The first Soft Machine LP usually got the attention, with its movable parts sleeve, as well as the presence of ultra-talented songwriter Kevin Ayers. But musically, Volume Two better conveys the Dada-ist whimsy and powerful avant rock leanings of the band. Hugh Hopper took over for Ayers on bass, and his fuzz tones and experimental leanings supplanted Ayers' pop emphasis. The creative nucleus behind this most progressive of progressive rock albums, however, is Robert Wyatt. He provides the musical arrangements to Hopper's quirky ideas on the stream-of-consciousness collection of tunes ("Rivmic Melodies") on side one.

Billed as the first Santana compilation to span his entire career, it is true that Ultimate Santana does indeed run the gamut from 1969's "Evil Ways" to 2002's "Game of Love," but if you think that means it handles all phases of his career equally, you'd be sadly mistaken. Essentially, this 18-track set plays like a collection of highlights from his Supernatural-era comebacks, spiked with a couple of classic rock oldies – because that's what it really is. It contains no less than ten superstar duets, including new numbers with Nickelback's Chad Kroeger (the streamlined and smoothed "Into the Night," which has little of Kroeger's trademark growly histrionics) and Jennifer Lopez and Baby Bash ("This Boy's Fire," a dance number where Santana seems incidental), plus a version of "The Game of Love" with Tina Turner (don't worry, the lighter, brighter, superior Michelle Branch version is here too) and plus "Interplanetary Party," which is a new band recording that sounds like a star duet.

Opening slowly with the dark, swampy "Born on the Bayou," Bayou Country reveals an assured Creedence Clearwater Revival, a band that has found its voice between their first and second album. It's not just that "Born on the Bayou" announces that CCR has discovered its sound – it reveals the extent of John Fogerty's myth-making. With this song, he sketches out his persona; it makes him sound as if he crawled out of the backwoods of Louisiana instead of being a native San Franciscan. He carries this illusion throughout the record, through the ominous meanderings of "Graveyard Train" through the stoked cover of "Good Golly Miss Molly" to "Keep on Chooglin'," which rides out a southern-fried groove for nearly eight minutes.

Debussy may have stipulated ‘mains formidables’ as the requirement for pianists tackling his Études, but they need a lot more besides: it’s clear from these magisterial performances that Steven Osborne’s ‘formidable hands’ are always at the service of a profound musical intelligence.

2021 marks 100 years since the death of Camille Saint-Saëns, one of the acknowledged masters of French music. Pianist Bertrand Chamayou, violinist Renaud Capuçon and cellist Edgar Moreau salute him with this album of three of his finest chamber works: the Violin Sonata No 1, Cello Sonata No 1 and Piano Trio No 2. “These are splendid works,” says Bertrand Chamayou, “but only relatively rarely performed and recorded. This is essential French Romantic chamber music and French performers of our generation have a duty to share it with audiences.”

Victory at the 18th International Chopin Piano Competition in October 2021 turned Bruce Liu into a worldwide sensation. Deutsche Grammophon’s live album of his competition recordings was released to rave reviews the following month, and the Canadian-Chinese pianist pianist became an exclusive DG artist in March 2022. Now Bruce Liu, "a pianist with a captivating musical personality" (Financial Times), has recorded his highly anticipated debut studio album, spanning two centuries of French keyboard music.

Although it is not necessarily the most essential Hawkwind package you will ever be offered, Sonic Boom Killers is, nevertheless, among the most sensibly structured, its 18 tracks offering up most (but not quite all) of the band's 1970s singles - most of which were released at a time when chart success was a very real possibility, a point proven by the opening salvo of "Silver Machine" (a U.K. number two in 1972) and "Urban Guerilla" (number 39 in 1973). That the band did not otherwise especially bother the Top 75 is simply a sorry quirk of fashion - "Hurry on Sundown" (from 1970), "Psychedelic Warlords" (1974), "Kings of Speed" (1975), "Quark Strangeness and Charm" (1977), and "Who's Gonna Win the War" (1980) all received a modicum of broadcast support, while "Shot Down in the Night" (1980) scratched to number 59 purely on the back of Hawkwind's adoption by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal…

Out of all the zillions of Motörhead compilations released over the years, 2005's Essential Noize: The Very Best Of may just be the best one yet. And the reason is quite simple – it covers the best tracks from 1978 through 1984, which just about every single Motörhead fan agrees is their strongest period. At the time this material first arrived, many rock fans and metal heads were left scratching their heads in bewilderment, as few groups managed to combine the energy of punk with the power of metal as Lemmy and company did. By the early 21st century, it became quite clear that Motörhead were bona fide trailblazers, influencing countless bands (Metallica, Soundgarden, etc.) and singlehandedly inventing thrash metal.

In 1962 Benny Goodman had a historic visit to the Soviet Union, touring with a big band full of young all-stars. After the orchestra returned to the U.S., tenor saxophonist Al Cohn (who had not made the trip but did write some of Goodman's charts) put together an album (also released by Colpix) using many of the sidemen and paying tribute to the event. Strangely enough none of the six numbers are Cohn originals and he does not play on the record although he arranged all of the music. Of the six songs, "Mission to Moscow," "Let's Dance" and "Russian Lullaby" were part of Goodman's repertoire. Altoist Phil Woods effectively doubles on clarinet and other soloists include tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims, trumpeter Marky Markowitz and trombonist Willie Dennis. An interesting set of modern swing.