Burt Bacharach: the Look of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection (Rhino) I try to stay away from box sets, but this one is so good and definitive that I have to list it. The 3 CDs span this giant's entire career. Possibly the greatest songwriter of all time, you'll hear hit after hit of perfectly crafted pop delight. I'm not going to mention the songs because if you don't know them, there are just too many to list. Jackie DeShannon's version of "What the World Needs Now" may be the one defining song on this release. As the track builds at the end, the backing vocals give me goosebumps. Like Spector, Bacharach understood and understands the power of crescendo. He'll get a pass on some of his '80s stuff.

Phil Spector: Back to Mono (Abcko) Another box set, sorry. However, no serious collection of popular music should be without this one. Released in 1991 at an earlier stage of compact disc technology, these recordings today sound a little brittle and digital and could probably use a remastering by Bill Inglot using some 24-bit or higher technology. Even without it, the recording brings together the essence of the "Wall of Sound" production that influenced every recording from the '50s forward. Includes, among the other hits, all the Spector-produced hits from The Righteous Brothers and, of course, "Be My Baby", the song that Brian Wilson just cannot get out of his head. The set includes the opus "River Deep, Mountain High", a song of legend that some say caused Spector to give up on popular music. You really need this, particularly if the set ever comes out in a remastered version.