Five 2011 Fgt

Eleven is aptly titled: it's Martina McBride's 11th album, contains 11 songs, and is her debut for Republic Nashville. McBride co-wrote over half the album and co-produced it with Byron Gallimore. Her husband, John McBride, engineered, mixed, and offered excellent creative advice. "I'm Gonna Love You Through It," the album's well-known single, deals with surviving the ordeal of breast cancer. It's a socially conscious anthem of the type that McBride has recorded throughout her career, and although it's typically inspiring and beautifully performed, it doesn't really reflect the album as a whole; "One Night," the celebratory opening number with ringing electric guitars….

Rod Stewart didn’t devote his new millennium solely to the Great American Songbook – he dallied with classic rock and soul – but it sure felt that way, with Rod delivering five collections of standards in just under a decade. Released in 2011, only a matter of months after the fifth installment, Fly Me to the Moon, hit the stores, The Best of… The Great American Songbook rounds up highlights from those five records, and since they’re all cut from the same cloth – albeit finished with varying degrees of tailoring – it’s hard to tell the source of each without a cheat sheet; without it, it’d be hard to realize “You’ll Never Know” never had seen release prior to this compilation. Naturally, this consistency means that this best-of holds together well – arguably better than a few of the actual records – because it does have the cream of the crop of records that often bleed together.

Starting with its 20th anniversary in 1991, every five years brings another double Alligator collection, and 2011 was no exception. While the 35th edition –released in 2006 – logically featured 35 songs, the compilers couldn't quite squeeze 40 onto this 40th anniversary disc, even though owner Bruce Iglauer does admit to fading a few endings off prematurely in order to maximize the list, which hits 38 selections. The trick with these albums is to both pay tribute to the label's storied past while including enough recent acts to connect the dots between the house-rocking music Iglauer built his company on, and the more modern yet still roots-based sounds he's released during the last five years.

Uriah Heep's by-the-books progressive heavy metal made the British band one of the most popular hard rock groups of the early '70s. Formed by vocalist David Byron and guitarist Mick Box in the late '60s, the group went through an astonishing number of members over the next two decades – nearly 30 different musicians passed through the band over the years…

Lemongrass, Faro, Moshang, Weathertunes, Five Season, Tafubar and more.