Various Art of France (Level II/Fusion III) From the toothy-techno of Manu le Malin to Dimitri from Paris' quirk. 9 (MS)

Choclair What It Takes (KneeDeep) This T.O. rapper reminds me why I love hip hop: steady flow & steep beats. 9 (JT)

Zen Guerrilla (Alternative Tentacles) America's leading pigfucking drunk punk rocking outfit! 8.5 (JC)

Various Shots In The Dark (Donna/Fusion III) Twenty bands pay tribute to Henry "The Man" Mancini. 8.5 (JC)

Gary Numan Tubeway Army Premier Hits (Beggars Banquet) All killer and no filler. New wave at its best. 8 (JC)

Guitar Wolf Missile Me! (Matador) Tokyo trio rolls three-chord garage into a gassed-up chunk of punk sushi. 7 (LE)

Cyndi Lauper Sisters Of Avalon (Epic) A valiant attempt to be contemp--time after time. 7 (CY)

Silkworm Developer (Matador) Pokey, pouty tunes to practice self-pity to. 6 (RB)

Jean Michel Jarre Oxygène 7-13 (Epic) The master of bombast makes a grasp for lost synth glory. 5 (CY)

The Ocean Blue See (Mercury) Britpop-by-numbers... for completists only. 5 (RB) more discs...