"I'm not Bob Dylan, but I never miss a beat" sings Nils Lofgren on 1977's I Came to Dance, a very polished collection of nine songs produced by the guitar virtuoso and drummer Andy Newmark…

After the breakup, Beatles fans expected major statements from the three chief songwriters in the Fab Four. John and George fulfilled those expectations – Lennon with his lacerating, confessional John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Harrison with his triple-LP All Things Must Pass – but Paul McCartney certainly didn't, turning toward the modest charms of McCartney, and then crediting his wife Linda as a full-fledged collaborator on its 1971 follow-up, Ram…

James Taylor's seventh album and last new recording for Warner Bros. is notable for producing his biggest self-written hit in four years, "Shower the People" (number 22 pop, number one easy listening). Bobby Womack's "Woman's Gotta Have It" was the album's only cover, and elsewhere Taylor took on a surprisingly rough set of issues in his typically gentle style, including "A Junkie's Lament" and "Money Machine." There were also reflections on being a "Family Man" even if, due to his peripatetic touring life, "Daddy's All Gone." Guest stars included Art Garfunkel, who harmonized on "Captain Jim's Drunken Dream," and Stevie Wonder, who co-wrote and played harmonica on "Don't Be Sad 'Cause Your Sun Is Down." On the whole, a respectable effort for an artist who was evolving into more of a craftsman than a virtuoso.

At one level, one would have to be a collector, an Anglophile, or a 1960s pop culture enthusiast to consider this 14-CD set a good deal. In the U.K., the EP ("extended play" single), which contains more tracks than an ordinary single and fewer than an album, has always been a far more popular format than it is in the U.S. During their heyday, the Beatles regularly released EPs in Great Britain, a total of 13 of them, in fact, between June 1963 and December of 1967, and they're all assembled in this box, complete with original art and sleeves in miniature…

Rothberg is one of the (few) post-Alanis women whose stance is more complicated than outraged one minute, cautiously loving the next. Her songs about relationships are complicated and often ambiguous, and she is equally unflinching in her descriptions of the successes and failures she has witnessed. Strongly rooted in the singer/songwriter aesthetic of one woman and her guitar, the songs on Between the 1 and the 9 are fleshed out a bit with other instruments but retain their edge. The biggest surprise here is in the maturity of her voice, which gives the songs their immediacy and intimacy.

The second of a pair of 2001-released discs compacting two full Manfred Mann albums onto a single CD, this covers their sophomore album (The Five Faces Of) from 1965 and fourth (Pretty Flamingo) from 1966, the latter being the last to feature original vocalist Paul Jones and multi-instrumentalist Mike Vickers. Taken as a whole, these 22 tracks exhibit the remarkable breadth of the band as they tackle blues covers ("I Put a Spell on You"), Beatleesque Brit Invasion pop hits ("Pretty Flamingo" and "Sha-La-La"), jazz (a vocal version of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man"), and folk ("John Hardy"), as well as contributing their own derivative yet enthusiastic originals.

Live aus dem Cascade Beat Club in Köln is one of the rarest albums by a hit British Invasion band released near the peak of its popularity. Its existence is unknown even to most Swinging Blue Jeans fans, and the material doesn't even appear on the otherwise thorough four-CD set of their 1960s recordings, Good Golly, Miss Molly! The EMI Years 1963-1969…

Journeyman vocalist Michael Des Barres had a life-changing experience when asked to fill-in for Robert Palmer on the Power Station's tour in 1985. Des Barres – a gifted performer and rock veteran – was finally seeing the fruits of his labors turn into success. It's obvious in the grooves that he was enthusiastic about his present and future when cutting his second solo album, Somebody Up There Likes Me. A crack session group (featuring Andy Taylor, Steve Jones, Jim Keltner, and the Tower of Power horns) was assembled, and the LP was produced to sound like a Rod Stewart platter from the era. In fact, Des Barres – who has a similar, ragged tone – sounds more like Stewart here than on previous releases (emulating some of his vocal mannerisms, and even going so far as to include two members of Stewart's backing band). The man seemed keenly aware that this was the moment, turning in a strong mix of rockers and ballads. The elements were in place for a hit.

Steve Lukather aka “Luke” and Joseph Williams will release individual solo albums on February 26, 2021 via The Players Club / Mascot Label Group. Both artists have made significant contributions to the other’s album. Joseph Williams fronted Toto as a lead vocalist from 1986 to 1988, and was featured on the albums Fahrenheit (1986) and The Seventh One (1988). He also appeared on the 2006 release Falling in Between, sharing lead vocals with Luke on “Bottom of Your Soul.” In 2010 he returned to the band, becoming front man and lead vocalist, a tenure that continues through today. Denizen Tenant features a dozen new recordings. Amongst these are a cover of The Beatles “If I Fell,” which Williams cites as the one specific song that taught him about the power of harmonies and vocal arrangements.

LP1 marks the third successive album from Joss Stone where she’s attempting to hit the restart button on her career, to usher in a new beginning for the neo-soul diva or, better yet, find the right setting for her considerable gifts. This journey began with 2007’s splashy modern R&B set Introducing Joss Stone, a makeover she rebelled against on her major-label kiss-off Colour Me Free, and now that she’s truly independent, she’s aligned with Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart for LP1, returning to the classicism of her earliest work. There is a difference. Stewart is naturally reluctant to present Stone in a strictly soul setting; R&B is the foundation, but he dabbles in tight funk, folk, blues, Euro-rock, and modernist pop, giving LP1 just enough elasticity so it breathes and just enough color so it doesn’t seem staid.

Before you do anything else with Flash, drop the needle on the last half of “Ambitious,” the album’s chug-a-funk leadoff track. Just as singer Jimmy Hall steps back from the song’s skeletal tune and jackhammer rhythm with a Tarzanlike “yeah!” Jeff Beck’s guitar suddenly shoots up into the mix like a runaway jet, cutting a reckless path through Nile Rodgers’ spit ‘n’ polish production with sawtooth distortion and heat-ray feedback. Then, in a daredevil display of rock-guitar heroics that recalls Jimi Hendrix on Electric Ladyland in his full pyrotechnic glory, Beck yanks his guitar up and down flights of freakish harmonic steps, executes breathtaking suicide dives with his vibrato bar, and claws away at the song’s core riff with angry trills and harsh, scraping leads.