Recorded in October 2007, just over half a month after the release of her hits collection Crystal Visions, The Soundstage Sessions finds Stevie Nicks running through her hits – both solo and Fleetwood Mac tunes – in front of a small studio audience. This performance, which was also released simultaneously as a DVD, is suitably intimate and respectful of Nicks' original recordings, right down to how "Stand Back" and "If Anyone Falls in Love" are slathered in synthesizers that overwhelm the otherwise subdued arrangements.

Looking On is the third album by The Move, released in the UK in December 1970. The LP is their first to feature Jeff Lynne, their first containing entirely original compositions. It includes both their 1970 singles, the Top 10 hit "Brontosaurus," released on Regal Zonophone in March, and the less successful "When Alice Comes Back To The Farm," released on Fly in October. Looking On is generally regarded as the hardest rocking, least popular and most eclectic album in the Move's catalogue, as it presents the band dabbling in heavy metal ("Brontosaurus"), blues ("When Alice Comes Back to the Farm", "Turkish Tram Conductor Blues"), prog-style epics ("Open Up Said the World at the Door"), soul ("Feel Too Good"), or, in the case of the title track, all four styles mashed together.

Spooky Two is this British blues-rock band's pièce de résistance. All eight of the tracks compound free-styled rock and loose-fitting guitar playing, resulting in some fantastic raw music. With Gary Wright on keyboards and vocals and lead singer Mike Harrison behind the microphone, their smooth, relaxed tempos and riffs mirrored bands like Savoy Brown and, at times, even the Yardbirds. With some emphasis on keyboards, songs like "Lost in My Dream" and the nine-minute masterpiece "Evil Woman" present a cool, nonchalant air that grooves and slides along perfectly. "I've Got Enough Heartache" whines and grieves with some sharp bass playing from Greg Ridley, while "Better by You, Better Than Me" is the catchiest of the songs, with its clinging hooks and desperate-sounding chorus…

Altoist Bobby Watson's debut for the Blue Note label used his future group name Horizon but was actually more of a transition band recorded right before Horizon's personnel became stabilized. Most notable is the fact that Watson utilizes two up-and-coming players (trumpeter Roy Hargrove at the beginning of his career and trombonist Frank Lacy) in addition to a top-notch rhythm section comprised of pianist John Hicks, bassist Curtis Lundy and either Kenny Washington or Victor Lewis on drums. Their reportoire on this disc is quite fresh (five of Watson's challenging originals, Pamela Watson's "And Then Again" and Billy Strayhorn's "Blood Count") and the advanced hard bop solos are full of spirit and unpredictable ideas.

"The Complete Bearsville Albums Collection" houses 11 Todd Rundgren studio albums inside a wonderful 13CD clamshell box. This boxset showcases the complete collection of Rundgren’s finest work released on the exceptionally cool Bearsville label; all studio albums apart from the epic double live set Back to the Bars, all solo, no Utopia LPs.
A pop savant who fastidiously avoided easy categorization throughout the course of his career, Todd Rundgren straddled the gap separating a mainstream star from a cult figure. Rundgren had plenty of hits in the 1970s and '80s, many of them becoming enduring contemporary standards, such as the Carole King pastiche "I Saw the Light," the ballads "Hello, It's Me" and "Can We Still Be Friends," plus the goofy novelty "Bang on the Drum All Day." These hits displayed his sharp commercial instincts, impulses he'd wind up subverting and tweaking on such heady '70s LPs as Something/Anything, A Wizard, A True Star, and Todd, records at the core of a discography…

This five-disc collection from London's JSP Records brings together 126 sides that Lightnin' Hopkins tracked for the Aladdin, Modern/RPM, and Gold Star labels at the very start of his recording career. Included are the Texas bluesman's first hit, "Katie May" from 1946, "T-Model Blues" from 1949, and arguably the most startling Hopkins composition, the powerful "Tim Moore's Farm," also from 1949. Most of the tracks are Hopkins solo, playing either acoustic or electric guitar, but he takes a turn at the organ for "Organ Boogie," a track that shows the same adventuresome liberties with tempo and time that mark all of his work, whatever the instrument. Since his approach and style to the blues never altered throughout his life, a case could be made that these first recordings are the ones to get, but at an astounding 126 tracks, this set is mind-numbing overkill for all but the most devoted fan.

This album features reworked versions of his golden oldies and three new pieces. The result of the new orchestration is a modern-sounding remix album, rather than a definitive greatest hits.
The music itself, as a collection of greatest hits tracks, is a surprising choice. There's no "Revolutions", "Chronologie 4", "Ethnicolor", "Calypso", "Oxygene 8" or "Hey Gagarin", for instance. We are treated to fresh, excellent reworkings of classics: "Oxygene 2", "Equinoxe 3" and "Last Rendez-vous". Aging tracks such as "Oxygene 4", "Chronologie 6", and "Rendez-vous 4" have all been brought up to date. The three new tracks recall Robert Miles and Orbital. They're good but there's a feeling they were left over from previous projects. There are too many synth presets sounding too clinical and lacklustre compared to the high standard of sounds used in Jarre's other studio albums. Moreover, there are finer unreleased tracks that could have been included.

This album consists of five songs from Nothing Like the Sun… re-recorded in Spanish and Portugese. This was a well-done project – the translations are good and Sting manages the Spanish and Portugese pronunciations well. However, unless you are huge fan, or enjoy hearing the songs sung in different languages, this is an album you'll want to pass over.

British multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield offers up this warmly crafted sequel to his 1975 classic Ommadawn, marking a return to a more organic style of composing. After polling fans online about what type of approach they'd like to hear, Oldfield was overwhelmingly urged to revisit the acoustic style heard on his first three albums. Eager for the challenge, he spent nearly a year in his studio crafting what would become 2017's Return to Ommadawn, an instrumental meditation on the prog-folk fantasy world he'd originally imagined four decades prior. A true solo effort, Oldfield plays every instrument on the record, which is divided into "Part I" and "Part II," each lasting about 20 minutes in a nod to the original's vinyl format.

The title Redemption carries a bit of weight, suggesting Joe Bonamassa is seeking salvation in something – either he's grappling with an inner torment or finding refuge in his music, but these two things aren't mutually exclusive. Certainly, Redemption teems with images of loss and regret, with Bonamassa admitting he suffered "Self-Inflicted Wounds" that left him to "Pick Up the Pieces" before he finally realizes "I've Got Some Mind Over What Matters" and discovers he's "Stronger Now in Broken Places." All those songs arrive in that chronological order, suggesting Redemption is something of a song cycle, but Bonamassa's thematic control isn't what's impressive about the album.

Adrian Belew’s long and winding career as an innovative guitar visionary enters yet another new phase with the pending release of Pop-Sided, the Covington native’s first solo album in 10 years. But don’t think the ever-restless singer-songwriter and prolific session guitarist has been sitting on his hands over that time: he created FLUX, a fascinating iOS app that plays random snatches of his sonic creations; he toured multiple times with the Adrian Belew Power Trio, which featured songs from across his versatile four-decade career; and he continued to contribute singular guitar parts for artists like Nine Inch Nails.

ZZ Top returned after an extended layoff in late 1979 with Degüello, their best album since 1973's Tres Hombres. During their time off, ZZ Top didn't change much – hell, their sound never really changed during their entire career – but it did harden, in a way. The grooves became harder, sleeker, and their off-kilter sensibility and humor began to dominate, as "Cheap Sunglasses" and "Fool for Your Stockings" illustrate. Ironically, this, their wildest album lyrically, doesn't have the unhinged rawness of their early blooze rockers, but the streamlined production makes it feel sleazier all the same, since its slickness lets the perversity slide forth. And, forget not, the trio is in fine shape here, knocking out a great set of rockers and sounding stylish all the time. Undoubtedly one of their strong suits.

Very few conductors have recorded as much Bach as Karl Richter and none can lay a stronger claim to a legacy based on championing the master. Richter's reverence for Bach is evinced by the simplicity, splendor, and grandeur with which he consistently imbued his performances exemplified here by these landmark recordings of the Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites. In Archiv's original-image bit-processing remastered transfers as well, the sound is better than ever. This is cornerstone Bach that should not be missed.