New releases

In answering the ongoing argument - who was the best Bond? - this new collection has a bias that can be neither shaken nor stirred. Sean Connery is at his suave, deadly best in "Dr. No" and "From Russia With Love." Can there be any doubt that Connery is the top 007 when compared to the too-slick Roger Moore in "Live and Let Die" and the too-earnest Pierce Brosnan in "Die Another Day"? Instead, try debating the best Bond girl: the sultry, surf-drenched Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder ("Dr. No"), or the take-charge Halle Berry as Jinx ("Die Another Day")?

Horror: The Strangers
Action: The Incredible Hulk
Action: Casino Royale
Drama: Flight of the Red Balloon
TV: Knight Rider, complete series
TV: The Naked Brothers Band, season 2
TV: The L Word, season 5
TV: South of Nowhere, season 1
TV: John and Kate Plus 8, season 3

Car Alarm (Thrill Jockey)
The eighth album from the Chicago-based indie pop rock group features tight arrangements, a jazzy, breezy feel and wistful lyrics by singer/guitarist Sam Prekop, singer/guitarist/pianist Archer Prewitt, bassist Eric Claridge, and drummer John McEntire. Formed in the mid-1990s and named for a misinterpretation of the song, "The C in Cake" by Gastr de Sol, the band usually takes its time between albums; "Car Alarm" is an exception, it was recorded in a scant three months right after the band's Australian tour. The Sea and Cake plays the Middle East Downstairs Nov. 12.

Soundtrack: Various/ High School Musical 3: Senior Year (Walt Disney)
Country: Hank Williams III/ Damn Right, Rebel Proud (Curb)
Country: Kenny Chesney/ Lucky Old Sun (BNA)
Rock: Of Montreal/ Skeletal Lamping (Polyvinyl)
Rock: Electric Six/ Flashy (Metropolis)
Country: Lee Ann Womack/Call Me Crazy (MCA Nashville)
R&B: LaBelle/ Back to Now (Verve)
Ambient: Fripp and Eno/ No Pussyfooting (DGM/Inner Knot)
Emo: Escape the Fate/ This War Is Ours (Epitaph)

Multiple platforms (Activism)
Guitar Hero continues its quest toward world domination with another variation that allows a band of rock wannabes to test their chops on songs by Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, the Eagles, Van Halen, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, and more. The game features a newly redesigned guitar controller, drum kit controller, and microphone. Another function allows players to compose and record their own music and share it with others. Now when you say "rock on," you can really mean it.

John Updike (Knopf)
More than two decades have passed since the so-called witches of the small New England town of Eastwick exercised their sexually charged magic in John Updike's diabolically amusing novel "The Witches of Eastwick." In the sequel, the three women - Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie - now widowed, return to Eastwick in a fit of nostalgia and longing. Mischief, some traffic, ensues. Updike, himself a literary lion in winter, looks at what aging witches will do when the flesh fails but the spirit is strong.