Anyone who caught Jeff Beck's set at Eric Clapton's 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival (or even the two-song DVD excerpt) was probably salivating at the hope that an entire performance with the same band would appear on CD and DVD. This is it, 72 minutes and 16 tracks compiled from a week of shows at the U.K.'s famed Ronnie Scott's, and it's as impressive as any Beck fan would expect. The guitarist's last official U.S.-released live disc was from his 1976 Wired tour (an authorized "bootleg" of his 2006 tour with bassist Pino Palladino is available at gigs and online; others pop up as expensive imports), making the appearance of this music from just over three decades later a long-awaited, much-anticipated event. Only one track, the frenzied "Scatterbrain," is repeated here from the 1976 album, but with an entirely different, and arguably more sympathetic, band backing him along with a far longer playing time, this disc is the stronger of the two. Veteran drummer Vinnie Colaiuta nimbly keeps the beat, Jason Rebello's keyboards aren't nearly as intrusive as Jan Hammer's, and young bassist Tal Wilkenfeld's rubbery lines both underpin and, in the case of "Cause We've Ended as Lovers," take the lead when called on with vibrant proficiency and a sure sense of the bottom end needed for Beck's excursions into funk, fusion, reggae, jazz, and rock. The entirely instrumental concert focuses predominantly where you'd expect it to -- on Beck's innovative leads as he tears into his catalog of fusion fare, going back to Blow by Blow, with a surprise opening of "Beck's Bolero" from his Jeff Beck Group rock years. A short rendition of Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" that segues into a tense "Brush with the Blues" is a disc highlight, as it shows Beck pulling out many of his six-string tricks and taps into his blues background. "Space Boogie" gives drummer Colaiuta a chance to shine with double-speed licks, and affords keyboardist Rebello a spotlight for his jazz piano skills. But it's Beck who slams into the track with aggressive fluidity, shooting out sizzling solos as the band pushes him along. His sensitive cover of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life," a longtime live staple, is a showstopper bringing Beck's intensity to an arrangement that has stops, starts, and unexpected turns and is, like the guitarist, never predictable. Through it all, Beck's guitar sings, cries, moans, and shouts with as much emotion as a vocalist, showing that an instrument can sing as effectively as a human being, but only in the right hands.© Hal Horowitz /TiVo

Prefab Sprout was always too good for the radio. Hearing the band's immaculate, gorgeously crafted pop songs alongside disposable, unimaginative records seemed like blasphemy. Perhaps many American radio programmers felt the same way, as most of this best-of compilation is obscure to U.S. listeners. While Two Wheels Good and From Langley Park to Memphis are superior purchases, A Life of Surprises is an engaging introduction to a group that is nowhere near as bizarre as its name. Much has been said about Paddy McAloon's warm, comforting voice, but like Paul Heaton of the Housemartins and the Beautiful South, his soothing croon can sometimes hide some pretty depressing lyrics. "When Love Breaks Down" is classic '80s new wave heartache: teary-eyed synthesizers, downtrodden basslines, and McAloon's whispery talk create a film noir atmosphere of deep sadness. The lyrics are sharpened by his adult observations. "When love breaks down/You join the wrecks/Who leave their hearts for easy sex," McAloon sings. The brutal honesty of those lines easily elevate "When Love Breaks Down" to the top class of breakup songs. Even more powerful is "Goodbye Lucille No. 1 (Johnny Johnny)," sung from the perspective of a man trying to make a close friend get over a girl who has rejected him. The words are frank and painfully realistic as McAloon doesn't sugarcoat the dialogue. McAloon rips into his buddy's futile romantic fantasies and lets the hard light of reality shine upon him: "Ooh Johnny Johnny Johnny you won't make it any better/Ooh Johnny Johnny Johnny you might well make it worse." If this sounds dreary it should be noted that Prefab Sprout isn't one of those grim British raincoat bands. The group has a number of wonderfully upbeat moments, such as on the exhilarating "Hey Manhattan!" and "Cars and Girls," a clever commentary on Bruce Springsteen's preoccupation with automobiles and women.© Michael Sutton /TiVo

Lovers Rock, the title of Sade's first album of the 21st century, could be taken on many levels. Never before has the singer infused more mainstream rock elements (prominent strummed guitars) into her music as evidenced by the first single, "By Your Side." That's not to say that she has eschewed her own tried-and-true brand of smoky, dusky ballads. The singer/songwriter is reunited with co-producer Mike Pela and musician/songwriters Andrew Hale, Stuart Matthewman, and Paul S. Denman; and Lovers Rock finds them all in fine form. "Somebody Already Broke My Heart," "Every Word," and "Lovers Rock" are vintage Sade.© Ed Hogan /TiVo

Released in conjunction with the silver screen dramatization of the Runaways’ saga, Hip-O Select’s The Mercury Albums Anthology rounds up the group’s four albums - 1976’s The Runaways, plus Live in Japan, Queens of Noise, and Waitin’ for the Night, all released in 1977-- in a slick two-disc set. Anybody won over to the Runaways via the charms or Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning will find this to be much too much -- really, they’ll be satiated by a quick download of “Cherry Bomb” -- as this is intended for connoisseurs of sleaze and those under the impression that the female foursome were pioneers not at all under the skeevy thumb of Kim Fowley. Both groups may find what’s contained on Mercury Albums Anthology somewhat underwhelming: the Runaways plodded as much as the plundered, hammering out three-chord riffs that had more to do with frizzy-haired metal than any kind of proto-punk. Live, they had a modicum of energy, as evidenced by Live in Japan, but they wound up being highly polished and packaged in the studio, with Fowley steering them ever so slightly toward sticky, disposable bubblegum. Joan Jett eventually wound up digging in her heels, asserting control on Waitin’ for the Night, but by then, the band was straining under Fowley’s direction, and the end was near. All this is, of course, apparent on this de facto complete recordings -- they knocked out another record after leaving Mercury -- but the lasting impression of this double-disc set is that the Runaways’ myth is always better than their music.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

When the Runaways debuted in 1976 with this self-titled LP, aggressive female rockers were the exception instead of the rule. Women had no problem becoming folk-rockers, singer/songwriters or Top 40 icons, but female artists who had more in common with Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith than Joni Mitchell were hardly the norm. With this album, the Runaways made it crystal clear that women (or specifically, adolescent girls) were more than capable of playing intense, forceful hard rock that went directly for the jugular. Lusty classics like "Cherry Bomb" and "You Drive Me Wild" made no attempt to conceal the fact that teenage girls could be every bit as sexual as the guys -- a message that both men and women found intimidating. And on "Is It Day or Night," Cherie Currie sings about life in the fast lane with every bit as much conviction as Axl Rose would 11 years later. Currie and Joan Jett are equally riveting, and a 17-year-old Lita Ford was already an impressive guitarist. This LP was far from a commercial hit in the U.S., where timid rock radio programmers simply didn't know what to make of the Runaways. But interestingly, it did earn the band a strong following in the major rock market of Japan.© Alex Henderson /TiVo

Why it is that after years or even decades some artists continue to thrill and entertain while others just burn out badly is one of those great mysteries, but in the example of Ron and Russell Mael, aka Sparks, they're firmly in the former category. Hello Young Lovers is their 20th studio album in 35 years, not to mention one of their best. Following on from their enjoyable all-classical instrumentation experiment, Lil' Beethoven, Sparks take their cue here from the album's one song that added full rock band instrumentation to all the strings, "Ugly Guys with Beautiful Girls." The resulting fusion on Hello Young Lovers -- with the brothers and drummer Tammy Glover now accompanied full-time by former touring guitarist Dean Menta, along with Redd Kross' Steve McDonald guesting on bass and Jim Wilson on guitar -- audibly harks back to the U.K. glam era of the band but crucially does not simply replicate it. Instead, it's as close to a full mélange of all the band's various sounds thus far over the years, as Lil' Beethoven's orchestral swoops are shot through with feedback and subtler hints of the various dance incarnations of the duo. Opening track "Dick Around," with its rapidly ascending and descending melodies, absolutely precise performance (Russell's voice continues to be one of the best ever in the field while Ron's ear for immediate but busy-as-heck hooks similarly hasn't gone stale), and back-and-forth arrangements between strings and guitar is a tour de force on its own, not to mention showing that the trademark Mael misanthropic wit remains fully intact. From there, Hello Young Lovers is off to the races, with only a tiny misstep or two along the way ("Here Kitty" is cute but slight, "Metaphor" takes a while to connect fully). First single "Perfume" is a delight, a finger-snapping swing of a song that's still very 21st century, with a classic Russell spoken word break to boot. Other highlights include the outrageous "(Baby Baby) Can I Invade Your Country?," a reworking of the American national anthem that turns into the slyest post-9/11 song yet, and the stellar conclusion "When I Sit Down to the Play the Organ in the Notre Dame Cathedral." "Waterproof" might be the best song in the end, Russell singing like butter couldn't melt in his mouth about being a merrily heartless bastard untroubled by his former love's "Meryl Streep mimicry" while the sound moves from chamber music to a hint of '30s jazz to a full rock-out apocalypse. If, as is often alleged, Queen ripped off Sparks to fully kick-start their own career, Hello Young Lovers is Sparks having the last and best laugh, not just on their former rivals but on all those bands now and then whose members may have listened in but never showed even a tenth of the Maels' genius and inspiration.© Ned Raggett /TiVo

After founding the Modern Lovers in the early '70s as an angsty, Velvet Underground-inspired proto-punk outfit, Jonathan Richman drastically softened his approach with the second iteration of the band. The Boston-bred singer/songwriter turned down the volume and embraced themes of innocence and joy on 1976 album Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, and he expanded this new approach on 1977's Rock 'n' Roll with the Modern Lovers by exploring traditional folk sounds and instrumentals alongside his playground-ready vision of acoustic rock & roll. Minimal instrumentation of upright bass, acoustic guitar, Richman's imperfect but always emphatic voice, and a drum kit that sounds like cardboard boxes makes up most of the songs, and the raw production makes the album feel like the band is casually rehearsing without knowing a microphone or two are active in the room. Some songs are childish and sweet (the cutesy singsong melodies of "Ice Cream Man" or the silly "Rockin' Rockin' Leprechauns") and some are slight adaptations of outright nursery rhymes ("The Wheels on the Bus.") The reverent wonderment that often surfaces in Richman's songwriting comes to the forefront on songs like "Summer Morning" and the dreamy thoughtfulness of "Fly Into the Mystery." Several instrumental tracks break from the toned-down rock & roll approach to sprinkle in generalized takes on the traditional folk sounds of various international cultures, and the record even produced a minor European hit with one of these, "Egyptian Reggae." The lo-fi sound quality and blissfully naive character of Rock 'n' Roll with the Modern Lovers was too much for some listeners when the album came out, and will likely remain off-putting for a percentage of anyone taking these sounds in for the first time. However, it's exactly that unrepentant sweetness, and a willingness to be ridiculously goofy one moment and nakedly tender the next, that will charm those who can stomach the unvarnished purity Richman was just beginning to tap into here.© Fred Thomas /TiVo

What a strange idea -- an unplugged reggae album. Stranger still is how well it works. On Miracle, the wispy-voiced Bim Sherman records some of the oldies that he seems capable of recycling endlessly ("Golden Locks," "Lovers Leap," "Can I Be Free from Crying") along with a few new songs, but what makes this session so unique is the instrumentation: acoustic guitars, strings, Indian percussion (courtesy of tabla virtuoso Talvin Singh) and only the most subtle smatterings of synth and electric bass. These versions of "Golden Locks" and "Bewildered" aren't even reggae, strictly speaking, but they sure are pretty. The string section plays in an explicitly Indian style, which, combined with the tabla, creates a strange West-Indies-meets-East-Indies sort of ambience. Skip McDonald's supremely tasteful guitar and multitracked backing vocals contribute significantly to the success of this weird but lovely album. In the Unintended Consequences Department: note how the spare acoustic setting of "My Woman" exposes the howling sexism of Sherman's lyrics. (Note: the entire program is presented in electric remixes on a companion disc titled It Must Be a Dream, available separately on the same label.) © Rick Anderson /TiVo

The impact of Freddie McGregor's debut album Mr. McGregor would be lessened just months after its release thanks to the appearance of his classic sophomore effort Bobby Bobylon. Thirty years later, VP's expanded reissue -- by way of their 17 North Parade imprint -- makes a great argument that these sides cut for Niney's Observer label deserve better. Offering a solid opening argument is "We Got Love" featuring a Tower of Power influenced horn section underneath McGregor's tale of love conquering all. The classic "Rastaman Camp" combines muted horn and an earthy, Nyahbinghi-like chorus for one of producer Niney's deeper constructions, but the lightweight fare is equally welcome as the easy strolling and not too sugary version of "Brandy" displays. Taking a cue from the Heartbeat label's 2006 reissue of Bobylon, VP's Mr. McGregor is greatly expanded with remixes and versions. The difference here is that the bonus tracks are basically the 1981 album Showcase, an Observer release which collected all the loose ends, although with massive tracks like "The Overseer" included, it was no stale set of leftovers. Its inclusion enhances this reissue, making this a great overview of McGregor's early days in Niney's workshop.© David Jeffries /TiVo

Lovers Rock, the title of Sade's first album of the 21st century, could be taken on many levels. Never before has the singer infused more mainstream rock elements (prominent strummed guitars) into her music as evidenced by the first single, "By Your Side." That's not to say that she has eschewed her own tried-and-true brand of smoky, dusky ballads. The singer/songwriter is reunited with co-producer Mike Pela and musician/songwriters Andrew Hale, Stuart Matthewman, and Paul S. Denman; and Lovers Rock finds them all in fine form. "Somebody Already Broke My Heart," "Every Word," and "Lovers Rock" are vintage Sade.© Ed Hogan /TiVo

Download not available
Lovers Rock, the title of Sade's first album of the 21st century, could be taken on many levels. Never before has the singer infused more mainstream rock elements (prominent strummed guitars) into her music as evidenced by the first single, "By Your Side." That's not to say that she has eschewed her own tried-and-true brand of smoky, dusky ballads. The singer/songwriter is reunited with co-producer Mike Pela and musician/songwriters Andrew Hale, Stuart Matthewman, and Paul S. Denman; and Lovers Rock finds them all in fine form. "Somebody Already Broke My Heart," "Every Word," and "Lovers Rock" are vintage Sade.© Ed Hogan /TiVo