Asia hadn't released an album of new music since 1985, so changes were to be expected. But changes for the better – well, that was a pleasant surprise. Aqua found the band infused with new energy, represented by a younger generation of arena rockers in bassist/vocalist John Payne and guitarist Al Pitrelli. Although Payne doesn't invite comparison to John Wetton or Greg Lake (his voice tends to get rougher as it gets louder), he gets the job done and turns out to be a pretty good songwriter in the bargain. Pitrelli, who had recently worked with Alice Cooper, knows his rock guitar; he's no replacement for Steve Howe, but he doesn't have to be – Howe makes guest appearances throughout the disc. Aqua is an amalgam of arena rock and hair metal that avoids sounding sappy or self-pitying, two adjectives that would describe Alpha or Astra.

Return to the Centre of the Earth is a studio album by the English keyboardist Rick Wakeman, released on 15 March 1999 on EMI Classics. The album is a sequel to his 1974 concept album Journey to the Centre of the Earth, itself based on the same-titled science fiction novel by Jules Verne. Wakeman wrote a new story of three unnamed travellers who attempt to follow the original journey two hundred years later, including the music which features guest performances from Ozzy Osbourne, Bonnie Tyler, Tony Mitchell, Trevor Rabin, Justin Hayward, and Katrina Leskanich. The story is narrated by Patrick Stewart. Upon release, the album reached number 34 on the UK Albums Chart.

Former Asia front man John Wetton has released more than his share of live albums in recent years. The performance, recorded in Poland on the Arkangel tour, is strong and nearly perfect.

Although there are those who nail their spirals to Vertigo as the prog label of choice, EMI’s Harvest certainly vies with it for pole position. With Harvest, the detail was everything. Loaded with the bizarre, striking and the strange, turns abounded like the Third Ear Band, Kevin Ayers and The Greatest Show On Earth. From the bad acid of Edgar Broughton’s There’s No Vibrations, But Wait through the squiffy majesty of Dave Mason’s You Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave, to Be- Bop Deluxe’s future pop of Jet Silver and the Dolls Of Venus, this collection is impressive and nostalgic – its very lack of a house style providing its consistency.

Formed in 1967 by former Motions guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen, the Dutch quartet Shocking Blue originally had a lineup of VanLeeuwen on guitar, lead vocalist Fred DeWilde, bass player Klaasje Van der Wal, and drummer Cornelius Van der Beek, and the initial configuration of the band had a minor homeland hit with “Lucy Brown Is Back in Town” a year later in 1968. Things really got moving, though, when DeWilde was replaced by sultry singer Mariska Veres, whose sexy presence and solid singing brought the band a second Netherlands hit, “Send Me a Postcard,” and then a huge international smash with “Venus” in 1970 after the group had signed to Jerry Ross' Colossus Records imprint.

Remixed & Revisited is a remix album by American singer and songwriter Madonna. It was released on November 24, 2003 by Maverick Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album contains four songs, in remixed form, from her 2003 ninth studio album American Life and a previously unreleased song, "Your Honesty", originally written and recorded for her 1994 sixth studio album Bedtime Stories. The other tracks included are the live performance of "Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood" on the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards—which ended with Madonna kissing co-performers Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera—and a remix of 1985 single "Into the Groove". The release peaked at number 115 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. It received mixed reviews from critics; "Your Honesty" was generally the only song to receive praise. The remix album also marked the closing release under her contract with Maverick Records.

Romeo and Juliet is such a perfectly conceived masterpiece (perhaps the finest symphonic poem ever written) that when it is presented with a fair degree of ardour it cannot fail to make its effect. Chailly's view is a romantic one. He secures an excellent response from the Cleveland players as he does in Francesca, especially in the beguiling middle section (notably from the principal clarinet). But he treats this epic piece like ballet music and the passionate final climax, when the lovers are discovered, sounds like a grand pas de deux.

Bohemian-German composer Jan Ladislav Dussek, 10 years older than Beethoven and a major influence upon him in the realm of keyboard music, is known mostly for that keyboard music and for his chamber music with keyboard. This set of three string quartets from late in his career has apparently never been recorded before. Dussek confidently asserted to an English publisher that "they are neither in the Stile of Mozart, of Haydn, nor that of Pleyel, they are in the Stile of Dussek, and I hope will make some noise in the Musical World."

Little can be as momentous for a work as it's encounter with an extraordinary interpreter. And today - there's no doubt about it - Fauré has found his voice in that of Cyrille Dubois. A bright, clear timbre and impeccable diction undoubtedly contribute to the remarkable complicity that we witness, but it's secret lies above all perhaps in the French tenor's singular ability to convey an atmosphere, evoke an emotion, a feeling, a mood - in short, bring out all the poetic qualities of the music.