Marvin Gaye Graced with an extraordinary voice, complex personality, musical genius, and a backstory worthy of a Hollywood movie, Marvin Gaye wasn't your average soul singer. Born in Washington on the 2nd of April in 1939, the now legendary singer began his career singing at church at the age of four, accompanied by his father on piano. Marvin's mother was a supportive figure who encouraged her son to pursue music, and once he got to high school, he joined various doo-wop groups. By contrast, Marvin's father was a violent man who would regularly beat his son, and this pushed Marvin to join the U.S air force once he had completed his schooling. He quickly became disillusioned with the forces however, and faked madness in order to be discharged.

The mere mention of Vera Lynn's name evokes images of London skies filled with a barrage of balloons, and Britons riding out the German Blitz in shelters and underground stations. England's sweetheart during the trying times of World War II, Lynn was still in her twenties when she took on that role. She was born Vera Margaret Welch in London's East Ham, to Bertram and Annie Welch, one year before the close of the First World War. She began singing as a girl of seven, and also studied dance. She later took her maternal grandmother's maiden name as her stage name, and her natural, unaffected vocal style and charm brought Lynn early success on the radio. At age 18, she was singing with Joe Loss' orchestra, and she'd also begun recording for the Crown label. By the end of the '30s, after stints working for Charlie Kunz's and Bert Ambrose's bands, Lynn got her own radio series. This event coincided with the end of what was known as the "Phony War," that period in which men were being conscripted and sent overseas, re-armament rushed, and nightly blackouts imposed, but no shots were fired or bombs dropped.

One of the great bands of the rock & roll era, the Kinks pioneered hard rock with such wild early ravers as "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night," singles that inspired such peers as the Who and David Bowie while also pointing the way forward for punk and metal. That turned out to be the first act in a career that ran into the 1990s, making them the only British Invasion band outside of the Rolling Stones to last that long. Where the Stones always occupied center stage, the Kinks operated on the margins, both by accident and design. Lead singer/songwriter Ray Davies fashioned himself as an observer of human behavior, developing a gift for character and commentary that flourished on such mid-'60s singles as "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" and "Sunny Afternoon."

Now Music is very proud to announce NOW Presents…12" 80s: Part One - 1980-1982, as a stunning 5-LP box-set. A limited edition and numbered set with each of the 5-LPs pressed in a different transparent colour vinyl - red, yellow, green, blue and purple, to be released on December 6th 2024. In 2023 we began our 80s 12” series on cd – a year by year journey through the decade with each release presenting a fantastic selection of 12” Versions from that year…and we are now very excited to present 44 12”,

"Six dozen is half a gross. And Georg Philipp Telemann composed that many cantatas for the Frankfurt Church Year of 1714/15. cpo, Felix Koch, the Gutenberg Soloists and the Neumeyer Consort have taken up the cause to record this so-called ""French church year"" in its entirety – a mighty project that is all the more impressive given that the creative spirit behind these scores never worked en gros. Although he usually limited his instrumentation to two oboes, strings and basso continuo, adding a flute, bassoon, horns, trumpets and timpani for special Sundays or festive occasions, the composer's talent for orchestration was evidently boundless. He finds the appropriate sounds for his musical ""sermon"" on every theological topic. Every subject determined by the church calendar is reflected in his own individual way with a range of expression from the contemplative to the theatrical – and we are only one-third of the way through this fascinating journey."

Def Leppard are one of the most successful hard rock bands to ever wield six strings; their blend of glam rock, hair metal, and big pop ballads led to massive wave of success in the '80s that the band has continued to ride over the ensuing decades. Emerging in the late '70s as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they gained a following outside of that scene by toning down their heavy riffs and emphasizing melody. After a couple of strong albums, they found crossover success with 1983's Pyromania, and skillfully used the fledgling MTV network to their advantage. They reached the pinnacle of their career with 1987's blockbuster Hysteria, then had another big hit, 1992's Adrenalize, that defied the mainstream turn toward grunge. After that, the band settled into a pattern of touring exhaustively and releasing an album every few years, maintaining a steady audience and occasionally surprising fans with a new album, like 2008's Yeah! or 2022's Diamond Star Halos, that harked back to the sound of their glory days. Def Leppard originated in a Sheffield-based group that teenagers Rick Savage (bass) and Pete Willis (guitar) formed in 1977. Vocalist Joe Elliott, a fanatical follower of Mott the Hoople and T. Rex, joined the band several months later, bringing the name Deaf Leopard with him.

Best show of the tour so far. Band is definitely getting tighter and Jack is getting more and more enthused. Jack singing an Alison Dead Weather song is a first and lets hope it continues. Great vocals all round tonight.

'Four disc (three CDs + NTSC/Region 0 DVD) pressing. A Very British Synthesizer Group is a sound and vision anthology of multi-million-selling synth pioneers The Human League. Bringing together all of the hits as well as previously unreleased demos and edits it covers the entire history of the band from their emergence as futuristic outriders of a new post-punk sound, through the phenomenon of Dare and '80s chart dominance, their incredible '90s renaissance and ascendance to their current position as one of the most glorious and glamorous live acts in the country. Of the hit singles on CDs One and Two, seven appear as previously unreleased DJ edits, while Disc Three is comprised entirely of 17 exclusive and previously unreleased mixes. The DVD contains 21 promo videos from this most visual of bands, plus 24 BBC performances, many previously unreleased, from Top Of The Pops, Wogan and Later With Jools. The box set also comes with a 58-page hardback book featuring a new essay from Bowie/Kraftwerk biographer David Buckley, memorabilia and rare photos. The art direction and sleeve illustrations come from renowned Sheffield artist Pete McKee.

Em meio a uma legião de bandas grunge e alternativas que surgiram na década de 90, o Pearl Jam se destacou e se consolidou como a maior banda estadunidense da época e do movimento. A banda foi formada em 1990, quando o rock era dominado pela ironia e, por isso, se destacou com a sinceridade e com o carisma do líder Eddie Vedder. O primeiro disco, Ten, de 1991, se tornou um clássico do grunge, com canções como Jeremy, Black e Alive. Ao longo da década de 90, vieram outros cinco álbuns, ajudando a popularizar a banda em meios que não estavam habituados ao rock alternativo. Os shows explosivos que seguem perfeitamente a receita do rock de arena também colaboraram para a manutenção do status e a banda segue ativa até hoje, com mais cinco discos de inéditas lançados neste século, o último deles Gigaton, de 2020.

Journey Não pare de acreditar! Uma das bandas de maior sucesso no início dos anos 1980, o Journey voltou às paradas em 2009 graças à inclusão da música “Don’t Stop Believin” na série Glee. Criado em San Francisco em 1973, o grupo conquistou um contrato com a gravadora Columbia no ano seguinte. Em 1975 foi lançado o primeiro álbum de estúdio, autointitulado, com uma sonoridade que mesclava o jazz e o rock progressivo. No fim dos anos 1970, a banda mudou seu som e incluiu elementos de pop e hard rock, o que fez com que seu quarto disco, Infinity, vendesse mais e chegasse ao 20º lugar da Billboard 200. Em 1981, o Journey lançou seu álbum mais popular, Escape, com os hits “Who’s Crying Now” e “Open Arms”. Entre diversas mudanças de formação, a banda lançou 16 álbuns, sendo Freedom, de 2022, o mais recente.

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen once said he intended to make an album with words like Bob Dylan that sounded like Phil Spector with vocals like Roy Orbison's, a nifty summary of many, but not all, of his artistic ambitions and a key to his appeal. Unlike any other singer/songwriters saddled with the appellation of "the new Dylan" in the early '70s, Springsteen never hid how he was raised on '60s AM radio. He loved rock & roll, whether it was the initial blast from the '50s or the mini-symphonies from the days before the Beatles or the garage rockers that surfaced in the wake of the British Invasion, and all this could be heard within his wild, wooly collective E Street Band, a group who debuted on his second album, 1973's The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, and who would support him throughout most of his career.

God in Three Persons is a rock opera/concept album by The Residents, released in 1988. It was about a man 'Mr. X' and two conjoined twins. The songs are all sung in a rhythmic spoken word fashion, similar to talking blues. A companion soundtrack album, featuring most of the instrumental backing tracks, was also released. A central motif of the album is the organ riff from "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)" by 1960's frat rock band The Swingin' Medallions.

Cage et Dowland: les deux John, à quatre cents ans de distance, se répondent par un goût commun pour une expression sobre, des formes concises, une réalisation intime - pour le plaisir aussi que procurent les mots en tant que tels. Chacun cultive ce désir à sa manière: Cage entreprend, en funambule, de s’approcher de l’essence de la pensée musicale avec humour, légèreté et profondeur; Dowland vise l’expression des sentiments à l’état pur.
Cultivant comme toujours un anachronisme fécond, Thélème rassemble dans ‘all we get is life’ l’intégralité des pièces pour deux voix et luth de Dowland et plusieurs compositions de Cage. Enfin, Sting, artiste à la renommée internationale, offre une réécriture de son tube ‘Shape of my Heart’, qui devient ici une sorte de ‘lute song’ du XXIe siècle, bouclant ainsi la boucle dans un album où Renaissance et présent se croisent, entrent en dialogue, se mêlent et se confondent pour transcender les frontières des esthétiques et des genres.

The repertory for viol consort of the Stuart age in England consists of fantasias and miscellaneous pieces whose dense, continuous polyphony conveys a sonic and social ideal of concord and harmony. It also expresses the confusion of a period of disorder and anxiety (‘distracted tymes’) traversed by political, religious and philosophical upheavals that heralded the end of an era. This programme offers resonances for our own times, with their transformations and uncertainties.

On the eve of a vigorous eightieth birthday, the most French of American musicians has chosen the Musée de la musique to assemble a host of young artists who are dear to him: William Christie has watched over their budding skills, and they have already become masters! This programme celebrates the composers he has so passionately championed and, in some cases, brought back to life. Happy Birthday, Bill!