Consider this super-cool, long-overdue 4-CD set the less-commercial but no-less telling riposte to the early 1960s British Invasion, when bands crossed the Atlantic to serve up what they'd learned, largely from under-heralded American artists (as in the Stones and Muddy Waters). During the period thatThe Brit Boxputs under the microscope, England went from Margaret Thatcher and John Major to Tony Blair, from youth culture (and the press) zeroing in on football hooliganism to the rise of Acid House and Brit pop. So it is that the addled guitar haze of Spaceman 3's "Walkin' with Jesus" melds with the bouncy, synth-softened euphoria of "She Bangs the Drums," and the chirpy, jangly float of The Primitives' "Crash." These are moments in pop transition, as the peppy new wave of the 1980s meets up with the psychedelic, dope-colored moodiness of the '90s, and then, quickly, with the ascent of "Cool Brittania." As the Thatcher/Major era heads into the 1990s, Birdland--long forgotten--rips at the jugular with the quick, garage rock-infused "Shoot You Down," which, like so much here, keeps a finger keenly on a groove you could either embrace while hallucinating or pogo-ing on the dance floor (or both). New Order, Pulp, Oasis, Blur, Elastica, and My Bloody Valentine are all here, of course. They embrace the whole continuum, from the trippy to the happy to the… self-reflective, and they offer enough landmarks that Dodgy, and The Bluetones, and Silver Sun and These Animal Men all have space to drop in, adding layers to this spectacular omnibus collection.--Andrew Bartlett