Pitchfork

Whether you slept through a good fifteen years of British music, wish to revisit one of the most fertile post-Invasion periods, or, er, were born in 1993, boy does Rhino have something for you.

Spanning four discs and collecting a pretty astoundingly comprehensive selection of choice jams from across the pond, The Brit Box: U.K. Indie, Shoegaze, and Brit Pop Gems of the Last Millennium shatters U.S. record store shelves October 2.

If it made a UK splash during the last 15 years of the 20th century, it's on here: Blur. Oasis. Pulp. Primal Scream. New Order. The Smiths. My Bloody Valentine. The Cure. More or less everything, from A to Menswe@r. And all the obvious classics too: "How Soon Is Now?". "Common People". "Live Forever". "Only Shallow". Um, "Brimful of Asha".

Disc one opens with jangly 80s goodness, including the aforementioned Smiths and Cure, before hitting the decade divide with acid house rave-ups from Primal Scream and the Happy Mondays. Disc two is all about the shoegaze, with MBV, Lush, Chapterhouse, Ride, Curve, Catherine Wheel and so forth blissing out all over the place. Manic Street Preachers, Teenage Fanclub, and Ned's Atomic Dustbin sneak on there as well, but dudes, where the fuck is Slowdive?!

The final two discs encapsulate what's generally known as Brit Pop, with the first hitting all the touchstones-- Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Suede, Elastica-- and the second exploring residuals (Mansun's "Wide Open Space", awwshit) and playing out like a late 1990s episode of "120 Minutes".

And if the tracklist alone doesn't scream BUY ME NOW, how about this? The Brit Box comes housed in a package made to look like a typical English phone booth-- complete with a battery-powered flickering lightbulb. Also noteworthy, but not nearly as cool as the miracle of electricity: an 80-page booklet bursting at the seams with photos, interviews, essays, and memories from the likes of Creation's Alan McGee, producers Stephen Street and Alan Moulder, and numerous Brit Box artists.

The Brit Box:

Disc 1:

01 The Smiths - "How Soon Is Now?"
02 Cocteau Twins - "Lorelei"
03 Felt - "Primitive Painters"
04 Shop Assistants - "Somewhere in China"
05 The Mighty Lemon Drops - "My Biggest Thrill"
06 The Cure - "Just Like Heaven"
07 Echo & The Bunnymen - "Lips Like Sugar"
08 The Jesus and Mary Chain - "April Skies"
09 Spacemen 3 - "Walkin' With Jesus (Sound of Confusion)"
10 The Primitives - "Crash"
11 The Wonder Stuff - "Unbearable"
12 The Stone Roses - "She Bangs the Drums"
13 The Charlatans UK - "The Only One I Know"
14 Happy Mondays - "Step On"
15 Primal Scream - "Loaded" [single version]
16 Inspiral Carpets - "This Is How It Feels"
17 The Trash Can Sinatras - "Obscurity Knocks"
18 The La's - "There She Goes"
19 The Sundays - "Here's Where the Story Ends"

Disc 2:

01 Ride - "Vapour Trail"
02 Pale Saints - "Sight of You"
03 My Bloody Valentine - "Only Shallow"
04 Lush - "For Love"
05 The Telescopes - "Flying"
06 Chapterhouse - "Pearl"
07 Catherine Wheel - "I Want To Touch You"
08 Bleach - "Trip & Slide"
09 Curve - "Coast Is Clear"
10 Five Thirty - "You"
11 Moose - "This River Will Never Run Dry"
12 The Family Cat - "(Thought I'd Died) And Gone To Heaven"
13 The Dylans - "(Don't Cut Me Down) Mary Quant in Blue"
14 Thousand Yard Stare - "0-0 A.E.T. (No Score After Extra Time)"
15 Ned's Atomic Dustbin - "Grey Cell Green"
16 Birdland - "Shoot You Down"
17 Manic Street Preachers - "Stay Beautiful"
18 Teenage Fanclub - "Star Sign"

Disc 3:

01 Suede - "Metal Mickey"
02 Swervedriver - "Duel" [radio edit]
03 Eugenius - "Breakfast"
04 Superstar - "Barfly"
05 New Order - "Regret"
06 James - "Laid"
07 Nick Heyward - "Kite"
08 The Boo Radleys - "Lazarus"
09 Saint Etienne - "You're in a Bad Way"
10 Stereolab - "Wow & Flutter"
11 Blur - "Tracy Jacks"
12 Oasis - "Live Forever"
13 Pulp - "Common People"
14 These Animal Men - "Speed King"
15 Mega City Four - "Wallflower"
16 Echobelly - "Insomniac"
17 Gene - "Sleep Well Tonight"
18 Menswe@r - "Sleeping In"
19 Supergrass - "Alright"
20 Cast - "Alright"
21 Elastica - "Stutter"

Disc 4:

01 Dodgy - "In a Room"
02 Ash - "Girl From Mars"
03 Sleeper - "Sale of the Century"
04 Marion - "Sleep"
05 Kula Shaker - "Tattva"
06 Ocean Colour Scene - "The Riverboat Song"
07 Babybird - "You're Gorgeous"
08 The Bluetones - "Slight Return"
09 Super Furry Animals - "Something 4 the Weekend"
10 The Divine Comedy - "Something for the Weekend"
11 Cornershop - "Brimful of Asha"
12 Silver Sun - "Service"
13 Spiritualized - "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space"
14 Mansun - "Wide Open Space"
15 Hurricane #1 - "Step Into My World"
16 The Verve - "Lucky Man"
17 Rialto - "Untouchable"
18 Catatonia - "Mulder and Scully"
19 Placebo - "You Don't Care About Us"
20 Gay Dad - "Oh Jim"