Dr Jerry Alan Johnson

"I'm Glad You're Here with Me Tonight" is the 11th studio album by Neil Diamond, released on Columbia Records in 1977. It includes a solo version of the song "You Don't Bring Me Flowers". Diamond would score a #1 hit with a new version recorded as a duet with Barbra Streisand the following year. "I'm Glad You're Here With Me Tonight" was the second Neil Diamond album in a row to also garner a television special, which was broadcast on November 17, 1977. The television special received a Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical/Variety for Director Art Fisher, Associate Director David Grossman and Stage Manager Bob Graner. It was also nominated for three Emmy Awards. The special was a thematic and "behind the scenes" based program with interspersed live performances. It also features a pioneering segment with one of the earliest broadcasts of what would come to be known as a music video with its treatment of Diamond's song "Morningside".

The superb set from 1982 was the third and final set from this eccentric and colourful ensemble, but sales-wise, it did not do at all well at the time. Thouogh it was obviously a good album then if all other in-demanders are anything to go by today. This set by Mystic Merlin, an overlooked group in the early 1980s, has now attained an almost cult status for cuts such as "Mr. Magician" and "Full Moon". This album sees the timely introduction of Freddie Jackson as lead vocalist and he doesn't disaapoint as he shines on just about every track. The band also comes complete with funky bass, horns and real driving rhythm.

"Aretha" is the 26th studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin. It was released on September 30, 1980, by Arista Records. This was the 2nd album with this title to be released by the artist, and her first for Arista Records after a 12-year tenure with Atlantic Records. Franklin's first Arista single release, "United Together", reached #3 on the Soul chart and crossed over to #56 on Billboard's Hot 100. The album itself peaked at #47 and spent 30 weeks on the Billboard album chart. The album's opening track, "Come to Me", appeared again on Franklin's 1989 album, "Through the Storm."

Sanitize Tom Waits's vocal cords, take some of the rasp out of Dr. John's, put some muscle into Bobby Caldwell's, combine them and you'll have an approximation of the quality of Steve Tyrell's voice. Like his popular 1999 debut, "A New Standard", this is a meticulously recorded album featuring the great American songbook and some of the best jazz soloists alive, including trumpeter Clark Terry, harmonica player Toots Thielemans, and singer Jane Monheit, who plays Lucille Ball and Betty Carter against Tyrell's Red Skelton and Ray Charles on the classic duet "Baby It's Cold Outside".

It doesn't take much rhetorical muscle to argue that science fiction was one of the dominant genre artforms of the 20th century, from the Lumiere brothers to Spielberg, from Wells and Conan Doyle to Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke. This nearly exhaustive, lavishly packaged collection documents the genre's musical legacy across virtually every major genre on its five discs and 113 tracks. Each volume is divided by sub-genre–Movie Themes, TV Themes, Pop, Incidental/Lounge, Novelty–with each containing both the obvious contenders and some delightful surprises. The film disc alone contains a wealth of rarities, including music from Them!, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Andromeda Strain, Fantastic Voyage, and other notables. The packaging is brilliant kitsch: a 6.5-inch square, metal-lidded cube emblazoned on three sides with suitably tacky 3-D images of–you guessed it!–a floating brain. But the profusely illustrated, hard-bound, 200-page book (designed to emulate the Big Little Books of the 1940s and '50s) that's included gives the subject its serious due, with an introduction by Ray Bradbury and contributions from an array of other notables, including Forrest J. Ackerman, Billy Mumy, Joe Dante, Dr. Demento, and Matt Groening. Perhaps the best half-cubic-foot of sci-fi brain food every assembled. –Jerry McCulley

Dusty Fingers is the name of a series of compilation records of songs that are widely admired as breakbeats collected by Bronx DJ Danny Dann the Beat Mann. Some of the songs featured contain "open breaks" which are solo drum passages which enable DJs to easily transition into them. These are also attractive to producers, who loop or rearrange them to create new compositions. Following in the tradition of the Ultimate Breaks and Beats series, the Dusty Fingers records contain an eclectic range of musical styles: mainly funk and jazz, but also including soul, rock, disco, and pop. Many of the songs in the Dusty Fingers series have been sampled into new musical compositions, mainly by hip hop producers. Popular songs that sample songs from the Dusty Fingers series include "Guilty Conscience" by Eminem, "Find Your Wealth" by Nas, "Rowdy Rowdy" by 50 Cent, "Show Me What You Got" by Jay-Z, "Daydreamin'" by Lupe Fiasco, and "Dr. Carter" by Lil' Wayne.

Presenting the Complete Philips Recordings of John Williams on 21 CDs, with the original jackets, celebrating the maestro's 90th birthday on February 8. This box set includes the original artwork and spined wallets, a 32-page booklet with new liner notes by Dr. Emilio Audissino (author of The Film Music Of John Williams and Film Music In Concert: The Pioneering Role Of The Boston Pops Orchestra). All packaged in a 2-piece lift-off lid box with V-shaped thumb-cuts on either side of the lid.

"The Promise" is the 18th studio album by Earth, Wind & Fire. Released on Maurice White's label Kalimba Records, it was their first of new material in six years. The album reached #5 on the Top Independent Album Chart and #19 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Album Chart. It also featured collaborations with Angie Stone, The Emotions, Gerald Albright and Paulinho Da Costa. The album's cover art was designed by Morito Suzuki. The track "All About Love" is a different song and not a remake of their 1975 song of the same name from their album That's the Way of the World. The album cut produced and written by Tim & Bob Hold Me was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance.