Free's second album was recorded with the band itself in considerable turmoil. Principal songwriters Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser demanded strict discipline from their bandmates, and guitarist Paul Kossoff in particular equally demanded the spontaneity and freedom that had characterized the group's debut. It was an awkward period; both Kossoff and drummer Simon Kirke came close to quitting, and only the intervention of Island label chief Chris Blackwell seems to have prevented it. Few of these tensions, however, are evident on the finished album. (Tribute, again, to Blackwell's powers of diplomacy.) He replaced original producer Guy Stevens early into the sessions and, having reminded both warring parties where the band's strengths lay, proceeded to coax out an album that stands alongside its predecessor as a benchmark of British blues at the turn of the 1970s.

This two-CD, 40-song set includes both sides of all 20 of the singles released by Johnny Cash on Sun through 1964. (Even though Cash left the label in 1958, Sun plundered its vaults for more Cash singles for about five years, with some of the 45s doing quite well on the country charts and denting the lower reaches of the pop ones.) This is really an excuse for a compilation that's more comprehensive than the usual greatest-hits set, but more affordable and digestible than the box sets of his Sun stuff. There's nothing wrong with that, either. It's well-packaged, the music is good to classic, and it's an excellent compromise for listeners who want a lot of Johnny Cash at Sun, but not everything.

Chester Arthur Burnett, known as Howlin' Wolf, was a Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, originally from Mississippi. With a booming voice and looming physical presence, he is one of the best-known Chicago blues artists. Musician and critic Cub Koda noted, "no one could match Howlin' Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits." Producer Sam Phillips recalled, "When I heard Howlin' Wolf, I said, 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies'". Several of his songs, including "Smokestack Lightnin'", "Back Door Man", "Killing Floor" and "Spoonful", have become blues and blues rock standards. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 51 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time."

2001 Dutch release with live recordings from the King Biscuit Flower Hour vaults. This 1983 Palladium show is a great place to start for anyone not turned on to Derringer's brand of music, though its circumstances were very unfortunate at the time. The gig was put together to raise money when all of the instruments and equipment belonging to Derringer and his band had been stolen, along with the van they were stored in that night, from a Greenwich Village side street. The guest artists include Lorna Luft (who put the show together), Dr. John, Edgar Winter, and Ian Hunter. The songs, played with reckless abandon, include a metal-crunching rendition of "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo," awith an extended guitar finale; a gloriously tight and bracing "Let Me In," a medley of "All the Young Dudes"/"Roll Away the Stone" featuring Ian Hunter, "Just Another Night" (also featuring Hunter), and "Right Place, Wrong Time" with Dr. John and Edgar Winter. And the set finishes with a mass singalong of "Hang On Sloopy," featuring everybody present. (Hall & Oates were at the show but don't appear here.)

British Polygram TV's Greatest Hits is a fine 20-track collection that contains all of Kiss' best songs, from "Rock and Roll All Nite" and "Strutter" to "Beth," "Plaster Caster," and "Cold Gin," on one disc. For casual fans, this is likely all the Kiss they would need, even if it does contain a few odd selections.

Buddy Guy revitalized his career when he signed with Silvertone Records in the early '90s. His first album for the label, Damn Right, I've Got the Blues, was a smash success, earning critical acclaim, awards, and sales hand over fist. Prior to that record, he was a legend only among blues fans; afterward, he was a star. Although it was a bit too rock-oriented and slick for purists, Damn Right was a terrific album, setting the pace not only for Guy but for modern electric blues in the '90s. As the decade wore on, Guy continued to make albums for Silvertone, some of them a little complacent, others quite excellent. Buddy's Baddest: The Best of Buddy Guy attempts to summarize those years in 14 songs, including three previously unreleased cuts.

The Freedom Sessions is an album by Sarah McLachlan which was released on 6 December 1994 on Nettwerk in Canada and 28 March 1995 on Arista Records in the United States. The album consisted primarily of previously unreleased alternative versions and remixes of McLachlan recordings, plus a cover version of "Ol' 55" by Tom Waits. Many of the tracks were recorded during the same sessions as McLachlan's 1993 album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. In subsequent live performances, some of these songs (most notably "Ice Cream" and "Hold On") were reworked to match the style in which they were played on this album. The album was released in two versions: a standard CD, and an enhanced CD containing CD-ROM bonus material including interviews and music videos. The album was one of the first major enhanced CD releases.

Mr. Wonderful is the second studio album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 23 August 1968. In the US, the album was not released, though around half of the tracks appeared on English Rose. An expanded version of Mr. Wonderful was included in the box set The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions. The album was broadly similar to Fleetwood Mac's self-titled debut album, albeit with some changes to personnel and recording method. The album was recorded live in the studio with miked amplifiers and PA system, rather than plugged into the board. The vocals were distorted with a Vox amplifier and most of the album was recorded in mono. A horn section was featured throughout the album and Christine Perfect (later Christine McVie) of Chicken Shack played keyboards. Compared to the huge success of the band's first album, Fleetwood Mac, the follow-up received mixed critical reviews.

The only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews, there are few other rock records as controversial as Let It Be. First off, several facts need to be explained: although released in May 1970, this was not their final album, but largely recorded in early 1969, way before Abbey Road. Phil Spector was enlisted in early 1970 to do some post-production work, but did not work with the band as a unit, as George Martin and Glyn Johns had on the sessions themselves; Spector's work was limited to mixing and some overdubs. And, although his use of strings has generated much criticism, by and large he left the original performances to stand as is: only "The Long and Winding Road" and (to a lesser degree) "Across the Universe" and "I Me Mine" get the wall-of-sound layers of strings and female choruses.

Bare Bones is a mellow, mostly acoustic collection of original and previously recorded Wishbone Ash songs. The only remaining member from the British outfit's '70s glory days, guitarist Andy Powell selected some numbers from the Argus and Wishbone Four years that blend nicely with some late-era compositions. Soft-rocking country tunes like the superior "Hard Times" and "Baby Don't Mind" dominate most of the Bare Bones track list. Classics like "Errors of My Ways" are low on folk/country appeal, but still sound very different than the original recordings. Despite this offering's unique textural quality, Wishbone Ash fans will definitely recognize the easy melodic sense that the band always captured in the studio. For a group so separated in time from their glory years, Powell and company do a remarkable job keeping things fresh on Bare Bones.

Typifying the excesses that have frequently been denounced in their genre, UK progressive rock band Gravy Train recorded a series of albums for Vertigo Records and Dawn Records in the early 70s bedecked in grandiose, conceptual artwork. The group’s core members were Norman Barratt (vocals/guitar; b. 5 February 1949, d. 30 July 2011), Barry Davenport (drums), J.D. Hughes (woodwind/keyboards/vocals) and Les Williams (bass/vocals). Their first, self-titled 1970 album was dominated by Hughes’ flute melodies, which earned the group initial comparisons to Jethro Tull, as well as extended rock riffs. One of the songs, ‘Tribute To Syd’, was an obvious salute to the genius of Syd Barrett.