Friend, so just Dance on Fire as it Intends, until The End.

Because The Beatles' studio album CDs now available are not remakes of the old U.S. Capitol vinyl records, but the British EMI ones, the following songs on this CD are not on the current mainstream ones:

From Me To You
She Loves You
I Want To Hold Your Hand
Can't Buy Me Love
I Feel Fine
Day Tripper
We Can Work It Out
Paperback Writer
Lady Madonna
Hey Jude
The Ballad of John and Yoko

All of these songs are on The Beatles 1962-1966 and The Beatles 1967-1970, but that is two CDs. The Beatles 1 gives you the opportunity to get all of them on one CD.

This is an excellent collection, either as an introduction to The Doors (what would an introduction be without the drawn-out dark drama of "The End"?) or, for familiar fans, as an extremely adept selection of the group's greatest songs, just to crank up and enjoy. Finally, a Doors "Best Of" package with "Twentieth Century Fox" and its clever lyrics and rhythmic and musical hooks--it was worth the wait! The rationale for leaving that one out of previous packages had been the surfeit of brilliant songs on The Doors' sensational debut album from which to choose, but aside from "The End" and, of course, "Light My Fire," with the ineffable majesty of Ray Manzarek's organ solo and Robby Krieger's guitar solo, we still get the band's signature tune, "Break on Through"; "The Crystal Ship" and its compelling beauty; and, ever so much an emblem of Jim Morrison, the group's cover of Willie Dixon's "Backdoor Man" ("Soul Kitchen" unfortunately has to sit this one out). Alice Cooper has said that The Doors are the sexiest band he has known. The psychedelic eroticism of their first album glows eternally.

Fittingly, "L.A. Woman," the group's bluesy final studio album, is the next-most represented, with four songs. With, inter alia, the excellent title cut and Morrison's dynamic poetry of "The WASP," the group demonstrated that they had something left--indeed, a lot--just before Morrison passed away in 1971. But The Doors could always do the blues, witness their feisty classic "Roadhouse Blues" (the one live track included) and the hard-driving, compact "Love Me Two Times," so perfectly constructed in power and precision, one of my all-time favorite songs. Indeed, The Doors at their best could lay down either the most listenable pop songs or tracks that expressed their dark vision with musical conciseness and fluidity, no dross left in and no distortion, fuzz boxes, etc. The Doors and their unique sound are the best there ever was or ever will be.

Notwithstanding all those eerie organ sounds and high-pitched guitar twangs, the Doors were most of all a blues-based group. Indeed, their unique sound is often labeled "psychedelic blues." In this blues tribute, covering an appropriate selection of the group's classic songs, there are no vocals, just a multi-instrument workout, with a separate bass player and much more. As on the original, a harmonica pumps prominently in "Roadhouse Blues," one of the best cuts, but it also dishes out the motif on "Break on Through." On "Alabama Song," it is a mandolin that communicates the Brechtian decadence. The songs in which sax or trumpet ("Love Me Two Times" has both) are employed have a jazzy as well as bluesy feel. The trumpet is often slow with a sexy texture, as on "L.A. Woman." However, the slowest cover of all, and the best, is "Love Her Madly," with its jazzy, soulful sax. By contrast, the sax work is livelier on "Moonlight Drive," which also contains a fine guitar solo. There are not that many outstanding moments on this CD, but each song is easy listening, fitting of covers of one of rock's most listenable groups.

If Sergeant Pepper was the soundtrack to the psychedelic Summer of Love (1967), Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was the soundtrack to the glitter/glam rocking 1972. While The Beatles' message was to get high with a little help from your friends, Bowie's was to "freak out in a moonage daydream" and "let the children boogie."

Bowie as Ziggy, the gender-bending alien rocker, along with his band, The Spiders from Mars, led by axman guitarist extraordinaire Mick Ronson, mesmerized the earthling listener on the opening track "Five Years" with his apocalyptic science fiction vision. On "Soul Love," David whips out his sax, combining with an acoustic guitar track to create an intoxicating cosmic groove -- picture Mr. Spock boogieing on "Soul Train" and you get the idea. Beam us up, Ziggy! Bowie's and Ronson's string arrangements on the album are lush and dramatic, providing a cinematic quality to the disc, comparable to George Martin's work with The Fab Four.

The "Rise" of Ziggy is depicted in the testosterone-driven songs "Star" and "Hang on to Yourself." (Check out the red-hot live versions on Bowie's fine double album Stage.) The classic title cut tells of the spaceman's fall, Ziggy's inflated ego, and a murder spelling the end of the band. The incendiary hard-rocker "Suffragette City" and coda "Rock 'N' Roll Suicide" complete the album. "Suicide" is Bowie's "A Day in the Life," with its final violin note suspended for dramatic effect.

Ziggy is a conceptual tour de force by Bowie and Co. For fans of the glam rock movement of the early '70s, Ziggy, T.Rex's Electric Warrior, and Lou Reed's Transformer are essential listening. A production masterpiece for sure, Ziggy is also David's finest studio album and a rock and roll landmark.

Never Mind the Bollocks, released to so much fanfare in 1977, has all the energy of an English soccer match gone to hell. The Sex Pistols were always more about appearances than good music. If it's attitude and image you want, you came to the right place. For good music, the debut albums of the group's punk contemporaries, The Clash and The Ramones, should be given first consideration. In fact, after this album things receded to lower depths, as Sid Vicious, who couldn't sing or play bass to save his life, became a more primary figure. But he looked damned damning.

Musically, my favorite cut is "Anarchy in the U.K.," but after that it is a step considerably downhill. However, while I do not think the Sex Pistols were musical maestros, their raw power put some needed spark into the rock and roll scene of the time. Still more significant are Johnny Rotten's venomous vocals, full of sarcasm and contempt for society. Indeed, the group's lyrics in this album are laced with striking disturbing images, as well as negative political and social statements, that captured the public's imagination. The significance of The Sex Pistols should not be underestimated.

Live in America is a must for hard-core Doors people, and also highly recommended for everyone. It contains a nice selection, many of the group's greatest songs, and the sound quality is fabulous. What the mixers can achieve in these 21st Century CDs of 20th Century Foxy concerts (OK, concert snippets) is remarkable. If you turn up the sound a bit, it is as if you are sitting next to a speaker on stage, with volume and balance personally calibrated to you, a magically funneled sound.

Check out "The Crystal Ship" and Ray Manzarek's trademark lovely organ solo, which radiates ooh so beautifully. "Touch Me" is also superb, as Robbie Krieger's guitar flows through so neatly in stereo, in place of the absent brass and strings! "Been Down So Long" is excellent, slick worksmanship to that cool heavy blues, with harmonica here too. The good sonics make the always-electrifying "Break on Through" even better, and "Roadhouse Blues" cooks. "The End" fills the long cut slot. The only negative is some muffled sound in an extended "Love Me Two Times," too great a song to let it bother me. Overall, Jim Morrison's poise and delivery are good and professional to boot, even as he allows himself some spoken-jive spontaneity, in contrast to his alcohol-infused theater in "Absolutely Live."

Though the Bright Midnight story is just beginning, by now at least one other version of each song on this CD has appeared on that label or Elektra. It will be interesting to see how the many Doors tunes with no previous commercial live version roll out with the passage of time, for the group performed virtually everything at least once in concert, including "L.A. Woman" and "Riders on the Storm." For now, we have this gem of a CD, opening with none other than "Light My Fire," highlighted by Ray's dynamic keyboard tension preceding the bridge between the two instrumentals.

This debut and its consistently good songs helped steer The Pretenders into becoming the hottest band of the early 1980s. The group is associated with the punk/new wave genre, toward which I have mixed feelings (worse if the slash and the following two words are deleted). Someone once told me that punk is an attitude, it is not the music that is the key, and then described some pre-Sex Pistols groups and on an individual basis, Keith Richards and Jim Morrison. After listening to "Precious," ask yourself whether Chrissie Hynde has an attitude.

But even in the rawest songs, such as that remarkable opener and "The Wait," it becomes clear that The Pretenders are a group of solid musicians. Among the earlier songs on the CD, though, my favorites are "Tattooed Love Boys," with its cool signature riff, and "Space Invaders," an instrumental in which the group presents proof positive of its musical abilities with slick rhythm guitar chops and a solid bass line. Some of the later songs show Chryssie and the group can also do the softer stuff well. As to "Brass In Pocket," it still sounds great to me--I do not care how often they play it on the radio. The Pretenders' version of "Stop Your Sobbing" is better than that of The Kinks and has a neat atmosphere. "Kid"--great melody, plus lyrics and vocals from Chryssie. "Mystery Achievement"--another nice one. So as it sinks into me how strong these songs are, this CD gets my fifth star.

The '90s was a decade marked by good CDs from many female rockers, such as Sheryl Crow, Natalie Merchant, and Sarah McLachlan, but Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill is clearly one of the stickouts. Moreover, among well-known '90s CDs, only Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten compare to "Pill" in intensity. But Alanis's songwriting is more consistent track for track than Kurt Cobain's or Eddie Vedder's. On this album, her introspective lyrics and riveting vocals are complemented by a smoking band featuring members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Any musical shortfall is made up for by the fire and panache of Alanis and her backers.

Each cut on Pill is marked by sharp guitar riffs and clever lyrical hooks. Interestingly, the songs seem to change tempo and intensity more often than the norm, moving between slow/soft and fast/loud, giving Alanis a chance to express her angst in different musical settings. The rhythm guitar blasts in the choruses of "You Oughta Know," "You Learn," and "Ironic" are staples of FM radio, with intense and passionate vocals by Alanis. In the slower moments she also sings well, softly beautiful or showing good range, as in "Mary Jane." In "Head Over Feet," she demonstrates her ability to sing effectively in all the musical grooves. Opinions vary on this album--I have it coming barely short of five stars--but what I don't see at all is any shortfall in Alanis's vocals, which are superb. You'll find many good songs and some great ones, and consistently strong performances by the lead singer.