Two welcome changes in style made Blue Valentine a fresh listening experience for Tom Waits fans. First, Waits alters the instrumentation, bringing in electric guitar and keyboards and largely dispensing with the strings for a more blues-oriented, hard-edged sound. Second, though his world view remains fixed on the lowlifes of the late night, he expands beyond the musings of the barstool philosopher who previously had acted as the first-person character of most of his songs. When Waits does use the first-person, it's to write a "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis," not the figure most listeners had associated with the singer himself.

Howlin' Wolf's second album brings together some of the blues great's best singles from the late '50s and early '60s. Also available as a fine two-fer with his debut, Moanin' in the Moonlight, the so-called Rockin' Chair Album represents the cream of Wolf's Chicago blues work. Those tracks afforded classic status are many, including "Spoonful," "The Red Rooster," "Wang Dang Doodle," "Back Door Man," "Shake for Me," and "Who's Been Talking?" Also featuring the fine work of Chess house producer and bassist Willie Dixon and guitarist Hubert Sumlin, Rockin' Chair qualifies as one of pinnacles of early electric blues, and is an essential album for any quality blues collection.

The Carpenters' first long-player, cut in 1969 (and originally released as Offering) amid the breakdown of America's postwar social contract, the Vietnam War's soaring to a crescendo of bloodshed, the coming apart of the Beatles, and the final flowering (and wilting) of the youth rebellion of the prior four years. And in the middle of all of that, Karen and Richard Carpenter issued a finely crafted record that moved effortlessly between Spanky & Our Gang-style pop/rock ("Your Wonderful Parade") and art-song. In some ways, Ticket to Ride is the Carpenters' most interesting album, for it contains a range of interests and sounds that were modified or abandoned on subsequent albums. The lushly orchestrated "Someday" is a brilliant showcase for Richard's arranging skills and the most dramatic side of Karen's voice - it points the way toward songs like "Crescent Noon" on the next album, and although that highly dramatic sound…

Naked is already Isgaard's fifth studio album. Together with her producer and co-musician Jens Lueck she continues to mix variuos styles and influences. A creation of emotional, interwoven sounds, always focussed on her charismatic voice. Fragile piano-parts face pulsating beats, electronic sounds are combined with warm acoustic instruments and generate a unique mixture. Isgaard's vocals are constantly leading the listeners, telling musical tales, and fly through various timbres from low to high. Her songs are on the one hand about actual topics (critical reflection of the financial world and the consumer-society), on the other hand about very personal and introverted themes. As already in the past Naked will be appreciated by fans of Kate Bush, Lisa Gerard, Tori Amos, Loreena McKennit or Peter Gabriel, but as well by friends of epic soundtracks.

This Charles Brown session from early 1992 finds the singer sounding just as natural as he did in the early '50s. Brown is in a typically soulful mood, crooning like a gritty modern day Nat "King" Cole. Backing up the piano and vocals of Brown are soul-groove saxophonist Houston Person, whose smokey tenor chops were an excellent match for Brown's blues. Danny Caron on guitar, Ruth Davies on bass, and Gaylord Birch round out the rhythm section. These ten tracks consist of five originals and five covers featuring a brief version of Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight," showing off Brown's ability to play straight jazz.