Compintmarket 1992 Financial s1 94

This box set devoted to Pink Floyd was somewhat frustrating at the time of its release. Priced at over 100 dollars, it included nine CDs drawn equally from their EMI and Columbia Records, starting with their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets. That seemed to confuse a lot of people who regard that transitional album as a lot less important and alluring than its predecessor, Piper at the Gates of Dawn…

This recording of Handel's Acis and Galatea (or Acis und Galatea) features the German translation and arrangement completed by Mozart in Vienna circa 1788, per the instructions of the Baron Gottfried von Swieten to "modernize" Handel's pieces - including Alexander's Feast, Messiah, Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, and Acis and Galatea. Mozart kept much of Handel's original string arrangements, but proceeded to layer harmonies with a degree of sophistication that Handel could only have dreamed of.

Barclay James Harvest was, for many years, one of the most hard luck outfits in progressive rock. A quartet of solid rock musicians – John Lees, guitar, vocals; Les Holroyd, bass, vocals; Stuart "Wooly" Wolstenholme, keyboards, vocals; and Mel Pritchard, drums – with a knack for writing hook-laden songs built on pretty melodies, they harmonized like the Beatles and wrote extended songs with more of a beat than the Moody Blues…

First Harvest: The Best of Alphaville 1984-1992 collects 15 tracks from the Europop darlings, marking the first "real" Alphaville compilation to span the group's entire career (1988's barren Singles Collection featured only four tracks in various states of mixdown). Cut from the same cloth as Ultravox and early Depeche Mode, the band had better success in Germany than it did in the United States, but standout cuts such as "Big in Japan," "Forever Young," "Red Rose," and "Jerusalem" reside in the upper echelon of early-'80s synth pop.

Cesaria Evora was a Cape Verdean popular singer. Nicknamed the "Barefoot Diva" for performing without shoes, she was also known as the "Queen of Morna". A native of the island nation of Cape Verde, Cesaria Evora was known as the country's foremost practitioner of the morna, which is strongly associated with the islands and combines West African percussion with Portuguese fados, Brazilian modhinas, and British sea shanties. Evora began singing morna at age 16 after meeting an attractive young guitarist. Her talent soon had her performing all over the islands, and in the late '60s two of her radio tapes were released as albums in the Netherlands and Portugal, respectively.

The Zombies EP Collection, from the See for Miles label, contains the British Invasion bands biggest hits from 1964 through 1966, including "Tell Her No," "Time of the Season," and, in both mono and stereo, "She's Not There."…

The Move were the best and most important British group of the late '60s that never made a significant dent in the American market. Through the band's several phases (which were sometimes dictated more by image than musical direction), their chief asset was guitarist and songwriter Roy Wood, who combined a knack for Beatlesque pop with a peculiarly British, and occasionally morbid, sense of humor. On their final albums (with considerable input from Jeff Lynne), the band became artier and more ambitious, hinting at the orchestral rock that Wood and Lynne would devise for the Electric Light Orchestra. The Move, however, always placed more emphasis on the pop than the art, and never lost sight of their hardcore rock & roll roots. The Early Years is a twenty track collection covering most of the band's singles and B-sides from 1966 to 1970. While it falls short of the superior, though out-of-print, Best of the Move on A&M, it's the next best thing.

With her haunting solo debut Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos carved the template for the female singer/songwriter movement of the '90s. Amos' delicate, prog rock piano work and confessional, poetically quirky lyrics invited close emotional connection, giving her a fanatical cult following and setting the stage for the Lilith Fair legions. But Little Earthquakes is no mere style-setter or feminine stereotype – its intimacy is uncompromising, intense, and often far from comforting. Amos' musings on major personal issues – religion, relationships, gender, childhood – were just as likely to encompass rage, sarcasm, and defiant independence as pain or tenderness; sometimes, it all happened in the same song.

Adrenalize, Def Leppards fifth studio album from 1992 cemented the band as the dominant arena rock band. The album was recorded following the tragic death of guitarist Steve Clark - with Phil Collen recording all guitar parts - and dedicated to his memory. The album featured huge singles such as "Let's Get rocked" and "make Love Like a man" and debuted at no. 1 in both the UK and USA (and went on to sell over 7-million copies worldwide).
The Deluxe Edition features a remastered version of the original album with a bonus disc of rare, live, acoustic and demo versions.