With its titanic guitar solos, symphonic suites, and multi-layered melodies, Muse's fifth album operates under the assumption that bigger is better. This is the very definition of a super-sized album, an album that takes its cues from Queen, its lyrics from science fiction novels, and its delivery from rock opera. It's also the first time that Muse has truly sounded like Muse, as few bands since Queen have so readily explored the intersection of bombast and extravagance. The Resistance is most certainly extravagant – there are snatches of classical piano entwined throughout, not to mention bilingual lyrics, concert hall percussion, coronet solos, and song titles like "Exogenesis: Symphony, Pt. 2 (Cross-Pollination)" – but it's also quite beautiful, capable of moving between prog rock choruses and excerpts from Chopin's "Nocturne in E Flat Major" within the same song.

Patrik Kleemola (b.1981) is one of the most prominent Finnish guitarists to emerge in recent years. After winning the II Guitaristival “Takemitsu” International Guitar Competition in Finland 2004 and gaining prizes in other competitions such as Gargnano's International Guitar Competition, his concert career has taken him to London, Buenos Aires, Rome, Milan, Athens, Turin, Florence, Tallinn, Helsinki and other cities in South America and Europe.

Kind of a minor league version of the Doors, Clear Light were a West Coast phenomenon, and although they didn't last too long, were an interesting group. A very good slice of Los Angeles psychedelia, Clear Light were a six-piece band that combined folk, rock, psychedelia, and even a touch of classical to their sound. The end result, though, is a little ponderous and pretentious, but strangely listenable. The big hit off this album (produced by Paul Rothchild and engineered by Bruce Botnick) was "Mr. Blue," a psychedelic folk song written by Tom Paxton. It's over six-minutes long and a bit overbaked, but it does have an odd appeal. The finer moments are guitarist Bob Seal's psychedelic folk-rock songs, namely "With All in Mind" and "They Who Have Nothing."

This classic 1972 album on Elektra by John Kongos has Queen/Cars director Roy Thomas Baker remixing superb production by Gus Dudgeon, the man who created many an Elton John hit. Elton sidemen Ray Cooper, Caleb Quaye, Dave Glover, Roger Pope, Sue (Glover) and Sunny (Leslie) – pretty much the crew from John's 1971 epic Madman Across the Water – are all excellent here. But this album has more to offer than the solo records by Kiki Dee and Bernie Taupin, which also proliferated around the same time. Though he never made it to Joel Whitburn's Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits in the U.S.A., there were three minor splashes on this disc: "Tokoloshe Man," "Jubilee Cloud," and "He's Gonna Step on You Again." The totally original sound – producer Dudgeon on "asses jawbone," bicycle bell, maracas, and Mike Noble playing the "clapper board" – build a texture one didn't hear on Elton John records.

This inaugural title features an unreleased live recording by one of the true legends of jazz history—The Sophisticated Giant, tenor saxophone master Dexter Gordon, performing with his early-’80s quartet: Kirk Lightsey on piano, David Eubanks on bass, and Edward Gladden on drums. The concert was recorded in Genoa, Italy, in 1981, at Villa Imperiale, during the Festival Estate Jazz 81.

Designed as a companion to Bruce Springsteen's 2016 memoir Born to Run, Chapter & Verse provides something of an aural autobiography, tracing Springsteen's development from a Jersey garage rocker into one of the great American songwriters. Springsteen compiled the 18-track disc himself, intending his selection to mirror the themes in his book, so he balances epics with intimate miniatures since both kinds of songs can capture his quests for deliverance and escape. He alternates his well-known anthems ("Born to Run," "Badlands," "Born in the USA"), with a few other popular singles ("Brilliant Disguise," "The Rising") and a host of deep cuts, all of which tend to downplay both his romantic and hard-rocking sides.

Anouk Teeuwe, professionally known by the mononym Anouk, is a Dutch singer-songwriter and record producer. After her breakthrough in 1997 with the single "Nobody's Wife", she had numerous hit singles in the Dutch and Belgian charts, such as "R U Kiddin' Me", "Michel", "Girl", "Lost", "Modern World", "Three Days in a Row", and "Woman". Anouk has released ten studio albums to date, the most recent one being Queen For A Day, released on 4 March 2016.