Margaret Whiting Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book (Verve/Universal) The voice of Ms. Whiting, arrangements by Russ Garcia and Kern’s great songs—you can’t go wrong here. 10 (LD)

Last Days of April Ascend to the Stars (Bad Taste) More orch-pop that is on top of the game. The Swedish invasion is imminent! 8 (JC)

Various Global Ska (Revelde/Ozone) Rudies ’round the world, two discs worth, from old-school (Rico, Laurel) to new (Smashers, Slackers). 8 (RB)

The The 45 RPM (Legacy/Sony) …collecting all the (remastered!) singles, a trio of decent newbies and a (limited!) disc of 12” mixes by these heavy-handed pop-rockists. 7.5 (LC)

Bad Company In Concert: Merchants of Cool (Sancutary/EMI) Good, but a bit cheesy on the production—stick with the original versions. 6.5 (JC)