Album: Various artists, Bustin' Out – 1982 (Year Zero)

Was 1982 a golden year? It was certainly an interesting one, with late Krautrock (Die Krupps' "Goldfinger", the opener here) meeting robotic white-boy funk, newly emergent hip-hop and dark and industrial techno-swamp weirdness.

Of course, "interesting" isn't necessarily what you want, and perhaps only half of these 15 tracks are worth playing twice. But Man Parrish's "Hip Hop Be Bop" is revealed to be a towering masterpiece and even the technoid reggae (Mark Stewart, Dub Syndicate) is a gratifying blast from the past.