Released in 1970 during the stopgap between Stand! and There's a Riot Goin' On, Greatest Hits inadvertently arrived at precisely the right moment, summarizing Sly & the Family Stone's joyous hit-making run on the pop and R&B charts. Technically, only four songs here reached the Top Ten, with only two others hitting the Top 40, but judging this solely on charts is misleading, since this is simply a peerless singles collection. This summarizes their first four albums perfectly (almost all of Stand! outside of the two jams and "Somebody's Watching You" is here), adding the non-LP singles "Hot Fun in the Summertime," "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)," and "Everybody Is a Star," possibly the loveliest thing they ever recorded…

Keith Moon's (The Who) 1975 solo album Two Sides of the Moon has been described as "the most expensive karaoke album in history," and even as that, it was a colossal failure, the perfect expression of drunken self-indulgence, and it was so fascinatingly bad that it has assumed a certain cult status. But make no mistake, it was a horrible album on all counts made by a brilliant drummer who chose barely to play drums on it (he appears behind the kit on only three tracks) but instead chose to sing, even though he was tone deaf by his own admission. The presence of seemingly every musician then in L.A. at the sessions, an impressive list that included Dick Dale, Spencer Davis, Bobby Keys, Rick Nelson, Harry Nilsson, John Sebastian, Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, and countless rumored others, failed to redeem Two Sides of the Moon. Even taken as kitsch, it sucked.

Guitar-slinging progeny of the great Chicago bluesman Luther Allison, Bernard Allison has proved that great music runs in the blood with a series of high power urban blues albums. Beginning with the viciously funky title track, Chills & Thrills immediately kicks the party into overdrive, briefly letting up only to get a bit jammy (“So Devine”) or momentarily reflective (“Compromising for Your Needs”).

Billie Holiday's first recordings for Norman Granz' Clef Records present a vocalist truly at the top of her craft, although she would begin a rapid decline soon thereafter. This 1952 recording (originally issued as a 10" LP, Billie Holiday Sings) places Holiday in front of small piano and tenor saxophone-led groups including jazz luminaries such as Oscar Peterson and Charlie Shavers, where her gentle phrasing sets the tone for the sessions, evoking lazy evenings and dreamy afternoons. The alcoholism and heroin use that would be her downfall by the end of this decade seems to be almost unfathomable during these recordings since Holiday is in as fine a voice as her work in the '30s, and the musical environment seems ideal for these slow torch songs. Solitude runs as the common theme throughout these 16 tracks; the idle breathiness of "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)" finds the vocalist casually reminiscing…

By all accounts, the somewhat unexpected 2014 King Crimson tour was a resounding success and Live at the Orpheum is the first offering for those who were unable to attend. The band had been reinvented with a combination of new and returning players and the set list consisted largely of tunes that hadn't been performed live since the '70s, if at all. The main wild card was the three-drummer front line, which easily could have turned into a mess, even without music as challenging as Crimson's. Well, the time the three drummers (Pat Mastelotto, Bill Rieflin, and Gavin Harrison) spent rehearsing before convening the entire group was well worth it, because they play with a single mind throughout. The returning Mel Collins sounds fantastic on all manner of saxophones and flute, and hearing Tony Levin's amazing bass playing on all these old King Crimson tunes is a real treat…

The debut album by one of the most promising double acts of the mid-'80s, complicated somewhat by an overwhelming need to sound like contemporary artists. Neither Graham Gouldman nor Andrew Gold could be said to have built their careers on danceable pop music; nor could their respective audiences have really been dying to hear them try. But they went for it anyway and, aided by a studio stuffed with the latest in techno gadgetry, turned in an album that could certainly hold its own against the majority of what was on the streets at that time. Indeed, "Right Between the Eyes" deserved to be as big a hit as any contemporary smash you can name, and digging deeper into the album, it was clear that even if the duo weren't exactly busting a gut in the songwriting stakes, they did have their finger on the modern pulse.

Combining heavy symphonic sounds, a certain taste for big melodic hooks, and the seducing raspy vocals of mistress Steva, Deathless Legacy carved out their own peculiar niche - no one sounds like them, no one is currently doing the horror metal thing better than them! “Damnatio Aeterna” tells the thrilling story of the lesser demon Malchrum, who is challenged by Lucifer to ensnare a priest in an unspeakable sin, thereby ensuring his eternal damnation. A dark and provocative journey faithful to the band's signature style and filled with an atmosphere of mystery that grows progressively tense as the story unfolds, the seventh Deathless Legacy studio album will finally delve into sophisticated themes and explore the true nature of evil.

One of those composers whose name you might not be instantly familiar with, but whose music you certainly will be, Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi has been captivating audiences for the best part of two decades with his beautifully delicate and minimal arrangements, many of which have gone on to become soundtrack staples for everything from costume dramas to TV adverts to Hollywood films. Celebrating his increasingly popular output, Islands: Essential Einaudi compiles the Milan Conservatory graduate's most recognizable pieces, with material from his first solo piano record, Le Onde ("Questa Notte"), right up to 2009's synth-based Nightbook (the gothic cello-led title track), alongside a brand new composition, "The Earth Prelude."

Two names virtually synonymous with the violin in the twentieth century are Fritz Kreisler and Oscar Shumsky. The former was a notable performer in his own right, appearing as soloist in front of most of the world's most prominent orchestras. Today, however, Kreisler primarily lives on through his extensive compositional output, particularly that for the violin. This vast body of work can generally be categorized as being nationalistic, imitative of eighteenth century composers, or arrangements.

Most listeners to 18th century music in the modern era are well familiar with JS Bach, perhaps his sons Karl Philipp Emanuel, Wilhem Friedemann, and Johann Christian, certainly Handel, Vivaldi, and Scarlatti, and perhaps Purcell. In the last 30 years we are fortunate to have been given access through CD recordings to similar music from the enormous host of contemporaries of these masters of the Baroque, and it is constantly astonishing how high the quality of the written music was throughout the 18th century. Surely there were mediocre or perhaps poor composers, but the sheer number of really good ones continues to amaze.