Simon and Garfunkel are undoubtedly one of the most successful songwriting duos of the 60s, reaching a similar level of popularity to the Beatles during the latter part of the decade. This Definite Collection shows what a diverse duo they really were and how many memorable tunes they performed together. Though many were put off by the pair's more sterile folk-rock arrangements and clean choirboy harmonies, this collection shows that there was much more to their artistic palette. Songs such as "Homeward Bound", "I Am a Rock", "Cecilia" and "Mrs Robinson" all show that the duo could rock with the best of them and "The Sound of Silence" and "Bridge over Troubled Water" are just some of the beautifully timeless records the pair gave us. It may not be as definitive as it claims but this is a great collection featuring some of their best and most well known works.

Released in 2012 by Warner Music Mexico, Exiliados En La Bahía: Lo Mejor De Maná is a career-spanning 2-CD ultimate greatest hits collection from the legendary Mexican quartet, widely recognized as the biggest Latin rock band in history. Covering over two decades of international chart-topping success, the 30-track set anthologizes essential classics such as "Rayando El Sol", "Vivir Sin Aire", "En El Muelle De San Blas", "Clavado En Un Bar", and "Labios Compartidos" (alongside their hit Santana collaboration "Corazón Espinado"). The anthology also features two exclusive new recordings: "Un Nuevo Amanecer" and their acclaimed cover of Juan Gabriel's "Hasta Que Te Conocí".

Released in 2021 on the acclaimed Dutch imprint Excelsior Recordings, Happy In Hindsight is the fifth studio album from acclaimed Dutch singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Bertolf Lentink. Steeped in vintage 1960s and 1970s pop-rock craftsmanship, the record draws rich melodic inspiration from classics like The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Jackson Browne, and Jeff Lynne. Blending lush vocal harmonies, sun-drenched acoustic arrangements, and immaculate songwriting, the album stands as a warm, retro-inspired yet thoroughly contemporary standout in European indie folk.

Released in 1992 by Castle Communications, Sensational 70s is a 21-track compilation celebrating the vibrant music scene of the 1970s. Packed with chart-topping hits and radio staples, this release covers glam rock (T. Rex, The Move), disco/soul anthems (Gladys Knight & The Pips, Andrea True Connection, The Real Thing), soft rock, and pop classics (Bonnie Tyler, Melanie). Running over 76 minutes, it provides a nostalgic look back at one of pop music's most diverse decades.

Although it's missing a few important (not to mention big) hits, Greatest Hits, Vols. 1 & 2 is an excellent retrospective of the first half of Billy Joel's career. Beginning with "Piano Man," the first disc runs through a number of early songs before arriving at the hit-making days of the late '70s; some of these songs, including "Captain Jack" and "New York State of Mind," weren't strictly hits, but were popular numbers within his stage show and became radio hits. Once the songs from The Stranger arrive halfway through the first disc, there's no stopping the hits (although "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant," an album track from The Stranger, manages its way onto the collection). In fact, over the next disc and a half, there's so many hits, it's inevitable that some are left off – to be specific, "Honesty," "Sometimes a Fantasy," "An Innocent Man," "Leave a Tender Moment," and "Keeping the Faith" aren't included.

Don McLean's final album for United Artists was a musical tour de force, and the best self-contained account of the full breadth of McLean's talent. Recorded live in England, in Manchester, Bristol, London, and Oxford, the 26 songs encompassed not only the artist's best-known work, but also many of his personal favorites, among them works by other composers (including Bob Dylan's "Masters of War"). All the songs are done solo by McLean on acoustic guitar and banjo, performing in a loose, freewheeling style more appropriate to a folk performance at a small club than a rock concert – except that McLean was doing these performances to tens of thousands of people at a time. He ranges freely across his repertory, including a loose yet sincere rendition of "American Pie" and a stunning version of "Till Tomorrow" (his encore), through "The Arkansas Traveller" and "Homeless Brother" to "Castles in the Air," the last in a version that makes the studio recording seem cold and sterile.

Essential is a beautifully remastered 16-track overview of singer and songwriter Kim Carnes' eight years with EMI. Though she recorded two fine albums for A&M before, and a number of solid if underappreciated offerings for a number of labels after, Ms. Carnes is best known for the seven records she made for EMI between 1979 and 1986. Of course, her biggest hits are here: the ubiquitous pop classic "Bette Davis Eyes," "Cry Like a Baby," and "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer" (in duet with Kenny Rogers). But deeper than this are lesser-known but nonetheless excellent songs such as "I'd Lie to You for Your Love," "Abadabadango," "I Pretend," "Chain Letter," and the Faces-esque "It Hurts So Bad," all of them done in an nearly astonishing range of subgenres of rock and pop.

The international release The Paul Simon Anthology was a two-CD abridged version of the three-CD box set Paul Simon 1964-1993. For this version, the first two discs of the box set were condensed into a single CD, while the third disc, left untouched, was now the second disc. This accentuated one of the weaknesses of the box set, weighting the selections even more heavily toward Simon's later work. Here, his recordings originally released between 1965 and 1983 (including six Simon and Garfunkel tracks) made up the first disc, and the second disc covered only the period 1986-1993, and really 1986-90, since the only recordings released after 1990 were "Thelma," an outtake from the 1990 album The Rhythm of the Saints and three performances from the 1991 live album Paul Simon's Concert in the Park. While the abridgment seemed to have been made with an eye on the British charts, for the most part eliminating only songs that had not been hits in the U.K. (the exceptions being "America" and "Take Me to the Mardi Gras"), the album still didn't function as a full-fledged greatest hits album, lacking such British chart singles as "Homeward Bound" and "I Am a Rock" (neither of which were on Paul Simon 1964-1993, either).