John Lennon

Dump your weather-beaten copy of John Lennon's Shaved Fish retrospective and replace it with this 20-track "best of" set. Going by these songs, you'd never guess that Lennon's solo years could be as troubled as they were endlessly rewarding (his idiosyncratic use of harmony on songs like "Mind Games" alone is worth studying). While this is the best single-disc overview of Lennon's solo output, more passionate listeners should also check out the two-disc set Working Class Hero. OK -- just listen to his entire catalog and create your own box set of favorite tracks.