Nine (2009)

Naxos has collected its four volume traversal of the lute music into a handy slipcase. All the volumes are available singly, but you can also buy the four together as a quartet of excellence, presided over by Nigel North, the acknowledged hero of the hour. What follows is a reprise of two volumes already reviewed - volumes 1 and 3 - and a look at volumes 2 and 4.

Harry Manx’s life journey has taken him all over the map, both musically and literally. His ninth album, “Bread and Buddha”, is a musical meditation on the ephemeral nature of the human experience and is a culmination of thirty-five years of world exploration. Harry covers all four compass points of the world music map on this outing, from the rolling guitar groove on “Love is the Fire” and “Walking Ghost Blues”; he revisits traditional blues territory for the covers “Moon Goin’ Down” and “Long Black Veil” and blends in his trademark sensual raga flavours with “True to Yourself” and the instrumental “The Unspoken Quest”.

You might think that Castro's first album recorded for mighty blues indie Alligator – and twelfth overall – would mark a departure for this longtime rocking soulman. Despite a fuller sound, fleshed out with Lenny Castro's percussion and boosted by an ever-present horn section led by longtime cohort Keith Crossan, this is another typically solid effort from the singer/guitarist. Perhaps it's unfair to expect that Castro would somehow break free of, expand, or alter the blue-collar persona he has cultivated over his solo career as he shifts to a higher-profile label affiliation. Veteran producer/musician John Porter returns to join Castro's strong, husky vocals – a cross between Delbert McClinton, James Brown, and Bob Seger – to a rather slick, radio-friendly approach that buffs off the frontman's natural grit, arguably overly so.

With combined U.K. album sales of nearly three million copies, Georgian-born Katie Melua has quietly become one of the biggest-selling female artists of the decade. Without the media profile of Britney Spears, the powerhouse vocals of Anastacia, or the critical acclaim of Dido, her success has been based purely on old-fashioned songs that have managed to have appeal beyond the usual folk-pop market. Indeed, just like her biggest influence, Eva Cassidy, who appears here on a posthumous cover of "What a Wonderful World," Melua's soothing and jazz-tinged tones found an audience through repeated plays on Terry Wogan's BBC Radio 2 show.

Platinum Collection is a triple-disc set that contains one disc of Enigma’s greatest hits, one disc of remixes, and one disc of “The Lost Ones,” brief instrumental snippets that were used as source material and ideas for full-length tracks…

The Best of Leonard Cohen is a greatest hits album by Leonard Cohen, released in 1975. In some countries from Europe, it was released under the title Greatest Hits. This alternative title was used for the original vinyl release and for CD reissues from the 1980s onwards. The album was not a hit in the United States but did well in Europe, Cohen's major market at the time. He toured in support of the album in 1976, beginning in Berlin on April 22 and ending in London on July 7. The front cover photograph was taken in 1968 in a Milan hotel room, according to Cohen's liner notes. In July 2009, this compilation was re-released in England under the title Greatest Hits with updated artwork and a revised track listing.