Classic rockers Plant a 'Hit' or two

A growing trend in musical anthologies is that bands and artists are splitting the difference between the usual greatest hits and box set arcana as the following sets prove.\nRobert Plant's solo career has been more fruitful than one might think due to his varied influences, which he incorporates often seemlessly. His blues, wild '50s rock, old folk and psychedelia show up on Sixty Six to Timbuktu, including his pre-Led Zeppelin solo career on the second disc.\nWhile Plant left Zeppelin because his drummer died, Peter Gabriel left his famous band, Genesis, because his drummer suffered an artistic death. Gabriel never missed Phil Collins. Rather, he kept making quirky art-rock with a devotion to Afrobeat that transferred well to singles. The second disc on Hit, entitled Miss, focuses on the quirkiness. \nGuided by Voices worshipped Gabriel's old Genesis among others. Their hits album comes as a relief, if only that it allows us to keep up with their insane profligacy and drunken no-fi carelessness.\nBilly Bragg never achieved the fame because of his leftist politics and nasally British accent. We like our British cats cool, after all. However, on the two-disc Must I Paint You a Picture? -- it's readily available with a third bonus disc of weirdness, he comes across as romantic as he is civic.