The limited-edition box sets in the Edition series (Silver Edition, 1993, ten CDs; Historic Edition, 1995, ten CDs; Jubilee Edition, 1997, 25 CDs; all gathered [with extra material added] in Ultimate Edition, 2000, 50 CDs) are the most sought-after items in Klaus Schulze collectors' circles, exchanging hands at outrageous prices. In 2009, Klaus D. Mueller and Schulze began releasing La Vie Electronique ("The Electronic Life"), a series of three-CD sets that reissued all the material previously released in these long-deleted box sets, plus a few unreleased tracks, with all the material put back in chronological sequence (the Edition sets mixed things up, time line-wise). Volume 1 covers the years 1968-1972 and is mainly very interesting. One highlight is "I Was Dreaming I Was Awake and Then I Woke Up and Found Myself Asleep," a previously unreleased 25-minute piece that, is stronger than Irrlicht, Schulze's debut LP. "Cyborgs Traum" is also major Schulze material.

While 2002's Down the Road was the best Van Morrison release in ages – with its autobiographical allusions, cultural critiques, and new band – it could not have prepared listeners for the jolt of this, his Blue Note Records debut What's Wrong With This Picture? While the album is hardly a straight jazz record, it does take the territory he explored on Down the Road another step further into the classic pop music of the 20th century filtered through his own Celtic swing, R&B, vocal jazz, and blue-eyed soul. The title track that opens the album is as close to an anthem as Morrison's ever written; he states with an easy, swinging, jazzy soul groove that he is not the same person he once was and wonders why that was so difficult for others to accept. There is no bitterness or bite in his assertions. If anything, the question is asked with warm humor and amusement as if it is indeed the listener's hangup if he/she can't accept Morrison "living in the present time." He asks, "Why don't we take it down and forget about it/'Cause that ain't me at all," as the song whispers to a close.

The version is excellent, very well recorded and Koopman offers an accurate reading without falling into the rigid excesses of some German interpreters or a certain "softness" of some English.

Two musical titans in the classical world, award-winning Italian bass Lorenzo Regazzo and Italian conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini, are brought together once again to record the greatest operatic arias by George Frederic Handel. Handel, one of the most celebrated operatic composers of the eighteenth century, always remained out of step with the preferences of his era - notably his attachment to the 'natural' male voice in a time when the high voices of women or castratos triumphed everywhere.

The musical world owes a debt of gratitude to French conductor Christophe Rousset not only for the vital, exquisite performances he delivers with the ensembles Les Talens Lyriques and Choeur de Chambre de Namur, but for his work in bringing to light neglected masterpieces of Baroque opera. Lully's Bellérophon, premiered in 1679, was a huge success in its time, with an initial run of nine months. Part of its popularity was doubtless due to the parallels that could be drawn between its plot and certain recent exploits of Louis XV, but even the earliest critics recognized the score's uniqueness and exceptional quality within Lully's oeuvre, so it's perhaps surprising that it has never been recorded before.

Anything but generic, this is actually powerful, contemporary, funky Chicago blues. With excellent musicianship, Vaughn performs interesting songs focusing on the trials of modern urban life and work. Vaughn, a top session player, sings and plays guitar and sax.

This 23-song compilation was a choice European release when it first appeared as a double-LP from Polydor in 1983, partly because of the cool looking cover, but also for doing the welcome job of assembling together the A- and B-sides of all of the Jimi Hendrix singles released between January 1967 and 1983. There are a few caveats that must be pointed out before we go further, however. The first is, of course, that this was a U.K. release and, thus, represents his British singles from that period - not that there was an enormous amount of difference between the tracks chosen for his 45s in the U.K. and the U.S. during Hendrix's lifetime; there were just more of them in the U.K., and they charted much higher there, whereas in the U.S. most of his sales were concentrated in his LPs…

The Flower Kings on this double-disc, live CD, featuring six compositions ("Garden of Dreams" is in two parts, making for a total of seven tracks) offer one of the brightest views yet of a band whose obsession with musical exploration and complex harmonic issues never, ever gets in the way of an honest expression of "song," and the human emotions and narratives within it. Led by guitarist and vocalist Roine Stolt, this Swedish septet offers a live outing every bit as adventurous as their studio offerings. Stolt's debt to Yes' Jon Anderson and Steve Hackett is still everywhere evident, but his lyrics are not consciously obtuse, and are drenched in life-affirming scenarios. Musically, the band's reliance on melody and harmony to carry forth their edgier musical explorations is a real blessing; they welcome the listener inside their sound world and make them a part of their sprawling musical narratives…