A collection includes: 'Faith' (1987); Listen Without Prejudice (1990); 'Older' (1996); 'Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best Of George Michael' (1998); 'Songs From The Last Century' (1999); 'Patience' (2004); and 'TwentyFive' (2006).

During the last quarter of the 20th century, and thanks largely to Eric Clapton's remarkable devotion to his memory, Robert Leroy Johnson posthumously became the most celebrated Delta blues musician of the pre-WWII era. Among numerous editions of his complete works and various anthologies that combine his recordings with those of his contemporaries and followers, J.S.P.'s The Road to Robert Johnson and Beyond combines many of his essential performances with those by dozens of other blues artists from Blind Lemon Jefferson and Henry Thomas to Muddy Waters and Elmore James. 105 tracks fill four CDs with several decades' worth of strongly steeped blues that trace the African American migration from the deep south on up into Chicago. This is a fine way to savor the recorded evidence, as primary examples from Blind Blake, Charley Patton, Son House, Charlie McCoy, Walter Vincson, Skip James, Ma Rainey, Tampa Red, Kokomo Arnold, Scrapper Blackwell, Leroy Carr, Lonnie Johnson, and Peetie Wheatstraw lead directly to early modern masters like Big Joe Williams, Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Bill Broonzy, Johnny Temple, Leroy Foster, Johnny Shines, Homesick James Williamson, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Snooky Pryor, Little Walter, and David Honeyboy Edwards, among many others.

This three-CD set documents some historic country-blues performances by the likes of Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Bukka White, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Mance Lipscomb. The urban side of things is well represented by Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters with Otis Spann, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The Chambers Brothers turning in a riveting rendition of “See See Rider.” Included here are 11 previously unreleased tracks. A must for acoustic-blues fans.

Muddy Waters had his second coming 30 years ago, when longtime friend and disciple Johnny Winter and his Blue Sky label returned him–after a series of listless recordings aimed at the rock audience–to the raw, powerful authenticity of his timeless Chess material with a series of powerful albums. Beginning with 1977's acclaimed Hard Again, a subsequent tour produced Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live, recorded onstage in Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia with Muddy's band, Winter, and harmonica player/vocalist James Cotton. Enough live material remained for Legacy to release an expanded version with an entire second disc of unissued concert material. It seems even that wasn't the end. This collection returns again to those remarkable concerts, featuring Muddy on five tracks, among them a rousing "I Can't Be Satisfied," "Trouble No More," "Caldonia," and the closing "Got My Mojo Workin'." Winter and Cotton are no less powerful, Cotton redoing Jackie Brenston's hit "Rocket '88'" and Winter ripping up John Lee Hooker's "I Done Got Over It" and "Mama Talk to Your Daughter."

With a title that sums up their admirable refusal to pander to English-speaking audiences, Made in Germany: 1995-2011 celebrates the 16-year career of Neue Deutsche Härte outfit Rammstein, one of the few European rock bands to make any impression in both the U.K. and U.S. Spanning their six studio albums, from the synth-heavy theatrics of "Du Riechst So Gut" (from 1995 debut Herzeleid) to the glam-tinged vaudeville of "Haifisch" (from 2009's Liebe ist für alle da), alongside a brand new recording ("Mein Land"), the 16-track collection certainly justifies their rather provocative reputation. "Links 2-3-4" is an aggressive statement of defiance against the allegations of fascism and Nazism that had followed them around ever since they burst onto the scene, the brooding symphonics of "Mutter" soundtracks a dark tale of a neglected son murdering his mother…

Maynard Ferguson's blowing full steam ahead here - working with an octet that's heavy on horn parts, but in a richly creative way! Ferguson nicely shows off some of his best influences from the 50s large group scene in LA - and gets some key help on the record from Bill Holman, who wrote almost all the tracks on the date, and no doubt arranged most of the material too. Holman's horn isn't heard on the set, but other players are equally great - and include Bob Gordon on baritone, Georgie Auld on tenor, Herb Geller on alto, Milt Bernhart on trombone, and Conte Candoli on trumpet - supported by a rhythm section that features Ian Bernhard on piano, Red Callender on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums. As usual for the Emarcy years, Maynard plays a host of instruments - trumpet, bass trumpet, and valve trombone.

A very obscure and one of the rarest albums from Italian rock music scene of the 70's. This album takes on ecology as its theme and sings of the evil of polluting the planet. Terrific basic progressive music housed in a creative gimmick sleeve with window to flower. Blocco Mentale were a quintet, consisting of Aldo Angeletti (who wrote the music) on vocals and bass, Michele Arena on drums and vocals, Gigi "Roso" Bianchi on guitar and vocals, Filippo Lazzari on keyboards, harmonica and vocals, and Dino Finocchi on vocals, sax and flute. Musically Blocco Mentale is characterised by a progressive style with some personal touches. The best intruments are the horns and the keyboards. The album opens with angular staccato sax riffs and then slides into a lush melody somewhat reminiscent of Premiata Forneria Marconi in their early (and best) days…

Radio Massacre International is a trio of British musicians, Steve Dinsdale (Keyboards and Drums), Duncan Goddard (Keyboards and Bass), and Gary Houghton (Guitar, Synth). They specialize in improvisational experimental electronic music, utilising vintage synthesizers and sampled sounds alongside electric guitar. They are also leading exponents of the mellotron keyboard. More recently they have begun to incorporate Bass Guitar and Drums by varying degrees in an attempt to stretch musical boundaries within the confines of a three piece. Their music has been described alternatively as ambient music, space rock, Krautrock, New Age, Berlin School, and various other terms, although the band itself prefers the label "organic music". Points of reference include bands ranging from Tangerine Dream to "Rabbit"-era Chas and Dave. Borrowed Atoms, a double CD from 1998, was a return to extended improvisation…

School's Out catapulted Alice Cooper into the hard rock stratosphere, largely due to its timeless, all-time classic title track. But while the song became Alice's highest-charting single ever (reaching number seven on the U.S. charts) and recalled the brash, three-and-a-half-minute garage rock of yore, the majority of the album signaled a more complex compositional directional for the band. Unlike Cooper's previous releases (Love It to Death, Killer), which contained several instantly identifiable hard rock classics, School's Out appears to be a concept album, and aside from the aforementioned title track anthem, few of the other tracks have ever popped up in concert. That's not to say they weren't still strong and memorable; while such cuts as "Gutter Cat vs. the Jets," "Street Fight," "My Stars," and "Grande Finale" came off like mini-epics with a slightly progressive edge…

The first-ever full length set from Blues Queen Sylvia - both a singer and a bassist, working here in a small combo with Jimmy Dawkins on guitar!
Sylvia Embry began playing piano as a child and sang in church choirs, moving to Memphis at the age of 19. In the 60s she settled in Chicago, where she met and married blues guitarist Johnny Embry, who taught her to play bass guitar. In the 70s she worked for several years with Lefty Dizz and she can be seen playing bass and singing one song with his band in the film Mississippi Delta Blues. She shared the credit with her husband on an album for Razor Records, was part of Alligator Records’ Living Chicago Blues project, and had an album released under the name Blues Queen Sylvia on the German L&R label…

The Carpenters' box set retrospective From the Top is a 67-track, four-CD set running under 3 ½ hours (which means it could have fit on three CDs) that traces Richard and Karen Carpenter's musical efforts from the formation of the Richard Carpenter Trio in 1965 to Karen's final recording session in April 1982. This is Richard's compilation; he introduces it and writes a track-by-track commentary, and has also done a lot of refurbishing, remixing 40 tracks and providing "additional recording" on many. The set proceeds chronologically, and most of the 20 previously unreleased tracks date from the '60s, as the group's emerging sound can be traced in demos. The Carpenters' hitmaking period of 1970-75 is extensively covered from the last quarter of the first disc to the start of the third, with most of their big hits included, though Richard excludes a few without comment. Also included are many album tracks that sometimes match the quality of the singles. Richard includes a couple of the Carpenters' singles from the second half of the '70s, and devotes the rest of the third disc and most of the fourth to excerpts from stray projects – Christmas albums, TV specials, Karen's solo album (which Richard carefully notes went unreleased "at Karen's behest"). As such, there is necessarily a fall-off in the set's quality. But by sequencing the songs chronologically, choosing only the ones he wants, and remaking them to his satisfaction, Richard is telling his version of the Carpenters' story, chronicling his band's rise and fall, which occurred in artistic and commercial terms well before his sister's death.

"My name is Christopher von Deylen - and I am Schiller." At some point during every Schiller concert, von Deylen speaks these ten words and the crowd goes wild. Schiller’s ethereal “global pop”, as his fans and the press have coined the style, gives the listener a feeling of floating in a dream world. Inspired by electronic classics such as Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, and Jean-Michel Jarre, von Deylen is known for creating visionary sounds that are way ahead of their time.
"Timeline: The Very Best of 1998-2011" looks back on Schiller’s accomplishments through the years as it chronicles the best and most important songs of Schiller’s career - compiling noteworthy tracks from prior albums such as Zeitgeist, Voyage, Day and Night, and Desire. Guest artists include Nadia Ali, Colbie Caillat, Chinese pianist Lang Lang, Indonesian-French artist Anggun, and more.

Flamboyant British icons of the 1970s whose nasty fusion of heavy metal, glam rock, and sneering cynicism influenced many punk bands. Collection includes: 'Mott The Hoople' (1969); 'Mad Shadows' (1970); 'Wildlife' (1971); 'Brain Capers' (1971); 'All The Young Dudes' (1972); 'Mott' (1973); 'The Hoople' (1974); 'Live' (1974) 30th Anniversary Edition 2004; 'Rock And Roll Queen' (1974); 'Drive On' (1975); 'Greatest Hits' (1976); 'Two Miles From Heaven' (1980); 'The Ballad Of Mott: A Retrospective' (1993); 'Fairfield Halls, Live 1970' (2007).

The Mars Volta have never taken the easy route. Their sixth album since Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala quit seminal post-hardcore outfit At The Drive-In in 2001, ‘Noctourniquet’ is framed around a narrative based both on Superman villain Solomon Grundy and the Greek myth of Hyacinthus. If you need refreshing, that’s the one in which Hyacinth, the (male) lover of the god Apollo, attempts to impress Apollo by catching his discus, but gets struck by it and dies. The music follows the same recondite, abstruse path as the lyrics - an ambitious, avant-garde swirl of prog, rock, post-rock and quasi-metal that carries the weight of such intense cerebral pressure. Suffice to say, there are no songs about wearing the same jeans for four days…

'The Doors announced themselves to the world with a near-perfect debut album,' writes veteran rock journalist Ben Fong-Torres in his notes for this unprecedented box. Indeed, The Doors' self-titled 1967 debut recorded in late '66 struck awe in fans and critics alike, and heralded the arrival of the one the most original and daring bands ever. Through five more studio albums, The Doors were fronted by the legendary Jim Morrison, and continually pushed the boundaries of contemporary music and popular culture. To mark the band's 40th anniversary, Rhino salutes their legacy with a 12-disc box housing remastered & expanded editions of these six album masterpieces.