Prior to the release of Metallica's first live collection, Live Shit: Binge & Purge, the band issued the following warning to their fans: "expect the unexpected." What an understatement! Included in this mammoth box set are three compact discs (the cassette version contains two tapes), three videotapes (the DVD version contains two DVDs), a 72-page book chock-full of photos and notes (included on DVD Two on the DVD version), a backstage pass replica, and a stencil drawing courtesy of James Hetfield…

A belated sequel to Rhino's 2012 box set The Studio Albums 1969-1978, 2015's The Studio Albums: 1979-2008 rounds up the expanded remasters of Chicago's next ten studio albums, beginning with 1979's Chicago 13 and ending with 2008's Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus (which was actually recorded in 1994 but shelved for 14 years)…

Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters is the second solo album by Paul Rodgers of Free and Bad Company fame. Paul Rodgers has one of the most distinctive voices in rock music. His has played in Free, Bad Company and The Firm (with Jimmy Page) and worldwide record sales in excess of 125 million copies. Seeing Muddy Waters live in London was to be a defining moment in his life and ultimately lead to this tribute album. Originally released in 1993 on the Victory label, and nominated for a Grammy Award that year, Muddy Water Blues contains stunning versions of 13 tracks made famous by Muddy Waters. With a basic band of Rodgers on vocals, Jason Bonham on drums, Pino Palladino on bass and Ian Hatton on rhythm guitar, each track is embellished with a guest lead guitarist. The line up reads like a who's who of rock blues guitarist including: Buddy Guy, Trevor Rabin, Brian Setzer, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, David Gilmour, Slash, Gary Moore, Brian May, Neal Schon and Richie Sambora. The album is produced by Billy Sherwood.

When this CD was released in 1994, it should have resulted in altoist Sonny Simmons getting a comeback of the year award. Playing in a sparse trio with bassist Charnett Moffett and his son Zarak Simmons on drums, the veteran saxophonist proved to not only be in prime form after many years off the scene, but just as fiery and adventurous as he had been in the 1960s. Simmons' eight originals (which include "Reincarnation," "Country Parson" and "Sundown In Egypt") have plenty of variety, but it is the frequently telepathic interplay between the three musicians during improvisations that makes this CD essential for open-minded listeners.

Brazilian technical metal monsters Sepultura grew slowly from a devotion to the legends of their genre, eventually becoming the most successful metal band in Brazil's history as well as a worldwide influence. Founding member Max Cavalera sang and played guitar in the band until a deeply personal dispute over management led him to unceremoniously leave the band in 1996…

Nightlife is a loose concept album – more of a song cycle, really – about nightlife (naturally), a collection of moods and themes, from love to loneliness. In that sense, it's not that different from most Pet Shop Boys albums, and, musically, the album is very much of a piece with Very and Bilingual, which is to say that it relies more on craft than on innovation…

Recorded in 1990 in Berlin upon his return to the city where he spent a month performing and recording two years before, this document of Taylor playing piano and percussion and reciting his poems is a mixed bag. Partially it's because Taylor's poetry doesn't translate well on record. His use of elliptical language and speech devices, which has read wonderfully on the page and comes off as dramatically beautiful live, is a cipher on a compact disc. Thankfully, that of the two cuts here, the poetry, which is on the longest part of the work, is brief.

A whopping three CDs, and 56 songs, from Hooker's early sessions that were unreleased at the time, although they were available for a while in the early 1970s on some United Artists LPs. Like his more widely known material of the period, it mostly features Hooker unaccompanied, though he's aided by piano and second guitarists on a few tracks. Some of these are alternates of songs that were released in different versions, or embryonic renditions of compositions that evolved into somewhat different shapes. Especially interesting are early versions of his big hit "I'm in the Mood for Love." It's too much at once, though, and too unvarying in approach, for anyone but Hooker specialists.

Auberge is the eleventh studio album by Chris Rea, released in 1991. Auberge was a #1 album in the UK in 1991. The title track also gave Rea one of his biggest chart hits, reaching #16 in the UK charts. Other songs released as singles were "Heaven", "Looking For The Summer" and "Winter Song". Another song, "And You My Love", although not released as a single, has become a firm favourite among his fans and is regularly performed at live concerts.

This is the second of four volumes of the complete recorded output of Def Leppard available as a 7-CD box set. The box features the albums Adrenalize, RetroActive, Slang, Euphoria (never before on vinyl) and Rarities Vol. 2 and 3, both specially compiled by Joe Elliott…

On this, their second album for A&M, Humble Pie proved that they were not the "minor league Rolling Stones" as people often described them. Led by the soulful Steve Marriot, the Pie was a great band in every sense of the word. Although Peter Frampton elevated himself to superstar status in just a few years, this album proves what an excellent lead guitarist he was. The record has an undeniable live feel to it, due in part to Glyn Johns' humble yet precise recording, framing the group as if they were a boogie version of the Band. When all of these elements come together on songs such as "Sour Grain" and "Stone Cold Fever," it's an unbeatable combination.

Real Love is the second studio album by British singer Lisa Stansfield, released by Arista Records on 11 November 1991. Stansfield co-wrote all songs with Ian Devaney and Andy Morris. Devaney and Morris also produced the album. Real Love received positive reviews from music critics and reached top ten on the charts in various countries, including number three in the United Kingdom. Five singles were released from the album, including "Change" (number one on the US Hot Dance Club Songs) and "All Woman" (number one on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs). The album was commercially successful.

Talkin' Stick puts the versatile Oliver Lake into what could pass for a conventional hard bop quintet. However, with Lake's full-throated alto as the primary voice, there's little that's business-as-usual about this date. The session explores some in-the-pocket grooves mostly by the leader, with a couple felicitous contributions by Julius Hemphill ("Hard Blues") and Curtis Clark ("Only if You Live There"). Clark's piece is a real ear-catcher, with a playful, toy piano-like quality that Lake abstracts and broadens in a typically ferocious solo.

The band recorded a third album in 1977, but due to poor sales of the first two albums, Columbia refused to release it, hastening the band's split. The third album finally appeared as a bootleg in the 1980s, a limited edition pressed from stolen master tapes. It was released under the name The St. Louis Hounds, without Pavlov's Dog's name on the sleeve. The third album finally was released legally in 2007 by German label Rockville Music, titled Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried?, remastered and including additional 10 bonus tracks of unreleased material from the 1970s. The German label TRC illegally bootlegged the album, with title Third, but this version does not include the bonus tracks.

Aside from the greatness that is Peter Gabriel's music; two names should be more than enough information for any fan of progressive rock to have a copy of this live concert in their possession: Manu Katche and Tony Levin. They make up one of, if not THE finest, tightest rhythm sections ever and their performances on this 100-minute recording are proof positive of that status…