To celebrate two decades of creating ambient and downtempo electronica under the name Banco de Gaia, Toby Marks put together this enjoyable if slightly uneven two-disc set, a retrospective of sorts that takes a fresh look at his past rather than simply gathering and recapitulating it. On the first disc, he reinterprets both his own work (longtime fans will get a particular kick out of his Euro-trance reconstruction of "Soufie") and that of others - Hawkwind's "Spirit of the Age" is given a long, luxurious interpretation that incorporates elements of house, funk, and ska, while King Crimson's "Starless" gets an even longer - and frankly rather plodding - arrangement of its own. His most ambitious experiment on the first disc is a rendition of Pink Floyd's "Echoes" that lasts fully 22 minutes - an impressive feat, and one that does a fine job of blending Marks's own personal electronic vision seamlessly with Floyd's unique sound…

The two discs of Steve Miller Band: On Tour 1973-1976 feature two Steve Miller Band concerts recorded in 1973 and 1976, respectively, by (and for eventual broadcast on) the infamous King Biscuit Flower Hour. The soundboard recordings are pristine, with each bandmember occupying an equal part of the spectrum. The 1973 incarnation, captured at Shady Grove in Washington, D.C., still holds some connection to the earlier, more blues-based years of the band. As such, the disc contains a good deal of blues-rock jamming, much of which is admirably tight, though it falls prey to some of the era's excesses. Also contained is an early version of "Fly Like an Eagle," which Miller road-tested in several versions before setting it to wax. Following extensive touring around that period, Miller took an extended hiatus from the road, during which time he recorded both Fly Like an Eagle and Book of Dreams, what would prove to be his two most successful albums. Following the recording of those albums, Miller took to the road again, with a new band featuring Gary Mallaber, Lonnie Turner, Norton Buffalo, David Denny, and Byron Allred. The music is different, too. The blues influence is still there, but the band is sleeker and more modern.

Tinderbox is the most musically up-tempo of all Siouxsie and the Banshees' albums and the most stylistically consistent one since The Scream and Join Hands. Most of the selections here feature urgently rocking drumming, drivingly aggressive yet fully textured guitar playing, and masterful, gutsy singing. The songs here are intense and unfold slowly, some starting off less vigorously but becoming hard rockers further along. There is of course a fine line between consistency and lack of contrast, but this album stays firmly on the side of the former; in fact, there's a certain satisfying feel to the musically uniform wall of sound here. The arrangements are less complex than in immediately preceding albums, but there are still plenty of subtle, effective production touches to be found throughout, most notably in the song "Cannons." "Cities in the Dust," a dance-pop number with a bell-like synthesizer opening section, stretches the above-mentioned boundaries the most, though typically bleak lyrics keep this selection from any sense of vacuity. This excellent release is well worth purchasing.

Three of Szymanowski’s most important works show Rattle’s ability to energise music in which he believes. Sensuality and cogency blend in refined sound.

Originally released in 1990 on Go! Discs, Cake is the debut album from the legendary Trashcan Sinatras, now remastered, repackaged and reissued by Last Night From Glasgow. The lyrics and melodies are unmatched. Each song is a gem of unrivaled cleverness and tenderness. What a stunning confluence of sweetness and wit.

Folk-pop singer/songwriter Stephen Bishop has bounced around from one record label to another, but he had his greatest success on the ABC label in the mid-'70s when he scored the Top 40 pop hits "Save It for a Rainy Day" and "On and On." In fact, his two ABC LPs, Careless (1977) and the gold-certified Bish (1978), are his only ones to sell well enough to make the charts. ABC was absorbed into MCA, which is now part of Universal, the major label responsible for the 20th Century Masters/The Millennium Collection series of discount-priced best-of compilations, and the Bishop number draws heavily from those two albums, which provide nine of the 12 tracks. Unusually for the series, however, the compilers have licensed a track from outside Universal, Bishop's chart-topping adult contemporary hit "It Might Be You," the theme from the 1983 movie Tootsie, which is controlled by Warner Brothers Records.

Journey in Satchidananda is the fourth solo album by Alice Coltrane. Its title (and title track) reflects Coltrane's inspiration by Swami Satchidananda whom Coltrane had become close to while being his disciple. "Shiva-Loka", or "realm of Shiva", refers to the realm of the third member of the Hindu trinity, the "dissolver of creation". "Stopover Bombay" refers to a five-week stay in India and Sri Lanka on which Coltrane was due to go in December 1970. "Something About John Coltrane" is based on themes by her late husband, John Coltrane. "Isis and Osiris", on which Charlie Haden replaces Cecil McBee on bass, and Vishnu Wood plays oud, indicates Coltrane's interest in Middle Eastern and North African music and culture. The presence of the tamboura, played by Tulsi, reflects Coltrane's interest in Indian classical music and religion.

For almost a decade, Agnes Obel has been one of the most independent and original artists in contemporary music. Now she has returns with her highly anticipated new album Myopia – through Deutsche Grammophon.

Live archive release from the Rock/New Wave supergroup featuring Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds along with Billy Bremner and Terry Williams. Recorded live in 1980, this 16 track set finds the bad playing songs from their Seconds Of Pleasure album along with choice tracks from Edmunds' and Lowe's solo catalog and more.