Truly one of the highlights in an excellent catalog of work, Stolen and Contaminated Songs isn't even a proper "album," but a collection of outtakes from the Love's Secret Domain sessions. And what sessions they were to have such a wealth of superb material that was leftover. Showcasing Coil's diversity, the album veers from the orchestrated classicisms of "Original Chaostrophy" and "Corybantic Ennui" to the slow, mutant lounge shuffle of "Omlagus Garfungiloops" and the utter despair of "Who'll Fall?" The last track there is a highlight, a detuned guitar and phone line noises underscore a harrowing answering machine message from someone who's friend has just committed suicide. Haunting in its execution and utterly compelling…

Classic Ash is a compilation album by the hard rock band Wishbone Ash. It was released in 1977 on MCA Records. It was not issued in the U.S. Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular albums included Wishbone Ash (1970), Pilgrimage (1971), Argus (1972), Wishbone Four (1973), There's the Rub (1974), and New England (1976). Wishbone Ash are noted for their extensive use of the harmony twin lead guitar format which had been attracting electric blues bands since Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page had played together in the Yardbirds in 1966. Their contributions helped Andy Powell and Ted Turner to be voted "Two of the Ten Most Important Guitarists in Rock History" (Traffic magazine 1989), and to appear in the "Top 20 Guitarists of All Time" (Rolling Stone).

Beyond the Mind's Eye is Grammy award-winning keyboardist/composer Jan Hammer's first solo album in over five years. The 14 tracks, composed for Miramar's new video album, are different than the Video soundtrack. The audio release is remixed, features extended arrangements, and has a bonus vocal track sung by Chris Thompson of The Manfred Mann Group. Known for his Miami Vice music, Hammer provides a potent fusion which is perfect for this arena where modern music meets the visual arts.

A song's melody is simply a reference point and a beginning for Carter; she takes words and inverts, probes and extends them, embellishes themes, changes moods and alters rhythms. She's a vocal improviser in a manner few have equaled, and if her voice lacks the clarity and timbre of the all-time greats, she's more than compensated with incredible timing, flexibility and power. Throughout this 11-track effort, Carter's vocals direct and steer the responses of pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist Ariel J. Roland and drummer Lewis Nash. It was yet another memorable outing for Betty Carter, an all-time great.

Progressive psychedelic hard rock from the land of the rising sun, how cool is that? Outstanding wailing guitar by Naruml Shigeru throughout makes this a very solid release…

No matter how many times you listen to Flied Egg's first album `Dr Siegel's Fried Egg Shooting Machine' from 1972, you're still going to be scratching your head trying to figure out where even a second of the album hints that the band are from Japan! Not only do they sing in English (superbly too), but they draw a lot of influence from British bands like Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath, as well as the pop music from that country of the previous decade…

Queen guitarist Brian May's first complete attempt at a solo album, Back to the Light, focuses on the hard rock sound that Queen often abandoned in the 1980s. While obviously sounding similar to some of the work by his former band, May's path is far more hard-edged and emotionally punched than the majority of Queen's work. His vocals are sometimes weak for a singer, but they also add a certain tenderness that most hard rock frontmen seem to lack. The album succeeds best on its heaviest tracks such as the cover of "Rollin' Over" or "Resurrection," which features pounding drums courtesy of Cozy Powell and thundering guitar riffs with Queen-like multi-tracked vocals.

Love Is is the eighth studio album by Kim Wilde, released in spring 1992. Kim Wilde found herself working with Rick Nowels on this album, the same songwriter who had written for Belinda Carlisle and later for Madonna amongst others. Three of the eleven tracks were produced by him while the remaining eight were produced by Ricky Wilde. The majority of the tracks on this album were co-written by Kim. She'd taken a long hard look at herself, resulting in the song "Who Do You Think You Are?", in which she reflects on how she had behaved through the years in her career. There were more love songs on this album; titles such as "Touched By Your Magic" and "Heart Over Mind" are an indication of the themes of the lyrics.

Featuring a true golden-age cast, this 1967 Radio Broadcast hums and bubbles with invigorating warmth and unquenchable passion under the sprightly baton of Rafael Kubelik. Thomas Stewart is a intelligent Sachs, who brings real weight and power to the great Act III monologue but who retains real lyricism for the role's more tender moments. It would be inconceivable that Gundula Janowitz's creamy-voiced Eva would pass him over if it were not for the ardent, fiery Walther of Sándor Kónya, who gives voice to an ethereal rendition of the Prize song. Thomas Hemsley is an nuanced Beckmesser thankfully devoid of caricature, and Franz Crass is a warm, fatherly Pogner. Brigitte Fassbaender may be the most sensuous Magdalena on record, and is paired expertly by the great Gerhard Unger, at his considerable best as David.

In the face of the legend that he once was, it's very fashionable to dismiss Eric Burdon's '70s-and-later output as little more than an afterthought – which may or may not be true. But from the moment 1988's I Used to Be an Animal kicks into groove, it's clear that Burdon has spent the last few years doing more than kicking over old traces…

A thoroughly democratic balance of forces is evident in 'Music at the Court of Mannheim', a distinct and adventurous foray into early classical repertoire heralding Harnoncourt's debut recording for Teldec; a legendary career itself was born in the alert strains of these pioneering works.

Rush is an excellent dark blues score written by Eric Clapton (with help on the three songs) and performed by an augmented version of his band. This soundtrack album produced one big hit for Clapton with "Tears in Heaven," but it's a wonderfully intense piece of work all the way through, with some terrific guitar work from Clapton himself…