Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version [2LP]

No one in hip-hop sounded like Ol' Dirty Bastard, and Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version captures the Wu-Tang Clan's wildest voice in full flight on a remastered double LP.

Arriving in 1995, the record was one of the first Wu-Tang solo albums to follow the group's explosive debut, and it made clear that ODB played by nobody's rules. Where his bandmates sharpened their lyrical swords, he howled, crooned, rambled and laughed his way through tracks with a chaotic, joyful energy that has never been matched. RZA handled much of the production, and his gritty, off-kilter beats proved the perfect playground.

"Shimmy Shimmy Ya" is the unforgettable centrepiece, built on a clunky, hypnotic piano loop and a hook he seems to make up on the spot. "Brooklyn Zoo" is pure ferocity, a raw-throated statement of intent, while "Baby C'mon" and "Raw Hide" show how much fun he had bending a song out of shape. Between the tracks, the skits and asides only add to the sense that you are hearing a true original with no filter at all.

Decades later, its influence on rap's eccentrics and rule-breakers is everywhere. This 2LP set keeps the mess, the menace and the magic fully intact.