Simply the great 100 tracks compilation! Not only the well-know and classic hits (Otis Redding - My Girl, Ben. E. King - Stand by me, Tina Turner - The Best, Sheena Easton - Morning Train (Nine to Five), Solomon Burke - Everybody Needs Somebody to Love, Sister Sledge - We are Family, Deep Purple - Black Night etc.), but as well Ramones, Jethro Tull, Paolo Nutini, Birdy, Biffy Clyro, Randy Crawford, Twisted Sister, The Stooges, Dr. Feelgood and many many more. Just excellent!

Green Linnet 20th Anniversary Collection is a double-disc collection featuring 38 tracks from the Celtic music insitution. Every one of the label's biggest artists – including Silly Wizard, Altan, Wolfstone, the Bothy Band, John Williams, Tannahill Weavers – is on the collection, giving a good representation of not only the label, but the state of Celtic music of the '70s, '80s, and '90s. It's an excellent retrospective.

Leonard Cohen seems singularly determined to document his adventures in live performances which began when he returned to the concert stage in 2008, and Live in Dublin is the third live album Cohen has released in just five years. Given how satisfying 2009's Live in London was, one might reasonably wonder how badly one would need another concert souvenir, especially in such a short period of time, but comparing Live in Dublin with Live in London and 2010's Songs from the Road, one can readily see how Cohen's live show has seasoned since he returned to duty…

The stage name of German actress and musician Senta-Sofia Delliponti, Oonagh (the name is derived from a legendary faerie queen of Celtic origins) specializes in evocative, new age, Celtic-infused, fantasy dance-pop…

The inspiration behind Closer to the People was to get Tanita Tikaram closer to her road band: to record the singer/songwriter with a touring combo with serious blues and soul roots. Several of these players have done time with Van Morrison, a comparison that comes in handy for Closer to the People, not because her songs sound like Van's – they don't – but the record trades in jazz and soul influences while also spinning these familiar tropes into the realm of the personal. Tikaram specializes in sculpted, open-ended compositions – even when the tempo quickens her songs seem to unfold gracefully – and that means the hushed arrangements, underpinned by acoustic bass and brushed drums, seem like reflections of the song's soul.

The Very Best of Marianne Faithfull' is a particularly strong collection of Marianne's earliest recordings made for Decca between 1964 to 1968. This album contains every one of her singles which made the charts both in Britain and America during those fruitful four years.