20 Great Dictators

A prolific singer, remembered as one of the greatest pop song stylists alongside Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Sarah Vaughan. Peggy Lee's alluring tone, distinctive delivery, breadth of material, and ability to write many of her own songs made her one of the most captivating artists of the vocal era, from her breakthrough on the Benny Goodman hit "Why Don't You Do Right" to her many solo successes, singles including "Mañana," "Lover" and "Fever" that showed her bewitching vocal power, a balance between sultry swing and impeccable musicianship.

Though his influence proved less durable than his record sales, Frankie Laine was one of the most popular vocalists of the 1950s, swinging jazz standards as well as half a dozen Western movie themes of the time with his manly baritone. Laine's somewhat artificial Western nature proved more successful in far-off England, where he set two chart records in 1953: his version of "I Believe" stayed at number one in the U.K. for an incredible 18 weeks, and his two subsequent chart-toppers that year ("Hey Joe," "Answer Me") set a record by putting Laine at number one for 27 weeks during the year.

STREET LIFE is a collection that, with barely a misstep, arranges the career of Bryan Ferry into a brilliant, nearly chronological 20-track retrospective, with material from both Roxy Music and his concurrent solo career. The first ten tracks, from pre-1979, show Ferry and the band in their loose, glam rock mode, freely toying with other musical styles as the mood takes them. It includes classics like "Virginia Plain," "Pyjamarama," and "Do the Strand," along with a funny, and slightly surreal, take on Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" and Ferry's smooth interpretation of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (from his ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE solo album).