California native Jeff Scott Soto is a journeyman vocalist who started out singing for theatrical metal guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen in the '80s. He then went on to front numerous not-quite-on-the-radar groups throughout the '90s before teaming with Journey guitarist Neal Schon in the group Soul SirkUS in 2004. Since 1995, Soto has also consistently released solo albums, this being his fourth. The opening song, and Schon co-write, "Believe in Me" is bravely out of time and place, sounding like an outtake from Journey's Frontiers (or like psyche-up music from an '80s teen film). "Soul Divine" has an '80s lite-metal bent to it, as does "Drowning" – and so it goes, without much deviation.

Sidi Toure (born 1959, Gao, Mali) is a singer/songwriter from Bamako, Mali. His music is a type of songhaп blues. He started his career in the Sonhaп Stars, a regional orchestra. In 1984 he won the award of best singer with a song of his own hand at a Mali National Bienale. He won the same prize again in 1986. In 1992 he collaborated with Kassemady Diabate.

Secrets & Lies is the eighth solo release by English musician Jakko M. Jakszyk, released on 23 October 2020 by InsideOut Music. It is his first since 2009's Waves Sweep the Sand and it showcases many of his influences. It features progressive rock pieces that originated from King Crimson writing sessions, intimate ballads, and excursions into world music. The record features contributions from fellow KC bandmates Robert Fripp, Gavin Harrison, Tony Levin and Mel Collins. There are also appearances by Al Murray, Simple Minds' John Giblin and Level 42's Mark King. Peter Hammill, with whom Jakszyk also co-wrote one of the songs on the album, also appears on vocals and guitar.

Saxophonist turned jazz pianist Marc Copland has been busy recording for a Switzerland based record label. He continues his high level of musicianship with his core trio, along with tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker and guitarist John Abercombie, both performing on selected tracks. Copland possesses a sensitive touch, while also residing as a well-versed swing and bop pianist.

“Oxymoron” – contradictory terms in conjunction – seems to be a perfectly appropriate title for a CD presenting four pieces written between 1990 and 2005 by Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür for different vocal and instrumental line-ups: Tüür’s writing is characterized by juxtapositions of seemingly heterogeneous musical idioms always moulded with a rare sense of architecture and musical dramaturgy. “Oxymoron” is the fourth ECM-release dedicated exclusively to works by Erkki-Sven Tüür.

For Islands, Mike Oldfield gathered a host of musicians to further his run of more mainstream-sounding albums. The album includes vocals by Bonnie Tyler, Kevin Ayers, and Max Bacon, as well as saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft (famous for his work on Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street"), along with the album's producer and former Yes member Geoffrey Downes…

During her years with Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie only recorded one album. It was released in 1984, after Mirage had run its course and the band was taking an extended break. Given its release date, it's not surprising that Christine McVie sounds like it could have been recorded during the Mirage sessions – it's a collection of soft rock/pop and ballads that are pleasantly melodic and ingratiating…

Pianist Vanessa Benelli Mosell turns to the drama of Italian opera for her new album Casta Diva. Decca Classics will release the album, which assembles a collection of popular arias, overtures, and themes from “Norma,” “La Bohème,” “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” “Guillaume Tell,” “Madama Butterfly” and more in virtuosic arrangements by some of the great pianists of the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of the arrangements come from Chopin, Wittgenstein, Liszt, Thalburg, and Ginzburg.

The musicians of Les Ombres pay tribute to Luigi Boccherini. The free and audacious composer was an insatiable traveler and the inventor of the string quartet whose belatedly acknowledged genius has now earned him a major place in the history of music.

Over six previous albums, Kentucky's Black Stone Cherry continued to prove that their hoary hybrid of Southern rock, grunge, post-metal, and hard rock remains vital. The Human Condition underscores their deserved reputation as the brotherhood of Southern swamp metal, but there is immense growth in their creative process. Previously, BSC's recording process always involved cutting basic tracks while playing live on the studio floor. Working in bassist Jon Lawhon's Monocle Studios, the band did a 180: For the first time ever, they meticulously multi-tracked every note and sound. The sonic detail is indeed expansive, but the group sacrificed none of their power or swagger.

With this second release on ACT singer, songwriter and hymnist Janne Mark presents a kaleidoscopic travelogue from her pilgrimages in life and art. KONTINENT is a soaring departure from PILGRIM (2018) and documents the expanding collaboration with musical miracle worker Arve Henriksen.KONTINENT affirms Janne Mark’s position as a strong voice in contemporary hymn writing and as a sculpturer chiselling out melodies from the bedrock beneath her. The world she creates for herself on KONTINENT contains as diverse elements as the melodies of the northern Atlantic folk music tradition, Danish author Naja Marie Aidt’s poem from the novel When Death Takes Something From You Give It Back and the spellbinding 7th-century celtic lullaby Taladh Chriosta and they sit comfortably among the hymns and clear-cut melodies of the artist herself.