Twenty-five years of the Shadows had raced by in a blur of hits. Both in their own right, and as the backing band behind so many of Cliff Richard's greatest recordings, the Shadows had left such an indelible mark on the British rock landscape that kids who weren't even born before "Apache" couldn't help but wish them well on their birthday…

John Paul Jones stayed quiet for years after the disbandment of Led Zeppelin, performing the occasional arranging, soundtrack, or production gig, or collaborating with such avant garde musicians as Diamanda Galas. Throughout it all, he never released a full-fledged solo album – until the fall of 1999, when he unleashed Zooma. Anyone that was following who Jones worked with in the '90s – including Galas, the Butthole Surfers, and R.E.M. – shouldn't be entirely surprised by the depth, range, and gleeful strangeness on Zooma, but those expecting something like Led Zeppelin IV will be disappointed.

With a whirlwind of instrumental styles fusing classical, rock, blues, jazz, world music, progressive, as well as the quintessential California musical genre surf music, the California Guitar Trio's stunning virtuosity and sly sense of humor have earned them an enthusiastic following and wide notoriety, with significant crossover in the progressive, acoustic and classical music scenes.

The Shadows are a British instrumental rock group, and Cliff Richard's backing band, with 69 UK chart singles from the 1950s to the 2000s, 35 credited to the Shadows and 34 to Cliff Richard and the Shadows. The group, who were in the forefront of the UK beat-group boom, were the first backing band to emerge as stars…

Guitarist/keyboardist Tony MacAlpine really hits his stride on Maximum Security. While it's not all that different from his first album, Edge of Insanity, it's just much better. The album's captivating neoclassical/fusion forays are filled with plenty of beautiful melodies and hair-raising solos; MacAlpine simply lights up the fretboard – and the keyboard, for that matter. Opening with a stormy harpsichord motif, the album's leadoff track, "Autumn Lords," sounds promising from the start. The piece soars with dramatic classical precision and features some truly breathtaking guitar/keyboard interplay.

Octopuss is the third solo album by English drummer Cozy Powell, released in 1983. Considered to be one of England's best drummers, Cozy Powell was almost legendary for a heavy-hitting style that could be made to work with many styles of music, He is best remembered for his work with Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Whitesnake and Black Sabbath as well as Emerson, Lake & Powell. Octopus features musical assistance from John Lord, Mel Galley and Gary Moore.

Mystery Tracks Archives, Vol. 3 is Steve Vai's third installment of his planned ten-disc rarities retrospective, this time out collecting various hard-to-find Japanese bonus tracks, compilation cuts, and otherwise unavailable promotional tracks. Included is an edited version of the notorious "Kill the Guy With the Ball," retitled here "Speeding," and like most of the other tracks that appeared on import versions of Vai's albums, it's the type of shredding that folks have come to expect from Vai. The version of "Sofa" done at the Zappa's Universe concert, long out of print, is also included here. The most interesting tracks, however, come from some of the instrument demonstration cuts done for companies like Korg and Roland. On these tracks, Vai was inspired by (and constrained by) the sounds available to the instrument he was showcasing, and it leads him down a different path than that generally represented on his albums. There's far less bombast in these understated performances, and they really give a better indication of what a well-rounded player Vai can be.

Five albums from Joe Satriani – picked seemingly at random but not unappealingly – are collected on this budget-priced 2013 box set. The albums here – Surfing with the Alien, Engines of Creation, Strange Beautiful Music, Is There Love in Space?, Super Colossal – arguably showcase Satriani at his best, even if they don't focus on any particular time…

Marty Friedman is a musician that need’s no introduction. From his virtuosic world stage debut with Cacophony alongside the legendary Jason Becker to his tenure with Megadeth, in which he played a crucial role in propelling the band to the top of the metal hierarchy with multi-platinum albums such as Rust In Peace and Countdown To Extinction, Marty Friedman has proved time and again his prowess, musicality and originality…