The Secret Policeman's Third Ball took place at The London Palladium over four consecutive nights 26–29 March 1987. The show's format was retooled in an effort to take advantage of the growing number of rock musicians supporting Amnesty. Instead of it being primarily a comedy show with a few musical cameos, the event made a point of giving equal emphasis to comedy and music. The show's four nights were divided up into two nights of comedy and two nights of music.

Sofia Coppola has, with two elegant movies, proved herself a talented director with a keen eye for interior life. She's also got great ears. For Lost in Translation, the story of a May-December friendship in Tokyo between two displaced Americans, the score is a tonic for jetlag. Coppola prescribes a dose of shoegazer pop, from My Bloody Valentine's chiming "Sometimes" to Jesus & Mary Chain's fuzzed-out "Just Like Honey." The music nails the hazy conscious state of actors Bill Murray (as a movie star with a midlife crisis) and Scarlet Johansson (as an emotionally marooned twenty-something). It also provides a safe, warm envelope in which they can enact their overseas adventures. Working with producer Brian Reitzell, whose band Air scored her previous Virgin Suicides, Coppola lured Valentine's Kevin Shields into providing several slices of dreamy indie-rock and sonic wallpaper, as stylish as it is formless. There's a welcome bit of Japanese goofiness, a funhouse-mirror reflection of U.S. folk-rock courtesy of early-1970s band Happy End. And a "hidden" track provides the audio of Murray, in the film, doing his sleepy karaoke version of Roxy Music's "More Than This."

Former leader of Nerves (Californian punk-rock group) and Plimsouls, he began a solo career in 1987. Described as a “masterpiece” by Rolling Stone magazine, his first album was produced by T Bone Burnett. John Hiatt, the Byrds are on it. His unmistakable voice serves autobiographical lyrics in a mix of scorching rock and edgy blues.

Gregg Diamond was an accomplished songwriter, piano player, drummer and producer. Based in New York, Gregg emerged in the mid-70's as a producer, initially on the jazz fusion scene with artists including Impact Of Brass on albums including 'IOB' (1977) for Polydor. During the disco era of the late 70's he produced albums for his groups Star Cruiser and Bionic Boogie. 'Gregg Diamond's Star Cruiser' delivered 'Star Cruiser', including 'Starcruisin' and 'Holding Back' for the Miami-based Marlin label (via TK) in 1978.
The same year 'Gregg Diamond's Bionic Boogie' delivered 'Hot Butterfly', featuring Luther Vandross as lead vocalist on the title song and 'Cream (Always Rises To the Top)'. 'Hot Butterfly' was written by Gregg and later recorded by Chaka Khan on 'Naughty'. Gregg stayed at Polydor for two further albums, 'Tiger Tiger' (1979) and 'Hardware' (1979). Gregg also wrote songs for Andrea True Connection, Gloria Gaynor and worked with James Brown.
Sadly, Gregg died from gastrointestinal bleeding in 1999.

Sometimes, expanded Deluxe Editions don't seem to have much of a purpose outside of marketing: the second disc will contain a clearinghouse of B-sides and remixes or a live show, not adding much to the story of the original album. That's not the case with the Deluxe Edition of Lynyrd Skynyrd's final album, Street Survivors – it's a Deluxe Edition that fills out the final chapter of the original band's career by presenting the complete original version of the album, recorded with legendary producer Tom Dowd at Criteria Studios but scrapped when the group's live sound engineer Kevin Elson argued that these versions sounded lifeless.

Mourning Widows was a musical project led by former Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt. The band was formed in 1997, and they released two albums during their career. Despite not being widely released in the United States, both albums were successful in Japan. Bettencourt formed the band after the moderate success of his 1996 solo album, Schizophonic. The band's sound went back to a funkier guitar-driven rock reminiscent of Extreme, while still having post-grunge and alternative influences. After the end of the Furnished Souls For Rent tour, in 2001, Nuno decided to dismiss the band and released a record as Population 1, mostly recorded by himself. That became the name of his new band too, which would later become DramaGods.

The story of Sondra 'Blinky' Williams has long been shrouded in mystery. The soulful singer came to Motown Records in 1967 following stints at Vee-Jay and Atlantic, bringing her passionate and powerful deep soul sound to Hitsville, USA. Despite recording dozens of tracks between 1968 and 1973, only a small handful saw release: a mere four 45s plus an album of duets with Edwin Starr, two live cuts, and a couple of one-off recordings, including a key moment on the best-selling soundtrack of Lady Sings the Blues. Over the years, Blinky tracks would emerge on compilation releases, prompting fans worldwide to clamor for more and even launch a 'Free Blinky from the Vaults' campaign.

Still Got the Blues is the eighth solo studio album by Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore, released in 1990. It marked a substantial change in style for Moore, who, prior to this album, was predominantly known for rock and hard rock music with Skid Row, Thin Lizzy, G-Force, Greg Lake and during his own extensive solo career, as well as his jazz-fusion work with Colosseum II. As evidenced by its title, Still Got the Blues saw him delve into an electric blues style. The album features guest contributions from Albert King, Albert Collins and George Harrison. The title track was released as a single and reached No. 97 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album reached No. 83 on the Billboard 200 on 16 February 1991, then was certified gold on November 1995. This was the most successful album both in sales and chart positions from Gary Moore in the US.

On four CDs with 80 tracks, "Greatest Ever Decades" offers great hits from the 70s, 80s, 90s and the beginning of this century, ten years per disc. The collection starts with the 1970s, when glam mixes with disco and pop with soul. In the 1980s the sound of synthesizers became increasingly important, and the 1990s saw great moments in pop, house and R&B. By the 2000s, there were airplay favorites across all genres, and pretty much all of the above! The Greatest Ever Decades is the place to find the best music from forty years.
With: Cher, Sweet, Kylie Minogue, Nickelback, Katie Melua, Duran Duran, Simply Red, Roxette, Gnarls Barkley, Van Morrison and many more.

Outsider is Queen drummer Roger Taylor’s sixth solo album, and the first one he’s really got right…

The reputation of Bread as a soft rock band isn't quite accurate. Yes, all of the bit hits were ballads by David Gates BUT there were rock songs that weren't released as singles that are the albums by the other two songwriters in the band–the late Jimmy Griffith and Rob Royer (who collaborated on a number of songs together). The band is certainly underrated due to all of the hit ballads by Gates but the albums themselves exhibit strong song craft, precision playing and production…

Yes had fallen out of critical favor with Tales from Topographic Oceans, a two-record set of four songs that reviewers found indulgent. But they had not fallen out of the Top Ten, and so they had little incentive to curb their musical ambitiousness. Relayer, released 11 months after Tales, was a single-disc, three-song album, its music organized into suites that alternated abrasive, rhythmically dense instrumental sections featuring solos for the various instruments with delicate vocal and choral sections featuring poetic lyrics devoted to spiritual imagery…

Born Caroline Catharina Müller in the Netherlands, she moved with her family to Germany in the late '70s. In 1980, she became a member of the girl quartet Optimal, who issued two singles. During one of the band's concerts in Hamburg, she was approached by songwriter/producer Dieter Bohlen who had just taken the continental charts by storm with his duo Modern Talking…

3 CD Box Set. 49 Tracks, Original Recordings. Sony. 2008.

The German band rose out of the ashes of the successful Frumpy of late 60s early 70s. Lead singer and only constant member Inga Rumpf assembled the top musicians from the German rock scene for her band. With a voice resembling Scottish rock queen Maggie Bell she delivered classic rock songs…