The Decemberists' The Hazards Of Love, is the follow-up to the group's 2006 breakthrough, The Crane Wife, which NPR listeners voted their favorite album of the year. With their fifth full-length album, the Portland-based quintet of Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query and John Moen solidifies its standing as one of the most innovative creative forces in music today.

In an age when singles rule and the death of the album has been pronounced by many, The Decemberists have fashioned an anomaly: a record that demands to be listened to from start to finish and reveals more with each subsequent play. The 17-song suite, recorded with the band's longtime producer, Tucker Martine, is rooted in ancient language and imagery, yet entirely modern and accessible.

The album began when Meloy - long fascinated by the British folk revival of the 1960s - found a copy of revered vocalist Anne Briggs's 1966 EP, titled The Hazards of Love. Since there was actually no song with the album's title, he set out to write one. Soon he was immersed in something much larger than just a new composition.

The Hazards Of Love tells the tale of a woman named Margaret who is ravaged by a shape-shifting animal; her lover, William; a forest queen; and a cold-blooded, lascivious rake, who recounts with spine-tingling ease how he came "to be living so easy and free." Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark and My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden deliver the lead vocals for the female characters, while My Morning Jacket's Jim James, Robyn Hitchcock and the Spinanes' Rebecca Gates appear in supporting roles. The range of sounds reflects the characters' arcs, from the accordion's singsong lilt in "Isn't it a Lovely Night?" to the heavy metal thunder of "The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing."

How do you follow a debut record that achieved out-of-the-blue grandeur on its way to selling a quarter of a million copies? For Maine’s Ray LaMontagne, it’s all about shaking up the formula, evading repetition and delivering the unexpected. Till the Sun Turns Black finds the introspective singer/songwriter complementing his folk-country ways with traces of strings and horns and spooky soulful background voices. Songs like "You Can Bring Me Flowers" and "Three More Days" are the most R&B-influenced, the latter shuffling about ala The Band or Tony Joe White. Despite its brooding lyrics, "Empty" has a rollicking, almost breezy delivery, a perfect balance to either the hushed title track, the unnerving "Be Here Now" or the horn-fortified waltz, "Gone Away From Me." Throughout the 11-song sequence, and especially on the final song "Within You," LaMontagne’s voice remains the record’s most crucial element, as vibrant as it is tattered and as harsh as it is flawless. --Scott Holter

Heavy, arty, glam - the debut album from Queen burst from the womb in 1973 and established them with their first two hits Keep Yourself Alive and Liar . This edition reproduces the rare U.S. original vinyl release, including the gold leaf logo. A platinum smash in its original and CD releases, now restored to glorious analog 180 gram jet-black vinyl lp Yes it's Phase II of Queen on Vinyl Collector's Edition re-issue program - every Queen studio album is to be released on vinyl lps over the next two years. The original albums are being re-issued correct in every detail to the original releases, including inner sleeves, packaging and bonuses.

One of the great rock soundtracks, Flash Gordon came about when famed movie producer Dino de Laurentis approached the band to create a soundtrack during the recording of The Game. With the ambition to do it and a sonic palette which lent itself to film, Queen promptly began working on both albums simultaneously. This edition reproduces the U.S. original vinyl release, and includes the hit (and often sampled) Flash'sTheme.A platinum smash in its original and CD releases, now restored to glorious analog 180 gram jet-black vinyl lp.Yes it's Phase II of Queen on Vinyl Collector's Edition re-issue program - every Queen studio album is to be released on vinyl lps over the next two years. The original albums are being re-issued correct in every detail to the original releases, including inner sleeves, packaging and bonuses.