Various Artists: 20 Centuries Of Hits

Sure, it's an inherently ridiculous project, but there's something strangely satisfying about owning a CD that compiles 22 songs from 20 centuries of Western music. Over the course of one disc, Rhino offers a history of popular music, beginning with the "First Delphic Hymn To Apollo" (the first piece of music of which records exist in the West) and ending with "Louie Louie." Sandwiched in between is everything else, from 4th-century plainsong to the wonderful Anonymous 4's take on 13th-century polyphonic experiments, to Aretha Franklin's "Amazing Grace." Rhino's selections can hardly be called definitive—how could any selection be—but it's interesting that its cross-section of 2,000 years of music contains songs dedicated almost entirely to two subjects: God and love. Something to think about the next time you're listening to music of any sort, be it "Barbara Ann" or "Barbara Allen," 14th-century superstar Guillaume de Machaut's "Messe De Notre Dame," or Tori Amos' various natterings about the powers of fairies and unicorns.