Falling somewhere between the pop sensibilities of Ten Summoner's Tales and the searching ambition of The Soul Cages, Mercury Falling is one of Sting's tighter records, even if it fails to compel as much as his previous solo albums. Though he doesn't flaunt his jazz aspirations as he did in the mid-'80s, Mercury Falling feels more serious than The Dream of the Blue Turtles, primarily because of its reserved, high-class production and execution. Building from surprisingly simple, memorable melodies, Sting creates multi-layered, vaguely soul-influenced arrangements that carry all of the hallmarks of someone who has studied music, not lived it.

Just Testing is the tenth studio album by the British rock band Wishbone Ash, released on 18 January 1980 by MCA Records. Recorded primarily at Surrey Sound Studios in England, it was the last to feature the original lead vocalist and bass guitarist Martin Turner until the release of Nouveau Calls (1987). The track "Helpless" is only the second cover version released by the band on a studio album, the previous one being "Vas Dis" on Pilgrimage.

LSD: Love, Sensuality and Devotion gathers over a decade's worth of Enigma's definitive tracks, including the song that started it all, "Sadeness, Pt. 1." "Return to Innocence," "Beyond the Invisible," and "Cross of Changes" are all featured as well, and though the collection ranges from the rock-tinged "I'll Love You…I'll Kill You" to atmospheric, electronic fare like "Shadows in Silence," since it's all essentially Michael Crétu's vision, it flows surprisingly well. Since Enigma's sound has varied fairly drastically over the years, LSD: Love, Sensuality and Devotion is the perfect starting point for anyone curious about Crétu's music, and the only Enigma album that casual fans might need.

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!"

Each era of rock music has had its own craftily marketed phenomenon – it was the "live album" in the '70s, "unplugged" recordings in the '90s, and since the late '80s through the present day, the "tribute album." But the early 21st century saw another addition – veteran bands revisiting classic albums and performing them in their entirety. Jethro Tull's most enduring release is largely agreed to be 1971's classic Aqualung, and in late 2004 Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, and their latest Tull mates dusted off the album once more in front of a small audience for XM Radio's Then Again Live series. Since 33 years had passed between the original and the re-reading, the performances on Aqualung Live are slightly more restrained.

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…

Think of the one-shot Seattle supergroup Mad Season as the grunge version of sober living. Guitarist Mike McCready, best known as the main six-string slinger in Pearl Jam, met bassist John Baker Saunders while in rehab, and the two paired with Screaming Trees' drummer Barrett Martin and Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley, partially in hopes of steering the singer onto the path of the straight and narrow. Ultimately, the plan didn't pan out, but for a brief while, the quartet - who adopted the name Mad Season - did have their moment of clarity, captured on the 1995 album Above. There was a single issued to modern rock radio - "River of Deceit" - but this record downplayed easy hooks and melody in favor of churning introspection and slow vamps that occasionally flirt with blues…