In 1965 The End arose from the glowing embers of the earlier Tuxedos, Innocents and Original Topics, and like many of their contemporaries evolved into a psychedelic group. Along the way, they won the support and patronage of the Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman, who produced their sole album for Decca, “Introspection” (CD2). He also co-wrote their signature tune, the psychedelic classic “Shades Of Orange”, although the band wrote the rest of their material. This 4 CD box set gathers together all of The End’s extant recordings, the material on CDs 1, 3, and 4 having only previously been released on vinyl in the ‘90s. CD 1 covers the early days from 1964 to 1967, CD 2 is the 1968 “Introspection” album with two bonus tracks, CD 3 features outtakes (including four previously unreleased bonus tracks) from the period 1968/69, while CD 4 rounds up the band’s recordings from 1969/70, before they reinvented themselves as Tucky Buzzard. This box set also contains a booklet with artwork by legendary designer Phil Smee, including photos and ephemera, a note by founder member Colin Giffin, and the band’s comprehensive story written by David Wells.

There's one thing Michael Ball fans can't stop raving about: his voice. And after some questionable song selections on previous albums that didn't do "the voice" justice, Musicals covers the classics – tunes from Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, Sunset Boulevard, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, and Cats all make an appearance. As if to further highlight his vocal talents, Ball tackles some songs normally sung by female characters, such as "I Dreamed a Dream" and "With One Look." Purists may object, but Ball's smooth and subtle vocals work just as well here. The mellow "Losing My Mind" is one of the better songs, while the cheesy sax in "Last Night of the World" makes it only tolerable.

Jay Gordon and Blues Venom continue and expand upon their lifelong love for the raw, real blues on a blazing new album called Slide Rules. Released in November of 2019 by Shuttle Music, Slide Rules is a masterful set of rough-edged, roadhouse-style blues/rock that leans more than a little toward a sound Gordon himself, calls “extremely dangerous.” Gordon is a ferocious slide guitarist and singer with a live, in-the-moment style that’s impossible to ignore. He effortlessly generates that delicious ragged-edge feeling of someone going so hard that you expect him to crash and burn at any moment but never does. His sound is informed by players including Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy, and Stevie Ray Vaughan but isn’t imitative in the least. Like all true legends, Gordon puts his blues down his own way.

Astor Piazzolla revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed “Tango Neuvo”, incorporating elements of Classical music and Jazz. At first his “Tango Neuvo” was met with resistance but after composing a number of successful tangos, his “Tango Nuevo” gradually gained acceptance both in Argentina and in Europe and North America. The composer Markus Horn adopted the style of “Tango Nuevo” for this recording with the Duo Villarceaux, composing in the spirit of the great Argentinian composer as well as including some of the famous Piazzolla tangos. The result is a highly varied and coloured programme exhibiting virtuosic and evocative South-American flair from the two young pianists.

"Street Songs" is the 5th album by American musician Rick James, released in April 1981 via Gordy Records. "Give It to Me Baby", the lead song and single from the album, became James' second #1 single on the R&B chart. It spent five weeks at the top spot. The fifth song on the album, "Super Freak", was also one of James' biggest hits. The album became an immediate success upon its release, eventually reaching #3 on the US Pop chart and spending twenty weeks at #1 on the US R&B chart. The album was certified Platinum in the US in July 1981. By 1983, the album had sold nearly 4 million copies worldwide. At the 1982 Grammys, James was nominated for Best Male Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance for the album while being the first African American male artist to be nominated in the Best Male Rock Vocal Performance category for the song "Super Freak".

Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) is a music festival held every April in the United States, in honor of jazz as an early American art form. JAM was created in 2001 by John Edward Hasse, curator of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. It became a national extension of the original Jazz Awareness Month created by the Louisiana Jazz Federation in New Orleans in 1980.

With delights from composers such as Sir Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams, performances from UK classical artists including Dame Sarah Connolley and Ian Bostridge, and stunning works evocative of the great British landscape, British Classical Selections offers an eclectic insight into classical repertoire from and about Great Britain. This compilation is the first in a series of country focused selections, including selections from France and Germany.

Darko Nikčević and Srdjan Bulatović, the internationally renowned guitar duo from Montenegro, are acclaimed for their virtuosity and for exciting performances that blend influences from the Mediterranean and the Middle East. This programme captures the spontaneous nature of their musical creativity and documents the strange period in which the world first stood still under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on a shared Balkan heritage and using eloquently transparent melodies, these pieces express uncertainty and isolation as well as the deepest and most beautiful of emotions, from inner peace and contentment to a cheerful appreciation of life itself.

Itzhak Perlman made his public debut on American radio at the age of ten, and has since become universally acclaimed as one of the world’s greatest virtuosi. His range of repertoire is immense, and he plays chamber music with as much enthusiasm as he brings to concertos and solo recitals. Perlman is joined by fellow veteran Daniel Barenboim conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in a stunning live performance of two of the great landmarks of the violin concerto repertoire.

Georgios Axiotis was a leading and historically significant Greek composer who was opposed to the ‘Germanisation’ of music education in Greece. His training in Naples led him to conceive of national music of a mediterranean quality related to the naturalism of Italian verismo. The works on this album are his most important and lasting contributions to Greek orchestral music. Axiotis possessed an exceptional instinct for balance and timbre and was a splendid orchestrator. The lyricism in these pieces exudes Greek late Romanticism, while his nature depictions are strongly atmospheric.

The idea of bringing together Eastern European folk dances and tango nuevo is a sound one. Astor Piazzolla, tango nuevo’s founding father, surely heard similar folk dances as a kid growing up in New York City’s East Village, and one can discern their echoes – however faint – in his music. On this brief programme, violinist Zachary Carrettin and pianist Mina Gajic´ interweave a set of Seven Balkan Dances for solo piano by Serbian composer Marko Tajčević (1900 84) with a half-dozen contemporary takes on tango nuevo by Ray Granlund (b1975).

Previous releases from the New York-based Escher Quartet include an acclaimed set of Mendelsohn’s six string quartets as well as an album with works by Dvořák, Tchaikovsky and Borodin. For their latest offering the members have looked closer to home, however, choosing to combine the quartets by Samuel Barber and Charles Ives. The disc opens with Barber’s String Quartet in B minor, containing the music for which the composer remains best-known: the second movement which he two years later expanded into Adagio for Strings. Recognizing its potential already while composing it, Barber described the piece as ‘a knock-out’ – which made it all the more difficult to come up with a third movement worthy to follow it.

As we entered into the second decade of the new millennium, the world was blessed with the birth of Pocket Size. You´re steppin´ through the door to a magical, musical universe. It´s all about vast sonic landscapes that penetrate the brain. On all levels. A progressive way of thinking, a progressive way of acting, a unifying progressive form of music that reaches out to everyone. You are invited to take part of the experience! It was time to enter Porksausage studios again easter 2016. Chapter two in the sequel Cleaning The Mirror was about to be crafted. A couple of aspects makes it is different from it´s precursor Vemood. The melodies in these tunes are stronger and a bit more developed and a slightly darker mood is present.

"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" is the 2nd studio album by British pop duo Eurythmics, released on 4 January 1983 by RCA Records. After a year and a half of initial commercial failure for Eurythmics, this album became a breakthrough for the duo on both sides of the Atlantic. The title track became particularly popular and remains one of Eurythmics' most recognisable songs. Its music video, popular on MTV in the United States, is memorable for Annie Lennox's gender-bending imagery. In the wake of this success, the single "Love Is a Stranger", previously a flop, was re-released and became a hit as well. It too was accompanied by a striking video that featured Lennox dressed both as a man and a woman.

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (German: Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, BRSO) is a German radio orchestra. Based in Munich, Germany, it is one of the city's four orchestras. The BRSO is one of two full-size symphony orchestras operated under the auspices of Bayerischer Rundfunk, or Bavarian Broadcasting (BR).