Reptile is the fourteenth solo studio album by Eric Clapton. The album was produced by Eric Clapton with Simon Climie and is Clapton's first album to include keyboard work by Billy Preston and background vocals by the Impressions. The album reached the Top 10 in 20 countries, topping the national album charts in three of them…

Frank Dunlop's witty, unvarnished view of Donizetti's country comedy, updated to the 1930s, is delightful to see, wondrous to hear. Gheorghiu and Alagna make an ideal partnership as capricious girl and shy bumpkin. They both act and sing their roles to near perfection in a staging that exposes the heart and heartlessness as much as the fun of this work.

Rarely has a greatest-hits collection been as effective as Elton John's first compilation of Greatest Hits. Released at the end of 1974, after Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Caribou had effectively established him as a superstar, Greatest Hits is exactly what it says it is – it features every one of his Top Ten singles ("Your Song," "Rocket Man," "Honky Cat," "Crocodile Rock," "Daniel," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Bennie and the Jets," "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"), plus the number 12 "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" and radio and concert favorite "Border Song." Despite the exclusion of a couple of lesser hits from this era, most notably "Levon" and "Tiny Dancer," Greatest Hits is a nearly flawless collection, offering a perfect introduction to Elton John and providing casual fans with almost all the hits they need.

"The Best Of Grand Funk (Railroad)" contains ten original hits from the hard rock outfit from Flint, Michigan. All of the group's hits featured in this collection cover the band's most productive period between 1969 and 1975. The first half of the disc has songs from Grand Funk's "heavy metal" period, such as the charming "Time Machine", the bluesy "Mean Mistreater" and the upbeat remake of Traffic's "Feelin' Alright"…

Otis Rush is a stunning vocalist, innovative guitarist and songwriter who has hugely influenced blues and rock artists, including Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughan (whose band, Double Trouble, was named after Rush's song of the same name), Jeff Beck, and Carlos Santana. Rush was inspired to become a bluesman after he moved to Chicago in the late forties and saw Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf perform. Along with Buddy Guy and Magic Slim, Rush developed a playing style that would become known as the "West Side sound," an emotionally intense combination of guitar licks and expressive vocals, with an urban sound that signified a departure from classic Mississippi Delta blues.

Ruphus managed to keep the same lineup on consecutive albums for the first time with 'Flying Colours' but once again the group seems to be searching for a sound, which generally means in search of commercial success…

Telemann World-Premiere Recordings. Between 1717 and 1765 Georg Philipp Telemann composed more than 1, 700 cantatas for performance on all the Sundays of the church year. Some dozen annual cycles from his period as music director in Frankfurt am Main and above all those from his Hamburg years have come down to us. In quantitative terms, the four Sundays of Advent and the three days of Christmas are the most strongly represented – with almost about two hundred cantatas. Apart from the cantatas for solo voice and solo instrument with basso continuo from his anthology Harmonischer Gottesdienst of 1725, only a few compositions for larger ensembles from this treasure trove have been edited and recorded. This album features four cantatas by Telemann that may be regarded as world-premiere recordings. They are musical gems that impress us with their melodic originality and musical character and even after more than 250 years are very much worth being performed again!

“Specializing in unknown repertoire, cpo is now serious about uncovering yet another veritable treasure:” this is what klassik-heute wrote of Vol. 1 of our Wind Overtures by Telemann. This master of all musical trades was also active and extremely successful in the field of Harmoniemusik – the compositional genre for wind ensembles entrusted with military, hunting, and table music. The wind version of the work known as the “Alster Overture” heard along with other works on Vol. 2 is regarded as a model example of this artistic philosophy of Telemann’s. However, what is a more important key to the significance of the work is the knowledge that the movements following the overture are practically to be understood as an audio instrumental preview of the serenata composed by Telemann and going along with them. In this overture suite the “musical artist” presents to our ears highly atmospheric sound depictions of Hamburg and what were then its country surroundings, through which the Alster River flowed. Even the singing swans majestically gliding along the Alster are represented in a wonderfully beautiful sarabande.

Entertainment: Schacht’s Symphonies Vol. 2 – Beacon Project. During the decades that the Imperial Diet met in Regensburg (1663-1806) the city’s envoys and dignitaries of course experienced »classical music« on festive official occasions. The court chapel of the Princes of Thurn and Taxis was regarded as a most highly attractive venue for virtuosos and other musicians. Baron Theodor von Schacht was one of the central personalities at this musical court. The entire spectrum of court music culture, which always followed current stylistic developments, is reflected in his oeuvre. On Vol. 2 Schacht the symphonist again follows his chosen model Joseph Haydn in matters of mind and music. However, far from being a mere epigone, he always preserved his own personal signature: here we have enthralling works, some of them filled with carefree and mirthful moods. Fast-moving activity with surprising harmonies is often result, always neatly packaged within the bounds of classical form.

Led Zeppelin formed out of the ashes of The Yardbirds. Jimmy Page had joined the band in its final days, playing a pivotal role on the group's final album, 1967's Little Games, which also featured string arrangements from John Paul Jones. During 1967, the Yardbirds were fairly inactive. Whilst the band members decided the group's future, Page returned to session work in 1967. In the spring of 1968, he played on Jones' arrangement of Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man." During the sessions, Jones requested to be part of any future project Page would develop…

A frequent collaborator with both the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Jac van Steen, David Matthews new recording explores both the natural world and the symphonic idea, the second of which has, in his words, obsessed me since I started composing at the age of 16. As well the Sinfonia and Symphony No. 8, the programme includes Toward Sunrise; inspired by the sound of the sun (a rising fourth of C-F), as recorded by scientists at Sheffield University, and A Vision of the Sea; drawn from the sights and sounds of English Channel near the composers home in Deal, Kent. With a singular body of work spanning almost 60 years, David Matthews has established an international reputation as one of the leading symphonists of our time. Born in London in 1943, he began composing at the age of sixteen.