The reputation of Bread as a soft rock band isn't quite accurate. Yes, all of the bit hits were ballads by David Gates BUT there were rock songs that weren't released as singles that are the albums by the other two songwriters in the band–the late Jimmy Griffith and Rob Royer (who collaborated on a number of songs together). The band is certainly underrated due to all of the hit ballads by Gates but the albums themselves exhibit strong song craft, precision playing and production…

UK eight disc (seven CDs + NTSC/Region 0 DVD) set. The Studio Albums 1979 - 1987 is a clamshell box set that gathers together all seven studio albums released by the legendary classical rock band Sky over a nine year period. Formed in 1979, Sky brought together the worlds of rock and classical music in a highly successful and inspiring way. Featuring the gifted talents of guitarist John Williams, percussionist Tristan Fry, legendary bass player Herbie Flowers, former Curved Air keyboard player Francis Monkman and guitarist Kevin Peek, Sky recorded their debut album at Abbey Road studios in the early months of 1979…

Arriving ten years after The Dark Horse Years: 1976-1992, The Apple Years: 1968-75 offers the first act of George Harrison's solo career presented in a handsomely produced, impeccably remastered box set. The outside packaging mirrors The Dark Horse Years but the discs housed inside the box show a greater attention to detail than the previous set: each of the albums is presented as a paper-sleeve mini-LP replicating the original album art (Extra Texture does indeed have extra texture on its sleeve), while the brief hardcover book contains perhaps the glossiest paper to ever grace a rock music box set…

Limited Edition 7CD box set featuring rare live performances of GP with the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers. Also features Gram's songs performed by Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Jerry Garcia. Plus a disc of influences/original version…

Altoist Jackie McLean has recorded so many fine albums throughout his career, particularly in the '60s for Blue Note, that Mosaic could have reissued his complete output without any loss of quality. This four-CD limited-edition box set contains six complete LPs worth of material plus one "new" alternate take…

German metallers Rage have returned to the scene with their new album ‘The Devil Strikes Again’, the long-awaited follow up to their 2013 album ‘LMO’. The band has yet again changed its line up, with Marcos Rodriguez and Vassilios “Lucky” Maniatopoulos coming in to the band to replace Victor Smolski and André Hilgers respectively…

As this lavishly boxed, four-CD distillation of his Pablo sessions proves, Joe Pass was probably the guitar-playing equivalent of Art Tatum on the Norman Granz roster – not only for his vast output, but also for the all-encompassing, almost orchestral way in which he got around his instrument. The set is divided equally into four sections – disc one for his astounding solo electric and acoustic guitar sides, disc two for studio recordings with various groups, disc three for various live recordings solo and with groups, disc four the delicate Ella Fitzgerald and other duo partner sessions and quartet pieces backing Sarah Vaughan…

The first disc, aptly subtitled The Very Best of Glenn Frey, is chock-full of major chart hits, including the Beverly Hills Copsmash "The Heat Is On," the gritty, slide-guitar-driven gutbucket groove of "Smuggler's Blues," the epic Miami Viceballad "You Belong to the City," the inward-looking poignancy of "Soul Searchin'," and much more…

There have indeed been countless Judas Priest compilations issued over the years. But if you're a Priest collector, then the 2011 release Single Cuts has to be one of the most intriguing archival releases the group has ever issued. That said, this observation only pertains to the pricier 52-song/20-disc (!) box set version, not the lighter-on-the-wallet single-disc version, which serves as another Priest "best-of."…

The first Genesis Archive made sense. It covered the Peter Gabriel years, an era that was not only supremely creative for the band, but filled with rarities, forgotten tracks, outtakes, B-sides, BBC sessions, and live performances begging for a collection. It was a box set for fans and it filled its purpose splendidly. Its sequel, Genesis Archive 2: 1976-1992, attempts to fill the role for the Genesis Mach II, otherwise known as the Phil Collins years, but the problem is, the Collins era was completely different from Gabriel's…

Six CDs containing the complete Capitol and EMI-Columbia recordings by Vincent, from 1956 through 1964. The 151 tracks may seem excessive, but the sound glitters, and since most of the post-1962 material was never issued in the United States, this stuff could be revelatory to serious fans…

Growing up in the 70s, unless you were a musical aristocrat, Frank Sinatra was simply old. He was a white-haired man, who seemed to spend his days endlessly retiring and singing ''My Way''. There was a vague notion that he had once been young and cool, but that was several lifetimes away. Then, suddenly, in the mid 80s, Sinatra's Capitol recordings were reissued and it slowly dawned on NME readers that he was indeed the man who all the Costellos, McCullochs and Bonos had spent their formative years listening to…

Follow Dio through the band's early years with A DECADE OF DIO: 1983-1993, a new box set that brings together their first six studio albums, each featuring newly remastered sound…