Sinéad O'connor So Far...the Best of Sinéad O'connor 1997

Colin "Cozy" Trevor Powell was an English rock drummer, who made his name with many major rock bands like The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Whitesnake and Black Sabbath. Powell had appeared on at least 66 albums, with contributions on many other recordings. Many rock drummers have cited him as a major influence. Polydor's The Very Best of Cozy Powell is culled from his early-'80s AOR and hard rock records.

Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Loreena McKennitt is one of Canada's most beloved national artists, a folk chanteuse, and a new age troubadour who made her breakthrough in the mid-'80s with her literate and oft-experimental focus on Celtic-tinged traditional and original material, coupled with her haunting harp playing. As her career progressed, McKennitt began incorporating Spanish, Galician, and Arabic themes into her repertoire, culminating in a trio of career-defining albums – The Visit, The Mask and Mirror, and The Book of Secrets – that made her an international star. McKennitt went on a long hiatus after the tragic death of her fiance in 1998, but returned to the studio in 2006 with the acclaimed The Book of Secrets, followed by a string of EP's and concert and studio albums, with highlights arriving via 2010's trad-Celtic LP The Wind That Shakes the Barley and 2018's inward looking Lost Souls.

Rage Before Beauty is by far the best of the latter-day Pretty Things albums. If you're already a fan, you'll hear all the things you love about the band. But fans and newcomers to the Pretties will be pleasantly surprised how much power these guys still display…

This compilation just misses being the perfect single-CD Jimi Hendrix anthology, and it's a crying shame because it comes so close. Its main virtue is that, in contrast to Smash Hits – the only compilation of Hendrix's work approved by the artist – it extends its reach past 1968. The last of the tracks come from the abortive First Rays of the New Rising Sun album, left unfinished at the time of his death, and show off a more R&B and soul-oriented sound than Hendrix was generally known for – and are worth the price of the disc by themselves…

Best of Both Worlds is a two-disc compilation album by British neo-progressive rock band Marillion released in 1997 by EMI Records, who the band had been signed to from their debut in 1982 until being dropped in 1995. The title refers to Marillion's two distinct "eras" with lead singers Fish (1980—1988) and Steve Hogarth (since 1989). By the time this compilation was released, both line-ups had recorded four studio albums each. The second best-of since the 14-track one-disc compilation A Singles Collection (known as Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other in the US) from 1992, this one additionally contains material from Brave (1994) and Afraid of Sunlight (1996). Two different covers were created for the compilation, one by Mark Wilkinson, who had worked for the band during the Fish years, and one by Bill Smith Studio, who took over after Fish's and Wilkinson's departure. The booklet was printed so that either of the covers could be displayed in the jewel case according to personal preference. The track list, comprising 29 songs, was put together by Lucy Jordache, then the manager responsible for the band in EMI, in close collaboration with the band's fans' mailing list, "Freaks" (named after the eponymous song). Jordache also motivated singers Fish and Hogarth to contribute liner notes—at a time when both camps were not yet on friendly terms again—by telling each of them the other had already agreed to do so.

In early 1966, with John Peel as producer, the Misunderstood went into Gold Star studio in Los Angeles to make some demos. Although the tapes have disappeared, an acetate of some of the songs still exists, from which eight tracks (two of which had previously been released) were rescued for reissue on the first disc of this double CD. Judged against their magnificent recordings in Britain in late 1966 (with slightly different personnel), it's a bit of a letdown. The group at this point were a competent but not extraordinary blues-rock act, offering competent renditions of standards by Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, and the like that only hinted at the originality that would blossom on their U.K. sessions. Indeed, the two tracks that have previously been available ("Shake Your Money Maker" and a wild, extended "I'm Not Talkin'" with ferocious distorted guitar breaks) are by far the best in the set…