One of the more introspective and spiritual albums of Who leader Pete Townshend's solo career came at a time when the Who's rock & roll was shaking the earth. "Who Came First" is centered on Townshend's quest for spiritual enlightenment, in this case through the teachings of the famed guru Meher Baba. Those accustomed to the Who's ear-shattering loudness and guitar-smashing violence will no doubt be just as disarmed at the relative peace found in the acoustic-based musings.

This alliance of marquee names proves to be a resounding success, thanks partly to the robust personalities of Barenboim and Dudamel, and partly to the choice of material, showcasing the early and late Brahms.

Nonesuch Records and Tzadik simultaneously release guitarist Pat Metheny's recording of "John Zorn s Tap: The Book of Angels, Vol. 20" from Zorn's Masada Book Two. This album is the first collaboration between the two artists, considered among their generation s most innovative musicians. Besides his frequent collaborator, drummer Antonio Sanchez, Metheny plays all other instruments guitars, sitar, tiples, bass, keyboards, orchestrionics, electronics, bandoneón, percussion, flugelhorn, and more himself.

The Rome Symphony Orchestra will make history at their next concert. For the first time in its 100-year run as the “oldest symphony in the South”, the orchestra will make a commercially available recording of a live performance. Music for a New Year: Bach, Berlioz and Beethoven.

A Limited Edition, Original Jackets collection showcasing the artistry of the magnificent American soprano, Kathleen Battle. Kathleen Battle enraptured opera audiences of the 1980s and 1990s. Here was a lyric soprano combining unsurpassable beauty of tone with a keen musical intelligence, a way with words and a communicative warmth that drew listeners to Strauss and spirituals alike. She has the easy phrasing of a great jazz singer combined with the breath, breadth and precise projection of a trained voice.

Elvis Aaron Presley[a] (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), often referred to mononymously as Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Known as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, led him to both great success and initial controversy.

Bill Quateman (born November 4, 1947, Chicago, Illinois) is an American singer-songwriter. Quateman released four albums in the 1970s and charted with the single "Only Love", which reached No. 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973.

Friedrich Gulda (* May 16, 1930 in Vienna; † January 27, 2000 in Weißenbach am Attersee) was an Austrian pianist and composer.

A staple of the Des Moines music scene across genres, Tommy Doggett has added his saxophone to folk, funk, jazz, + rock. With his new project, Lines + Lineage, Tommy steps up front as a bandleader + composer.

When four wind soloists such as the world-famous trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich, his colleagues Hannes Läubin (trumpet), Brandt Attema (trombone) and his son David Friedrich (trombone) meet with the Essen Cathedral organist Sebastian Küchler–Blessing - then "brass & organ" is suddenly able to cheer and touch: JUBILISSIMO!

This release is “a fresh new version of Tomorrow’s legendary debut re-imagined by (drum roll!!) Steve Howe.

Carl Loewe fashioned his 1841 oratorio about the Bohemian theologian Jan (or Johann) Hus (or Huss) as a kind of ‘opera without a scene’. A good 100 years before the rise to prominence of religious reformer Martin Luther, Hus had taken a hard stance on the official church and was burned at the stake on 6 July 1415 in Constance, following his condemnation by the council. Based on a libretto by August Zeune, Carl Loewe’s Jan Hus premiered on 16 December 1841 in a performance by the Berliner Singakademie. This rarely performed work, surely deserving of more attention, is now finally available with this world premiere recording by the Arcis Vocalisten and the Baroque Orchestra L’arpa festante conducted by Thomas Gropper.

The vocalist, saxophonist, composer and arranger Bobby Boyd, arrived in New York at a young age after completing his schooling in Augusta, GA. His musical adventures began in the mid-60s with the release of his debut single “My Type Of Dancin’” on Veep Records in 1965, a fledgling R&B subsidiary label of United Artists. Encouraged by their positive impact on his career, he went on to release his second single “Whatcha ‘Gonna Do About It” on Bang Records in 1968.

Mike Nock is an icon of the Australian and international jazz scenes. In a career spanning more than 65 years, including 25 years in the US, he has worked with the world’s top jazz artists and garnered a swag of awards, including being inducted into the Australian Jazz Hall of Fame. His discography of more than 35 albums, recorded with his Trio, Quartet, Big Small Band and many other collaborators, includes ARIA, AIR and Jazz Bell awards, but this is his first solo album since the chart-topping ‘Touch’, released 30 years ago almost to the day, in 1993. Its 13 tracks reveal the many colours and moods that can be conjured from keys of a piano, and prove again Mike Nock’s incomparable genius as both composer and performer.

Fiirst Word Records is very proud to welcome the return of the inimitable Kaidi Tatham, with his 5th album for us, entitled 'The Only Way'.