The Steve Miller Band, Sailor ****

Steve Miller is best remembered these days for snappily memorable mid 1970s hits such as The Joker, Fly Like An Eagle and Take the Money and Run, but the Milwaukee born musician had already made a name for himself on the other side of the Atlantic a few years earlier with the distinctive fusion of psychdelia and the blues which dominates fine albums such as Sailor.

The contents were recorded at Wally Heider's Studio in Los Angeles in the heady summer of 1968, running the gamut from the adventurous atmospherics of Song For Our Ancestors to the infectious rock of Living in the USA, and Miller also acknowledges his musical roots with an excellent rendition of Jimmy Reed's You're So Fine.

Out now (Edsel EDSA 5004 : £7.99)

Kate Rusby, 20 ****

The Barnsley nightingale makes her long overdue major label debut with an impressive offering celebrating the highlights of her illustrious career to date.

The two CD set finds Kate tackling a batch of her favourite songs in tandem with some of the leading lights of the folk fraternity, including Dick Gaughan, Richard Thompson and Paul Brady, as well as unveiling a splendid new song, Sun Grazers, which she performs in a duet with Paul Weller.

Long term Rusby devotees should find these wistful re-workings of the cream of her back catalogue utterly enchanting, and the great Nic Jones also makes a heart-warming vocal contribution on one of the stand-out tracks, The Lark.

Released on October 22nd (Island Records : £9.00)

Stackridge, Radio Sessions 1971-1973 ****

The eccentric Bristolians were operating at the peak of their creative powers when the BBC captured these performances for posterity in the early 1970s, delighting their radio audiences with some classic examples of their distinctive melodic whimsy, including a 15 minute version of the epic Slark.

As an added bonus for Stackridge completists the CD also features a jaunty version of The Lyder Loo, a hitherto unreleased number which had originally been slated for inclusion on the band's Man In A Bowler Hat album.

Released on October 22nd (Angel Air SJPCD 403 : £11.57)

Mumford & Sons, Babel ***

The eagerly awaited follow-up to 2009's Sigh No More occupies much the same musical territory as its multi-million selling predecessor, although the overall mood of the set is a little darker and less instantly infectious this time around.

Many of these songs have formed an integral part of the Mumfords' live show for the past year or so, which means that devotees of the band's work will already be familiar with the rustic charms of tracks such as Lover's Eyes,  Lover of the Light and the banjo dominated Whispers in the Dark, although I doubt whether the mildly uninvolving contents of Babel will win over too many new converts to their cause.

Out now (Island 3712787 : £8.99)

Claudio Abbado, Verdi : 6 Great Operas ****

Conductor Abbado's highly regarded Verdi recordings with the Orchestra of La Scala,Milan have achieved iconic status over the years, and these exemplary offerings have now been brought together to form the bulk of this weighty 14 CD set.

Top notch operatic vocalists such as Placido Domingo, Mirella Freni and Jose Carreras all play their part in the success of a memorably tuneful package which also features Abbado's impressively precise performance of the composer's comedy Falstaff with Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Out now (D.G.479 0379 : £46.32)