Completists will be happy to own many of the rarities on this four-disc set, including Stevens's first demo session, an unreleased 1970 duet with Elton John, a cover of Fats Domino's "Blue Monday," and several choice live cuts from the late '70s. And it's nice to have an overview of the artist's entire career–from late '60s pop-star wannabe to '70s folk-rock superstar–in one place. But the difference between early Cat Stevens (despite composing hits for others) and post-Tea for the Tillerman Stevens is substantial. The two follow-up LPs were part of a trilogy of brilliance–both musically and lyrically–and any Stevens collection must start there. Nevertheless, surprises and some gems are to be found throughout all four discs–even his most recent recording (as Yusuf Islam) isn't bad. This box set also offers a choice opportunity to reassess a deserving career. (All royalties go to New York City relief victims and orphans and homeless families in underdeveloped countries.)

On his third album, Jackson Browne returned to the themes of his debut record (love, loss, identity, apocalypse) and, amazingly, delved even deeper into them. "For a Dancer," a meditation on death like the first album's "Song for Adam," is a more eloquent eulogy; "Farther On" extends the "moving on" point of "Looking Into You"; "Before the Deluge" is a glimpse beyond the apocalypse evoked on "My Opening Farewell" and the second album's "For Everyman." If Browne had seemed to question everything in his first records, here he even questioned himself. "For me some words come easy, but I know that they don't mean that much," he sang on the opening track, "Late for the Sky," and added in "Farther On," "I'm not sure what I'm trying to say." Yet his seeming uncertainty and self-doubt reflected the size and complexity of the problems he was addressing in these songs, and few had ever explored such territory, much less mapped it so well. "The Late Show," the album's thematic center, doubted but ultimately affirmed the nature of relationships, while by the end, "After the Deluge," if "only a few survived," the human race continued nonetheless. It was a lot to put into a pop music album, but Browne stretched the limits of what could be found in what he called "the beauty in songs," just as Bob Dylan had a decade before.

Three CD set from the Folk/Rock icon containing 44 of his best known tracks gathered together on one set. Includes 'The Times They Are A-Changin', 'Mr. Tambourine Man', 'Like a Rolling Stone', 'Positively 4th Street', 'If Not for You', 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door', 'Gotta Serve Somebody' and many others.

Beauty & Crime is the seventh studio album by singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega. It is her first album of new material since 2001's Songs in Red and Gray and her first for Blue Note Records. It was released on July 17, 2007. Beauty & Crime won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, on February 11, 2008. On Beauty & Crime, Suzanne Vega's Blue Note Records debut, the Manhattan native uses New York City as the backdrop for a collection of eleven new songs that juxtapose acoustic guitar-driven melodies with coolly synthesized beats; intensely personal lyrics with compelling, short story-like narratives; images of today's scarred cityscape with memories of Vega's old Upper West Side 'hood and Lower East Side haunts. The past commingles with the present, the public with the private, familiar sounds with the utterly new, just like the city itself. Making her first new studio album in six years, Vega says, "I feel like I really stretched my limits. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone–to sing in keys I wouldn't have sung in before, to work with different textures, to be unafraid of doing what ever sounded good to me. I wanted to make a modern classic."

While 99.9 F° is not the techno album that Suzanne Vega was rumored to be making, it does offer a significant departure from her previous contemporary folk albums. Vega uses more synthesizers and drum machines, often evoking a bizarre carnivalesque atmosphere on the album. Still, 99.9 F° is a folk album at heart; every song is steeped in traditional song form, and Vega's writing is strong. Fans of Vega's previous work might be taken aback, but those willing to listen to the album will find that she has produced one of her strongest yet.

The 1967-68 outtakes on The Place and the Time (Sundazed) were first released as bonus tracks on 2007 reissues of Moby Grape's Columbia LPs, including withdrawn versions of 1967's spectacular Moby Grape and '68s Wow. Here, on one CD, these rarities - among them rowdy audition tracks and Moby Grape outtakes - are a dynamic alternate portrait of the star-crossed San Francisco band at work, fusing pop, soul, blues and country with psychedelic zeal.

Solomon's Seal was an album recorded in 1972 by folk-rock band Pentangle. It was the last album recorded by the original line-up, before the band split in 1973. Jacqui McShee has stated that it is her favourite Pentangle album. The album title refers to the Seal of Solomon - a mythical signet ring with magical powers, sometimes associated with the pentagram symbol adopted by Pentangle.

15 CD collection includes: Spoke (1997); The Black Light (1998); Hot Rail (2000); Even My Sure Things Fall Through (2001) EP; Feast Of Wire (2003); Convict Pool (2004) EP; Black Heart (2004) Maxi Single; In the Reins (with Iron And Wine) (2005) EP; Garden Ruin (2006); Carried To Dust (2008); Algiers (2012); Edge of the Sun (2015); The Thread That Keeps Us (2018).

Definitive 2 CD best-of collection from cult Anglo-Australian folk-pop group best known for their international smash hit 'I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing'. In their heyday between 1970-74 they were one of the biggest bands in the world, selling over 25 million records, and this release revisits that period. It includes the aforementioned classic and has been hailed by fans for finally bringing together all their top tunes, including some never before available on CD. 52-tracks in all.

Live Grape is a 1978 album by Moby Grape, released by Escape Records, of live performances of the band at two venues in California, the Shady Grove in San Francisco and the Inn of the Beginning in Cotati. The album features core members Peter Lewis, Jerry Miller and Skip Spence. Original members Bob Mosley and Don Stevenson did not participate in the recordings, though Bob Mosley did appear with the band on occasion during this period. At the time, band members were in a protracted legal dispute with former manager Matthew Katz over ownership of the Moby Grape band name. As a result, Moby Grape is not named anywhere on the cover. The album was originally released by Escape Records in 1978. It was reissued on CD by Line Records in 1994 and Akarma Records in 2007.

Pentangle were always great at creating musical fusions, and on this album, they once again came through. The opening song, "Wedding Dress," is a fabulous meeting of Celtic, country, and, believe it or not, funk. It's one of the few songs of theirs that actually rocks. The rest of the record is classic Pentangle, with Bert Jansch's and John Renbourn's acoustic guitars intermingling so well that it would make even Neil Young and Stephen Stills a little envious. Jacqui McShee, as usual, has some exquisite vocal moments, namely the previously mentioned "Wedding Dress" and an excellent reading of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." This track shows how the group was further exploring new musical ground, this time with traditional American folk/gospel. The group's rhythm section of Danny Thompson (upright bass/cello) and Terry Cox (percussion) – easily one of the most inventive on the planet – shines on every cut, creating solid ground for Renbourn, McShee, and Jansch to do their high-wire act on vocals and guitar. One of their finest all-around albums.

Covers is the sixteenth album and the first "covers" album by singer-songwriter James Taylor, released on September 30, 2008. The album was recorded by Taylor's regular touring band. Some of the tunes Taylor had been performing off and on in concerts for years, while others were new to his repertoire. The effort garnered modestly good reviews and two Grammy Award nominations.

Two CD set. Pretty much the first UK Folk-Rock supergroup and the inventors of the sound that would later be adopted by Fairport, Trees and others. Pentangle were an unusual agglomeration of seemingly disparate talents, and at their best succeeded in mixing elements of traditional Folk, Jazz improvisation and Pop into a seamless whole. Featuring the brilliant and contrasting guitar talents of Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, against the rhythmic undertow provided by drummer Terry Cox and superb bass player Danny Thompson, and topped off with the bell-like purity of Jacqui McShee's vocals, Pentangle garnered much critical acclaim. This is the perfect introduction to their work. 31 tracks.

Before emerging as a cult star in the 1970s, Lowell George was a presence on the L.A. folk-rock/psychedelic scene in the 1960s. With his group the Factory, he only managed to release one single during this time. Lightning-Rod Man rescues 15 tunes cut by this unit, including the single and over a dozen outtakes and demos. Almost exclusively original material, most of these tracks were recorded in 1966 and 1967. They show the group pursuing a slightly eccentric folk-rock vision that neither bears much similarity to George's more famous work nor matches the best work done in this genre by their L.A. peers. At times they echo Kaleidoscope in their vaguely spacy, good-natured folkish rock; just as often, they take cues from Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa in their skewed blues-rock and obtuse songwriting. In fact, Zappa himself produced and played on a couple of the demos, and one-time Mothers of Invention members Elliot Ingber and Roy Estrada show up on a few others. A few songs cut toward the end of the decade feature a heavier, bluesier sound that show George edging in a different direction. An enjoyable vault find, but not a major revelation.

Look out for a new star in the pantheon of great Irish singers. With the release of her album THE LAST STAR, Heidi Talbot is truly set to shine. She first gained recognition during the five years spent as lead singer with the all female Irish-American super group Cherish the Ladies, quickly followed by high praise for her two previous solo outings, Distant Future (2004) and In Love + Light (2008). On THE LAST STAR, Talbot applies her talents to a broader, bolder musical canvas accompanied by a stellar cast of guests musicians including vocalists Eddi Reader and Karine Polwart, vocalist/guitarist Kris Drever, guitarist Boo Hewerdine, fiddler/producer John McCusker and flute/whistle virtuoso Michael McGoldrick.