One of the great new wave/early MTV records, She's So Unusual is a giddy mix of self-confidence, effervescent popcraft, unabashed sentimentality, subversiveness, and clever humor. In short, it's a multifaceted portrait of a multifaceted talent, an artist that's far more clever than her thin, deliberately girly voice would indicate. Then again, Lauper's voice suits her musical persona, since its chirpiness adds depth, or reconfigures the songs, whether it's the call to arms of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" or the tearjerking "Time After Time." Lauper is at her very best on the first side, all of which were singles or received airplay, and this collection of songs – "Money Changes Everything," "Girls," "When You Were Mine," "Time," "She Bop," "All Through the Night" – is astonishing in its consistency, so strong that it makes the remaining tracks – all enjoyable, but rather pedestrian – charming by their association with songs so brilliantly alive.

Although he has played trumpet, trombone, clarinet, tenor and piano, it is as an alto saxophonist that Benny Carter has achieved his enviable reputation as an instrumentalist. The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner has acted as an inspiration to generations of young musicians, all of whom have been fascinated by the seemingly effortless way in which that flawless tone was produced. The broad, sweeping phrases of his improvisations have the structural stability of compositions in their own right. This 1980 session, recorded for the Danish Storyville label, finds Carter backed by a fine quintet including pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Jesper Lundgard, drummer Ed Thigpen and Richard Boone, who sings on "All That Jazz".

Zoot Sims was known to jazz fans around the world as one of the original "Four Brothers" in the Woody Herman band. He has became known, albeit indirectly, to another generation as the namesake of "The Muppets" cooler-than-cool sax player Zoot with the long blue hair, fedora and the shades. This album concentrates on energetic standards from the swing era arranged for a quartet and features some early impressive piano work from Dave McKenna.

"Misfits" is the English rock band The Kink's sixteenth studio album. The record is part of the group's second coming during the late 1970's and early 1980's, taking a turn for the better after the group's earlier, less successful concept albums. The 1978 album features US top 40 hit "A Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy".

"Give the People What They Want" is the eighteenth studio album by the English rock group, The Kinks. It was released in August 1981 in the US, but was delayed until January 1982 in Europe. It was delayed because Ray Davies wanted to produce a full length video for the album, but financing fell through. Also scrapped were plans to remix the album for the European market. The album was initially aimed to be a statement on the media.

"State of Confusion" is The Kinks nineteenth studio album originally released in 1983. The record was well received, peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Album Charts. State of Confusion featured popular singles "Come Dancing" which make it to number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "Don't Forget to Dance" and the title track.

Anticipation is singer-songwriter Carly Simon's second studio album, released in 1971. It is best known for its title track, "Anticipation", which was a top-twenty chart hit in the U.S.; it was later used as the soundtrack for several television commercials for Heinz ketchup starting in 1973. The song relates Simon's state of mind as she waits to go on a date with Cat Stevens. The album cover artwork is a photo of Simon taken at the gates of Queen Mary's Garden in London's Regent's Park.

Carly Simon is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Carly Simon, released in February 1971. The album was produced by Eddie Kramer, who had previously worked with Joe Cocker and Jimi Hendrix. The album included Simon's first Top 10 hit, "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be", a somber ballad centered on a woman pondering marriage with a sense of both inevitability and entrapment; the song was written by Simon and collaborator Jacob Brackman. The album features material written by Simon, with additional writing by Brackman, Kramer, and Freddy Gardner. The album also features covers of songs by Mark Klingman and Buzzy Linhart.

Live-Evil is an album of both live and studio recordings by American jazz musician Miles Davis. Parts of the album featured music from Davis' concert at the Cellar Door in 1970, which producer Teo Macero subsequently edited and pieced together in the studio. They were performed as lengthy, dense jams in the jazz-rock style, while the studio recordings were renditions of Hermeto Pascoal compositions. The album was originally released on November 17, 1971.

Sarah Vaughan recorded in a variety of settings while with Mercury and EmArcy in the 1950s, but this particular matchup with the Count Basie Orchestra (pianist Ronnell Bright substitutes for Count, thus the title) is pure jazz.

After their highly acclaimed 2014 debut album as a duo, Moderato cantabile, Anja Lechner and François Couturier widen the scope of music even further.

Formed in a Toronto high school in 1966 by vocalist Buzz Sherman, guitarist Gord Waszek, bassists Joe Agnello and Don Elliot, drummer Wally Cameron and keyboard player Newton Gerard, Leigh Ashford played for a year before they joined the Spirit to become the Spirit Revue.

setting! The piano here is all acoustic, but there's an almost-electric vibe to the date – long, open tracks that sway and swell with some great spiritual energy – made even more wonderful by work from reedman Harold Vick, who plays tenor, flute, and soprano sax on the record – and makes it one of his best recordings ever!

UK - the last of the great British progressive-rock bands of the '70s. Recorded midway through their hugely successful 1979 world tour, Eddie Jobson, John Wetton and Terry Bozzio's now-legendary concerts in Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo cemented the band's success in Japan and led to one of the classic live albums of the genre.

Fearless is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.