Alone in the Universe isn't the first Jeff Lynne album of the 21st century, nor is it the first Electric Light Orchestra of the 21st century. That honor belongs to Zoom, a 2001 comeback that faded quickly into history books, its lack of success blamed in some quarters on Lynne's reluctance to tour. If Jeff didn't want to hit the road, his old bandmate Bev Bevan had no problem constituting a lineup and touring under the name ELO Part II, whose presence somewhat explains why Alone in the Universe is credited to the somewhat convoluted Jeff Lynne's ELO – a truncation of the band's full name that also assigns credit where it's due, as most listeners associate this majestic post-Abbey Road pop with Lynne alone.

Jeff Lynne revived Electric Light Orchestra in 2015 – due to legal reasons, they were now called Jeff Lynne's ELO – releasing a comeback album called Alone in the Universe and steadily mounting a return to the road. Several dates happened in 2016, but the tour reached its apex in June 2017, when the group played in front of 60,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium. Released five months after that June 24 gig, Wembley or Bust – which was accompanied by a concert film – features the entirety of the gig, and if it's not heard too closely, it could sometimes be mistaken for an ELO greatest-hits album.

Jesus Christ Superstar started life as a most improbable concept album from an equally unlikely label, Decca Records, which had not, until then, been widely known for groundbreaking musical efforts. It was all devised by then 21-year-old composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and 25-year-old lyricist Tim Rice. Jesus Christ Superstar had been conceived as a stage work, but lacking the funds to get it produced, the two collaborators instead decided to use an album as the vehicle for introducing the piece, a fairly radical rock/theater hybrid about the final days in the life of Jesus as seen from the point of view of Judas. If its content seemed daring (and perhaps downright sacrilegious), the work, a "sung-through" musical echoing operatic and oratorio traditions, was structurally perfect for an album; just as remarkable as its subject matter was the fact that its musical language was full-blown rock music.

The Quest is the twenty-second studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released on 1 October 2021 by InsideOut Music and Sony Music. It is their first studio album featuring Billy Sherwood since The Ladder (1999), having replaced founding bassist Chris Squire following his death in 2015, and their first without any original members. It was produced by guitarist Steve Howe. After completing touring commitments in July 2019, Yes began to collaborate on new material by exchanging ideas for songs online. The subsequent COVID-19 pandemic caused all touring to be cancelled in March 2020, which presented the opportunity for them to focus on the album during lockdown. When the songs had been arranged, the album was recorded in California and England and orchestral arrangements by Paul K. Joyce were performed by the FAMES Orchestra in North Macedonia.

Chris Norman first found fame fronting huge 70's band Smokie. In 1986, Chris left the band and went on to carve a hugely successful solo career. In his career to date he has had 21 hit singles and released around 22 albums, selling over 20 million records worldwide. After the success of the last album "Rerecorded Love Songs" which contained well-known pop classics, Chris is now current with an album that contains completely newly written songs written by Chris or in collaboration with others. Three songs are written with his old friend and band member Pete Spencer, two with Geoff Carline his current band member, one with Mike Chapman and the rest on his own. The tracks are hallmarks of a true singer-songwriter with timeless melodies and memorable harmonies that soar. Recorded and produced in Chris's own studio. Chris says, “the title reflects the fact that I am at a new junction in my career and it has been 55 years since I turned pro.”

Limited CD and Blu-ray edition. 2021 release of Jean-Michel Jarre's ground-breaking New Year's Eve live performance Welcome To The Otherside which combined life-like concert visuals in VR with a real live studio performance, introduced a mixed-media approach which was the first of it's kind. The performance includes tracks from his recent Grammy-nominated opus Electronica, as well as new reworked versions of his classics, Oxygène and Equinoxe.

Surrounded by Time is Tom Jones' 42nd album, his first since the passing of wife Linda in 2016. Since 1965, the Welsh vocalist, possessed of a singular booming baritone, has sung almost every form of popular music of all stripes. This is Jones' fourth album with producer Ethan Johns, and includes his manager/son Mark Woodward as co-producer. Surrounded by Time differs from Jones' previous outings with Johns, which were rooted in Americana sources. The set opens with a sparsely orchestrated reinvention of Bernice Johnson Reagon's activist classic "I Won't Crumble with You If You Fall." Jones performs the lyric like a gospel preacher atop Neil Cowley's and Johns' layered Moogs, Nick Pini's arco bass, and Dan See's mallets.

Following the end of the Stormwatch tour in early 1980, Jethro Tull would undergo its largest line-up shuffle to date, resulting in Barriemore Barlow, John Evan and Dee Palmer all leaving the band. Jethro Tull was left with Anderson (the only original member), Martin Barre and Dave Pegg.

An Elton John collaborations album made during lockdown featuring a collection of 16 songs, with some of the biggest, most exciting artists in the world today. The lead single 'Cold Heart' featuring Dua Lipa is a mashup of 'Sacrifice' & 'Rocketman', and the album features artists such Brandi Carlile, Charlie Puth, Dua Lipa, Eddie Vedder, Gorillaz, Lil Nas X, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Rina Sawayama, SG Lewis, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, Surfaces, Years & Years, Young Thug, and more.

Armchair Theatre is the first solo album by Jeff Lynne, released in 1990. The album reunited Lynne with Electric Light Orchestra's keyboard player Richard Tandy and featured fellow Traveling Wilburys member George Harrison.

It was Joe Strummer's good fortune that he was the frontman of one of the greatest rock bands of all time, the Clash. It was his burden that after the group broke up, he had to spend the rest of his career being judged by a standard that meant only so much to him. Very little of what Strummer did as solo artist followed the musical template of the Clash, and that was just the way he wanted it. His albums had as much to do with folk as rock in their focus on storytelling and character studies, as well as his willingness to incorporate acoustic guitars and fiddles in their arrangements to give them a sound and personality distinct from what he'd done in the past.

A collection of previously unreleased songs from Gary Moore's substantial body of outstanding work in his back catalogue. The album contains 4 originals, and 4 songs previously recorded and made famous by classic bluesmen like Elmore James, Sonny Thompson, Memphis Slim and BB King. It's our hope that current and future generations of music fans discover and re-discover Gary Moore, revelling in the artistry of not just a great guitarist, but a supremely talented musician. Back to the future with Gary Moore.

Rod Stewart didn’t devote his new millennium solely to the Great American Songbook – he dallied with classic rock and soul – but it sure felt that way, with Rod delivering five collections of standards in just under a decade. Released in 2011, only a matter of months after the fifth installment, Fly Me to the Moon, hit the stores, The Best of… The Great American Songbook rounds up highlights from those five records, and since they’re all cut from the same cloth – albeit finished with varying degrees of tailoring – it’s hard to tell the source of each without a cheat sheet; without it, it’d be hard to realize “You’ll Never Know” never had seen release prior to this compilation. Naturally, this consistency means that this best-of holds together well – arguably better than a few of the actual records – because it does have the cream of the crop of records that often bleed together.