Bad Brains were black D.C.-area punks with Rasta leanings who energized Eighties hardcore kids with a series of beautifully messy albums. This reunion disc, with fan Adam Yauch producing, explodes and skanks like their classic records, setting pulverizing near-metal like the fifty-six-second "Pure Love" alongside thoroughly stoned reggae like "Natty Dreadlocks 'Pon the Mountain Top." It lacks the messiness that made them so beautiful in the first place, but be glad they're still punching.

“Tonight's the Night”

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."