Tafsir Al Qurthubi 1

The second simple box of Al Stewart albums rounds up five latter-day records from the '80s and '90s: 24 Carrots, Live at the Roxy Los Angeles 1991, Russians and Americans, Last Days of the Century, and Famous Last Words. Apart from 24 Carrots, which generated the adult contemporary staple "Midnight Rocks," there aren't any hits here, but each of these well-tailored records speaks to Stewart's eccentric charms, so for the converted fan – i.e., the ones who know all the albums in the Original Albums Series box – this is an easy, affordable way to dig deeper.

Championship Wrestling started life as an attempt at another "super session"-type production, with more of a focus on R&B than blues, to have featured Al Kooper and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter as equal partners with dual credit. Midway through what took a third of a year to get down on tape, Baxter withdrew from collaboration, and Championship Wrestling turned into a Kooper album featuring Baxter. It wasn't what Columbia Records expected, and it was dumped on the market – based on the paucity of reviews, it's doubtful that promo copies or even a press release went out to A- or B-list critics – and forgotten. Despite the fact that it's sort of "off-brand" (or "off-game") Kooper, Championship Wrestling has more than a few good, even exciting and bracing moments.

Recorded in the early months of 1976 at Abbey Road studios (with some sessions and mixing taking place at Davlen Studios in Los Angeles), YEAR OF THE CAT was the seventh album by Stewart and was the second album on which he collaborated with the celebrated producer ALAN PARSONS.

This live recording is something of a surprise – make that a shock, in the most positive way – appearing 45 years into Al Stewart's professional career. From the opening notes of a medley of "Last Days of the Century" and "Constantinople," Stewart – in partnership with guitarist/singer Dave Nachmanoff (who also produced this record) – launches into a set with the kind of energy and enthusiasm one would more easily expect from a twenty-something neophyte than a sixty-something veteran…

Now that the whole Return to Forever reunion experience is in his rearview mirror (and unlikely to be repeated ever again), guitar star Al Di Meola is pursuing his own musical vision with newfound conviction via his World Sinfonia. Essentially an acoustic ensemble featuring Fausto Beccalossi on accordion and Di Meola’s longtime collaborator Gumbi Ortiz on cajon and assorted hand percussion, along with second guitarist Peo Alfonsi, bassist Victor Miranda and drummer Peter Kaszas, this edition of the World Sinfonia has developed a tightly knit chemistry through frequent touring. This limited-edition release, the first in a series of live recordings being sold initially at World Sinfonia gigs, documents their easy rapport in concerts held in Seattle, San Francisco and Istanbul.

The best of all of Al Kooper's studio albums, Rekooperation is a mostly instrumental album, on which the artist (playing organ and piano, and occasional guitar) and a band including Jimmy Vivino, Harvey Brooks, and Fred Walcott, among others, roar and pound their way through a baker's dozen of R&B, rock & roll, and soul classics. Everything from chestnuts like "Soul Twist," "Honky Tonk," "Johnny B. Goode," "Clean Up Woman," and " "Don't Be Cruel" to originals such as "Downtime" and "Alvino Johnson's Shuffle," without a notable gap in quality between them, are included – and the one vocal number, "I Wanna Little Girl," contains one of the finest singing performances that Kooper has ever turned in on record (but is also played so well, that it would work as an instrumental too). In many ways, this recording is a distant cousin to Blood, Sweat & Tears' Child Is Father to the Man, and was his first attempt at leading a band since that 1968 venture, which was sort of fitting since it led to Soul of a Man, Kooper's live-in-concert career retrospective album, the next time out.

This is a snapshot of Al Jarreau a few years after achieving pop stardom, caught live before a large crowd at London's Wembley Arena. In contrast with the lean, dynamically subtle backup band on the earlier live Look to the Rainbow, here Jarreau arms himself with a flashy, heavily electronic R&B/funk band with horns, and subtlety often goes out the window in favor of high-energy showmanship. Unlike his studio albums from this period, though, this concert allows him a little bit of room to display glimpses of his famous vocal acrobatics. The set starts with a burst of high-tech pizzazz on "Raging Waters" and "Black and Blues" and ultimately settles into a partying groove with "Roof Garden" and "We're In This Love Together."