Anguished-sounding Tennessee singer/keyboards player Whitlock followed Eric Clapton from Delaney & Bonnie into Derek and the Dominos.

From tango to soukous, from flamenco to fado, this spirited Algerian singer-songwriter embraces it all.

Gosden filly can spring surprise against Derby winner Camelot and his Curragh conqueror

I can't help feeling a little let down by this follow-up to 2009's Walking on a Dream, which seems to compress that album's imagination and stylistic variety through a small valve set midway between Daft Punk and The Scissor Sisters.

It's not hard to understand why Nino Machaidze has become something of an overnight sensation since her 2008 breakthrough in Roméo et Juliette at Salzburg. In this selection, the Georgian coloratura soprano combines phrasing of nuanced subtlety with top notes of stunning power, ranging from the lilting, seductive “Quando men vo” from La Bohème to the impassioned gusto of her dramatic Violetta in an extended scene from La Traviata climaxing with a joyous “Sempre libera”.

Sir Elton John has spoken of his excitement at playing on a rock record for the first time - as his collaboration with Queens Of The Stone Age hurtles to the top of the charts.

And the voice which, if you're of a certain vintage, was pop returns.

A keenly autobiographical Rod writes his first songs in 20 years – and nobody gets kicked in the head.

She – Zooey Deschanel, "adorkable" actress-cum-singer – and Him – singer-songwriter M Ward, here largely in guitarist/producer mode – return with a third volume of retro pop.

An ordinary superwoman who broke the mould

Following the burden of hype placed upon the electro-pop singer’s debut, she’s gone low-key for this follow-up, self-releasing and adopting a clubbier, more crepuscular sound.

Early woodwind virtuoso François Lazarevitch, Les Musiciens and the earthy-toned singers Simone Sorini, Enea Sorini and Marc Busnel take us back to the time when street parties lasted a week or more.

Eurovision entrant Bonnie Tyler has been given the blessing of last year's contestant Engelbert Humperdinck - with a puzzling message in which he refers to the competition as the "pyramid of paradise".

The folk songs collated in the 19th century by Sir Francis James Child are the taproot of transcontinental folk culture: a treasure-house of tales for performers from Martin Carthy to Bob Dylan, and a more recent influence on nu-folkies like The Decemberists.