After 10 albums with Procol Harum, lead singer, composer, and keyboard player Gary Brooker launched his solo career with this album. Of course, there were Brooker's familiar characteristics – the steady piano work, the butterscotch soul voice. But he switched lyric partners for this set (except for the title track), trading longtime Procol wordsmith Keith Reid for Pete Sinfield, who had performed the same function for Procol contemporaries King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Brooker also tried a couple of tunes by Stiff Records pub-rocker Mickey Jupp (Jupp's versions are better) and Murray Head's "Say It Ain't So, Joe" (Roger Daltrey's version is better). The result was a varied set that succeeded in sounding like something other than Procol Harum's 11th album, although it did not demonstrate that Gary Brooker solo was going to be an improvement over the group.

Joe Williams' debut as the featured vocalist in Count Basie's band was one of those landmark moments that even savvy observers don't fully appreciate when it occurs, then realize years later how momentous an event they witnessed. Williams brought a different presence to the great Basie orchestra than the one Jimmy Rushing provided; he couldn't shout like Rushing, but he was more effective on romantic and sentimental material, while he was almost as spectacular on surging blues, up-tempo wailers, and stomping standards. Basie's band maintained an incredible groove behind Williams, who moved from authoritative statements on "Every Day I Have the Blues" and "Please Send Me Someone to Love" to brisk workouts on "Roll 'Em Pete" and his definitive hit, "All Right, OK, You Win".

Fickle Pickle was an early- '70s band that was part of the Morgan Studios orbit, along with such bands as Orange Bicycle and the Smoke. Indeed, much of Fickle Pickle's lineup was filled out by ex-members of both of those bands, including Geoff Gill, Cliff Wade (a member of the short-lived early- '70s version of the Smoke), and Will Malone, plus ex-Jude member Steve Howden, with Denny Beckerman occasionally augmenting their lineup. They recorded a small number of singles in the early 1970s, including a cover of Don McLean's "American Pie," and enjoyed a hit in the Netherlands with their version of "Maybe I'm Amazed."

This was the charismatic southpaw's debut album back in 1980, and remains his best to date. He rocks like Chuck Berry used to (but no longer can) on "I Wouldn't Lay My Guitar Down," and tears up the West Side-based "Bad Dream" and "Blues for a Living," imparts a hard-driving Chi-town shuffle to "Find You a Job" and "I'm Tore Up," and gives "Lazy Woman" a decidedly un-lazy Latin tempo. One of the best Chicago blues LPs of the 1980s.

This is the sequel to the best selling “Bach Arias and Duets” featuring two of Australia's leading exponents of Baroque repertoire, Sara Macliver and Sally-Anne Russell. This recording is a collection of some of the most beautiful and charming works written for a soprano and alto, featuring the haunting Pergolesi Stabat Mater.

This first "live" recording of the Prazák Quartet was made in February, 2000 to commemorate the ensemble's 2000th concert. The Prazáks are joined by violist Hatto Beyerlé, best known for his dozen years as the violist of the Alban Berg Quartet. Together, they match the finest performances of these masterpieces on disc. Here is playing with intensity and power that does not exclude delicacy and genuine feeling.

Francesco Bartolomeo Conti (1682-1732) left his hometown Florence, in which he had already been a lute player under Kardinals Francesco Maria de Medici in his teens, with 19 he applied to the royal palace of Austria. He also worked in Bernlin, where he met Giovanni Bononcini, and London. 1708 Conti became royal theorbe player in Vienna, from 1713 he was royal composer, writing operas, oratories, cantatas, Musicae sacrae, and a few instrumental pieces. Both as a instrumentalist and composer Conti was able to succeed. Sadly today he still is one of the big unresearched composers.

David Foster is a Canadian musician, record producer, composer, songwriter, and arranger. He has been a producer for notable musical artists including Christina Aguilera, Andrea Bocelli, Toni Braxton, Michael Bublé, Chicago, Natalie Cole, The Corrs, Céline Dion, Jackie Evancho, Kenny G, Josh Groban, Whitney Houston, Jennifer Lopez, Seal, Rod Stewart, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, and Westlife. During the '80s, '90s, and early 2000s, David Foster was among the most commercially successful producers and composers in all of popular music. Foster has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations.

The final of his series of jam sessions for Prestige features an excellent septet (the leader on tenor, trumpeter Idrees Sulieman, baritonist Pepper Adams, pianist Mal Waldron, bassist Doug Watkins, drummer Art Taylor and Ray Barretto on congas) stretching out on three original blues and the ballad "Hip Tip"; all four pieces were written by Waldron. Few surprises occur but everyone plays up to their usual high level.

The rich, lengthy, and sometimes painful history of Lynyrd Skynyrd is not only one of the true epic tales of Southern rock, but in all of rock & roll itself. The early rise to fame, the tragic loss, and eventual rebirth of the group has been well documented over and over again in the form of box sets, greatest-hits collections, and deluxe reissues. But this sampler takes the best of the best and puts it all into one disc. The greatest moments of Skynyrd's career – "Freebird," "Sweet Home Alabama," and "What's Your Name" – are all here. But what makes Family truly special is the branching out into the side projects like .38 Special, Rossington Collins Band, and Van Zant to name but a few. This might not be the most comprehensive collection available, but it is certainly one of the more enjoyable and easily accessible.

Hoelderlin (formed as Hölderlin) started out playing cover tunes in Germany in the 1960s until they received an offer for a record contract in the early 1970s. The band was led by two brothers, Christian and Joachim Grumbkow, who wrote most of the music. The debut-album "Hölderlin's Traum" was released in 1972 with a nine-piece line up, including female vocals and instruments like the Mellotron, Grand piano, violin, cello, sitar, tablas and flute. Their sound is a progressive blend of rock, jazz and folk. Troubles soon arose when the band's producer wanted to have the band change their sound. After a long three year legal battle, the band was able to get rid of their contract, slightly change their name and release their second album, "Hoelderlin" in 1975. The band called their music 'romantic rock', it sounded more jazzy and it contained echoes from King Crimson and Genesis…

The Junction is the twenty-third studio album by The Manhattan Transfer, released on March 30, 2018. This is their first album in nine years since their last album; The Chick Corea Songbook. Beginning with their first performances in the early 1970s, THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER have become the cornerstones of contemporary music. Originally launched by Tim Hauser in 1969, Hauser, Alan Paul, Janis Siegel and Laurel Masse were the group by 1972. Cheryl Bentyne joined the group in 1979 after Laurel Masse left. One of the co-writers on The Junction – the group’s new album which draws inspiration in part from The Transfer’s classic 1975 version of Glenn Miller’s “Tuxedo Junction”—is the group’s new mem- ber, bass vocalist Trist Curless. Curless began subbing on the road for the late band founder Tim Hauser in 2013, officially joining after Hauser’s passing in late 2014.

A great collection of Who songs, accompanied by the ultimate collection, makes for superb listening of your favourite Who songs. Few rock & roll bands were riddled with as many contradictions as the Who. All four members had wildly different personalities, as their notorious live performances demonstrated: Keith Moon fell over his drum kit while Pete Townshend leaped into the air with his guitar, spinning his right hand in exaggerated windmills.