Built from songs he left behind mostly as home demos, Joey Ramone's second posthumous solo album is unlikely but undeniable dynamite: buoyant fuzz-box pop with no stitches showing in the new overdubs by fans and peers such as Steven Van Zandt, Joan Jett and the Dictators' Andy Shernoff. Joey pursued Stooges-like basics and Phil Spector-size romance with the same zeal both in and out of the Ramones, and many songs here, like "New York City" and "Seven Days of Gloom," would have fit on – and improved – some of that band's later, spotty albums. "Rock 'n roll is the answer," Joey sings in one title chorus, in fine and familiar voice – a true believer to the end.

Listen to '"...Ya Know?"': 

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• Photos: Random Notes

“The A Team”

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.