This compilation of 39 tracks, rather arrogantly titled The Album, offers a good mix of current guitar-based pop, rock and indie with the bonus of Fatboy Slim's housey "Star 69" and Roni Size's "Dirty Beats" tacked on the end. This is the sort of album you could expect to hear down the student union bar with a range of songs to cover all bases for even the most fussy of compilation critics. CD2 holds the indie-rock lighter in the air with Coldplay's "Trouble" and David Gray's "Late Night Radio" sandwiched between tracks by likely lads Supergrass ("Movin'") and Blur ("Coffee & TV"). Less obvious inclusions are alt.country masters Grandaddy ("The Crystal Lake") and gentle folkies the Kings of Convenience ("Toxic Girl"). CD1 is the less easy-listening of the two with some rock guitar riffing from the Manics ("You Stole The Sun…"), JJ72 ("Oxygen") and perfectly hip Placebo's "Taste In Men". If you're not into dance and the latest compilation from clubland isn't your cup of tea, then this could well be The Album before a good night out.

One of the first of the blissed-out rave acts to storm the charts, and also one of the longest lasting, the Future Sound of London deserved a good singles compilation, and fortunately they get one with the Virgin retrospective Teachings from the Electronic Brain. Their highest moments were virtually always their singles, and short-form tracks offer a much easier path to understanding the music of Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain than their occasionally bloated LPs. Teachings from the Electronic Brain neglects nothing of real value, beginning with their first chart hit ("Papua New Guinea") and grabbing the best tracks from their albums Accelerator ("Expander"), Lifeforms (the title track), the live-in-the-studio ISDN ("Far-Out Son of Lung and the Ramblings of a Madman," "Smokin' Japanese Babe"), and Dead Cities ("We Have Explosive"). Best of all, licensing requirements prevented the addition of material from 2002's half-baked The Isness.

The music of Norwegian trumpeter/Nu Jazz progenitor, Nils Petter Molvaer, has always been cinematic. Call it music for a non-existent movie or a film of the mind, Molvaer's albums, beginning with the groundbreaking Khmer (ECM, 1997), have always been about aural landscapes evocative of highly personal imagery and plenty of club-ready grooves. Even in performance, the lighting provided by Tord "Prince of Darkness" Knudsen is intended to provoke the imagination rather than focus attention on the musicians. It's no surprise, then, that Molvaer has been recruited to provide music for film. His score for the 2005 French film Edy already saw limited release on Molvaer's Sula imprint the same year. Re-Vision culls four pieces from Edy and, by combining them with music from two other films—the 2007 German film Hoppet and 1999 Norwegian documentary Frozen Heart—and one non-soundtrack piece, fashions a continuous 46-minute suite that stands independently as yet another highly visual piece, incorporating Molvaer's ever-expanding frames of reference. Re-Vision is also Molvaer's first release in years to not primarily feature members of his touring band, but guitarist Eivind Aarset remains a fundamental part of its overall soundscape.

Italian pianist turned DJ Robert Miles scored a massive international hit with his wonderful, dreamy dance cut "Children" (one of the 1990s biggest and best dance hits) from his debut album Dreamland. The album at times sounds as if it were one continuous song (or set of beats with similar chord progressions) stretched over an hour, which may detract some, but, in essence, is what makes his sonic dreamscape so engaging. It's at once both dancefloor and chill out material; one of those discs where one can hit the play button, drift into a different dimension, and forget about worldly worries. Dreamland, which is both melancholy and blissful, succeeds in its simplicity. Highlights include the second single, "Fable," which continues with the same formula he utilized in "Children," this time using ethereal female chant-like vocals (also included is an instrumental version of "Fable").

Two of the most memorable albums from the trip-hop and acid jazz era are by cornettist Graham Haynes (Transition) and trumpeter Ben Neill (Goldbug). Dressing for Pleasure preceeded them both. Usually, an adjective like "suave" doesn't sit easily on an ethnomusicologist whose knack for directness is grounded by his sense of beauty; neither does a label like "acid jazz." But this is Hassell's only album to fit its musical moment, following his appearance on the soundtrack of the crime film Trespass. The feel of a fully committed band is especially amazing – Hassell and drummer Brain work with an army of bassists (six, including Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and enough programmers (three) to field a dot com startup on a coffee break. Hassell's horn flits through a sexy blend of trip-hop's hard drum programs topped with soft, impassive electronic textures like a bird circling over a crowded intersection. Woodwind player Kenny Garrett and guitarist Gregg Arreguin provide thematic voices, too, but melody is rarely enough in this genre.

By the late '80s/early '90s, house music had become a major focus in dance clubs, but was hardly a high priority of either major record companies or "urban contemporary" radio. Adeva, one of the few house/R&B divas to record for a major label, specializes in "deep house" – a style that stresses vocal personality and makes the singer the focal point instead of the producer. Essentially, "deep house" is late-'70s disco/soul updated, and this self-titled debut leaves no doubt that the big-voiced Adeva's aggressive, gospel-influenced belting is a throwback to the days of Gloria Gaynor, Grace Jones, Linda Clifford, and Loleatta Holloway. When Adeva tears into such exhilarating neo-disco fare as "Promises," "Love Is Special," and "In & Out of My Life," it's clear that "deep house" is, for all intents and purposes, soul music. This CD boasts two versions of her inspired remake of the Otis Redding/Aretha Franklin hit "Respect," one of which features British rapper Monie Love. Unfortunately, Adeva! enjoyed little exposure outside of dance circles, and black radio generally ignored her in favor of considerably less talented singers like Paula Abdul and Nia Peeples.

Like drum 'n' bass, ambient is a genre which relies on making a little go a very long way; the resultant glut of weedy minimalist pastiches barely bears a cursory listen for the most part, but this collaboration between Harold Budd and Hector Zazou demonstrates better than any recent offering how the spaces between the sounds can be made pregnant with possibility. On "Pandas in Tandem", the ghost of Erik Satie treads lightly over a shuffle breakbeat; the result is fragile and crystalline, as tentatively pristine as snowflakes. Elsewhere, heavy rhythmic breathing carries "Around the Corner from Everywhere"; slivers of what sounds like hammered dulcimer undulate through "Johnny Cake", and clarinets collude conspiratorially on "As Fast as I Could Look Away She was Still There".

Though it was released over a decade later, the 22 tracks on CANNIBALISM II are a perfect match with the selections from the first volume. However, where that volume focused primarily on the group's earliest work, CANNIBALISM II directs its attentions to a broader range, covering tracks from 1968 to the group's first (temporary) breakup in 1978. Including obscure tracks like "Mother Upduff" (a musical recasting of the urban legend about the stolen grandmother's corpse), an excellent edit of the expansive "Animal Waves," and a fascinating remix melding "I Want More" and "And More" from 1976's FLOW MOTION, CANNIBALISM II functions as not only a convenient starting point for neophytes, but a handy collection for fans. Taken in toto, the three volumes of CANNIBALISM are as good a summation of this wide-ranging group's work as you're likely to find.