The Time Machine is the third solo album produced and engineered by Alan Parsons following the split of The Alan Parsons Project. While the sound of this album is recognizably similar in style to some of the soft, ethereal tracks from certain Alan Parsons Project albums, it is noteworthy that none of the writing or performance credits in the sleeve notes (of the CD edition) go to Alan Parsons, except for one short and simple instrumental part on "Temporalia", and that the album lacks much of the rock edge of the previous albums; his relation to the album is almost exclusively as producer. "The Time Machine" (Parts 1 and 2) are in a similar style to that of Robert Miles's first album Dreamland, and not to other Alan Parsons instrumental tracks or the rest of this album.

Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? is the debut album by the British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1978. The title of the album is a reference to a name Rea's UK record label (Magnet) had considered christening him with to make him sound more attractive commercially. The album peaked at number forty-nine on the Billboard Hot 200, and charted for 12 weeks. The first single lifted from the album, "Fool (If You Think It's Over)", remains his biggest hit in the United States, peaking at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100, charted for 15 weeks, and reaching number one on the Adult Contemporary Singles chart, and charting for 18 weeks.

Universal’s 2010 collection Icon rounds up recordings Johnny Cash made during his stint on Mercury in the ‘80s, which means that the versions of “I Walk the Line,” “Cry Cry Cry,” “Guess Things Happen That Way,” “Get Rhythm,” “Hey Porter,” “Wanted Man,” “Ring of Fire,” and “Folsom Prison Blues” included here are not the original hit versions. They’re perfectly fine remakes supported by such ‘80s vintage recordings as “The Night Hank Williams Came to Town” and a cover of Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle.” This will inevitably be a let-down for those looking for the originals, but they’re solid versions and this collection is enjoyable for what it is.

Fado Tradicional is the fifth studio album by Portuguese fado singer Mariza, released on 29 November 2010 by EMI Music Portugal. It was recorded in the Lisboa Estúdios in Portugal between July and September 2010 and produced by musician Diogo Clemente. Fado Tradicional received positive reviews from music critics, both in Portugal and internationally. Fado Tradicional was a certified platinum record in Portugal on the day of its release, for the sale of more than 20,000 copies.

Make no mistake, Willy & the Poor Boys is a fun record, perhaps the breeziest album CCR ever made. Apart from the eerie minor-key closer "Effigy" (one of John Fogerty's most haunting numbers), there is little of the doom that colored Green River. Fogerty's rage remains, blazing to the forefront on "Fortunate Son," a working-class protest song that cuts harder than any of the explicit Vietnam protest songs of the era, which is one of the reasons that it hasn't aged where its peers have. Also, there's that unbridled vocal from Fogerty and the ferocious playing on CCR, which both sound fresh as they did upon release. "Fortunate Son" is one of the greatest, hardest rock & rollers ever cut, so it might seem to be out of step with an album that is pretty laid-back and friendly, but there's that elemental joy that by late '69 was one of CCR's main trademarks.

Trumpeter Chris Botti's To Love Again: The Duets picks up where his stellar 2004 release When I Fall in Love leaves off, with more gorgeously lush and heartfelt orchestral jazz via the London Session Orchestra. This time showcasing guest vocalists – as well as a handful of instrumental tracks – Botti takes an even more classicist approach than before and once again brings to mind such iconic jazz albums as Clifford Brown with Strings and Miles Davis' Porgy and Bess. Largely known as a smooth jazz artist with a sweet trumpet tone, it wasn't until When I Fall in Love that Botti dropped the smooth jazz synthesizers and pop-oriented compositions in favor of Gil Evans-style jazz orchestrations and an acoustic backing quartet.

Georgia-born (as in the country, not the state) singer/songwriter Katie Melua found herself atop the British charts in 2003 with her breezy debut, Call Off the Search, which sold over three million copies in Europe alone. Her laid-back blend of blues, jazz, and pop with a kiss of worldbeat drew comparisons to Norah Jones, and rightfully so. She sticks to the formula on her lush, ultimately safe follow-up, Piece by Piece. This is Coldplay for the Diana Krall crowd, a perfectly rendered slice of adult contemporary pie for a lazy summer day delivered by an artist whose beautiful voice is almost striking in how unremarkable it is.

Hole was an American alternative rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1989 by singer and guitarist Courtney Love and lead guitarist Eric Erlandson. The band had a revolving line-up of bassists and drummers, their most prolific being drummer Patty Schemel, and bassists Kristen Pfaff (d. 1994) and Melissa Auf der Maur. Hole went on to become one of the most commercially successful female-fronted rock bands of all time. Live Through This is the second studio album by rock band Hole. It was released by DGC Records on April 12, 1994, just one week after frontwoman Courtney Love's husband, Kurt Cobain, died in their home. It was Hole's only album to feature bassist Kristen Pfaff before her death in June 1994. The album's lyrics and packaging reflect Love's preoccupation with beauty, and its songs contain repeated motifs of milk, motherhood, anti-elitism, and violence against women. The album's title is derived from a quote in Gone with the Wind. The album met near-unanimous critical acclaim upon release, earning top-100 chart spots in seven countries and going multi-platinum. It has been considered as a contemporary classic, and was included in Rolling Stone's list of "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The album is featured on the list 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The album was also named the 84th greatest album of all time in a list produced by NME magazine in 2013.

As part of Verve's Standards: Great Songs/Great Performances series, pianist Oscar Peterson is spotlighted on eight tracks recorded in the ‘50s. This set is aimed at the casual listener and includes top-notch performances of "Cheek to Cheek," "That Old Black Magic," and "Georgia on My Mind." The shifting Peterson trio includes guitarists Herb Ellis and Barney Kessel, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Ed Thigpen. Trumpeter Clark Terry shares solo space with Peterson on “Mack the Knife.”

Father and son duos are relatively rare in jazz but there's no generation gap apparent between Bucky and John Pizzarelli. The two have made a number of strong LPs and CDs together (and individually as well), although it is tough to lavish sufficient praise on this duo-guitar date, played primarily on seven-string electric guitars. Each man adapts equally well, whether in the lead, providing rhythmic support for the other, or matching his partner's lyricism while playing the head of a song. An invigorating "Three Little Words" introduces the two masterful guitarists with a flourish, followed by a lightly swinging take of "Jersey Bounce," the bluesy "Two Funky People," and the strutting acoustic duet "Test Pilot." Bucky is featured on two unaccompanied miniatures, "My Romance" and the rarely heard "For Whom the Bell Tolls." Very highly recommended.

k.d. lang's first major-label album (and debut American release) was a bit of a switch from the polished retro-country of her best-known work; with Dave Edmunds in the producer's chair, Angel with a Lariat often sounds more like rockabilly or roots rock than classic C&W, with a big, snappy drum sound, plenty of guitars mixed upfront, and lots of slapback of lang's vocals (a production decision lang mentioned with little enthusiasm several years after the album came out). "Turn Me Around" and "High Time for a Detour" rock significantly harder than most of lang's body of work, and "Watch Your Step Polka," "Diet of Strange Places," and "Tune Into My Wave" find lang and her band (who are in fine form throughout) indulging her sly sense of humor, which tended to get lost in the shuffle on later albums such as Ingénue.

…Nothing Like the Sun is the second solo studio album by English singer-songwriter Sting. The album was originally released on 13 October 1987 on A&M. The album explores the genres of pop rock, soft rock, jazz, reggae, world, acoustic rock, dance-rock, and funk rock. It features a number of high profile guest guitarists, including former Police member Andy Summers, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, and Hiram Bullock, and is generally regarded as the culmination of the smoother, more adult-oriented sound of Sting's early work. On release, the album was received favorably by the majority of music critics and in 1989, the album was ranked #90 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Best Albums of the Eighties". "We'll Be Together", "Be Still My Beating Heart", "Englishman in New York", "Fragile", and "They Dance Alone" were all released as singles. It won Best British Album at the 1988 Brit Awards. In 1989 the album received three Grammy nominations including Album of the Year while the album's second single ("Be Still My Beating Heart") was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

Polydor wised up with this 1997 expanded version of their 1990 set, The Very Best of the Bee Gees, in that they took the collection and added nine tracks (from 12 to 21), intensifying the study of the impressive depth and breadth of the Bee Gees catalog. The collection runs chronologically from the group's late-'60s folk-pop period through their legendary disco contributions, thus tracing the arc of the Gibbs brothers' diverse career via their influence on pop culture and vice versa. The collection is then topped off by two late-'80s cuts that sit alongside the collection remarkably well and serve as a reminder that the Bee Gees were much more than the definition of disco, but continued to write some great songs regardless of production or arrangement.

Mike Oldfield's groundbreaking album Tubular Bells is arguably the finest conglomeration of off-centered instruments concerted together to form a single unique piece. A variety of instruments are combined to create an excitable multitude of rhythms, tones, pitches, and harmonies that all fuse neatly into each other, resulting in an astounding plethora of music. Oldfield plays all the instruments himself, including such oddities as the Farfisa organ, the Lowrey organ, and the flageolet. The familiar eerie opening, made famous by its use in The Exorcist, starts the album off slowly, as each instrument acoustically wriggles its way into the current noise that is heard, until there is a grand unison of eccentric sounds that wildly excites the ears.

Raging Slab's first major-label album is pretty interesting in retrospect, in that it's both of its time and very clearly a harbinger of the future – which of course is all the more bemusing in that the band was so clearly inspired by the past more than anything else. The quintet's obsession with '70s rock trudge and stomp – perfectly evident with song titles like "Shiny Mama," "Get off My Jollies," and "San Loco" – pretty soon would get full validation in the grunge explosion and even the nü-metal fallout later.