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While such bands as The Smiths and New Order made Manchester famous for alternative rock in the 1980s, Simply Red gave the city a foothold on the pop charts. Led by singer-songwriter Mick Hucknall (whose auburn hair inspired the band name), the group has sold some 50 million albums worldwide in a career spanning more than three decades. Now available, REMIXED COLLECTION VOL. 1 (1985-2000) revisits their hit singles with vintage remixes and rarities on two CDs. Seven of the 22 tracks here are previously unreleased, including “Something Got Me Started” (David Morales Radio Mix) and “Money’s Too Tight To Mention” (United City Mix). Both longtime fans and newcomers to Simply Red's brand of blue-eyed soul will enjoy REMIXED COLLECTION VOL. 1's fresh take on these favorites.

Released 50 years ago today, Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album (sometimes referred to as IV or ZOSO) stands as the group's masterpiece. Produced by guitarist Jimmy Page, the collection is a seamless combination of blues (a cover of Memphis Minnie's “When the Levee Breaks”), heavy metal (“Black Dog”), folk (the Joni Mitchell-inspired “Going to California”) and mythology (“The Battle of Evermore,” with guest vocals by Fairport Convention's Sandy Denny). The Atlantic set introduced future concert favorites “Rock and Roll” and signature song “Stairway to Heaven” and has gone on to sell more than 37 million copies worldwide. Is this the greatest hard rock album ever made? You can be the judge of that, but we're hard-pressed to think of another that showcases the form's power and possibilities as effectively as LED ZEPPELIN IV.

A hitmaker with Rufus in the 1970s, Chaka Khan branched into her own career gradually - her first four solo albums were all recorded while she was still nominally with Rufus. It was her fifth album, I FEEL FOR YOU, that really sealed the deal; the title track topped the U.K. singles chart and hit #3 in America. That song, a Prince cover featuring Stevie Wonder on harmonica and rapping from Grandmaster Melle Mel, showed Khan to be a powerhouse vocalist with a keen ear for material and willingness to swing for the fences in terms of arrangements. And that description holds throughout the 1984 album; tracks like "Through The Fire" and "This Is My Night" are as appealing as the set's biggest hit. With the platinum-certified I FEEL FOR YOU, Chaka Khan stepped confidently to the forefront of '80s electro-funk.

The title of RUST NEVER SLEEPS was originally an advertising slogan that Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh had mentioned to Neil Young, but the phrase could just as easily apply to the singer-songwriter, whose creative spirit has always been restless. The bulk of the 1979 Reprise collection was recorded live during Young's tour the previous year (with overdubs added and a studio track or two) and like the concerts, the album's first half is predominantly acoustic and the second an electric one - featuring Crazy Horse at their most powerful. From the Johnny Rotten references of “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)” to the dramatic showdown in “Powderfinger,” Neil's songs have rarely hit harder, and the set placed near the top of annual critics polls in the Village Voice and Rolling Stone. The platinum-certified RUST NEVER SLEEPS is among Young's greatest albums, and we'll give it another spin now to wish the man a happy birthday.

By the mid-1970s, Rod Stewart's ascent from lead singer of the Faces to solo performer was complete. By the time he'd cut his debut album for Warner Bros., Stewart was a star on both sides of the pond - ATLANTIC CROSSING topped the U.K. chart and peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200 over the first week of November 1975. It's easy to hear why it was so successful; producer Tom Dowd amplified Stewart's soulful side by pairing the singer's distinctive raspy vocals with stellar accompaniment from The Memphis Horns and most of Booker T. and the MG's. Split between a “fast” half and a “slow” one, the set's ten tracks feature rocking Rod originals like “Stone Cold Sober” as well as strong covers of “Sailing” and “I Don't Want To Talk About It.” The gold-certified ATLANTIC CROSSING set the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's career on a new, exciting course.

THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME may have seemed a bold title for Ornette Coleman's Atlantic Records debut, but the music on the 1959 collection absolutely justified it. With an emphasis on melody and improvisation over chords and harmony (Coleman called his approach “harmolodic”), these six originals introduced the standard “Lonely Woman,” and offered the quartet – which included future stars Don Cherry on cornet and Charlie Haden on bass - plenty of room to strut their instrumental stuff. A cornerstone of the free jazz movement, the album was initially controversial, but its landmark status is now unquestioned, and THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME has been named to both the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.

The band's eighth studio album (with live and best-of sets among its predecessors), CHICAGO X boasted Grammy-winning cover art resembling a chocolate bar, and the music within still sounds sweet. The collection made good use of the group's many talents - Terry Kath supplied the opening rocker “Once Or Twice,” Robert Lamm penned the appealing single “Another Rainy Day In New York City,” and James Pankow and Lee Loughnane set aside their horns for rare lead vocal performances. But it was Peter Cetera's song “If You Leave Me Now” that stole the spotlight; later a Grammy winner, the track was the band's first No.1 hit in the U.S., and became its sole chart-topping single in the U.K. this month in 1976. Though that ballad was atypical of the album as a whole, CHICAGO X marks a key turning point in the band's public perception and musical evolution.

Clubgoers have always loved Madonna and CONFESSIONS ON A DANCE FLOOR's mix of disco, EDM and dance-pop shows that the feeling is mutual. “I want to dance; I want to feel buoyant. And I want to give other people the same feeling. There's a lot of madness in the world around us, and I want people to be happy,” noted the performer of the 2005 collection, which offered a U-turn from its overtly political predecessor, AMERICAN LIFE. Made with producer Stuart Price in his home studio, the album flows together seamlessly like a DJ set, with song like “Sorry,” “Get Together” and “Hung Up,” a Top 10 hit whose ABBA sample is one of several nods to fellow dance music icons. A chart-topper in a record-setting 40 countries and a Grammy winner for Best Electronic/Dance Album, the platinum-certified CONFESSIONS ON A DANCE FLOOR proves that Madonna still has the magic touch.

Foreigner started their career with a platinum-selling debut but somehow managed to surpass it four years later with 4. Co-produced by the great Mutt Lange, the collection topped the U.S. album chart and went six-times platinum on the strength of such songs as “Juke Box Hero,” “Break It Up” and Top 10 hits “Urgent” and “Waiting For A Girl Like You.” Singer Lou Gramm and guitarist Mick Jones are in fine form throughout, and though session aces had to cover for departing members Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood, it's tough to quibble when those session players include saxophonist Junior Walker and keyboardist Thomas Dolby (yep, the “She Blinded Me With Science” hitmaker). A model of consummately crafted arena rock, Foreigner's 4 stands as one of the most consistently listenable albums of the early 1980s.

INSIGHT OUT was the beginning of The Association's stint with Warner Bros. after two longplayers for Valiant, and it was a winning combination of group and label - the album reached the Top Ten and quickly went gold. It was also the sextet's first album with producer Bones Howe (who had helmed hits for The Turtles) and the first to lean on the session aces of The Wrecking Crew. With the band's focus on harmonies and material, The Association came up with a beautifully sung collection of folk-rock and sunshine pop, including such fine originals as “When Love Comes To Me” and the ambitious “Requiem for the Masses.” Of course the most famous tracks here are “Windy” and “Never My Love,” which hit the first and second slots, respectively, on the Billboard singles chart in the summer of 1967. Association drummer Ted Bluechell, Jr. was born on this day in 1942, so we'll cue up INSIGHT OUT in his honor.