We could call Lands End the first "aquatic progressive" band. The fact that they live on the shores of the Pacific Ocean seems like it has quite inspired these musicians and we find many allusions to the sea in their albums. Starting from rather simple neo Progressive rock, they built their own style made of energetic guitar assisted by keyboards, over which added vocals. Their music is very progressive, somewhere in the middle between Pink Floyd, Genesis and Yes, and the musicians don't hesitate to adventure themselves into long instrumental jams.

Wagner’s medieval romance of the Swan Knight comes to life in a lavish production by August Everding, filmed live at the Metropolitan Opera in 1986. James Levine conducts a stellar cast led by Eva Marton, Leonie Rysanek and Peter Hofmann in the title role.

Although countless Mud compilations have been released over the years, none of them managed to cover every phase of the group's career. This was remedied in 1997 with the release of The Singles '67-'78. This overwhelmingly generous collection spans two discs and includes the A- and B-sides of each single the group released. Of course, the most impressive tracks are the hits from the group's stint at RAK Records: the combination of pop hooks and guitar firepower utilized for stomping glam classics like "Tiger Feet" and "Dynamite" still sound fresh and exciting today. However, this set also unearths some surprisingly good tracks from the group's oft-overlooked periods at Private Stock and RCA Records: "L'L'Lucy" is a full-throttle rock tune built on a smile-inducing vocal stutter hook and the languid yet catchy "Slow Talking Boy" is unlike anything else in the Mud catalog.

It had to be a train. The name of Victor Wainwright's new band - and the sleeve image of their debut album - is also the most fitting of metaphors. In music folklore, the train might have associations with the freight-hopping bluesmen of yore, but with this restless boogie-woogie innovator stoking the furnace, this project is a charging locomotive - surging forward, crashing through boundaries of genre, sweeping up fresh sounds and clattering headlong past the doubters. At a sweet-spot in his career, where most established stars would rest on their laurels, Victor Wainwright & The Train instead rips up all that has gone before. These twelve tracks are originals in every sense, written by Wainwright, pricking up ears in a sterile music industry and stretching the concept of roots in bold directions. The result is an album that walks a tightrope between scholarly respect and anarchic irreverence. On this white-knuckle ride, only The Train could keep the material on the tracks. "I ended up with a hit-squad of downright amazing musicians," he reflects, "that shared my curiosity for all corners of the roots genre. We wanted to capture how we feel performing, right smack-dab on this record, and I believe we've done that. Now I just try to keep up…"

“A cubicle for you, a cubicle for me….but not together…” The Year 2020 was not a year for a band to 'get things together in the country', or gather in a room to write songs. This statement certainly applied to the Legendary Pink Dots with two members in The Netherlands and one in the UK. The pandemic reared its ugly head as the Dots’ criss-crossed Europe on the second stage of their 40th Anniversary Tour. Just a few days before much of Italy locked down the band was in Milan. A few days later, the destination was Cologne where they opted for a hotel in the countryside… it turned out that the resting place was one village away from the most lethal outbreak of the virus in Germany. The tour eventually finished in a sold-out club with a worryingly low ceiling in London. There were hugs, a real feeling of togetherness with a truly lovely audience. Then the World stopped.

Reggae Film Star is Damien Jurado’s 18th full length studio album and the second on his own record label Maraqopa Records. 25 years since his debut album Waters Ave S. came out, Jurado is more prolific, driven and creative than ever. The twelve mystical songs on Reggae Film Star are gorgeously cinematic and feature rich production and diverse sonic textures. Reggae Film Star was produced by Damien Jurado at Sonikwire in Irvine, CA, with invaluable help from the dream team of multi instrumentalist Josh Gordon and recording engineer Alex Bush. The album was mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound.

In an age seemingly built to overwhelm, the concepts of directness and clear intention are being lost. Exhausting maximalist concepts have become the norm in many of the arts. It can be refreshing to hear music that has purpose and clarity. That is what Guillermo Klein and Los Guachos hope to provide on their new, suite-like recording, Cristal.

The disc is the thirteenth volume in the famous Hyperion 'Romantic Piano Concerto' series; it also follows on from Stephen Coombs's four-volume set of Glazunov's music for solo piano, meaning that Coombs has now recorded all of Glazunov's music for piano soloist.

Even though the ALIEN debut is 31 years old now it has lost nothing of its magic. In particular the two anthems “Only One Woman” and “Tears Don’t Put Out The Fire” are still a wet dream for any AOR fan. This reissue contains the original Scandinavian version with Jim Jidhed on vocals as well as the later US-version with new singer Pete Sandberg on vocals on some songs. Furthermore the re-release contains the two bonus tracks “Feel My Love” and “Touch My Fire” which make this album even more essential.

Selim Palmgren, a student of Busoni, was one of the leading Nordic composers during the first decades of the 20th century. His wide-ranging music for piano was performed and recorded by some of the greatest artists of the day. This third volume in the first complete cycle of Palmgren’s piano music on disc includes a varied cross-section of works written over a 50-year period. It includes the youthful Lyriskt intermezzo, Op. 8, romantic miniatures of great charm – as well as one of his greatest achievements, the atmospheric suite Kevät (‘Spring’), in which impressionist elements fuse with rich Finnish folk melody.

The album series "Die Einlassmusik" from Schiller started in 2004. The music is exclusively composed for the regular live tours from Schiller and is played there as pre-show introduction to make the waiting time for the audience more pleasant. All albums are (officially) only sold at the merchandising area of each concert and the online Schiller Shop.