Dick Dale's surf-guitar provided the memorable title theme ("Misirlou"), for Quentin Tarantino's 1994 smash, and although that sound runs throughout the soundtrack (along with bits and pieces of dialog from the movie), this is a pretty eclectic bunch of really terrific songs. I don't know how it all manages to hang together, but it does (you might say the same for the interwoven stories in the movie). Where else are you going to find Chuck Berry, Maria McKee, Al Green, The Statler Brothers, Kool & the Gang, Urge Overkill (singing a Neil Diamond ballad!), Ricky Nelson, Dusty Springfield, and the Tornadoes (among others) one album? McKee's beautiful "If Love is a Red Dress (Hang Me in Rags)" is a standout, partly because it's less familiar. One of the few soundtracks of the '90s that went into the CD player and stayed there for weeks and months thereafter. —Jim Emerson

Largely the conceit of co-writer/star John Cusack, "Grosse Point Blank" is oft compared to Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction," which brings to mind that old adage about apples and oranges. Cusack's film is, in its own right, the morally bleaker (and funnier) of the two—a shaggy dog tale about a neurotic young hitman returning home for his tenth high school reunion. The first in what appears to be a slew of films ready to cash in on '80s nostalgia (gen-Xers apparently having learned little from the Baby Boomers they sneer at), "Grosse Point"'s song score covers the decade like a shotgun blast, from the Violent Femmes bouncy "Blister" to Guns 'n' Roses overwrought "Live and Let Die". Minus points: the Clash is represented, but not Joe Strummer's incidental score. —Jerry McCulley

Part three of a series of records that benefits the Special Olympics, A Very Special Christmas 3 from 1997 is as excitingly eclectic as its predecessors. Though it features the likes of R&B chart toppers and hip-hoppers Mase, Puff Daddy, and Snoop Doggy Dogg and alt-rockers No Doubt, Smashing Pumpkins, , Blues Traveler, and others, the real standout performances belong to Jonny Lang, with his bawdy, barroom version of "Santa Claus Is Back in Town" and Sting, who delivers a proper reading of that old English carol "I Saw Three Ships." The showstopper, though, is Natalie Merchant's "Children, Go Where I Send Thee" in an arrangement so rich and compelling it may top even the many five-star versions of this African-American hymn that have come before it. —Martin Keller

From the get-go, Putumayo Presents Zydeco is the down-and-dirtiest most-rockin' Saturday night at a sweaty bayou dance hall or juke joint a non-native can experience. Born of the Creole community in Louisiana's backwaters and moving outward to Texas and California, Zydeco bumps, grinds, and is a wang dang doodle of a big time. Youngblood Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band rip through "Co Fa" with their trademark double-kick beat, the low-end-amped-up sound making heartbreak sound like a raunchy roll in the hay. Rosie Ledet's "You're No Good for Me" is a wailer for all lovers scorned, featuring thudding bass, wiry guitar lines, and sax in a one-upmanship dance with her accordion. Beau Jocque growls, Jude Taylor trades accordion licks with his band's organist, and Queen Ida reigns supreme on "My Girl Josephine." As the Creole Farmers sing on the opening cut, "We gonna party 'til the cows come home!"—Paige La Grone

Track Listing 1. Tuck & Patti - Love is the Key 2. Suzanne Ciani - The Velocity of Love 3. Rob Mullins - Making Love 4. Larry Carlton - Smiles and Smiles To Go 5. Kenny Vance - The Performer 6. Patrick O'Hearn - Forever the Optimist 7. Gato Barbieri - Europa 8. Billy Barber - The Explorer 9. Basia - Astrud 10. Kenny G. - Midnight Motion 11. Billy Cobham - Zanzibar Breeze 12. Lanz & Spear - Behind the Waterfall 13. Paul Greaver - California 14. Michael Tomlinson - Still Believe

This eminently enjoyable soundtrack album gathers together a multigenerational collection of artists whose roots span South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa, underscoring the rich, dizzying variety of music that all too often simply gets labeled "Latin." The culture's telling sense of history is present throughout, from the Cuban son preservationism of Buena Vista Social Club singer-guitarist Eliades Ochoa ("Si en un Final") to the compelling reggae/rap/salsa cocktails of Sergent García ("Hoy Me Voy"). Bebel Gilberto updates traditional Brazilian jazz with contemporary production touches, yet never loses the music's cool sheen on "Sem Contenção," while Lila Downs puts an equally chic, smoky spin on the standard "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps." Venezuela's standout pop combo Los Amigos Invisibles wax loopy and lounge-suave on "Cuchi-Cuchi" and "Si Estuvieras Aquí," respectively, and even veteran Rocky scorer Bill Conti captures the tropical fever on his title track. And in what must be a soundtrack first, a series of individual menu cards relating to the film are inserted with the liner notes. —Jerry McCulley

If you thought Stitch was a ball of fire, wait till you see your kids bobbing, bouncing, and breaking bad to this soundtrack. The kid/Elvis Presley connection is by now a known quantity (check out the many kid-specific compilations devoted to the King), and the songs selected here couldn't make better sense—"Stuck on You" sends 'em out on the living-room dance floor and serves as this shake-and-shimmy session's starter course;"Suspicious Minds" blows off its paranoia for packs of precocious lip-synchers;"Heartbreak Hotel" will have to adjust its check-out time;"Devil in Disguise"'s dips and swerves demand a full-tilt rock-out; and "Hound Dog" plants a seed of suspicion in your own mind: Was that song written for grown-ups? A couple of covers—Wynonna's throaty, work-you-up "Burning Love" and A*Teens' bubble-yummy "Can't Help Falling in Love"—keep the bobby-sox brigade cutting the carpet until a three-track slice of score returns us to a soundtrack state of mind. "Stitch to the Rescue,""You Can Never Belong," and "I'm Lost," from composer Alan Silvestri, race forward with snatches of danger, intrigue, and playfulness, stopping every so often for swells of hope and heavy-heartedness. But once Elvis leaves the building and Silvestri hits the lights, it's this record's two Hawaiian originals that hang back. Mark Keali'I Ho'omalu's "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" and "He Mele No Lilo" sway with the gentleness of a grass skirt, heaping on a classic hula vibe that'll chase off any remaining ants in the pants of pork-chopless, pelvis-swiveling Elvis pretenders. —Tammy La Gorce