In the course of nine years, the Strawbs evolved from an obscure, quirky British bluegrass group into one of the most beloved progressive rock bands in the world. This 150-minute collection covers most of that history, encompassing most (but not all) of the key songs from their nine A&M albums, as well as lost B-sides, songs by ex-members Richard Hudson and John Ford, and a pair of tracks off of Dave Cousins' 1972 solo album Two Weeks Last Summer. The selection of material is inspired, juxtaposing rarities with a good deal of important music from the core of their output. The programming straddles the collectable and the historical/musical significance of the material, so we get early-'70s FM hits such as "The River" and "Down by the Sea" sharing space with material such as "Martin Luther King's Dream" and subsequent extended progressive material like "Ghosts."

It is 1978 and Climax Blues Band is at the peak of its powers during a happy golden era when rock bands rule. They had hit the charts the previous year with funky single Couldn't Get It Right and they get it right on again with shiny new album Shine On . It features marvellous performances from a classic Climax line up with Peter Haycock at the helm on lead guitar and vocals. Peter is joined by Colin Cooper, the deep toned vocal-meister and superb alto sax player. They are boosted by a super tight rhythm section comprising Derek Holt (bass) and John Cuffley (drums).

This special set includes two-disc compilation album The Very Best Of Eagles and DVD - Farewell 1 Tour: Live From Melbourne, released on one disc. The Very Best Of (released as The Complete Greatest Hits in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand) is a two-disc compilation album by the Eagles, released in 2003. This album combines all tracks that appeared on the two previously released Eagles greatest hits albums (Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) & Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2), along with other singles not included on the first two compilations, album tracks and the new track "Hole in the World". Farewell 1 Tour - Live from Melbourne is a double DVD by Eagles, released in 2005. It was filmed in Melbourne, Australia at the Rod Laver Arena on the 14, 15 and 17 of November 2004, in the same name tour, featuring two new songs. It is the second record featuring the Eagles as quartet (without Don Felder) but it did feature a horn section.

With Your Wilderness, Bruce Soord's the Pineapple Thief shift their musical focus away from their exploration of polished rock so evident on 2012's All the Wars and 2014's Magnolia, and back toward contemporary prog. Drummer Dan Osborne, who made his debut with the band on Magnolia, proved short-lived in his role; he has been replaced by Porcupine Tree/King Crimson kit man Gavin Harrison. Soord also enlisted guests including Supertramp's John Helliwell on clarinet, Caravan's string player/arranger Geoffrey Richardson, Godsticks' guitarist Darran Charles, and a four-voice choir. Harrison's addition can't be overstated. His playing extends the reach of their musicality exponentially.
The album title denotes themes of isolation, loneliness, and alienation - not unfamiliar ones in PT's oeuvre. That said, they've never been explored with such a brooding focus as they are here…

First Blood harks back to the glory days of the '60s blues-rock boom – Mike Henderson and the Bluebloods' gritty sound is far from original, but years on the Nashville bar band circuit have honed their skills to a razor-sharp point, and the record is refreshingly raw and direct, distinguished by rock-solid musicianship.

Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick opts for a different approach on Midwest. Four years after the song-like Skala, his sophomore ECM date that has attained "classic" status in European critical circles, he employs notions of history, folk tradition, and dislocation. This album was inspired by Eick's time spent playing the American continent; his tour began on the West Coast. When he entered the rural, upper Midwest and encountered its vast open spaces, he began to feel a sense of "home." He later learned that over the past two centuries of immigration, over a million Norwegians had settled there. After conceiving a "road" album that would begin in Hem, the village of his birth, and traverse the ocean to America, Eick enlisted violinist Gjermund Larsen (a folk musician who has contributed to Christian Wallumrød's ECM recordings), pianist Jon Balke, double bassist Mats Eilertsen, and percussionist Helge Norbakken. The compositions are all lyrical, in typical Eick fashion, but with Larsen they take on a rougher, more earthen quality.