The debut solo album by the Lindisfarne frontman, cut shortly after that band's initial breakup, Pipedream is very much the son of its father, a faintly folky collection of songs that, one presumes, were originally intended for the next Lindisfarne album before events finally overtook them. As usual with Alan Hull's post-Dingly Dell output, nothing here truly leaps out to grab your attention; rather, Pipedream is a meditative, reflective collection characterized as much by Hull's often-plaintive vocal than by any particular melody. But "Country Gentleman's Wife," "Song for a Windmill" and the gorgeous "Justanothersadsong" are latter-day Hull jewels, while the biting "The Money Game" reflects on the end of the band with grandiose venom. [Originally released in 1973, the LP was reissued on CD in 2005 and includes six bonus tracks.]

Journeys to Glory is the debut studio album by Spandau Ballet. It was released on 27 February 1981 by Chrysalis Records, just ten days after its recording at Trident Studios.

It really will be the Ultimate Christmas with these 76 Festive tracks across 4CDs housed in a fold out card digipack style case. Includes Wham! Frank Sinatra, Whitney Houston, Bob Dylan, Tony Bennett, Eartha Kitt, Michael Bolton, Johnny Cash, Simon & Garfunkel, Julie Andrews, Andy Williams, Mahalia Jackson, John Denver, Willie Nelson, Duke Ellington & His Orchestra, Susan Boyle, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Christina Aguilera, Leona Lewis, Dido and many more!

Ultimate Rock: 72 of the biggest rock anthems and harder to find rarities across 4 CDs, all housed in a fold out cardboard digi-pack sleeve. Alice Cooper, Argent, Blue Oyster Cult, Kansas, Judas Priest, Mott The Hoople, David Bowie, Primal Scream, Meat Loaf, The Stranglers, Santana, Manic Street Preachers, Jeff Buckley, Ted Nugent, Joe Satriani, Al Stewart, Cheap Trick, Spirit, Johnny Winter, The Guess Who, Fleetwood Mac and more, and more…

Time Life Music’s Singers & Songwriters: Troubadours offers up 34 rock, folk, and pop cuts from the '60s and '70s. The two-disc set, which is part of Time Life’s Singers & Songwriters series, hits mostly high notes, covering everything from soft rock (Dan Fogelberg's “Longer”) to hippie folk (Scott McKenzie's “San Francisco [Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair]”) to classic rock radio staples (Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way").

The 80s was the decade of the 12 inch. In the UK, all previous instalments of this series sold extremely well and received widespread critical acclaim. The Guardian called the series a "genuine act of music archaeology". From the pop dance genius of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Relax and Donna Summer's I Feel Love through to the more alternative Lullaby by The Cure, and onto classics such as Teardrops by Womack & Womack… This 3CD compilation has it all, in its full 12" glory.

Something of a smooth jazz oriented answer to the label's 2003 straight-ahead compilation Jazz After Dark, this highly engaging two-disc set features oft-played radio hits that have helped define the genre's generally easy grooves and colorful melodies. For diehard fans, smooth jazz has always been as about much about lifestyle as music, and these tracks will no doubt remind them just why they became devotees. All the early classics (circa mid-'70s to mid-'80s) are here, from Kenny G.'s "Songbird" and Dave Grusin's "Mountain Dance" to George Benson's "Breezin'" and Grover Washington, Jr.'s "Just the Two of Us." These are supplemented by later hits like Boney James & Rick Braun's "Grazin' in the Grass" and Dave Koz's "You Make Me Smile." But it's not simply an objective survey of smoothness at its best. The collection also seems designed to promote artists in the Concord Jazz stable – David Benoit and Russ Freeman, the Rippingtons, the Braxton Brothers, Gato Barbieri, Eric Marienthal, and Cassandra Reed, among others.

The Ultimate Christmas Album, Vol. 6: WCBS FM 101.1 is another eclectic collection of pop holiday tunes from the '50s, '60s, '70s, and '80s, including Wham!'s "Last Christmas," the Beach Boys' "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," and Andy Williams' "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!." Aretha Franklin's "Winter Wonderland," America's "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," and Connie Francis' "White Christmas" are some of the other highlights from this scattered compilation, which somehow mixes different sounds and eras into a festive celebration.

Chandos Records is delighted to present this new recording of Elgar’s choral masterpiece The Dream of Gerontius and the enduringly popular song cycle Sea Pictures. The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus are conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, a peerless Elgarian who this year was awarded the prestigious Elgar Society Medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the composer’s music. In Gerontius the soloists are Stuart Skelton, David Soar and Sarah Connolly, who also sings in Sea Pictures. This recording was made in the days leading up to their triumphant live performance of Gerontius in April of this year in which Skelton was praised as ‘the ideal tenor for the role of Gerontius’, Soar described as ‘an implacable, dark sounding Priest’ and Connolly, ‘a consummately polished Angel’ (The Guardian).

Aaron Neville's Soulful Christmas is at once familiar yet progressive, traditional, prayerful, heartfelt, fun, and sexy. Neville lends his angelic voice to timeless holiday standards, resulting in one of the more compelling American holiday albums of the 1990s. Neville's treatment of classics such as "O Holy Night," "Silent Night," and "O Little Town of Bethlehem" is absolutely stirring, and he infuses these lullabies with so much warmth and sincerity that they can even touch the hardest, most cynical audiences. Neville also covers more contemporary tunes, such as "Please Come Home for Christmas," and augments his warm renditions of "The Christmas Song" and "White Christmas" with classic pop arrangements, filled with lush strings, piano, and even saxophone.

Gino Vannelli (born June 16, 1952) is a Canadian virtuoso pop/rock vocalist, singer and songwriter who had several hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s. His best-known singles included "I Just Wanna Stop" (1978) and "Living Inside Myself" (1981). Collection includes: Powerful People (1974); Storm At Sunup (1975); The Gist Of The Gemini (1976); A Pauper In Paradise (1977); Brother To Brother (1978); Nightwalker (1981); Big Dreamers Never Sleep (1987).

Chart-topping rock band who blend shimmering electronic pop with Shirley Manson's emotive vocals. Collection includes: Garbage (1995); Version 2.0 (1998); Beautiful Garbage (2001); Bleed Like Me (2005).

This single-CD compilation doesn't do too much more than scratch the surface of the band's sound at its most popular points, but it does do one thing that no prior Moody Blues compilation ever did – it includes "Go Now," which, as the notes point out, is still the group's top-charting single in England. What it doesn't do is get "Go Now" in really good sound (no one seems to have a proper master source) or include their even better follow-up single, "From the Bottom of My Heart." Still, this body of work is pleasing and, thanks to its extension back to the original lineup, even a little bit informative, and it was the first Moody Blues compilation to be mastered in 20-bit audio.

Most of this disc is taken up with Liszt's Christmas Tree, an unusually modest suite based on Christmas carols. It also offers charming pieces by Reger, Tchaikovsky, Rebikov, and Lyapunov based on Christmas themes, and a couple of Bach transcriptions. Eteri Andjaparidze, whose first CD was a sensational Prokofiev collection, plays this music truly superb musicianship and the kind of pianistic color that has become a rarity. Her Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring is the most beautiful I've heard since Dinu Lipatti's. And wait until you hear her delightful playing of Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride! It's deliciously witty and charming.

The Matangi Quartet's 2005 release Scandinavia has one slight problem: while two of the composers, Edvard Grieg and David Monrad Johansen, were Norwegian, the third, Julius Röntgen, was Dutch! His presence is explained by his close friendship with Grieg, and the Matangi Quartet's decision to include his attractive two-movement Quartettino in A minor as filler is barely justifiable through that connection. Grieg's String Quartet in G minor, Op. 27, and Johansen's String Quartet, Op. 35, both deserve their place here, not only due to their creators' nationality but because they are solid examples of quartet writing outside the German tradition, and demonstrate the Norwegian proclivity to incorporate folk-inspired melodies in looser, more sectionalized developments than are found in Classical, motivically integrated models.