Sonny Rollins And The Big Brass (1958), Sonny Rollins On Impulse! (1965), Alfie [OST] (1966).
Sonny Rollins And The Big Brass (1958). Big Brass is an appropiate name for the large ensemble arranged and conducted by Ernie Wilkins that accompanies the huge sound of Sonny Rollins. The energy within the leader's gospel-flavored shout "Grand Street" is considerable, while a swinging but no less powerful version of George & Ira Gershwin's "Who Cares" features a choice solo by guitarist Rene Thomas. Also added to this compilation are trio recordings with bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Specs Wright, including a brilliant leisurely stroll through "Manhattan," along with Rollins' tour de force unaccompanied tenor sax on "Body and Soul"…

Pauline Viardot (1821–1910) was one of the most extraordinary women in the history of music. Daughter of the Spanish tenor Manuel García and sister of the mezzo-soprano Maria Malibran, she studied piano with Liszt and counterpoint and harmony with Reicha, made her debut, also as a mezzo, at the age of sixteen and went on to inspire composers of the stature of Berlioz, Chopin, Gounod, Meyerbeer, Saint-Saëns, Schumann and Wagner, And she was no mean composer herself, as these passionate songs demonstrate.

Stand Up was the first album where Anderson controlled the music and lyrics, resulting in a group of diverse songs that ranged from the swirling blues of “A New Day Yesterday” and the mandolin-fueled rave-up of “Fat Man,” to the group’s spirited re-working of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Bouree in E Minor.” In a recent interview, Anderson picked Stand Up as his favorite Jethro Tull album, “because that was my first album of first really original music. It has a special place in my heart.” The first disc features Steven Wilson’s new stereo mixes of the original album, along with a number of rare recordings, including an unreleased version of “Bouree.” Other highlights include four songs recorded at the BBC, plus stereo single mixes for “Living In The Past” and “Driving Song”…

Once upon a time, goth rock meant a bunch of vampire-looking people playing new wave-y music. However, the times they are a changin', as goth metal has arguably become the most common and popular goth-related music circa the early 21st century. And the proof is in the emergence of such acts as Moonspell. A certified sensation back home in Portugal (where their albums reach the top of the charts, and they even won an MTV Europe award for Best Portuguese Act), the quintet has certainly carved a niche for themselves, and continue to riff and growl away on their 2008 release, Night Eternal. If you were to erase the goth keyboards from the proceedings, Moonspell would sound like your average extreme metal band. But with the keys added, Moonspell are one of the few bands of the genre that is not entirely one-dimensional…

This album's title is perhaps the most concise and precise description of its contents. With the 1970s behind him Polish trumpeter / composer Tomasz Stanko takes a sharp turn off the path he followed previously as the leader of the local Free Jazz/avant-garde scene and as other musicians before him (or like a chameleon) entered the world of Jazz-Rock Fusion. The album was recorded in Athens in 1982 and remained unreleased until 1989 (by that time Stanko was already moving to the next phase of his career), when it was finally released by a small independent Greek label. But chronologically this is the first recording of Stanko's 1980s "new" style, preceding "C.O.C.X"…

It wasn't surprising that the Buggles' second release, Adventures in Modern Recording, didn't meet the expectations that 1980's internationally successful The Age of Plastic set. Both Horn and Downes had been working on several outside projects, including Yes' 1980 release Drama, which severely limited their time, and for the most part, Adventures was a Trevor Horn solo project; Geoff Downes only appears on three tracks. However, many of the criticisms leveled against this outing were unfounded and there is still much to like; several songs, such as the infectious title track, equal The Age of Plastic. Both "Adventures in Modern Recording" and "Inner City," with its lush arrangement and engrossing melody, show off Horn's remarkable production savvy…

This collection of chamber works by French female composers helps to consolidate our understanding of how important these musicians were to French culture during the period 1860-1960. Some of these names will be more familiar to the public than others, Germaine Tailleferre being perhaps the best known, mostly for her membership of Les Six. Others ought to be far more renowned than they are now.

28-song opening night set, Tour debut of “Human Touch”. Four songs from 2020’s Letter To You: “Ghosts,” “Letter To You,” “Last Man Standing” and “I’ll See You In My Dreams”. “Last Man Standing” features a new arrangement. “I’ll See You In My Dreams” is performed solo acoustic to end the show. One song from 2022’s Only the Strong Survive: “Nightshift” (written by Franne Golde, Dennis Lambert and Walter Orange, popularized by The Commodores). Concert stalwarts like “Because The Night,” “Dancing in the Dark,” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” are performed in tighter, shorter versions.

"Meisterhafte Klavierquartette Die Komponistin Louis Héritte-Viardot (1841-1918) hat – wenn auch in der Öffentlichkeit wenig bekannt – der Musikgeschichte tiefe Spuren eingeprägt. Weit stärker als ihre berühmten Verwandten, ihre Mutter Pauline Viardot-Garcia (1821-1910) und ihre Tante Maria Malibran (1808-1836), zwei der berühmtesten Sängerinnen des 19. Jahrhunderts, hat sie sich mit großer Ausdauer und Disziplin dem Komponieren verschrieben und dabei neben Kammermusikwerken auch die männlich besetzten Domänen von Sinfonie und Oper in Angriff genommen.

In 1969, Sea Shanties established High Tide as one of Britain's heaviest bands and the choice of George Chkiantz (who had previously worked with Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin) as co-producer for their second album seemed to signal the group's intention to continue in the same direction. In comparison with their hefty debut, however, the self-titled follow-up is a relatively subdued affair. The interplay of guitarist Tony Hill and violinist Simon House is still very much at the core of High Tide's distinctive hybrid of psychedelia, prog, and hard rock, but while Hill lays down his characteristically intricate, searing guitar lines, he forgoes the sort of weighty, molten riffage that made Sea Shanties such a behemoth.

For the ELO lover who enjoyed the full sound from the early days heavy on cello and classical strings to accompany the developing ELO sound. These recordings were done live in the BBC studio in three seperate sessions during 1972-1974 and are made without a live audience. Great cuts from the first three ELO albums are featured and performed in grand style. If you enjoy early ELO, you won't be disappointed with this set.

Before the hits really starting coming, Slade showed why they were one of England's best live acts with this fevered concert recording from 1972. Set alight by plenty of stomping beats, lumbering bass, fat guitars, and Noddy Holder's hoarse vocal scream, Slade Alive! finds the lads from Wolverhampton goading on their rabid fans at every juncture ("Wan ya ta really let loose on iss one"). In return, the crowd's handclap choruses and drunken exhortations fire up the band, inspiring them to take pub rock to glam proportions ("In Like a Shot From My Gun"), make a fine mess out of a Steppenwolf classic ("Born to Be Wild"), and add a bit of feedback to John Sebastian's folk-pop ("Darling Be Home Soon"). Plus, hits like the MC5-esque "Know Who You Are" and retro-rocker "Get Down Get With It" are given proper live workouts.