Stratovarius Elysium (2011) (japanese Vicp 64916)

Dreamspace is the third studio album by power metal band Stratovarius, released on 9 February 1994 through Noise Records. It is the last Stratovarius album to feature guitarist Timo Tolkki on vocals (after which Timo Kotipelto became the lead singer on 1995's Fourth Dimension), as well as the first to feature bassist Jari Kainulainen.

Who's Missing is a compilation of rare and previously unreleased songs by the English rock band the Who. Its second part, Two's Missing, was released in April 1987. The CD was reissued in Japan on 24 December 2011 with additional bonus tracks drawn from the Japanese only bonus disc for Then and Now, as a 2-CD set together with Two's Missing. The album was remastered by Jon Astley from the original analog master tapes. Reviewing for AllMusic critic Richie Unterberger wrote of the album: "Some of these [songs] are really good: the raucous 1965 cover of James Brown's 'Shout and Shimmy,' 'Heaven and Hell' (one of John Entwistle's better tunes), the 45 version of 'Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand,' the obscure Roger Daltrey tune 'Here for More.' Other cuts are pretty peripheral, like the '65 R&B version of 'Lubie (Come Back Home),' or the live version of 'Bargain.'"

The title makes plain the intention of Paul Simon on this 2011 double-disc set: the focus is not on the hits but the songs, to the extent that his most famous song is not performed either by him solo or with Art Garfunkel, it is sung by Aretha Franklin, a selection that suggests this compilation will be more idiosyncratic than it is. Many of the songs that are Simon’s solo staples - “Mother and Child Reunion,” “Kodachrome,” “American Tune,” “Late in the Evening,” “Still Crazy After All These Years,” “Graceland,” “The Boy in the Bubble” - are here, enough to almost camouflage the big songs that are missing in action, including “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” “Duncan,” “Slip Slidin’ Away,” and “You Can Call Me Al.” All these are casualties of a concept that allows for Simon to spend the entirety of the second disc on albums released since 1990…

Bibio's Stephen Wilkinson had such a major breakthrough with Ambivalence Avenue that anticipation about whether or not he could maintain such a breakneck pace of innovation was palpable. Mind Bokeh - whose title was inspired by the photography term for the way a lens renders out-of-focus points of light - is true to its name and Wilkinson’s hyperactive creativity, but not in obvious ways. Though the title track dapples sparkling electronics over a luminous haze of distant nature samples, the rest of the album isn’t exactly blurry. In fact, its sounds are often surprisingly hard-edged and chilly, especially compared to Ambivalence Avenue’s summery vibe. Yet Wilkinson's meticulous way of layering these crisp, immediate sounds with half-heard atmospheres is fascinating (especially under headphones), suggesting the intertwining of the present with dreams and memories, and the external world with the internal one…

It's been four long years since pianist and composer Keiko Matsui released the spare, elegant Moyo. That is an atypical break for an artist who has recorded 22 studio albums since her debut in the late 1980s. Appearing on Shanachie for the first time, The Road was largely self-produced. Matsui appears in varying contexts here, from trios to quartets and quintets to an octet on a musically diverse set that sums up virtually every place she's been while continuing to point the way forward. Some of these players have collaborated with her for decades while still others make their initial appearances.

Siren's Song is the second studio album by The Union, the English rock band formed by ex-Thunder guitarist Luke Morley and Peter Shoulder (formerly of Winterville). It was released on 3 October 2011. The Union was formed by guitarist Luke Morley and vocalist/guitarist Peter Shoulder after Luke’s twenty-year career with Thunder came to an end in 2009. Peter Shoulder was the vocalist, songwriter and musical rudder of Winterville. In 2006 he won The W.C Handy Blues Foundation award, presented to him in Memphis for co-writing the American Blues Song of the Year, ‘Think of Me’. The song was performed by blues legend Little Milton. At the time of winning there were only two other British artists to have received that particular award, the others being Eric Clapton and Peter Green.

It's Hard is the tenth studio album by English rock band the Who. Released in September 1982, it was the final Who album to feature bassist John Entwistle, who died in 2002. It was also the second and final Who studio album with drummer Kenney Jones, as well as the last to be released on Warner Bros. Records in the US. It was released on Polydor Records in the UK, peaking at No. 11, and on Warner Bros. in the US where it peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. The US rights to both this album and Face Dances subsequently reverted to the band, who then licensed them to MCA Records (later Geffen Records, itself once distributed by WB) for reissue. The album achieved gold status in the US in November 1982. It was their last album for over two decades until Endless Wire in 2006.

On the Who's final album with Keith Moon, their trademark honest power started to get diluted by fatigue and a sense that the group's collective vision was beginning to fade. As instrumentalists, their skills were intact. More problematic was the erratic quality of the material, which seemed torn between blustery attempts at contemporary relevance ("Sister Disco," "New Song," "Music Must Change") and bittersweet insecurity ("Love Is Coming Down"). Most problematic of all were the arrangements, heavy on the symphonic synthesizers and strings, which make the record sound cluttered and overanxious.

You’d be forgiven if you thought Selena Gomez & the Scene’s third album in three years, 2011's When the Sun Goes Down, might show signs of a dip in quality control due to cranking out albums so quickly. You’d be wrong, though, because When the Sun Goes Down is actually an improvement over 2010's Year Without Rain. Where that record tried to position Gomez as a more serious and adult artist with varying levels of success, here she’s back to mostly being a young and breezy, happy-go-lucky pop singer. With a couple exceptions, the songs are sassier, lighter, and more fun. Her vocals are more spirited, the arrangements less reliant on heavy synths, and overall, there’s a more playful feeling to the record that’s more in keeping with her first album.