The San Diego Symphony Orchestra no longer exists, unfortunately, having succumbed to financial pressures after a troubled history. It's a pity, for they were good, as this excellent budget-priced collection of overtures proves. Yoav Talmi keeps the music moving with a sure sense of rhythm, and there's some particularly fine solo woodwind playing in the music's quieter passages. Anyone looking for these pieces can invest in this disc with complete confidence.

These works both received their first performances in Leipzig - the Magnificat in 1723 and Cantata 82 in 1727. It was in 1723 that Bach had taken up thepost of Kantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, having previously been Kapellmeisterto Prince Leopold in Cothen. The Magnificat was originally heard ina version in E flat major at Christmas Vespers when movements with seasonaltexts were inserted; the version included on this disc was rendered by Bach someyears later, returning to the ordinary Magnificat text in order to makethe work performable all year round. Bach's approach to the evening canticle ischaracteristically large-scale. There is no use of recitative, owing perhaps tothe poetic nature of the text: the verses have little natural hierarchy and itis appropriate that they should all be afforded extended settings.

After the musical uncertainty of Waterloo Lily, Caravan returned with their most inspired recording since In the Land of the Grey and Pink. The splendidly titled For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night is several steps ahead in terms of fresh musical ideas that wholly incorporate the band's trademark humor within the otherwise serious and challenging sonic structures…

The story of Canned Heat is the story of imperishable music, of hit singles and albums that captured the spirit of the times, and of glorious performances at epochal events like the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and the 1969 Woodstock Festival, as well as legendary venues like the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco…

Tony Joe White says he always saw the friends he invited to play on this album–Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, J.J. Cale, Michael McDonald, and the late Waylon Jennings–as "keepers of the fire." They're also premier custodians of loneliness and despair, the two emotions that lie at the heart of this hypnotic submersion into country/swamp blues. From the kickoff track, "Run for Cover," with Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns, these meditations on mourning–lost lovers, spiritual struggles, anxiety that knows no name and no bottom–grab the listener fast and pull him down into swirling dark waters.

Probably best known as a member of the Notting Hillbillies, Brendan Croker was also a well-respected singer/songwriter and session guitarist both before and after his involvement with that band. Drawing on strong folk, blues, and country roots, Yorkshireman Croker brought a strong, Woody Guthrie-ish lyrical outlook to his musical palette, and was equally at home with Van Morrison-style blues or American country music of any era. In fact, his deep knowledge of and affection for American roots music, coupled with his fine singing and guitar playing, at one point gave rise to Croker being hailed as "the British Ry Cooder".

The album "Crysteria" opens a new chapter in Crystal Ball's history. In its third decade, the band is far from just repeating itself and you can find new, fresh and energetic elements in the music…