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Despite a huge hit single in the mid-'70s ("The Boys Are Back in Town") and becoming a popular act with hard rock/heavy metal fans, Thin Lizzy are still, in the pantheon of '70s rock bands, underappreciated. Formed in the late '60s by Irish singer/songwriter/bassist Phil Lynott, Lizzy, though not the first band to do so, combined romanticized working-class sentiments with their ferocious, twin-lead guitar attack. As the band's creative force, Lynott was a more insightful and intelligent writer than many of his ilk, preferring slice-of-life working-class dramas of love and hate influenced by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and virtually all of the Irish literary tradition…

Despite a huge hit single in the mid-'70s ("The Boys Are Back in Town") and becoming a popular act with hard rock/heavy metal fans, Thin Lizzy are still, in the pantheon of '70s rock bands, underappreciated. Formed in the late '60s by Irish singer/songwriter/bassist Phil Lynott, Lizzy, though not the first band to do so, combined romanticized working-class sentiments with their ferocious, twin-lead guitar attack. As the band's creative force, Lynott was a more insightful and intelligent writer than many of his ilk, preferring slice-of-life working-class dramas of love and hate influenced by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and virtually all of the Irish literary tradition…

Cannonball Adderley's Mercury albums (most of which, like this LP, are long out-of-print) find the youthful altoist trying to unsuccessfully keep his quintet with brother Nat together. Despite the powerful bop-oriented music they consistently recorded, the band would break up in a year, only to regroup with great success in 1959…

Alice Cooper made headlines recently when he unearthed a priceless Andy Warhol print in a storage unit, forgotten since the heady days of socialising with the pop-art icon. Whether or not it was a PR stunt for his 27th studio release, it reminded the world that the gravel-tongued shock-rocker can be relied on to bring some rock’n’roll weirdness to proceedings. That’s what the bonus disc of Paranormal shows, too, featuring exuberant live recordings of his greatest hits including School’s Out and No More Mr Nice Guy…

For all of his many attributes, one thing Frank Zappa most certainly was not is commercial. Presumably, the title of this collection is ironic. Strictly Commercial: The Best of Frank Zappa is a compilation not of the composer's hits – he only broke the Top 40 on one occasion, with "Valley Girl" – but rather, a collection of his best-known material, from "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" to "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace." Zappa's albums often function as individual works, but this disc offers an intelligent selection of songs, serving as an introduction to the maverick musician.

Like two of his other three albums, Tina Brooks' final session as a leader (in March 1961) was sequenced and prepared for release, but remained on the shelves until well after the tenor's tragically early death. That's why the title of The Waiting Game is not only apt, but sadly poignant. Despite Blue Note's reservations at the time, Brooks' output for the label was uniformly strong, demonstrating his skills as a smooth, graceful soloist and a composer of considerable dexterity within the hard bop idiom. Swinging and bluesy, yet sophisticated and refined, The Waiting Game upholds the high standard Brooks set with his previous sessions. Brooks is especially fine on his minor-key compositions, such as "Talkin' About" and "Dhyana," which allow his streak of melancholy romanticism to emerge (as does the lone cover here, the Tony Bennett hit "Stranger in Paradise")…

Trumpeter Conte Candoli and pianist Lou Levy had only occasional opportunities to work as leaders before this 1955 session they recorded together for Atlantic Records. Both made the most of the chance, fronting a quintet that also included tenor saxophonist Bill Holman, bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and drummer Lawrence Marable. The group got out of the gate quickly (following a contemplative piano intro, that is) on a quickstep bop reading of the Sigmund Romberg operetta tune "Lover Come Back to Me," which quickly established that a commonplace of jazz ensembles would hold - no matter whose name is in large print on the cover, it's the group that's performing, and other people will get their chance to shine, too…

Trumpeter Conte Candoli and pianist Lou Levy had only occasional opportunities to work as leaders before this 1955 session they recorded together for Atlantic Records. Both made the most of the chance, fronting a quintet that also included tenor saxophonist Bill Holman, bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and drummer Lawrence Marable. The group got out of the gate quickly (following a contemplative piano intro, that is) on a quickstep bop reading of the Sigmund Romberg operetta tune "Lover Come Back to Me," which quickly established that a commonplace of jazz ensembles would hold - no matter whose name is in large print on the cover, it's the group that's performing, and other people will get their chance to shine, too…