"No Mercy," with special effects recorded at Madison Square Garden, has the sentiment of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer." The double entendre being the rock musician oftentimes works on the same stage as the fighter, of course, punching away in the ring of life. Nils Lofgren is a veteran who has performed with Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and so many others, working here with producer Bob Ezrin who helped create Pink Floyd's The Wall. As with any great artist, Ezrin brings in his various contacts which color the recordings he makes, insuring a product that is as much the producer's as it is Nils Lofgren's. Dick Wagner co-wrote the hits "Only Women Bleed" and "You And Me" with Alice Cooper…

THE TRACY G GROUP, the band featuring former DIO and WWIII guitarist Tracy "G" Grijalva., will release its new album, "Tramp", on October 13 via Sonic Night Music Club. Joining Tracy on the disc are drummers Ray Luzier (KORN) and Patrick Johansson (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, W.A.S.P.) as well as vocalist Michael Beatty and bassist Randy Oviedo.
According to a press release, "Tramp" "showcases Tracy G's blend of modern-day heavy metal." It "features bone-crushing riffs and a barrage of both instrumental and lyrical intensity along with all the guitar-hero-level licks."

Building on the success of their 2015 debut, Baptized In The Rio Grande, and two years of backbreaking cross-country tours, Sons Of Texas set out to stake a claim in the increasingly clustered arena of mainstream hard rock. Straight from the top, their sophomore outing opens with a fast-paced onslaught of taut, scorching riffage and storming tempos, with Feed The Need and Down In The Trenches showcasing a penchant for muscular hooks and big melodic choruses. Forged By Fortitude doesn’t lack might or swagger but it does fall well short of establishing a distinctly original sound. The middle of the album spirals into a punchy mid-tempo morass of generic, guitar-driven post-grunge, although the shout-out fervour of Slam With The Lights On closes the album on a high note. Though undeniably well-crafted, Forged By Fortitude plays it far too safely to mark the band’s breakout moment.

Something Special is the thirteenth studio album by American band Kool & the Gang, released in 1981. It was the group's third consecutive Platinum-certified album.

'This cycle of Jewish Songs is born of my research on traditional Hebrew music, a deeply rooted ancient music which has accompanied the Jewish people throughout centuries of wandering. I listened to the liturgical melodies from different sources and was mostly inspired by the art of singing of the Jewish cantors or Hazzans, in particular by their very expressive, but contained, interior way of singing. It is music in which the sacred and popular intermingle. Whether lighthearted or sad, slow or fast, prayer, popular song or dance, it is always shared, always intimate. It felt also as though I had always known this music, even before I was born. It was a very strange sensation.' - Sonia Wieder-Atherton Chants juifs, the iconic recording that has remained a milestone in cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton's career, is now available again.

Auréolé de nombreuses récompenses, dont plusieurs "Gramophone Awards", l’ensemble vocal Vox Luminis, créé par Lionel Meunier en 2004, fait désormais office de référence en matière d'interprétation des grandes pièces du baroque allemand. Si leur approche toujours fidèle et vivante des maîtres-compositeurs comme Bach, Buxtehude et Scheidt a fait leur réputation, ce nouvel enregistrement propose une pièce-phare du compositeur Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, jusqu’ici absent de leur discographie : son Requiem en fa mineur, à quatorze voix, composé vers 1692. Le programme est complété par deux pièces de Christoph Bernhard (Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener in Friede fahren et Tribularer si nescirem misericordias tuas, deux pièces de Johann Joseph Fux, ainsi que la Sonata a 6, en la mineur de Johann Michael Nicolai. Cet enregistrement marque le début d'une collaboration entre Vox Luminis et un ensemble de renommée internationale : le Freiburger Barockorchester, ici dans sa version consort.

"Friends in Love" is Dionne Warwick's 3rd studio album for the Arista label. It was recorded during the winter of 1981-1982 and was released that spring on April 14, 1982. The LP was originally issued as number AL 9585 in the Arista Catalog. The album rose to #87 on the Billboard album chart, selling approximately 200,000 US copies. Songs on the album include the title track, a duet with singer Johnny Mathis, which made the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #38, in addition to charting on the Billboard R&B and adult contemporary charts at #22 and #5, respectively. A follow-up single, "For You", peaked at #14 on the Adult Contemporary chart. This album also contains the Cynthia Weil / Barry Mann song "Never Gonna Let You Go", which would become a hit the following year for Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes.

"Every Song Has Its Play" is an Irish-English singer-songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan’s 12th studio album, originally released in May 1995. The 14 tracks included in this album are soundtrack from his semi-autobiographical musical "Every Song Has its Play" and it is one of O'Sullivan's best albums released in the 90s alonside "Sounds of the Loop". It includes the wonderfully humourous and gentle hit song "Dear Dream" and heart-achingly poignant but beautiful songs like "I wish I could cry", "Pretty Polly", "Can't find my way home", and "You don't own me" which reflect his struggle as a young artist and his painful experience through the legal battle in the 70s. It is remarkabke even his most painful experience has become a source of inspiration for his songs and he could voice the bane and sorrow of the show-business with such honesty and humanity that it touches anyone who listens to this album.

This is undoubtedly one of the best straightahead jazz records of the 1990s. It is a crowning achievement for drum legend Roy Haynes, who emerged as a bandleader relatively late in his career. Together with tenor saxophonist Craig Handy, pianist David Kikoski, and bassist Ed Howard, Haynes explores time-honored standards as well as bop and post-bop classics. The truly outstanding tracks are Chick Corea's awe-inspiring "Steps," Thelonious Monk's catchy "Bye Ya," the Miles Davis bop vehicle "Sippin' at Bells," and a greasy, in-the-pocket reading of "I Thought About You." Bookending the album are two traditional tunes: "Brown Skin Girl," made famous by Harry Belafonte, and "Anniversary," a traditional melody associated with Al Jolson. Both tracks feature Kikoski on electric piano, an unexpected touch that makes for delicious icing on the cake. An unforgettable record.

Recorded live in France in 1982 but not released on CD in the U.S. until 1990, Heart Still Beating isn't quite in a class with Roxy Music's first live album, Viva, but nonetheless gives us a lot to be excited about. Lead singer Bryan Ferry and guitarist Phil Manzanera sound quite inspired much of the time, and Manzanera delivers some excellent solos…

After a successful trilogy devoted to the concertos and trios of Schumann, the team assembled alongside the Freiburger Barockorchester and Pablo Heras-Casado could not ignore one of Beethoven’s most unusual works: the Triple Concerto. They bring this score to life as only true chamber musicians can, revealing its subtlest colours and balances. The trio transcription of the Second Symphony, which was supervised by the composer himself, judiciously completes this exploration of lesser-known Beethoven, in which intimacy mingles with grandeur.

One of the newest and most surprising discoveries in the 60's & 70's rock rarities field. Guitarist William Nowik recorded this obscure instrumental record back in 1974 in the NY area. It has such a deep feeling, nothing anyone could have done without really loving it aside of any commercial view. Psychedelic, progressive, very early Floyd sounding at times, Crimson- esque, and a kind of sound that reminds on the British early 70's underground but with an experimental, trippy touch. 14 tracks in total but played like suites. Seems only 200 copies were pressed and never distributed, so it needed 35 years to be discovered…

The second volume of this series (Volume 1 is on 8.573995) visits 20th-century France, where the combination of trumpet and piano inspired music of ravishing beauty, intimacy and wit. Through the bluesy retrospection of Jean Hubeau's Sonata, the voluptuous rhapsody of Florent Schmitt's Suite and the avantgarde eclecticism of Antoine Tisné's Héraldiques, this album explores the quintessentially Gallic sonorities that came to redefine the instruments voice for the modern era.

The “best of my works,” as Beethoven described his String Trios Op.9 when they were published in July 1798.

Introducing a new artist on ACT: FLORIAN WILLEITNER“I don’t think I have ever known a musician with quite the level of openness to people, to emotions, to musical languages, and the capacity to make them his own as Florian Willeitner. He is a stunningly good violinist, and I discover something new every time I hear him.” Paul Zauner, Founder & Artistic Director, INNtöne Festival In the past the violin in jazz could sometimes seem a bit exotic, even outlandish, but all that has changed. Classical music and jazz are no longer mutually exclusive worlds; these days they enrich each other, and it is the norm for string instruments to take centre stage. The ACT label has played its part in this transformation, with artists such as the Bartolomey/Bittmann duo, the radio.string.quartet.vienna and the incomparable Adam Baldych among the pioneers who created the paradigm shift, and who continue to take their music in new directions.And yet, as violinist/composer Florian Willeitner from Passau in Southern Germany sees it, there is still further to go: “The full potential of the violin, with its unique versatility and its kaleidoscopic possibilities of timbre and texture, is rarely to be heard in conventional jazz settings.”