Laid Back is a Danish electronic music duo group from Copenhagen, formed in 1979. The duo consists of John Guldberg (vocals, guitar, bass) and Tim Stahl (vocals, keyboards, drums, bass). They are best known for the hits "Sunshine Reggae" and "White Horse" from 1983 and "Bakerman" from 1989. John Guldberg and Tim Stahl met in the mid-1970s, and they played together in a group called the Starbox Band. After a poorly received show supporting the Kinks, the band split up, but the duo continued working together. Guldberg set up a small studio in downtown Copenhagen where the two musicians began exploring the possibilities that were being opened up by new technologies, such as multitrack tape recorders, synthesizers and drum machines. Their debut album, simply titled Laid Back, was released in 1981, and the single "Maybe I'm Crazy" became a number-one hit in Denmark.

There are both good and bad points to this CD. Of the latter, the Phillip Morris "Super Band" is confined to background work with - other than a few spots for Plas Johnson's tenor - no soloists being heard from. As an ensemble, the all-star orchestra performs well, but is essentially anonymous. Also, despite the backing, B.B. King does not attempt to play jazz, a wasted opportunity. But, switching to the good points, Live at the Apollo is an excellent example of a strong B.B. King live performance. Somehow he always makes his combination of blues and familiar hits sound fresh. With a liberal amount of space set aside for his guitar solos, B.B. is in top form throughout the well-paced set, which is far superior to most of his overproduced studio sessions for MCA. Even if the big band is mostly irrelevant, this CD is recommended for B.B. King's singing and playing.

Five years isn't really a long time to generate 12 monster-size hits for a greatest-hits album, but that's exactly what Toby Keith did. From his first album in 1993 to the release of his first greatest-hits package in 1998, Keith has culled some of his best singles from the charts to create a 14-track ode. He includes only two newbies – the deliciously suggestive "Getcha Some" and the achingly troubled "If a Man Answers." Those are the first two tracks on the album, so you can get them out of the way quickly if you want to and move on to the music that makes Keith so good, starting with his very first single that went straight to number one, "Should've Been a Cowboy." And you'll kick your heels all the way through "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action," "You Ain't Much Fun," "Who's That Man," and "He Ain't Worth Missing." It might be hard to recall at first that Keith had so many hit singles in the Top Ten, but with one listen, it'll be hard to forget.

French one-shot (from 1977) Rahmann plays in a fairly unique style, mixing fusion and Arabic flavours with a slight zeuhl feel courtesy of explosive bass lines and repetitive rhythmic patterns. Their music could be characterized as jazz fusion with zeuhl-associated musicians performing on it (Didier Lockwood and Liza Deluxe (Magma), and Gerard Prevost (Zao). The central point of all music is Mahamad Hadi's guitar sound, heavily influenced by Mahavishnu Orchestra. Another musical layers are bouzouki and oud sounds. The mix is finished by energetic drumming, keyboards and some North African percussion. Whenever pure instrumental, it could be named as "instrumental Zeuhl" with Middle Eastern influence (what isn't strange, whenever band's leader is of Algerian origin)…

For Styx II (1973), the Chicago-based quintet continue much in the same vein as their eponymous debut. The primary difference was the inclusion of the Dennis DeYoung power ballad "Lady" – which catapulted the combo into the Top Ten pop singles survey at an admirable number six. The collection was their first to rely entirely upon band-penned originals, kicking off with the rousing "You Need Love." The performance sounds similar to Queen's earliest sides, especially James Young's commanding vocals which provide a distinct and dramatic quality. The aforementioned "Lady" is equally dynamic, contrasting the delicate and ethereal introduction with the comparatively emphatic conclusion.

Software formed in 1983 by German duo Peter Mergener and Michael Weisser, Software owes much to electronic pioneer Klaus Schulze. Software's music usually builds on sequencer patterns and simple melodies, creating a lighter version of the Schulze style.

Like music lovers the world over, John Nelson believes Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B Minor is a pinnacle of Western music. For years, he has cherished the dream of performing this masterwork in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris whose renown has grown constantly since he began conducting with them eight years ago. In addition to John Nelson and his Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Mass in B minor brings together the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame choir conducted by Nicole Corti as well as internationally recognized soloists Ruth Ziesak (soprano), Joyce DiDonato (mezzo), Daniel Taylor (alto), Paul Agnew (tenor) and Dietrich Henschel (baritone).

This enticing album of sonatas by Ravel, Enescu, Ysaÿe and Prokofiev emerged from violinist Diana Tishchenko’s victory at the 2018 Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition. Born in Ukraine, and trained in Kiev and Berlin, she has been noted by The Strad for her "power to mesmerize the audience with her large gesture and strong personality”. Her musical partnership with the Hungarian pianist Zoltán Fejérvári is extraordinarily close and potent. In the words of the French online journal Toute la musique, they are “not two interpreters playing together, but a true musical entity, an artistic fusion … They played as if each note were being created in real time … deploying an infinitely large palette of colours and nuance – the possibilities were inexhaustible.”

There is more Spain in Offenbach’s brain than in Spain itself’, said a journalist entranced by Maître Péronilla. Understandably so, given the charm and humour of this operetta in which no fewer than twenty-two characters are kept busy unravelling a preposterously complicated love story. And the libretto is all the better for having been penned by the composer himself.

The Berlioz Te Deum has been relatively neglected on disc in comparison with his other major works. This latest version has John Nelson as an incisive, understanding conductor of Berlioz, revelling in the weight of choral sound, balancing his forces beautifully. He's helped here by fuller, more detailed digital sound than on previous versions.