As compilations go this is up there with the best. 28 tracks of the Beach Boys at the top of their form (or close to the top, anyway). And at the price this is great value. It's easy to forget just how important the Beach Boys were to the progression of popular music in the 1960s. Brian Wilson used to watch what the Beatles were doing and try to match them on the artistic level. The Beach Boys 'Pet Sounds' was born of this rivalry and Paul McCartney regarded it as one of the greatest popular-music albums ever made. It spurred the Beatles to complete 'Revolver' and then make 'Sgt Pepper'. Brian Wilson was the Beach Boys' creative genius and when he broke down they lost their leadership position. However they left a huge repertoire of major hits, many of which are captured on this compilation. Some of the most finely crafted pop-music recordings ever made are here. Pete Doggett has written a paragraph in the accompanying booklet giving a little background to each of the tracks, which makes for interesting reading.

Atom Heart Mother, for all its glories, was an acquired taste, and Pink Floyd wisely decided to trim back its orchestral excesses for its follow-up, Meddle. Opening with a deliberately surging "One of These Days," Meddle spends most of its time with sonic textures and elongated compositions, most notably on its epic closer, "Echoes." If there aren't pop songs in the classic sense (even on the level of the group's contributions to Ummagumma), there is a uniform tone, ranging from the pastoral "A Pillow of Winds" to "Fearless," with its insistent refrain hinting at latter-day Floyd. Pink Floyd were nothing if not masters of texture, and Meddle is one of their greatest excursions into little details, pointing the way to the measured brilliance of Dark Side of the Moon and the entire Roger Waters era.

Legendary guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen releases Blue Lightning on March 29, 2019 on Mascot Records To call Yngwie Malmsteen a 'maestro' or 'virtuoso' is to state the obvious. But such terms don't do sufficient justice to either his talent or impact. There are innumerable guitarists who have copied a small part of the vast musical spectrum that defines him, but nobody comes close to achieving what he has over a period of nearly four decades. Now, with 'Blue Lightning', the man highlights not only his enduring dexterity and diversity, but also pays homage to those from the blues world who have fuelled his artistic spirit for so long. Anyone who is expecting Malmsteen to copy exactly the way the original versions sound is in for a shock. Because that is not what he has done. He has masterfully transformed classics like Smoke On The Water, Purple Haze and While My Guitar Gently Weeps into his idiom, and wrote and recorded 4 new tracks for this album.

Colombian singer/songwriter Marta Gomez is a wonderful, enigmatic talent. Her voice has the lulling softness that evokes Brazil's female vocal icons, yet there's a depth to her writing that goes far beneath the surface. She's also something of an expert on Latin rhythms – there are 13 different ones on this disc, all of them rooted in different cultures, from Colombian bambuco to Argentine chamame. But everything is so perfectly put together that you forget the academic side, pulled along by the music and voice. Recorded over just three days, it's a small masterwork. It doesn't matter if you don't understand Spanish, as Gomez evokes delicate moods in her work, each piece beautifully arranged and shaded, with a very live sound.

Alan Bown is most known - certainly in the United States - for his late '60s recordings as leader of a group (actually called the Alan Bown) that played psychedelic pop. The trumpeter had already been recording since 1965, however, with a group called the Alan Bown Set from 1965-1967 in a far more soul-influenced style. This compilation gathers both sides of all five singles the Alan Bown Set released on Pye in the U.K. during that time, along with the seven live songs from the London Swings: Live at the Marquee Club LP they shared with Jimmy James & the Vagabonds, and the French-only single "Jeu De Massacre (The Killing Game)," from the soundtrack of the French film of the same name. The group were in the same general territory as other British combiners of soul, jazz, and blues from the period, such as Georgie Fame and Zoot Money…

Once again the groove is catchy, the way of shaping melodies utterly distinctive; these aspects define the sound of Shalosh. And once again, the trio is incredibly tight – after all, the band’s name does mean “three” in Hebrew. On “Tales of Utopia”, Shalosh have taken their music, their way of telling stories through sound, and placed them in the bigger context. Drawing elements from the Old Testament and the Odyssey, they combine Christian and Greek mythology in a way which is individual… rhapsodic. The connecting of world cultures gives a common thread to the album: a young hero is travelling into the unknown. But what is unknown to him is not just the external world, but also the inner self. Every journey also leads to increased self-awareness, and that makes him stronger. “Tales of Utopia” is about how utopian thinking is based on the preoccupation with one’s own self, on concentration and meditation. Keeping that focus well honed functions as the antidote to information overkill.

Heart's Ann Wilson is releasing a new record with Tripsitter, 'Another Door'. Prior to starting the 2023 tour, Ann Wilson and her band Tripsitter finished 'Another Door', a record of all-original material, which marks the first time since the '70s that Ann has written a full-length album collectively with a band. Tripsitter features Tony Lucido (bass), Ryan Wariner (guitars), Sean T. Lane (drums), and Paul Moak (guitars and keyboards). Tom Bukovac (guitars) was also a primary contributor.

Swiss vocal acrobat Andreas Schaerer and Finnish guitarist Kalle Kalima have some things in common. As artists, each is essentially in a category completely of his own. Both are musicians who can always conjure something special from their chosen instruments.

For this Milestone LP James Moody leaves his alto at home and mostly sticks to tenor (although he switches to flute on "Cherokee"). Five of the nine selections feature Moody with a five-piece brass section (three trumpets, one trombone and a tuba) and a top-notch rhythm section consisting of pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Mel Lewis. Tom McIntosh's arrangements are functional but unexciting, with only "Au Privave" catching much fire. Best are the four other numbers which showcase the tenorman with only the rhythm section. Not content to be a mere bebop revivalist, Moody is heard throughout pushing himself, and there are some good moments from Barron too.

It’s hard to believe this album wasn’t made a long time ago, actually, since blues pianist Pinetop Perkins and drummer and harmonica player Willie "Big Eyes" Smith have worked together frequently in the past 40 some years. Perkins replaced the legendary pianist Otis Spann in Muddy Waters' band in 1969 when Smith was the drummer in the ensemble, and later Perkins and Smith formed the Legendary Blues Band in the 1980s. Perkins was 96 years old when the sessions for Joined at the Hip were recorded, but one wouldn’t know it, and Smith, now out from behind the drum kit (his son, Kenny Smith, plays drums here), concentrates on his harp blowing and handles most of the vocals. The result is a solid Chicago blues record, one that feels like it could have been tracked anytime in the past four decades…