This album finds Anita O'Day's swinging singing backed by cool-toned arrangements from Jimmy Giuffre. Although the orchestra is surprisingly anonymous, the ensembles fit O'Day's voice well on tunes such as "Mack the Knife," "Gone with the Wind," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "The Way You Look Tonight" and even "Hooray for Hollywood." All of O'Day's recordings for Verve in the 1950s are recommended, and this set is no exception.

British band Raw Material recorded two albums between 1970-1971, and the second album from the band, "Time Is…" is a strong collection of mostly Proto-prog styled pieces with light psych, jazz and folk elements. Due to the inclusion of saxophone/flute player Mike Fletcher, fans of the sax dominated early King Crimson albums and Van der Graaf Generator will find much to appeal here, with bands such as Beggars Opera, Pink Floyd and Novalis also other possible little reference points. It's not an album that instantly impresses, instead one that gradually reveals the consistently strong instrumental and compositional skills of the band on repeated plays.

Four decades of Alphaville! As one of the few German bands, the pop formation founded by Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd and Frank Mertens has managed to gain a permanent place in the international music scene with hits such as "Big in Japan", "Forever Young" and "Sounds like a Melody" and to inspire generations of fans. And that continues to this day: Alphaville - Forever! Best Of 40 Years is a brand-new collection of greatest hits and hidden treasures from Alphaville, a band that has permanently secured its place in the hearts of millions with its distinctive sound and poetic lyrics.
The 3-CD version (Digipack) contains 40 tracks and a 20-page booklet.

The Appetite For Destruction: Deluxe Edition features 2CD's of highlights from the box and Super Deluxe Edition with the album newly remastered for the first time ever, selections of B-sides and EP tracks, and 7 unreleased recordings from the 1986 Sound City Session, “Move To The City (1988 Acoustic Version)” from the GN’R Lies session and “Shadow Of Your Love” from the November 1986 first ever recording session with the album’s producer Mike Clink. Also features expanded art with unreleased photos from Axl Rose's personal archive and memorabilia.

For those who spent the whole of the 1970s actually living on the dark side of the moon rather than listening to it, A Collection of Great Dance Songs offers an opportunity to hear some of the most timeless, thoughtful, and influential rock music ever made by rich, bitter Englishmen. The album's title certainly seems less deceptive now, considering just how much of the Floyd's instrumental ambience eventually seeped into the techno and dance scenes of the '90s. Initially released during one of those yawning epochs between studio albums (namely, The Wall and The Final Cut) this best-of collection cherry picks from Pink Floyd's 1970s material–the era when the band (and they were a band in those days) bestrode the stadiums of the world like light-show leviathans and sold records by the tons–and is only undermined by the omission of sprawling masterpieces such as "Echoes" and "Atom Heart Mother" (such were the time limitations of the old vinyl format). Never mind the dance floor, this a great portable Pink Floyd collection for long car journeys.

This might be the best debut album ever delivered by an American blues band, a bold, powerful, hard-edged, soulful essay in electric blues with a native Southern ambience. Some lingering elements of the psychedelic era then drawing to a close can be found in "Dreams," along with the template for the group's on-stage workouts with "Whipping Post," and a solid cover of Muddy Waters' "Trouble No More." There isn't a bad song here, and only the fact that the group did even better the next time out keeps this from getting the highest possible rating.

“Santtu conducts Shostakovich” is the fourth album from Philharmonia Records, featuring Shostakovich’s colourful Sixth Symphony alongside his subversive and sardonic Ninth Symphony. Conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, these performances were recorded at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in 2023.

Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear, in a seminal year approaching his debut at the BBC proms, presents his new album of works by Sergei Prokofiev, alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Litton. Proclaimed "a phenomenon" by the Los Angeles Times and "one of the best pianists of his generation" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stewart Goodyear has carved out a formidable international reputation as both concert pianist and composer, with an impressive catalogue of recorded repertoire to date.