LAURA BRANIGAN THE TOY DOLLS GARBAGE

BRANIGAN THE SINGLES BLEED LIKE ME

It’s a puzzle as to why some singles hit big, only for the album they’re attached to sink like the Bismark. So it was with Gloria, Laura Branigan’s 1982 chartstorming cover of Umberto Tozzi’s anaemic original. Despite peaking at No.6 in the UK, her debut album bombed over here. Which is a surprise as there’s nothing on this bombastic, big-voiced offering – now back out on vinyl – that’s any different to her signature song. “If you liked Gloria,” Branigan’s tagline should have read, “then you’ll find this album perfectly acceptable.” Steve O’Brien

Infamously, the Sunderland punks’ version of Nellie The Elephant gatecrashed the

Top 10 at Christmas 1984, seeing them rub shoulders with Band Aid, Madonna and Wham! in one of the most competitive charts of all time. If Nellie made you smile, then this 2CD will see you grinning madly. It’s ramalama pop-punk all the way for 37 songs, with Dolls’ originals like We’re Mad, Deirdre’s A Slag and the brilliantly sick I’ve Got Asthma jostling for space with their versions of Livin’ La Vida Loca and Rupert The Bear. Puerile, very silly, but ultimately good fun. BS

As well-reviewed as it was on its release in 2001, Garbage’s third album Beautiful Garbage alarmed many rock purists with its excursions into electronica. Perhaps stung by their fanbase’s reaction, Shirley Manson’s gang went back to their post-grunge roots for 2005’s follow-up – only the results are less interesting. While its predecessor felt more open-minded, album four, reissued with a second CD of B-sides, remixes and demos, is much more meat and potatoes. A collection of thrashy rock workouts, only the swooning

It’s All Over But The Crying breaks the sonic monotony. SO