This album was recorded in Dallas, in the fall of '69 that also featured B.B. King, Sly & the Family Stone and Ten Years After.. By this time Johnny's popularity was such that he was no longer merely an opening act but a headliner and just a everyone expected, he stole the show. Not only that, we're lucky enough to have a really good quality recording surviving from that unforgettable show.

Turning away from the sweet pop of Out of Time, R.E.M. created a haunting, melancholy masterpiece with Automatic for the People. At its core, the album is a collection of folk songs about aging, death, and loss, but the music has a grand, epic sweep provided by layers of lush strings, interweaving acoustic instruments, and shimmering keyboards. Automatic for the People captures the group at a crossroads, as they moved from cult heroes to elder statesmen, and the album is a graceful transition into their new status. It is a reflective album, with frank discussions on mortality, but it is not a despairing record – "Nightswimming," "Everybody Hurts," and "Sweetness Follows" have a comforting melancholy, while "Find the River" provides a positive sense of closure. R.E.M. have never been as emotionally direct as they are on Automatic for the People, nor have they ever created music quite as rich and timeless, and while the record is not an easy listen, it is the most rewarding record in their oeuvre.

The talented guitarist Joe Diorio has mostly recorded for obscure record companies throughout his career including this set for the completely forgotten Zdenek label. The early-'80s LP features Diorio (who has always had his own sound) in a trio/quartet with other Los Angeles-based musicians: keyboardist Carl Schroeder, bassist Bob Magnusson and drummer Jim Plank. Diorio stretches out on five standards (including Jobim's "Bonita") plus one of his originals, playing some fine post-bop guitar that is often strikingly original.

Light Years, The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra is a two CD compilation album by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). The album celebrates the band's 25th Anniversary singles career starting in 1972 and contains all of ELO's 29 UK hit singles plus other single edits that either didn't chart or were hits in other countries. All the songs included are the edited 7" single versions. It is also the first ELO compilation to feature the song "Across the Border" which was scheduled to be released as an EP track in 1980 but was withdrawn. Although not in chronological order, it is however the most comprehensive assemblage of the band's hits of the many compilations available. The album reached 60 in the UK Album Charts. The album was also released in Europe with an identical track order under the titles, The Swedish Collection and The Danish Collection.

Ex Cockney Rebel / 10cc keyboard wizard Duncan Mackay's classic 1974 debut album Chimera is available for the first time. Re-mastered and approved by the artist with liner notes, rare photos and a bonus track, Chimera is essential for fans of keyboard driven prog rock in the vein of ELP and Rick Wakeman.

Even within the unpredictable Neil Young discography, this qualifies as one of his most unpredictable efforts. This soundtrack to the Jim Jarmusch film Dead Man is entirely instrumental, with the exception of some poetry read by Johnny Depp (who stars in the film) and a bit of dialogue. What's more, these untitled instrumental passages are dominated by subterranean guitar rumbles that manage to sound both grungy and subdued. Young also takes care to vary his approach a bit, switching occaionally to pump organ, detuned piano, and acoustic guitar. The results not only evoke the hostile, desolate landscapes of the film's Old West, but work on their own terms as ambient mood music for the non-new age crowd, creating an atmosphere of restless disturbance with subtlety and grace. It's not necessarily for the typical Neil Young fan (whoever that might be), but it's certainly one of his most successful experimental efforts.

Though he has shown a mastery and affinity for both electric and acoustic axes, Tommy Emmanuel's Higher Octave debut, Midnight Drive, finds him focusing almost exclusively on warm yet frequently aggressive acoustic melodies, complemented here and there by the raw, plugged-in energy of Robben Ford and Larry Carlton. The overall mix is the kind that smooth jazz lovers find easy to swallow, but offers more bite and adventure than most like-minded releases in the genre. Smooth jazz radio may find an easy mark with a laid-back take of Sting's "Fields of Gold," but Emmanuel's other tracks dig deeper, showing off a stylistic chameleon drawing from the many phases of his career. His soft pop side comes out on power ballads "No More Goodbyes" and "Stay Close to Me," the latter reminding us why guest saxman Warren Hill's biggest hit to date was called "The Passion Theme." Emmanuel's more aggressive blues-rock side (honed no doubt by a few years in the progressive mid-'80s ensemble Dragon) emerges with Carlton's help on "Can't Get Enough." The striking contrast between the pastoral, folksy roads of "Drivetime" and the disc's best track, "Villa de Martin" best reflects the gamut of Emmanuel's approaches.

EMI Music presents RMX (Curated by Blank & Jones) - Superstars remixed by Superstars!
Pet Shop Boys, Robbie Williams, Moby, Depeche Mode, Katy Perry, David Guetta, Lenny Kravitz, Kylie Minogue, Blank & Jones and others.

You might think that Handel's Water Music, HWV 348-350, arguably the most familiar piece of Baroque music (the Four Seasons of Vivaldi can give it a run for its money, but its popularity is more recent), has received every possible interpretation. And you would be wrong, as the musicians of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin have shown in this Harmonia Mundi release, precisely recorded in Berlin's Teldex studio. You get a steady parade of innovations here, marked overall by, but not in the least restricted to, blisteringly fast tempos that turn the horn-dominated movements into tests of virtuosity. Unexpected dynamic contrasts and the unusual rhythmic treatment of the "Overture" to the Suite No. 1 (sample track one) are other novelties, but this veteran group is not out for shock value. The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin operate without a conductor, and their coordination in these crisp prestos is worth the price of admission in itself. Their ability to act as one in really unusual shapings of each individual movement is remarkable, and the treacherous horn parts are near perfection in the hands of Erwin Wieringa and Miroslav Rovenský.

Charlie Musselwhite continues his prolific four-decade career jumping over to Telarc for his first album of the millennium after spending the '90s recording for Alligator and Virgin. A recap of his formative Memphis roots, Musselwhite receives substantial assistance from guests Robben Ford on guitar (Musselwhite provided Ford with his first gigs when the guitarist was in his late teens), Texas vocalist Kelly Willis, and guitarist/mandolin player Marty Stuart; the last two bring a rootsy, laid back country feel to the album that effectively fuses the swampy C&W, R&B, and blues of Memphis into a cohesive statement. Musselwhite blows unamplified harp on every track, but it's his weathered, understated vocals that infuse these songs with down-home charm. Covers from Jimmy Reed, Los Lobos (the album takes its title from their "One Time One Night"), Ivory Joe Hunter, and Kieran Kane flow beautifully into each other as the artist masterfully blurs the lines between genres.

Since it's founding in Freiburg in 1958, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi has been one of the most important and ambitious labels for period performances. Over decades, globally-acclaimed recordings were created with outstanding musicians. The limited edition "Deutsche Harmonia Mundi: 100 Great Recordings" contains 100 outstanding DHM recordings with some of the most important and best artists in their field: Nuria Rial, Dorothee Mields, Al Ayre Espanol, Hille Perl, Concentus Musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Freiburger Barockorchester, Skip Sempé, Capriccio Stravagante, La Petite Bande, Gustav Leonhardt, Andrew Lawrence-King, Frieder Bernius, the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor, Thomas Hengelbrock and many others.

Agricola is not a regional soft drink from the Corn Belt, but a composer whose works were considered almost the equal of Josquin's by chroniclers of the sixteenth century. Born around 1446, he was a near contemporary of Josquin's great predecessor, Jacob Obrecht, and like his Flemish contemporaries he went south to seek fame and fortune through employment with Italy's powerful nobles. Recordings of his works have been few and far between, so any addition to the discography is welcome, and the pair of masses included here are both historically important works.