Contemporary Mississippi blues musician Eddie Cotton, Jr. has combined university training with service in his father’s church and a love of the blues to produce commanding music of fiery intensity and power. Following his spectacular 2000 debut Live at the Alamo Theater and Extra in 2002, Here I Come shows the triple threat singer, songwriter and guitarist breaking out and up to establish serious credibility as a major new star demanding and deserving to be heard. Cotton performs 10 uniquely original tracks backed by Myron Bennett (bass), Samuel Scott, Jr. (drums) and guest artists Grady Champion (harmonica), Carlos Russell (harmonica) and Sam Brady (organ).

The Atomic Fireballs were formed in Detroit in 1996 by John Bunkley and James Bostek. The two of them met when Bostek's wife was working with Bunkley and introduced them. Although the group plays their own brand of high-energy swing music, they list their influences to be as far ranging as Louis Jordan and Black Flag. The lineup of the group is Bostek on trumpet, Bunkley on vocals, Tony Buccilli playing trombone, Duke Kingins on guitar, Shawn Scaggs on double bass, Eric Schabo wailing tenor sax, and Randy Sly on piano. Their first album was the self-released Birth of the Swerve (1998). The album was good enough to garner the interest of major labels. That meant that the follow-up, 1999's Torch This Place, was not an independent release but rather on Atlantic.

Believe it or not, Slade on Stage is the most intense recording Slade has ever made. That's heavy. This live album, recorded circa Till Deaf Do Us Part, shows the band playing faster, harder, and better than ever. Slade on Stage contains five of the band's new songs and four of their classic hits, along with an audience singalong to end the show. The first three songs set the stage. Slade comes out of the gate so fast with "Rock and Roll Preacher," "When I'm Dancin'," and "Take Me Bak Ome" that if they didn't follow those three up with a ballad, you'd almost have to take the record off. It's that intense. During "Preacher," Noddy Holder leads the crowd when the music quiets down, "I see the light – GLORY HALLELUJAH, baby I'm on fire!"

il Gardellino is a Flemish instrumental ensemble for Baroque music, founded in 1988 on an initiative of the Dutch oboist Marcel Ponseele (NL) and flutist Jan De Winne. The name was derived from a piece by Vivaldi for transverse flute, oboe, violin, bassoon and continuo Il Gardellino, which is in Flemish the name of the songbird distelvink. The ensemble plays on period instruments in historically informed performance. Works by Johann Sebastian Bach are a focus, but also by his contemporaries Johann Friedrich Fasch, Carl Heinrich Graun, Handel, Johann Gottlieb Janitsch, Telemann and Vivaldi.

In the preface to his Musiche da cantar solo of 1609, Sigismondo d'India noted with endearing frankness that in the solo vocal music of his time there was a danger of every piece sounding the same. His own works, however, he sought to rescue from this mire of monotony by means of ''uncommon intervals'' which would have ''a greater emotional force than if they had been written in a uniform way with conventional progressions''. Anyone who would suspect this disc, offering 19 monodies for tenor and continuo, of sameness is hereby advised to believe d'India rather than initial instinct.

The great soul legend Ben E. King is joined by friends and admirers on these recut versions of King’s most beloved hits! King’s voice sounds as good as ever on this collection while funky bass icon Bootsy Collins breathes new life into “Supernatural Thing, Part 1” while up-and-coming R&B artist Bette Smith joins blues guitar phenom Ronnie Earl on a rousing version of “Stand By Me!” King’s influence can continue to be felt and heard in retro soul artists such as Black Pumas, Joss Stone and more!

One of the more worthy black metal releases of the early '90s was Moonspell's Under the Moonspell, a five-track EP that signaled to many extreme metal fans that Portugal had birthed their own extreme metal band. With the release becoming increasingly difficult to find in intervening years, the Moonspell lads decided to celebrate the EP's 13-year release anniversary by re-recording it, resulting in the release of 2007's Under Satanae. But this proves to be a "new and improved" version of the group's early classic, as re-recordings of other rare tracks from before their 1995 full-length, Wolfheart, are included as well. While tracks such as "Tenebrarum Oratorium" and the beautifully titled "Goat on Fire" sound rather run of the mill by 2007 standards, keep in mind that when these tracks were first released, there was certainly not an overabundance of extreme metal bands that sounded like this…

Tourism: Songs from Studios, Stages, Hotelrooms & Other Strange Places is the fourth studio album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released on 28 August 1992 by EMI. Despite often being mistaken for a live album, the record was described by Roxette in its liner notes as a "tour album": the band recorded the majority of its material in numerous recording studios in-between live dates of their worldwide "Join the Joyride! Tour". The album contains three live concert recordings, while another track was recorded live in an empty nightclub in São Paulo. A further two tracks were recorded in Buenos Aires' Alvear Palace Hotel.

Deutsche Grammophon presents Winter Tales – a new seasonal album featuring music from some of the label’s star composers, who were invited to reimagine the music of Christmas and Chanukah, drawing inspiration from their childhoods and homelands. The album, which is due for release on 21 October, comprises 12 very personal responses to that creative challenge, all of which have something fresh and timely to say about winter’s promise of renewal and light’s power over darkness.

22 tracks from 1970–1975 including 6 Top 40 hits and 5 Top 20 hits.

By all accounts, the somewhat unexpected 2014 King Crimson tour was a resounding success and Live at the Orpheum is the first offering for those who were unable to attend. The band had been reinvented with a combination of new and returning players and the set list consisted largely of tunes that hadn't been performed live since the '70s, if at all. The main wild card was the three-drummer front line, which easily could have turned into a mess, even without music as challenging as Crimson's. Well, the time the three drummers (Pat Mastelotto, Bill Rieflin, and Gavin Harrison) spent rehearsing before convening the entire group was well worth it, because they play with a single mind throughout. The returning Mel Collins sounds fantastic on all manner of saxophones and flute, and hearing Tony Levin's amazing bass playing on all these old King Crimson tunes is a real treat…