The Works is the eleventh studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 27 February 1984 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Capitol Records in the United States. After the synth-heavy Hot Space (1982), the album saw the re-emergence of Brian May and Roger Taylor's rock sound, while still incorporating the early 80s retro futuristic electronic music (Freddie Mercury) and New York funk scenes (John Deacon). Recorded at the Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, California and Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany from August 1983 to January 1984, the album's title comes from a comment Taylor made as recording began – "Let's give them the works!"

Tommy is the fourth studio album by the English rock band The Who, a double album first released in May 1969. The album was mostly composed by guitarist Pete Townshend as a rock opera that tells the story about a deaf, dumb and blind boy, including his experiences with life and his relationship with his family.

Too many synth artists of the early to mid-'70s seemed more interested in demonstrating their dexterity with their instrument than actually showing why it was worth being dexterous with in the first place. The reason Tim Blake is important is because he took the opposite approach entirely. Schooled in Gong and soon to dignify Hawkwind, Blake is a composer first, a technician a very distant second. And if New Jerusalem, his solo debut, represents a peak which electronic rock in general has yet to top, Crystal Machine is at least equal to the task. In maintaining the earlier album's application of melody over mood, Blake totally separates himself from the ranks of sallow, clever souls who let their machines do all the talking – a lesson which, by year's end, both Jean Michel Jarre and Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" would both have translated into worldwide chart-toppers.

The one drawback of live albums is that the listener is left on their own to visualize what is happening on the stage. For most pop/rock recordings this is not a serious detriment. But for a highly stylized and theatrical show such as Sarah Brightman's Harem World Tour: Live From Las Vegas, the music and visuals go hand-in-hand and this edited CD version of the program lacks the impact felt by the enthusiastic live audience. With applause heard within instrumental passages, including the elongated opening, it leaves a listener puzzled as to what is happening.

Two classic easy-listening albums by Paul Mauriat and His Orchestra, originally released in 1971 and 1969 on the Philips label, together on one CD and remastered from the original stereo tapes for Vocalion's trademark crystal-clear sound. French composer/conductor Paul Mauriat is a classically trained musician who decided to pursue a career in popular music. His first major success came in 1962, as a co-writer of the European hit "Chariot." In 1963, the song was given English lyrics, renamed "I Will Follow Him," and became a number one American hit for Little Peggy March. Mauriat is best remembered for his 1968 worldwide smash "Love Is Blue."

In the '50s, the party line among New York jazz critics was that hard bop was the "true faith" and that cool jazz was lightweight and unemotional. But Miles Davis knew better. The trumpeter (whose Birth of the Cool sessions of 1949-1950 proved to be incredibly influential) was smart enough to realize that cool jazz and hard bop were equally valid parts of the house that Charlie Parker built, and he had no problem working with cool jazzmen one minute and hard boppers the next. Recorded for Charles Mingus' Debut label in 1955, Blue Moods is an excellent example of cool jazz.

Queen guitarist Brian May's first complete attempt at a solo album, Back to the Light, focuses on the hard rock sound that Queen often abandoned in the 1980s. While obviously sounding similar to some of the work by his former band, May's path is far more hard-edged and emotionally punched than the majority of Queen's work. His vocals are sometimes weak for a singer, but they also add a certain tenderness that most hard rock frontmen seem to lack. The album succeeds best on its heaviest tracks such as the cover of "Rollin' Over" or "Resurrection," which features pounding drums courtesy of Cozy Powell and thundering guitar riffs with Queen-like multi-tracked vocals.

The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society 50th anniversary editions are out on 26 October 2018. 2CD deluxe ‘art of the album’ features the stereo and mono remasters and bonus tracks (49 tracks in total). The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society somewhat overlooked upon its release in November 1968, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society is now seen as one of the best British albums ever recorded.

Manfred Mann's 1980 album is a strange mix of topical songwriting, progressive rock, and power pop – from its opening seconds, the Earth Band is pressing serious messages and social commentary on their listenership amid swirling prog rock keyboards and catchy guitar hooks and choruses. The whole package is challenging in ways that should have put them on the cutting edge of rock music at the outset of that decade, but one suspects that Mann and company were too musically adept and sophisticated for their own good – a little dumbing down and maybe a little less musicianship on display would have made them more accessible to the coming MTV generation.

The Queen Album is a solo cover album of the band Queen by Elaine Paige. It was released in 1988 and peaked at No. 51 in the UK in November 1988. This is the only album from Paige to be released on Siren Records and distributed by Virgin Records. The album was re-issued with different artwork on CD in 1990 on Virgin VIP by Virgin Records. This is the only Paige album compiled of songs written and recorded by one composer or group. The album is a covers album of ten songs previously recorded by the rock group Queen, a favourite of Paige. The selected songs are a combination of hits and lesser-known album tracks, taken from Queen's entire back catalogue.

Stereotomy is the ninth studio album by The Alan Parsons Project, released in 1985. Although sometimes considered better musically than its predecessor, Vulture Culture, it was not as successful commercially, perhaps due to many fewer vocals from Eric Woolfson (he only appears on a small section of the title track). The album is structured differently from earlier Project albums, containing three lengthy tracks - ""Stereotomy" at well over seven minutes, "Light of the World" at well over six minutes, and the instrumental "Where's the Walrus?" running just over seven and a half minutes (making it the longest instrumental the Project ever made) and two minute-long songs at the end.

Made in the A.M. is the fifth studio album by the English-Irish boy band One Direction, released on 13 November 2015, by Columbia Records and Syco Music. The album is the group's first without member Zayn Malik, who left the group in March 2015, and will be their last before taking an extended hiatus in 2016. The album was preceded by the internationally successful singles "Drag Me Down", released on 31 July 2015, and "Perfect", released on 16 October 2015. Upon its release, the record has received generally favourable reviews from critics. It debuted atop the UK Albums Chart with 93,189 copies sold and at number two on the US Billboard 200 with 402,000 first-week sales. Even though it became the band's first album not to top the chart, its first-week sales were higher than previous number one album Four, which reached the summit with a lower 387,000 first-week sales in 2014. Elsewhere the album reached number one in Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Finland and Belgium as well as reaching the top-three in most other markets.

Tanganyika Strut is the last of the three 1958 Savoy recordings made by jazz musicians John Coltrane and Wilbur Harden. The album would be Harden's last as a leader. The sessions also produced a couple of alternate takes which can be found on some compilations, most notably the ones featuring the complete Savoy recordings made by Harden and Coltrane together, The Complete Mainstream 1958 Sessions (2009) and The Complete Savoy Sessions (1999).

On her third album of adult R&B, new age princess Des'ree offers up more musical self-help tips and self-esteem makeovers for the chronically lovesick and spiritually downhearted. And while there's nothing as peacefully sublime as "You Gotta Be" (from 1994's I Ain't Movin') on Supernatural, the listen is a soothing one. Credit Brit Des'ree herself for this; her voice – a reassuring tool that envelops everything around it – has never been better. Working her softened tones around the mostly forgettable material (many of the songs try to rewrite "You Gotta Be" by essentially sticking with the same formula of making sophisticated urban soul), she creates a melodic new-age tone (complete with a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Fire") that may not stick with you a lifetime, but it sure feels like the most tranquil place on earth for its 50 minutes.

Porter Robinson had already moved beyond festival-ready EDM by the time Worlds, a full-length debut filled with widescreen electro-pop tunes inspired by anime and video games, arrived in 2014. After the album became a massive success, topping Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums chart and influencing numerous producers, Robinson felt pressured to deliver another major statement that would live up to his reputation. He scored a gold-certified hit with "Shelter," his 2016 collaboration with Madeon, and following the duo's extensive international tour, he branched off with Virtual Self, a hyper-fun side project influenced by trance and Dance Dance Revolution, which surprisingly earned the producer his first Grammy nomination.