By K Cole

Glee Season Three
Last Friday Night

So the Glee sitcom has spun off over a dozen CD releases but if you want to hear some great songs done most-times better than the originals, this string of sugar pop tunes will wet your whistle.

Best Cut: Waiting for a Girl Like You
Location: Doing your laundry

R.E.M.
Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part GarbaAge
For those of us who bemoaned the September end of one of the top bands of the alt-rock era, have no fear for this 40-song (that’s right, 40) ultimate greatest hits release, including cuts finished after their last studio album, puts Stipe and company directly in our hands to turn over and over again like a rare gem. 

Best Cut: We All Go Back to Where We Belong
Location: Ear bulbs, 16-hour flight to London

Ricky Martin
M.A.S.: Musica + Alma + Sexo CD
Ricky’s last album release was back in 2005 before he came out of the closet. Now a free man, Martin seems still to be straddling two worlds in this ‘almost all latin’ collection with only two songs in English. He still looks great in those pants, btw.
Best Cut: Frio

Location: Casa Cupula, Puerto Vallarta cocktails

Riccardo Chailly
Beethoven: The Symphonies

Here’s the scene: The Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig and Chailly, perhaps its best conductor ever and a purist of Beethoven’s original tempos. Put them together and the result is pure orgasmic delight.

Best Cut: Symphony No. 3
Location: Sprawled on floor, headphones, no interruptions