Styled as a conspicuous companion piece to Tug of War, Pipes of Peace mirrors its 1982 cousin in many ways: its title track holds up a mirror to its forefather – and, if that weren't enough, Paul McCartney serves up the knowing "Tug of Peace," an almost-electro collage that twists the songs into McCartney II territory – it serves up two showcases for duets with a former Motown star along with a cameo from fusion superstar Stanley Clarke and, most importantly, it is also produced by former Fab Four ringleader George Martin.

Orchestrating My Life is a clever title for an album where Rick Springfield revisits his catalog with the assistance of a 60-piece orchestra. It's a common move for veteran artist, but Springfield resists the easy impulse to make an easy listening record. Instead, he pumps Orchestrating My Life up with big, loud guitars that intentionally echo the arrangements of his original hit singles. Perhaps such a move was inevitable, as so many of his big hits – "I've Done Everything for You," "Don't Talk to Strangers," "Jessie's Girl," "Affair of the Heart," "Love Somebody," "Human Touch" – are melodic power pop fueled by massive hooks, the kind of album rock that needs its riffs as a support; remove the guitars and the whole edifice collapses.

Like Mick Jagger before him, Steven Tyler itched to launch a solo career, but where Mick struck while the iron was relatively hot – 20 years after "Satisfaction," true, yet the Rolling Stones still packed arenas – the Aerosmith singer took the better part of a decade to figure out what he wanted to do on his own. Stumbling through a starring gig on American Idol and an accompanying flop single that led to an awkward 2012 reunion with Aerosmith, Tyler finally resurfaced as a country singer – a surprise, because the closest he ever came to country was the Desmond Child co-write "What It Takes," a power ballad that provides a good touchstone for 2016's We're All Somebody from Somewhere.

Claudio Abbado hat mit diesem Werk seinem Credo alle Ehre gemacht: "Für mich ist Zuhören das Allerwichtigste: einander zuhören, zuhören, was andere Menschen zu sagen haben, auf die Musik hören.“

London Conversation is the first album by John Martyn released on Island Records in 1967. Largely self-penned, the album is much more folk oriented than the Blues/Jazz tinged later releases. The album reputedly cost £158 to record. The cover photo was taken on the roof of Island Records boss Chris Blackwell's Cromwell Road flat. In 1967, John Martyn became the first white solo act to sign with Island Records. While this is notable in the history of the label, his initial release, London Conversation, on the other hand, stands as a mere footnote. The record, though incorporating touches of blues and his characteristic guitar and vocal, doesn't really prepare you for what's to come from Martyn.

Handel's musical illustration of Dryden's Alexander's Feast, first performed in 1736, was a critical and popular success. A day after the première, the London Daily Post reported 'Never was upon the like Occasion so numerous and splendid an Audience at any Theatre in London, there being at least 1300 Persons present'.

In an essay penned for NPR in advance of the release of his ninth studio long-player, Josh Ritter said of creating Gathering: "I had that feeling you get when the sky is suddenly dark before a summer storm; the thunder heads looming at the edge of the fields, the birds quiet. The smell of the gathering electricity in the atmosphere, the certainty of lightning." It's an apt summation of this 12-track set, which eases the listener in with a balmy, a cappella country-gospel opener ("Shaker Love Song [Leah]"), before letting the clouds open up with the one-two punch of "Showboat," a soulful and self-effacing countrypolitan rocker that sounds like a funked-up version of Glen Campbell's "Gentle on My Mind," and "Friendamine," an affable, country-blues boogie with an out-of-nowhere backwards organ solo.

The Zealot Gene is the 22nd studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released on 28 January 2022 by Inside Out Music. Nearly five years in production, it is their first studio album since The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003), and their first of all original material since J-Tull Dot Com (1999), marking the longest gap between the band's studio albums. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 9, becoming Jethro Tull's first UK top ten album since 1972.

Hurricane Ruth's 5th studio album and her debut on the Showplace label, Good Life was produced by Ben Elliott and recorded at Showplace Studios in Dover, NJ. Hurricane Ruth LaMaster is a vocal powerhouse. She earned her name because no one believed that such a large sound could come out of such a small woman!

Don't take the title of John Mayer's Heavier Things literally. Mayer offers nothing heavy on the follow-up to his breakthrough hit, Room for Squares – nothing heavy in the music and nothing heavy in the lyrics. No, Mayer is smooth, slick, and streamlined on his second or third album (it all depends if you count his 1999 debut, Inside Wants Out, half of which was re-recorded for Room for Squares, which itself was released in two different incarnations), playing things straight and following the blueprint his big radio hit, "Your Body Is a Wonderland," provided. The title Heavier Things does reflect his new directness, lacking the lithe playfulness that resulted in a Hank Mobley joke, of all things, for an album title last time out.

Veteran Italian rock band Pooh formed in Bologna in 1966. During the late '60s, the band featured Roby Facchinetti, Valerio Negrini, Dodi Battaglia, and Riccardo Fogli, but after Negrini left in 1971, the band recruited guitarist, bassist, and vocalist Red Canzian plus drummer and percussionist Stefano D'Orazio, and began a long run as one of the best and most popular Italian rockers of their times. The band recorded for many labels, including CBS, Vedette, CGD (Compagnia Generale del Disco), and Warner Music Italy, selling over 100 million records in the process. Pooh continued to tour and record continually up into the 2010s, but in late 2016 they decided to call it quits by the end of the year, in order to complete their 50-year anniversary as a band. The concert album Pooh 50: L'Ultima Notte Insieme, recorded in mid-June at two shows in Milan, promptly hit number one in the Italian charts upon release in September.