The Definitive Collection covers most of Angela Bofill's best-known singles and album tracks, including "I Try," "This Time I'll Be Sweeter," "Angel of the Night," and "Let Me Be the One." This collection also includes several worthwhile songs that didn't make it onto her previous retrospective, The Best of Angela Bofill, such as "Too Tough," "Baby I Need Your Love," "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," and "Can't Slow Down." As with the other collection, the emphasis is still on Bofill's earliest work; while she did indeed record many of her definitive songs during that time, some tracks from her more recent albums would have been a welcome addition for completeness' sake. Even though this compilation still isn't a total look at Bofill's artistry, The Definitive Collection does offer the most comprehensive look at her work available.

In 1977 Mandrill showed signs of having listened to fusion and had more or less left the Latin rock behind. The African influences were also granted less room on their records, and if they still stuck out from the bulk of funk bands, the gap was slowly closing. We Are One starts with the two dance hits "Can You Get It" and "Funky Monkey"

I'm the One is an album by Roberta Flack released in May 1982 which reached #59 on the album chart in Billboard whose R&B album chart afforded the album a #16 peak. The Burt Bacharach/Carole Bayer Sager-produced "Making Love", which appeared in the film of the same name and in the spring of 1982 had afforded Flack her final solo Top 40 hit (#13 on the Billboard Hot 100), was included on the I'm the One album along with eight new tracks co-produced by William Eaton, Ralph MacDonald, William Salter and Flack herself. The track "I'm the One" given parallel single release with the album peaked at #42 on the Hot 100 where it marked Flack's final solo appearance although she'd return to the Hot 100 in 1983 with the duets "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" (#16) and "You're Looking Like Love to Me" (#58) (both with Peabo Bryson) and again in 1991 with "Set the Night to Music" (with Maxi Priest/ #6). A third single from the I'm the One album: "In the Name of Love", reached #24 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

Mandrill debuted in a key year for music. Between all the musical revolutions of the 60's the sounds of jazz,latin-rock,soul and funk were all bleeding into eachother to form an almost limitless groove. Along with Santana's Abraxas this really breaks open the musical mood of 1970 as musical bridges were crossing within the afro-cuban jazz-funk stew.

Apparently learning from the mistakes of its debut, Mandrill crafted a follow-up with fewer stylistic detours than the first record, but much more energy and greater maturity. The two singles, "Ape Is High" and "Git It All," are unhinged performances from all involved that have the sense of musical invigoration so key to a funk band – and so sorely lacking on this band's debut.

In Summer 2007, DMB hit the road again with new touring member, Rashawn Ross on trumpet and Butch Taylor on keyboards. The band’s live catalogue had grown to include tracks from "Stand Up", as well as material from recent studio writing sessions in Charlottesville, VA. New unreleased compositions of "Corn Bread" and "#27" were also in the mix. "Sweet Up and Down" makes a comeback, adding to the band’s list of “road only” jams.

At the time of his death in 2010, Almeida Prado was one of Brazil’s most internationally admired composers, one who created music of unique sonority and colour, rooted in his native country. In Aurora (‘Dawn’) he employs his newly developed ‘transtonality’ to radiant effect, while the Concerto Fribourgeois features a collage technique. In his Piano Concerto No. 1 Almeida Prado explores a cogent structure in which the soloist opens up, rips apart or transforms the theme and variations, in a work that is both grandiose and luminous.

Jimin Oh-Havenith interprets three of Beethoven’s most famous, beautiful, but also most demanding piano sonatas. Her carefully chosen tempi allow for a vivid and transparent presentation of the thematic structures and internal developments.

Boasting much stronger compositions than the preceding Fools Mate, Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night is regarded as one of Peter Hammill's best albums. Although Hammill is still in piano/acoustic guitar mode, the passion in his vocals is nearly unparalleled…

Ahmad Jamal - Trio and Quintet Recordings With Ray Crawford (2016) {2CD Set, Él–Cherry Red rec 1955-1961}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 584 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 368 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 16 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1955-61, 2016 Él / Cherry Red Records | ACMEMD309CD
Jazz / Cool / Straight-Ahead Jazz / Piano / Guitar

The complete, legendary recordings made by Ahmad Jamal with the guitarist Ray Crawford in Trio and Quintet context. ‘Listen to the way Jamal uses space. He lets it go so that you can feel the rhythm section and the rhythm section can feel you. It’s not crowded. Ahmad is one of my favourites. I live until he makes another record.’ Miles Davis, 1958. The complete, legendary recordings made by Ahmad Jamal with the guitarist Ray Crawford in Trio and Quintet context. Jamal’s trios are considered to be amongst the most important in the history of jazz, creating unique articulations of space, openness and light, which still seem so far ahead of their time and which made such a profound impression on Miles Davis and his arranger, Gil Evans.

New 2020 album by German cult metal band! With ‘Tales Of A Future Past’ the German Metal band Mekong Delta, which has been active since 1985, presents its 11th studio album. The current cast around project-head and bassist Ralf Hubert contains Peter Lake (guitar, Theory in Practice), Alex Landenburg (drums, Cyhra, Kamelot, Luca Turilli's Rhapsody) and Martin LeMar (vocals, Lalu, Tomorrow's Eve). With ‘Tales Of A Future Past’ Mekong Delta succeeds in creating a complex construction which is reminiscent of classic operas. Epic and full-bodied in sound, extraordinarily versatile and dedicated in terms of instrumentation, Mekong Delta impresses with contemporary Metal, which can be classified in terms of both music and content beyond superficiality and simple structures. With an orchestra arrangement, acoustic elements and instrumental numbers including the orchestra parts, the combo sets new impulses without abandoning the classic Metal orientation. In terms of content, the 10 album tracks focus on people in extreme situations against the background of social changes and current political trends.

Lowell Davidson - Lowell Davidson Trio (1965) {ESP-Disk ESP1012-2 rel 2000}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 238 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 106 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 14 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1965, 2000 ESP-Disk / ZYX-Music | ESP 1012-2
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano

For even the astute early creative music lover, pianist Lowell Davidson is an obscure figure in the annals of jazz. Recommended to ESP-Disk by Ornette Coleman and signed to record his music without an audition, Davidson was the son of a theologist, studied biochemistry at Harvard, was fatally injured in a lab accident, and died at age 50. This is his only studio session, although ESP claims to have a live date from a Boston engagement in the can. He is accompanied by the stellar, and in this case sublime rhythm section of bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Milford Graves, and the result is a fascinating display of understated, purely improvised music that is eminently listenable, beautifully conceived, and flowing through past, present (circa 1965) and future resources.