Doyle Bramhall II put his solo recording career into hibernation following the 2001 release of Welcome, choosing to concentrate on his thriving career as a sideman and producer. It was hard to blame him for deciding upon this route, not when Eric Clapton picked him as a lieutenant guitarist and Elton John, Sheryl Crow, and Derek Trucks all regularly came calling. Bramhall channels all this experience into Rich Man, his first album in 17 years and also his best.

Anybody seeking an exhaustive Britney Spears compilation has been waiting for a collection like 2013's The Essential Britney Spears. Where other Britney compilations ran no longer than a single CD, this is a double-disc set with over 30 tracks more than enough space for all of her hit American singles, although that does mean that there are some singles from non-U.S. territories that are missing in action.

Like 2004's Greatest Hits: My Prerogative, 2009's The Singles runs 18 tracks but the selected songs result in a very different listening experience. To begin with, the five years separating the two compilations were tumultuous ones for Britney Spears, but they resulted in a clutch of hits that kept her on the charts despite all the drama, hits that firmly entrenched Britney as a dance club diva. This stretch of six singles – "Gimme More," "Piece of Me," "Womanizer," "Circus," "If You Seek Amy," "Radar" – along with the excellent new Max Martin-written and produced single "3" (much better than any of the three new cuts on My Prerogative), help push The Singles away from teen pop and toward pure dance-pop bliss, a shift in tone underscored by the virtual absence of ballads (the only one included is "Everytime," which in this context plays a bit as a chill-out number). In some regards, giving her early sticky bubblegum and fluffy ballads a bit of a short shrift does downplay Britney's era of dominance, but it does result in a stronger overall listen, since there are no slow patches here, just a parade of relentless hooks and rhythms that wound up defining the sound of a decade.

The Seeds were one of the most influential bands in the '60s American garage rock scene; they delivered hypnotic, stripped-down tunes dominated by Daryl Hooper's circular keyboard lines and the fuzzy, feral guitar breaks of Jan Savage, while lead singer Sky Saxon wailed a thinly veiled paen to drugs and sex, including "Mr. Farmer," "Rolling Machine," and "Up in Her Room." The Seeds scored their biggest hit with "Pushin' Too Hard" in 1967, but the band had already attracted a sizable following in their hometown of Los Angeles, and they would release a string of memorable singles through the end of the decade. Singles As & Bs 1965-1970 collects both sides of the 11 singles the Seeds released during their heyday, including variant B-sides for two releases, and as a bonus the set includes a rare, unedited take of "Pushin' Too Hard"…

B.B. King has cut a lot of albums since the success of Live at the Regal. And, like the live shows they document, none of them are any less than solid and professional, hallmarks of King's work aesthetic. But every so often B.B. truly catches fire; his playing and singing comes up an extra notch or two, and the result is a live album with some real sparks to it. Live in Cook County Jail is one of those great concerts that the record company was smart enough to be there to capture, documenting B.B. firing on all cylinders in front of an audience that's just damn happy for him to be there. Possibly the best live version of "The Thrill Is Gone" of all its many incarnations, and rock solid renditions of classics like "Everyday I Have the Blues," "How Blue Can You Get?," "Sweet Sixteen" and a great medley of "3 O'Clock Blues" and "Darlin' You Know I Love You"…

Still very much an integral part of Rufus, Chaka Khan set the charts on fire with her debut solo release. The first single was the R&B chart-topper "I'm Every Woman," an Ashford & Simpson track with Khan lighting up the lyric with her tantalizing vocals. "Life Is a Dance," the second release, doesn't quite compare to its predecessor, but it still made the R&B Top 40. The sentimental ballad "Roll Me Through the Rushes" is poetically engaging, and despite never being released as a single, it became a mainstay of radio. Although Khan had much credibility from her association with Rufus, this album demonstrated that the dynamic vocalist could hold her own ground alone.

This 1963 date is titled for Dexter Gordon's living in self-imposed Parisian exile and recording there with two other exptriates and a French native. Along with Gordon, pianist Bud Powell and Kenny "Klook" Clarke were living in the City of Lights and were joined by the brilliant French bassman Pierre Michelot. This is a freewheeling bop date with the band working out on such categoric standards as "Scrapple from the Apple," and "A Night in Tunisia." In addition, American vernacular tunes such as "Willow Weep for Me" and "Stairway to the Stars" are included. Gordon is at the very top of his game here. His playing is crisp, tight, and full of playful fury. Powell, who at this stage of his life was almost continually plagued by personal problems, never sounded better than he does in this session…

The debut solo LP from former Five Stairsteps member Keni Burke - filled with bass-propelled funk and R&B magic from the summer of '77!

Dream Sequence is an electronic wandering through this German band's most familiar instrumental endeavors. The two discs are made up of tracks stemming from such monumental albums as 1974's Phaedra and 1976's Stratosfear, merging right into some of their finest material from the early '80s. Fans of full-length Tangerine Dream tracks should take note that three of their most popular offerings are only excerpts, including "Rubycon Part One." The rest of the album is comprised of delightful synthesized washes that represent Tangerine Dream's mind-numbing electronic voyages, like the spaciousness of "Cloudburst Flight" or the finite complexity of "Logos Part One." Not all of their music basks in the coldness of keyboard machination though…

Well, this is something serious Hendrix collectors have been waiting for. Band of Gypsys famously played a total of four shows 12/31/69 and 1/1/70 at the Fillmore East (two shows each night). This is the complete first set from the first night; their debut live show. Although the original Band of Gypsys album was compiled from the second night, it wasn't because there weren't amazing performances to choose from on the first night. The first couple songs are a bit rough around the edges, but when Jimi goes deep blues with "Hear My Train a Comin'," he really starts feeling it and turns in an absolutely amazing version (that's why it was previously released on Band of Gypsys 2 and Live at the Fillmore East). "Machine Gun" is another stunner…

Homosapien is the second solo album by British musician Pete Shelley, released in 1981. The album follows his experimental instrumental album Sky Yen (recorded in 1974 but released in 1980) and his work with the group Buzzcocks, who initially disbanded in 1981. Homosapien saw a marked departure from the punk stylings of Buzzcocks' records, being heavily influenced by the programmed synthesizer sounds and drum machines of synthpop, with the addition of Shelley on acoustic guitar. The title track was released as a UK single and was banned by the BBC due to explicit homosexual references, but was nevertheless a hit in several other countries.

After almost a half-century, the multinational band of freaks known as Gong keeps making noise. I See You sounds more cohesive and listenable than it deserves to - especially considering that co-founder, vocalist and chief lyricist Daevid Allen turned 77 years old in January and wrote the album while battling cancer. Longtime fans will find plenty here to wrap their heads around, including “Syllabub,” the catchy, off-kilter nod to Frank Zappa; a spoken-word poem called “This Revolution,” which addresses political frustrations and name-drops Gil Scott-Heron; and the swaggering 10-minute epic “Thank You.” Gong’s Wikipedia page lists more than 30 different lineups and more than 45 band members, and Allen’s five current and capable psychedelic pranksters do not diminish the legacy.