Robert Cray always flirted with gritty Southern soul, but it wasn't until Sweet Potato Pie that he made a full-fledged soul-blues record in Memphis. Cray hasn't abandoned blues, but he's woven punchy horns and sexy rhythms into the mix, resulting in one of his stronger records of the '90s. The material remains a bit uneven, but his taste is impeccable – few blues guitarists are as succinct and memorable as he, and the soul settings of Sweet Potato Pie only confirm that fact.

With the arrival of the 1980s, Nancy Reagan was picking out new White House china, MTV was taking its first baby steps, and Pat Benatar was surging forward as a new kind of female rock star. Brassy, eye-catching, and possessed of a four-and-a-half-octave voice, the small-framed, big-voiced New Yorker first caused a stir in 1979 with the hits "Heartbreaker" and "We Live for Love," the latter penned by lead guitarist and Benatar's future husband, Neil Gerardo. In the early '80s, Benatar scored repeatedly with snarling rockers that combined new-wave energy with Middle American grit: "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," "Invincible," "Love is a Battlefield," "Shadows of the Night," and "We Belong" all charted before she began to lose her luster mid-decade. This three-disc retrospective reflects Benatar's commercial descent with a disc marked by her hits, followed by two discs dominated by lesser-known rock tracks and experiments (which include an unremarkable foray into old-school R&B). Some unreleased numbers are scattered in for good measure. Casual fans would be well advised to leave this one to the devotees and opt for the more-to-the-point Best Shots. –Steven Stolder

This extravagant six-CD set documents the astonishing life span of the first pop independent label in the U.K., Immediate Records. Founded in 1965, Immediate flipped, flopped, and staggered its own way, competing against unhip American labels like EMI and Decca until late 1969. The label, and the documentary CD set, showcases in particular the Small Faces, who enjoyed a brief U.K. number one hit, Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. More familiar to American listeners will no doubt be the three-chord sock-hop favorite "Hang on Sloopy" by the McCoys, and a number of covers of familiar American folk-rock hits are present as well. The esoteric collector will appreciate inclusions by such café balladeers as the Poets and Les Fleurs-de-Lis, also signed by Immediate before the advent of the swinging London sound, marked by the Rolling Stones revolution and other mod developers influencing the pants off the tiniest studio cover bands.

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers have been at the forefront of British blues music for over four decades and this 5CD box set coincides with the fortieth anniversary of their classic "Bluesbreakers" album with Eric Clapton (aka "The Beano Album"). The set comprises of his studio albums "Padlock on the Blues", "Along for the Ride" and "Stories" together with a single disc version of his "70th Birthday Concert" and a disc of previously unheard live and session tracks from his personal archive, featuring Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood and more.

Amidst their pop/rock, blues, and folk-rock, Manfred Mann peppered their early recordings with jazzy instrumentals that faintly suggested a jazz-rock direction. Soul of Mann, never issued in the U.S., is a compilation of most of these early instrumental efforts, which originally appeared on various singles, EPs, and LPs between 1963 and 1966 (though one song, "L.S.D.," and is actually a blues-rocker with a Paul Jones vocal). Instrumentals were not the band's forte, but this collection is more interesting than you might think. No one would put Manfred Mann on the level of a jazz artist like Oscar Peterson, but these cuts are executed with a surprising amount of style and wit.

As the historic festival marks its 40-year anniversary, Rhino presents Woodstock 40, six-CD boxed set that features the most comprehensive collection ever available of artists that performed at the original festival, sequenced in chronological order of performance, featuring 38 previously unreleased recordings, including the Grateful Dead, The Who, Tim Hardin, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe & The Fish, and others. Also box includes 80-page book with extensive liner notes, photos and the complete and accurate set lists.

The Complete Stevie Wonder is a digital compilation featuring the work of Stevie Wonder. Released a week before the physical release of A Time to Love, the set comprises almost all of Wonder's officially released material, including single mixes, extended versions, remixes, and Workout Stevie Workout, a 1963 album which was shelved and replaced by With a Song in My Heart. The set also contains a digital (PDF) booklet and three music videos: "Overjoyed", "Part-Time Lover" and "So What the Fuss". On April 21, 2015, the box set lost its exclusivity rights to iTunes. It was removed from the iTunes store, but is available on other streaming services, and available on FLAC as well.

Greatest-hits packages sometimes can rob an artist of their wider focus, only zeroing in on the hits and not giving the true big picture. But this is one time when the hits and the subsequent singles fill the bill in an absolutely perfect way. Although many of these songs turn up on other Mitch Ryder albums, many of the versions included here differ greatly, the most noticeable being the kickoff track, "Devil With a Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly." The reason is simple enough: These are the single mixes, the ones edited and compacted to fit on one side of a 45-rpm vinyl record.

Much can be said about the late Amy Winehouse, one of the U.K.'s flagship vocalists during the 2000s. The British press and tabloids seemed to focus on her rowdy behavior, heavy consumption of alcohol, and tragic end, but fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals. Her platinum-selling breakthrough album, Frank (2003), elicited comparisons ranging from Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan to Macy Gray and Lauryn Hill. Interestingly enough, despite her strong accent and vernacular, one can often hear aspects of each of those singers' vocal repertoires in Winehouse's own voice. Nonetheless, her allure had always been her songwriting – almost always deeply personal but best known for its profanity and brutal candor.

Back on Top is the twenty-seventh studio album by Northern Irish singer/songwriter Van Morrison. It was released in 1999 by Point Blank. This album marks a slight return to the forms of music he is most known for: blues and R&B. Upon the album's release, Rolling Stone reviewed it as "one Monet and nine Norman Rockwells", the "Monet" being "When the Leaves Come Falling Down" which it called a masterpiece. The 29 January 2008 reissued and remastered version of the album contains two bonus tracks: an alternative take of "Philosopher's Stone" and a new arrangement of Fats Domino's song, "Valley of Tears".

This time, Cray veered back toward the blues (most convincingly, too), even covering Albert King's "You're Gonna Need Me" and bemoaning paying taxes on the humorous "1040 Blues." Unlike his previous efforts, Cray produced this one himself. Also, longtime bassist Richard Cousins was history, replaced by Karl Sevareid.

Joe Simon is one of the premiere R&B voices of all time. Over a career spanning five decades, "The Mouth of the South" has racked up 35 Billboard pop hits and 50 R&B hits, exploring an encyclopedia of R&B genres ranging from gospel to doo wop, countrysoul, the '70s sound of Philadelphia, Blaxploitation, disco, and a subsequent return to Simon's spiritual side. But, because his hits were evenly split between two different labels, there has never been a definitive compilation…until now. Step by Step—The Complete Pop Hits presents all 35 of Simon's pop smashes, including his maiden chart success, "My Adorable One," released by Vee Jay in 1964, then his 18 hits for the Sound Stage 7 and 16 hits for the Spring labels. Among the tracks are such gems as Simon's Grammy winning version of "The Chokin' Kind," the Gamble & Huff-produced "Drowning in The Sea of Love" and "The Power of Love," "Theme from Cleopatra Jones," the title song that he wrote and produced for the Warner Brothers smash 1973 film, fan favorites "Misty Blue," "Your Time to Cry," and the title track, and his Top Ten smash "Get Down, Get Down (on the Floor)."

Sly Stewart is one of pop and rock's great enigmas. A charismatic performer, full of a boundless, good energy, a wonderful songwriter and, at least when he was in his prime, a man with a sure vision, Sly still somehow managed to throw it all away by the mid-'70s. The classic work he did with Sly & the Family Stone, though, is worth its weight in gold. This 20-track set has all the essential hits, including "Stand," "Everyday People," "Everybody Is a Star," "Family Affair," "Dance to the Music," and "I Want to Take You Higher," among others, and for most casual listeners, it has everything they'll really need.

I Am the Blues is the sixth studio Chicago blues album released in 1970 by the well-known bluesman Willie Dixon. The album features songs written by Dixon and originally performed by other artists for Chess Records (Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Willie Mabon).

There's a Riot Goin' On is the fifth studio album by American band Sly and the Family Stone. It was released on November 20, 1971, by Epic Records. The album was recorded during 1970 and 1971 at Record Plant Studios in Sausalito, California, with sessions dominated by band frontman Sly Stone during a period of drug use and intra-group tension. There's a Riot Goin' On embraced a darker and more challenging sound than the optimistic psychedelic soul style of the group's previous records, making use of hard funk rhythms, primitive drum machines, excessive overdubbing, and unconventional mixing techniques. Received with ambivalence upon its release, the album is now praised as one of the greatest and most influential recordings of all-time, and ranked at or near the top of many publications' "best album" lists. In 2003 it was ranked number 99 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.