Bonnie Tyler’s multi-platinum mid-Eighties link with Meat Loaf songwriter Jim Steinman that saw the Welsh songstress etch her name into rock history. Those distinctive husky tones graced classic after classic, from the bombastic transatlantic chart-topper ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’ to ‘Holding Out For A Hero’, a US Number 2 from the soundtrack of hit movie Footloose. Add duets with Todd Rundgren and Shakin’ Stevens, the feelgood ‘A Rockin’ Good Way’, plus top album tracks and you’ve a package sure to please fans both in the Principality and the wider rock’n’roll world. This 2CD collection contains 28 hits from the albums Goodbye to the Island, Faster Than the Speed of Night, Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire, and Hide Your Heart. Also contains multiple b-sides and rarities.

Presenting radio with one of the best rock ballads ever, Cornerstone gave Chicago's Styx their big break with the number one single "Babe," which held that spot for two weeks in October of 1979. "Babe" is a smooth, keyboard-pampered love song that finally credited Dennis De Young's textured vocals. While this single helped the album climb all the way to the number two spot on the charts, the rest of the tracks from Cornerstone weren't nearly half as strong. "Why Me" made it to number 26, and both "Lights" and "Boat on the River" implement silky harmonies and welcoming choruses, yet failed to get off the ground.

Way back in 1991, Brazilian-born pianist Eliane Elias opened Illusions, her debut solo album, with a tune called "Choro." It offered a swinging distillation of the musical form that has been at the heart of her life-long study of samba. Since then, she's revisited her musical heritage over and over again, wedding modern jazz to post-1960 Brazilian jazz and MPB. In the process, she's developed an instantly identifiable sound as a pianist. Dance of Time follows 2015's fine Made in Brasil, a set that relied most heavily on bossa nova.

Magellan's Impending Ascension is a truly great progressive rock work. Following the same formula as the previous Hour of Restoration, Impending Ascension features better, more consistent songwriting and a harder-edged sound. "Estadium Nacional" and "Waterfront Weirdos," both 11-minutes long, get the album off to a great start. They both feature timing and melody changes that have to be heard to be appreciated. Combined with the new, harder-edged sound, it's clear that Magellan has found its niche with this album.

Liberation is the fourth studio album by American blues singer-songwriter ZZ Ward. It was released on March 14, 2025, via Dirty Shine and Sun Records. The album follows the release of Ward's third studio album Dirty Shine and extended play, Mother, and includes four out of six tracks from the EP. The album is produced by Ryan Spraker, who also produced Mother. Liberation was met with critical acclaim from blues rock media outlets and music critics alike, who deemed it as a triumphant rebirth from the singer to her blues roots. Blues Rock Magazine awarded the album with a 9 out of an average rating of 10, with music critic Allan Claudio calling it "an amazing soundtrack to her life experiences". He also praised Ward's vocal performance, which Claudio described it as "filled with power and determination".

On Buddy Guy's second Silvertone release, he continues the practice of guest appearances begun on Damn Right, I've Got the Blues. In this case, the notables include Paul Rodgers, Travis Tritt, and John Mayall. The finest combination comes when Bonnie Raitt joins Guy on John Hiatt's "Feels Like Rain." Raitt's gritty vocals and sweet slide guitar add a pleasing nuance to the bittersweet track, and it is ultimately the high point of the record. Certain critics and blues purists have derided Guy's search for mainstream success as evidenced by his penchant for guest appearances and non-traditional blues forms, but Guy sounds fantastic in these unconventional situations (witness his burning version of the Moody Blues' "I Go Crazy").

Stay on These Roads is the third studio album by Norwegian band A-ha. It was released on 3 May 1988 by Warner Bros. Records. Six singles were released from the album. A Synclavier, Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, Yamaha DX-7, Roland D-50, and Roland Juno-60 or Roland Juno-106 synthesizers were used in the recording of this album, as was a Yamaha RX-5 drum machine. Stay on These Roads was the band's third studio album. The album's peak on the Billboard 200 was 148. The album was another big hit by A-ha internationally, selling over 4 million copies worldwide. Stay on These Roads achieved Platinum status in Brazil and Gold in the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany and Double Platinum status in France.The album reached #2 in the European top-100 albums sales chart.

A record that virtually defies categorization, Pearls Before Swine's 1968 epic Balaklava is the near-brilliant follow-up to One Nation Underground. Intended as a defiant condemnation of the Vietnam War, it doesn't offer anthemic, fist-pounding protest songs. Instead, Rapp vented his anger through surrealist poetry, irony, and historical reference: Balaklava was the 1854 Crimean War battle that inspired Alfred, Lord Tennyson to write his epic The Charge of the Light Brigade; in reality, the "Charge" was a senseless military action that killed scores of British soldiers. Balaklava begins with "Trumpeter Landfrey," an 1880's recording of the actual voice and bugle charge of the man who sounded the charge at Balaklava.

Roger Waters may not have made an album of new material between 1992 and 2017, but he was very active during that quarter-century. He toured regularly, wrote an opera, reunited Pink Floyd for the 2005 charity concert Live 8, and revived The Wall several times, turning the self-absorbed rock opera into a political piece. Is This the Life We Really Want?, his fourth song cycle, picks up on this thread, functioning as barbed protest music for the age of Brexit and Trump. Waters doesn't disguise his bile – there's a lament for "The Last Refugee" and he spits out "picture a leader with no f****** brains," a clear broadside against Trump – but the album doesn't seethe with rage. With its deliberate tempos, wide soundscapes, operatic guitar solos, and swelling crescendos, it is recognizably a Waters album or, perhaps more accurately, a Floydian one.

Ever since ZZ Top signed with RCA, they fitfully tried to break free of the synthesized blues that once was their savior but quickly became a straitjacket. Like any addict, it was hard for them to quit that processed, sequenced sound cold turkey, so they weaned themselves off the robo-boogie, sometimes relapsing and adding too many synths to mix, other times breaking loose with some credible boogie. Apart from the dreadful misstep of 1999's XXX, they showed signs of life on all their RCA albums, and their fourth, 2003's long-delayed Mescalero, is no exception to the rule. Billy Gibbons' fat guitar tone really has some presence here, at least on some of the album, and there are enough rhythm tracks not performed to a didactic click track to provide some real swing.

King Crimson opened 1970 scarcely in existence as a band, having lost two key members (Ian McDonald and Michael Giles), with a third (Greg Lake) about to leave. Their second album – largely composed of Robert Fripp's songwriting and material salvaged from their stage repertory ("Pictures of a City" and "The Devil's Triangle") – is actually better produced and better sounding than their first. Surprisingly, Fripp's guitar is not the dominant instrument here: The Mellotron, taken over by Fripp after McDonald's departure – and played even better than before – still remains the band's signature. The record doesn't tread enough new ground to precisely rival In the Court of the Crimson King.

Sticky Fingers is the ninth British and eleventh American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released 23 April 1971 on their new, and own, label Rolling Stones Records. Sticky Fingers is considered one of the Rolling Stones' best albums. It was the band's first album to reach number one on both the UK albums and US albums charts, and has since achieved triple platinum certification in the US. Songs such as "Brown Sugar," the country ballad "Dead Flowers," "Wild Horses," "Can't You Hear Me Knocking," and "Moonlight Mile" were chart-toppers. The album is inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame and included in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

Simple Pleasures is the fourth studio album by American singer and musician Bobby McFerrin. It was his commercial breakthrough album, containing the hit single "Don't Worry, Be Happy," also featured in the film Cocktail. Simple Pleasures has gone triple platinum, with "Don't Worry, Be Happy" winning the 1988 Grammy Awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal.

Rick Wakeman spent much of the '80s and '90s recording instrumental albums that veered toward either classical or ambient, so 2003's Out There comes as a bit of a shock: it's an honest to goodness revival of the full-throttle prog rock Wakeman pursued on his solo albums in the '70s. A large part of this is due to his decision to form a full-fledged supporting rock band. Called the New English Rock Ensemble, they're a quintet led by Wakeman and featuring Damian Wilson on vocals, Ant Glynne on guitar, Lee Pomeroy on bass, and Tony Fernandez on drums and percussion. They're a powerful and skilled outfit, able to follow Wakeman's shifting tempos and moods with dexterity without ever losing sight of their forceful rhythmic core, which keeps this rock, not new age.

Pictures at Eleven is the debut solo album by former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant, released on 25 June 1982 in the US and on 2 July in the UK. Genesis drummer Phil Collins played drums for five of the album's eight songs. Ex-Rainbow drummer Cozy Powell handled drums on "Slow Dancer" and "Like I've Never Been Gone." On the song "Fat Lip", guitarist Robbie Blunt played a TR-808 drum machine. The title was an often-heard phrase in U.S. television news that would follow a brief announcement of a story of interest to be shown later during a station's 11 PM news program. Pictures at Eleven is the only one of Plant's solo albums to appear on Led Zeppelin's record label Swan Song. By the time of Plant's next release, 1983's The Principle of Moments, Swan Song had ceased to function, and Plant had started his own label named Es Paranza, which would also be distributed by Atlantic Records.