Without a doubt, Elvis Presley is the King of Rock' n 'Roll ! Presley is one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century and still an icon for millions of fans worldwide. With estimated record sales of around 600 million units worldwide he is the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music. In The Many Faces Of Elvis we present amazing recordings of some of his early friends and companions like Scotty Moore, The Million Dollar Quartet or James Burton, including features by the King himself. As well we present the originals of some of Elvis' greatest hits from great artist like Carl Perkins, Ray Charles or Little Richard. With remastered sound, liner notes and a wonderful artwork, The Many Faces Of Elvis is an essential album for your collection and for every fan of this great icon of the 20th century! Incl. tracks from Elvis, Scotty & Bill, The Million Dollar Quartet (feat Elvis, Perkins, Jerry Lee & Johnny Cash), Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Lisa Marie Presley, Chuck Berry…

Peter Gabriel's first foray into soundtracks was for Alan Parker's contemplative film Birdy and is a successful companion piece, providing a backdrop that is moody and evocative. Nearly half of the album's dozen tracks incorporate threads from material found on Gabriel's 1982 Security set, including "Close Up," which makes use of keyboard passages from "Family Snapshot," and "The Heat," which is a reworking of "The Rhythm of the Heat" and builds to a frenzied percussive crescendo…

Avid Jazz presents four classic Yusef Lateef albums including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered double CD. “Jazz for the Thinker”; Eastern Sounds”; Other Sounds” and “Into Something”.
Currently only available on vinyl LP, Avid are pleased to make “Jazz for the Thinker” available as part of our ongoing “Four Classic Albums” series. To quote from the original liner notes regarding the music within this debut album… ”their music combines elements of the current “hard bop” approach with Afro - Asiatic tinges, a needed sense of dynamics and extended form, plus a sense of humour and joi de vivre, so seldom found in today’s jazz”…

Retrospektïẁ (Part III) is a live album by French Progressive rock group Magma. It was released in 1981. It was preceded by Retrospektïẁ (Parts I+II), released in the same year…

Soprano Regula Mühlemann is releasing her second album of Mozart arias with the Basel Chamber Orchestra on the Sony Classical label on September 4, 2020. The Swiss soprano Regula Mühlemann released her debut album on the Sony label in 2016, when she chose a selection of opera and concert arias by Mozart.

‘The burly Aussie tenor is now even more identified with this ill-fated protagonist than Peter Pears, the first Grimes. And everywhere Skelton has sung the part, whether at English National Opera, the Proms, the Edinburgh festival or now on this international tour of a concert staging mounted by the Bergen Philharmonic, the conductor has been Edward Gardner. Theirs is one of the great musical partnerships, and they continue to find compelling new depths in this tragic masterpiece.’ – Richard Morrison – The Times. This studio recording was made following the acclaimed production at Grieghallen, in Bergen, in 2019 (repeated in Oslo and London and reviewed above). Luxuriant playing from the Bergen Philharmonic and a stellar cast under the assured direction of Edward Gardner make this a recording to treasure.

Decca Classics announces the release of a new record marking the 85th birthday of Grammy-winning conductor/OMF director, Seiji Ozawa. Recorded live in 2016/17, Ozawa leads the Saito Kinen Orchestra in performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 and Leonore Overture No. 3, also marking the German composer’s 250th birthday year.

This exceptional production, shot in 1988/1989 on 35 mm film and directed by George Moorse, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and Klaas Rusticus, has been digitally remastered with the greatest care for high-quality audio and video restoration. The music of Mozart has been an essential driving force of Daniel Barenboim’s entire life. It remains central to his performing career both as a pianist and as a conductor. These illuminating performances of Mozart’s last eight great piano concertos admirably demonstrate Barenboim’s dictum that even when a true musician has already performed a familiar work hundreds of times, he or she ‘never accepts that the next note will be played the same way as it was played before’.

In the summer of 1941, Artie Shaw organized yet another big band, his fourth in five years. This particular ensemble was one of his most fun groups, featuring trumpeter/singer Hot Lips Page, trombonist Jack Jenney, tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld, pianist Johnny Guarnieri, drummer Dave Tough, and a full string section with some arrangements by trombonist Ray Conniff. All but the last six recordings of this big band are on this CD, including "Blues in the Night," the adventurous "Nocturne," "Take Your Shoes off, Baby," "Just Kiddin' Around," "Dusk," and the two-part "St. James Infirmary." The music alternates between swing, Hot Lips Page features, and classical-oriented works, succeeding on all levels. But shortly after Pearl Harbor, Artie Shaw called it quits again, enlisting in the navy.

The second Tears for Fears album following Curt Smith's departure finds Roland Orzabal treading water (and self-consciously deep water at that). Long removed from the simple, melodic melancholy of the band's early work and abandoning the mid-period Beatles-influenced pop, Raoul and the Kings of Spain often borders on progressive rock. There's some genuinely pretty music, like the piano-driven ballad "Secrets," with its soaring guitar line, and the gentle "Sketches of Pain." …

Colorado-based Thinking Plague explores the frontiers where rock, folk, jazz and modern symphonic music meet. Thinking Plague has established itself as the logical successor to Henry Cow and Art Bears, bringing the Rock in Opposition style into the Nineties. As with all of the better RIO bands, Thinking Plague's music is both melodic and angular, containing equal measures of rock and jazz. Definitely on the cutting edge of the current progressive rock scene.
"History of Madness" presents a further maturation of the band’s sound. Its warm, organic sound is due in part to the inclusion of acoustic instruments in the mix, which is also interwoven with electronic sounds and samples…

Over the course of their first three late-'70s albums, Foreigner had firmly established themselves (along with Journey and Styx) as one of the top AOR bands of the era. But the band was still looking for that grand slam of a record that would push them to the very top of the heap. Released in 1981, 4 would be that album…

Lisa Bella Donna is internationally acclaimed composer, recording artist, modular synthesist & clinician.
The album is a daring mix of accessible, instantly relatable synth music, as well as some daring ambient, atonal and orchestral feats of sonic wizardry. What sets Lisa apart from many of her peers is that she is truly a keyboardist as well as a synthesist. As such, she commands the feelings evoked by her music, the machines at her disposal are at her beck and call, and do not get in the way of the emotional weight of the music.