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On their major-label debut, Under the Table and Dreaming, the Dave Matthews Band is helped by the lean production of Steve Lillywhite, who manages to rein in the group's tendency to meander. The result is a set of eclectic pop/rock that is accentuated by bursts of instrumental virtuosity instead of being ruled by it. That also means that the Dave Matthews Band is capable of turning out pop songs, and as the hit single "What Would You Say" and "Ants Marching" illustrate, they have a flair for catchy hooks.

The 1992 Holland collection Definitive Collection isn't really definitive, of course – it's the kind of title common to budget-line discs or European and Asian-only compilations – but it is a good sampler of ELO's hits all the same, containing 19 songs, including many, many hits: "Showdown," "Can't Get It out of My Head," "Evil Woman," "Strange Magic," "Livin' Thing," "Turn to Stone," "Don't Bring Me Down," and "Rock N' Roll Is King."

Biffy Clyro's 2013 album, Opposites, is the band's sixth studio effort and follows up the band's hugely successful 2009 Mercury Prize-nominated release, Only Revolutions. Whether appreciated as a double- or single-disc album (the band released both versions), Opposites is a sprawling, ambitious work that once again finds the Scottish rock trio balancing its prog rock inclinations with its undeniable talent for mainstream, radio-ready pop. In that sense, Biffy Clyro are certainly one of the most album-oriented, '70s-style rock acts of their generation - though their sound is hardly retro. On the contrary, with lead singer/guitarist Simon Neil belting in a thick brogue over the band's knotty, metal-influenced arrangements, Biffy Clyro come off more like a Scottish version of Fugazi than, say, a classic rock band like Rush, although there is a twinge of nerd-rock power here, too…

Earlier this year, Marillion entered the studio with the intention to record selected songs from their rich catalogue along with friends from the orchestra. Recorded at The Racket Club and Peter Gabriel‘s Real World Studios, and with a running time of almost 80 minutes, “With Friends From The Orchestra” features nine classic Marillion tracks re-imagined and accompanied by the In Praise Of Folly String Quartet with Sam Morris (French Horn) and Emma Halnan (Flute).

This CD from pianist Ketil Bjornstad fits the ECM stereotype. The music is generally mournful, full of space, floating and very much a soundtrack for one's thoughts. The 12 parts of "The Sea," which find Bjornstad joined by cellist David Darling, guitarist Terje Rypdal and drummer Jon Christensen, set somber moods rather than introduce memorable themes and the only real excitement is supplied by Rypdal's rockish guitar.

The concept behind Blues at Sunrise is a good one: collect ten of SRV's best slow blues numbers, primarily from the official studio albums but also a couple of unreleased cuts and rarities, and sequence them as if they were a lost studio album. It's a neat idea, especially when it's packaged in artwork that deliberately evokes memories of classic blues albums from the '60s (there's even a fake, faded record ring on the front and back covers), and it's hard to fault the music here. All the obvious selections are here – "Ain't Gone 'N' Give Up on Love," "The Things (That) I Used to Do," "Leave My Girl Alone."

In anticipation of his 75th birthday in 2017, this luxurious 55-CD set presents Pollini's complete recordings on DG with their original covers, including the first ever release of Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Maxim Shostakovich (recorded in 1974). Also included are a 200-page booklet and 3 bonus DVDs: concerto recordings with Böhm and Abbado as well as Bruno Monsaingeon's documentary film De main de maître (2015).