Carrie Underwood's fourth studio album, Blown Away, produced by Underwood's longtime collaborator Mark Bright, follows its impressive lead single, "Good Girl," with a set that shows the singer's continued growth from American Idol into a savvy country-pop star. Recording information: Starstruck ...

As the electric guitar ace Joe Bonamassa was so strongly inspired by blues and blues-oriented six-stringers (i.e., Clapton, Johnny Winter), many of his fans would politely pester him about doing a disc of blues standards. Originally done as a lark, ...

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli (vocals); Tommy DeVito (vocals, guitar); Bob Gaudio (vocals, keyboards); Nick Massi (vocals, bass). Additional personnel includes: Joe Long (vocals, guitar, nass); Charlie Calello (bass). Recorded between 1962 & 1978. Includes liner notes by Pat ...

Released to coincide with the classically inclined, Yule-loving, progressive metal powerhouse's 2012 performances of its multi-platinum Last Christmas Eve rock opera, Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night) represents the first new collection of holiday music from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra ...

Take note that this 2011 double-disc collection is billed not as the best of Bob Seger, it's the best of Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band -- a rule the compilers immediately bend in two directions by including the ...

Digitally remastered by Doug Sax (The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles, California). The Wall was Roger Waters' crowning accomplishment in Pink Floyd. It documented the rise and fall of a rock star (named Pink Floyd), based on Waters' own experiences and the ...

Fun.'s debut album Aim and Ignite was an interesting blend of seemingly divergent styles topped by a healthy dose of grandiose ambition and performed with a precise abandon. The trio made an album that was truly progressive and also super ...

On December 10, 2007, Led Zeppelin took the stage at London's O2 Arena to headline a tribute concert for dear friend and Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. What followed was a two-hour-plus tour de force of the band's signature blues-infused ...

Morph the Cat wrapped up an alleged trilogy in 2006 -- a trilogy that only became apparent when Donald Fagen's three solo albums were boxed in a set called The Nightfly Trilogy in 2007 -- and Fagen then busied himself ...

Neil Diamond's five-decade career as a singer, songwriter, and performer has certainly been a successful one by any standard. He's sold well over 115 million records worldwide to date and has had eight number one singles ("Cracklin Rosie," "Song Sung ...

Clockwork Angels has been a long time coming. Rush foreshadowed it in 2010 by releasing "BU2B," and "Caravan" to radio. The next single, "Headlong Flight," didn't appear until 2012. Co-produced with Nick Raskulinecz (who also worked on 2007's Snakes & ...

The Tedeschi Trucks Band is an 11-piece ensemble made up of guitarist-vocalist Susan Tedeschi's and guitarist Derek Trucks' individual bands. They made their debut with 2011's Grammy-winning Revelator, a sprawling collection that showcased funky R&B, gospel, blues, and scorching large ...

La Futura, ZZ Top's 15th studio album and the group's first since 2003's Mescalero, was recorded at Foam Box Recordings in Houston and at Shangri La Studios in Malibu, and produced by Rick Rubin and the band's guitarist, Billy Gibbons. ...

There's Neil Young, there's Neil Young with Crosby, Stills & Nash, there's Neil Young in folky country-rock mode, and then there's Neil Young with Crazy Horse. This sprawling album (one song, the epic lead track "Driftin' Back," comes in just ...

"How can we miss you when you won't go away?" It's a question that sounds as if it could be the title of an Aerosmith power ballad co-written by Diane Warren, but it's a sentiment that also applies to the ...

English folk revivalists Mumford & Sons' 2009 debut, Sigh No More, boarded the slowest train it could find on its journey from regional gem to pleasantly surprising, international success story. After simmering and stewing throughout the U.K. and Europe, the ...

The Rolling Stones celebrate their 50th anniversary with GRRR!, a compilation available in several different formats. The simplest set is a triple-disc compilation containing 50 tracks; there is also a Deluxe Edition containing the same three CDs, along with a ...

Broadway musical JERSEY BOYS brings to the stage the story of 1960s singing sensations Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, recounting their rise from working-class kids to pop-music superstars. The soundtrack, naturally, is filled with Four Seasons hits, including timeless ...

While the two-disc 35 BIGGEST HITS is far from the first Toby Keith hits collection, it's easily his most comprehensive to date, including the biggest songs from every stage of the country superstar's first 15 years. It moves from early ...

He's been in the business for over 40 years, but Rod Stewart has never recorded a holiday album until Merry Christmas, Baby, his 2012 seasonal celebration that also doubles as his debut for Verve. Given that Stewart has spent the ...

Track Listing: Fourteen Carat Mind; Paper Rosie; Nothing Sure Looked Good On You; You're Out Doing; Bedroom Ballad; Farewell Party; Got No Reason Now For Going Home; One Sided Conversation; Carmen; Speak Softly; Don't Waste It On The Blues; Love ...

The first solo outing from singer/guitarist/actor/White Stripes/Raconteurs mastermind Jack White was recorded at his Third Man Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. The bluesy, typically idiosyncratic Blunderbuss, named for a muzzle-loading firearm that was a precursor of the shotgun, will hit the ...

Audio Mixer: Enda Walsh. Liner Note Authors: Gavin Martin; Alan Light; Solly Lipsitz. Born to Sing: No Plan B marks Van Morrison's 35th album and his return to Blue Note Records. Morrison released What's Wrong with This Picture? for Blue Note back ...

The Zac Brown Band's third major-label studio album, Uncaged, is the first with new member percussionist Daniel de los Reyes, and features guest spots from Amos Lee and Trombone Shorty, as well as songs co-written with Jason Mraz and fellow ...

For only the second time in her career, jazz pianist and vocalist Diana Krall deviates from her tried, true m.o. of covering easily identifiable jazz standards. On Glad Rag Doll she teams with producer T-Bone Burnett and his stable of ...