It was just 2 years prior to this release that the Mac Band basked in the success of their number one single "Roses Are Red," produced by Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. However, this project fell short of its predecessor. The majority of this collection was produced by the seasoned veteran Gary Taylor, and it consists mostly of midtempo rhythms featuring the Billboard R&B Top 30 single "Someone to Love," and the Top 60 single "Love U 2 the Limit." Both numbers feature Derrick McCampbell's lead vocals. The former is a moderately paced single with a looping chorus hook and a made-for-the-dancefloor rhythm which peaked at #27 after 12 weeks, while the latter is a simmering, mellower cut in which McCampbell's tenor amplifies with fervor. Peaking at #52 after 12 weeks on the charts, this does not reflect the single's credibility. The remaining tracks are consistent with the project's two releases.

Eva Cassidy, whose pure, powerful voice caused a collective spontaneous reaction around the world that she did not live to witness, continues to touch her millions of fans, more than fifteen years after her death on Nov. 2, 1996 from melanoma at the age of 33.

This 18-track compilation contains Temptations B-sides, non-hit cuts and obscure sides recorded from 1963-1974. It includes such sumptuous ballads as "What Love Has Joined Together" and "Gonna Keep On Trying Till I Win Your Love," plus uptempo wailers and an occasional dud ("Stop The War Now"). The early tracks show the group evolving from its doo-wop roots into soul's premier group. While the cuts on this disc aren't the ones that made The Temptations popular music institutions, they're still a vital part of their legacy.

Like many of Ornette Coleman's Atlantic sides, The Art of the Improvisers was recorded in numerous sessions from 1959-1961 and assembled for the purpose of creating a cohesive recorded statement. Its opening track, "The Circle with the Hole in the Middle," from 1959, with the classic quartet of Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell, and Charlie Haden, is one of Coleman's recognizable pieces of music. Essentially, the band is that quartet with two very notable exceptions: The last tracks on each side feature a different bass player. On the end of side one, the great Scott LaFaro weighs in on "The Alchemy of Scott La Faro," and Jimmy Garrison weighs in on "Harlem's Manhattan" to close the album out. These last two sessions were recorded early in 1961, in January and March respectively. As an album, The Art of the Improvisers is usually undervalued when placed next to This Is Our Music or The Shape of Jazz to Come.

Released in 1970 during the stopgap between Stand! and There's a Riot Goin' On, Greatest Hits inadvertently arrived at precisely the right moment, summarizing Sly & the Family Stone's joyous hit-making run on the pop and R&B charts. Technically, only four songs here reached the Top Ten, with only two others hitting the Top 40, but judging this solely on charts is misleading, since this is simply a peerless singles collection.

Schubert knew madness. He knew it to the depths of his soul and feared it. And out of his fear he wrote the greatest monument to love lost, to death lost, to madness found. He wrote Die Winterreise, the most hopeless art work ever conceived by the despairing mind of man. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is the voice of Winterreise. In small part, this is because he recorded it seven times between 1952 and 1990. In larger part, this is because he is able to transform himself into the despairing lover. Yet Fischer-Dieskau is still the most lucid and most technically controlled of madmen. As Ingmar Bergman remarked on actor Max von Sydow, "If I'd had a psychopath to present these deeply psychopathic roles, it would have been unbearable". At 55, Fischer-Dieskau returned to Winterreise in 1980, no longer the sad swain or the suicidal lover, but as a man bowed with age and burdened with an interpretive past. His voice far past freshness, Fischer-Dieskau still has something to say concerning Winterreise, indeed, about man's fate. Accompanied by the self-effacing Daniel Barenboim, Fischer-Dieskau sings of the meaninglessness of love of the pointlessness of life.

For someone born in Hunslet Michael Chapman certainly has a solid knowledge of the music of the deep South of the United States. The esteemed guitarist made two albums of superbly crafted fingerpicking folk and alt country in the early 2000s and here picks his favourite tracks for a single album vinyl release. Chapman has written music in many styles but it could be argued that this is his most affecting.

After an acclaimed first installment, Inon Barnatan, Alan Gilbert and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields complete their Beethoven piano concertos diptych. This recording project bears the fruit of longstanding and profound musical friendships, and – surprisingly – offers the first integral recording of Beethoven piano concertos by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, one of the most-recorded ensembles in the world of classical music. While the 2nd Piano Concerto is fairly Mozartian in spirit, the famous 5th “Emperor” Concerto reveals Beethoven’s full maturation, and is one of the most popular piano concertos to this very day. These pieces are complemented by two rarities: Beethoven’s arrangement for piano and orchestra of his Violin Concerto, as well as his Choral Fantasy, a small-scale forerunner of his epic “Choral” Ninth Symphony. Inon Barnatan is one of the most admired pianists of his generation (New York Times). The Academy of St Martin in the Fields has built a consistent repertoire with the label throughout the years. Alan Gilbert made his PENTATONE debut with Beethoven Piano Concertos Part 1 in 2019.

This project had its genesis back in 1983 with a Benson promise to Count Basie that he would record an album in his style, a promise partially fulfilled the following year with 20/20's "Beyond the Sea." Focusing on standards that steer commendably clear from tunes normally associated with Basie, Benson takes on the dual challenge of big-band singer and lead guitarist and succeeds with authority in both roles. The robust playing of the Basie band under Frank Foster poses absolutely no problems for Benson's muscular guitar, for he punches out the notes and octaves in irresistibly swinging fashion (for prime mature Benson, check out "Basie's Bag"). As a vocalist, he sounds solid and debonair, blending well with Basie vocalist Carmen Bradford on "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" There are two deviations from the format, though.

Collection of live tracks, possibly from various TV broadcasts. Very good soundboard? This collection is the bomb, simply put. It was lovingly prepared by the same kind soulsters at Big Fro who were responsible for the Curtis Mayfield 1972 Rarities collection, and the Otis Redding Soupcon of Soul collection… It’s a fascinating document of the group at the height of their powers, and every performance is a gem. The sound quality is varied, but predominantly very good. For the perfectionists, be warned, these recordings do have some limitations, and the occasional minor analog artifact.

"A primal force of something… real. I have listened back and forth to the new album of Anna Högberg's “Attack” numerous times now and it hit me like a split axe in a split second: this music is for real! Wham Bam! This is liberating music. Allowing music. It hits me just as the split axe hits the wood. Without hesitation, but still very sensitive. Pure power does not cut the wood automatically. No fancy flirts with post-this and post-that. Just the force. Of itself. This music is definitely connected to something. Nature? Life? The nooooooow!

Duo recording between George Haslam (clarinet and tarogato) and Portuguese drummer Mario Rua. George explains how the recording came about: "It was like that scene from The Benny Goodman Story where Goodman calls at a café and the proprietor happens to be Lionel Hampton - a bit far fetched but here I was in the Taberna do Vilarinho , Lisbon. I had no idea the chef was a brilliant drummer - Mario Rua. Manager Diogo Teixeira Lopes and mutual friend Miguel Martins introduced us and arranged the recording session before a live audience in the taberna. Maresia is a Portuguese sea breeze; the track titles are names of coastal locations in Portugal and (Fleetwood) in England."

The musicians of the Bureau of Atomic Tourism – aka BOAT – were assembled by Belgian drummer Teun Verbruggen for Antwerp's Follow the Sound Festival in November 2011. Several days after the festival gig, BOAT recorded their 2013 debut album, Second Law of Thermodynamics, at a club show in Tilburg, the Netherlands, and by then they were truly firing on all cylinders. Verbruggen (Flat Earth Society, Jef Neve Trio, Too Noisy Fish) certainly surrounded himself with a top international lineup: bassist Trevor Dunn, reedman Andrew D'Angelo, and trumpeter Nate Wooley from the Brooklyn avant scene in the U.S.; and guitarist Marc Ducret and (Belgian-born) keyboardist Jozef Dumoulin from France.

In September 2013 Katatonia returned with Dethroned & Uncrowned released through Pledge Music and in partnership with Kscope, Peaceville’s sister label. Dethroned & Uncrowned, a reworking of 2012’s Dead End Kings, allowed the band to explore a more progressive sound, creating new moods and textures while still staying truthful to the core of the songs.

With “Il trionfo della morte” by Bonaventuro Aliotti from 1677, the French ensemble Les Travers es Baroque presents an important example of an early oratorio. The form of the oratorio developed after the Catholic Church in the Council of Trent (1545-1563) severely restricted the use of music in church services. Some religious congregations then began to perform new forms of music in their prayer and assembly rooms, the “oratorios”.