2011 three CD set, the fifth volume in the So80s series. The finest collection of original classic 12" club & extended mixes.
Blank & Jones' fifth So80s mix continues the duo's omnivorous presentation of '80s club music. Within the span of only a few tracks, the first disc moves from Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" to John Carpenter's "The End" and Liaisons Dangereuses' "Los Ninos del Parque" - from chart-topping pop to deep, cult-level gems. Among the other inclusions are Rick Springfield's "Celebrate Youth," New Order's "True Faith," Deacon Blue's "Real Gone Kid," and Thompson Twins' "Hold Me Now." Listeners with similarly broad taste will lap it all up.

Two Hands, One Mouth: Live in Europe is an album by American rock/pop group Sparks, released in March 2013. It is their first ever live album, and first double CD album. In October 2012, Ron and Russell Mael performed for the first time ever as a duo, with no band. The 18-city European tour titled "Two Hands, One Mouth" began in Lithuania and followed in Latvia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, the UK and Ireland. The final UK concert of the tour was at the sold-out Barbican Centre in London. The tour then took the group to Japan with concerts in Tokyo and Osaka in January 2013. In April 2013, the show was presented for the first time in the US with two performances at the Coachella Festival. A short US tour followed.

The final evening of their 2003 summer tour found the Allman Brothers planning a special night on the friendly turf of Raleigh, NC, wrapping up yet another road trip with invitations to Susan Tedeschi, Karl Denson, and truly serious jazzbo Branford Marsalis to join the group on-stage. It was all captured by the state-of-the-digital-arts folks at Instant Live, who burn CDs of the shows and make them available to concertgoers who still have a few extra green ones in their pockets by evening's end. On the sprawling three-CD set documenting these particular proceedings, there is indeed some fine music, although in his Allmans premiere appearance Marsalis doesn't fare as well as jam band-friendly Denson; the sax-blowing Marsalis brother (heard on "Dreams" and "Whipping Post") seems shoehorned between the guitars and strains a bit over the loud rock groove.

And how! Austin tackles standards such as "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "They Can't Take That Away from Me," and succeeds brilliantly. Her version of Comden, Green, and Bernstein's "I Can Cook, Too" is enough by itself to make this a pick.

Though he never really slowed down at any point, Neil Young stayed on an especially prolific streak as the 2010s bled into the 2020s. In addition to a steady rollout of archival material, official versions of long-bootlegged shows, and other miscellanea, Neil has produced albums of entirely new material at a rate unmatched by most artists in his age bracket who have been at it for as long as he has. World Record follows quickly behind the mellow rocking of 2021's Barn, and again finds Young ably backed by his longest-running comrades, Crazy Horse. This time around, however, the band worked with producer Rick Rubin, capturing everything live in the studio and sticking to an analog-heavy recording process. World Record is an album built of unlikely combinations that somehow work.

Hey Clockface arrived quickly on the heels of Look Now, but where that 2018 album seemed constructed as classicist Elvis Costello, drawing upon his strengths as a melodicist and the muscle of his regular backing band the Imposters, this 2020 affair feels as if it was designed to surprise. It comes into focus quite slowly, with reeds and strings murmuring in a quiet drone before Costello launches into the spoken word of "Revolution #49." The spell is broken in a flurry of gnarled guitars that usher in "No Flag," a transition that establishes how Hey Clockface doesn't follow any particular path. Apart from the slight emphasis on poetry – it surfaces again toward the end of the album on "Radio Is Everything," a track destined to be played in the dead hours of a starless night – none of the twists on the album are necessarily a new trick from Costello, but the its execution makes every new turn feel slightly surprising, occasionally jarring.

Released as part of the Doors' celebration of their 50th anniversary, The Singles may at first glance seem to cover familiar ground as, in essence, it's another greatest-hits collection in a discography littered with compilations. Look closer, and the differences are immediately apparent. Designed as a clearinghouse for every single the band ever released, The Singles does indeed take its mission seriously, containing the A- and B-sides of such classic 45s as "Break on Through (To the Other Side), "Light My Fire," "Love Me Two Times," "Hello, I Love You," and "Riders on the Storm" but also not stopping the band's story with the death of Jim Morrison, which is a first for any Doors hits set. The second disc contains the five singles culled from the Morrison-less Other Voices and Full Circle, plus the lone 45 pulled from 1979's An American Prayer…

On Suitcase, his eighth studio release, Keb' Mo' (Kevin Moore) reunites with John Porter, the producer of Moore's critically lauded first album, and the result is a pleasant, midtempo suite of songs dedicated to the emotional baggage everyone carries with them as they plow through increasingly complicated lives in search of peace, love, and some measure of personal redemption. Moore covers this ground with a wink and a grin in his voice, though, and Suitcase emerges as a wry commentary on modern life that still manages to sound bright and positive, beginning with the effervescent, sprung reggae rhythm of the opening track, "Your Love," one of the best cuts here. Other highlights include the lovely ballad, "Still There for Me," a celebration of the little man and his private victories, "I'm a Hero," and the soothing, hopeful shuffle that closes things out, "Life Is Beautiful"…