Michael Franti is a globally recognized musician, humanitarian, activist, and award-winning filmmaker revered for his high-energy live shows, inspiring music, devotion to health and wellness, worldwide philanthropic efforts and the power of optimism. Throughout his multi-decade career, Franti has earned three Billboard No. 1's with triumphantly hopeful hits "Sound of Sunshine," "Say Hey (I Love You)," and "I Got You," as well as sic Top 30 Hot AC singles, 10 Top 25 AAA singles and three Billboard Top 5 Rock Albums.

Jazz master Chick Corea’s unconventional vision of a classical performance shines through in his interaction with the Orchestra da Camera Della Sardegna, turning the acclaimed chamber orchestra into a large-scale jazz ensemble. His unorthodox approach adds a touch of playfulness to the Mozart & Gershwin pieces performed while upholding Corea’s obvious reverence for their music. His joyous fusion sets the tone for the musicians and the audience, creating a truly captivating and boundary- pushing experience. The recording captures the essence of Corea’s musical vision, his appreciation for classical traditions, and his undeniable genius as a performer and improviser. It stands as a testament to his lasting influence and his eternal quest to push the boundaries of music. Through his work as a composer and a performer, he sought to bridge the gap between genres, embracing the universality and enduring power of classical music. Corea realized this ambition fully during this live performance as was eager to release the recording as an album that would inspire jazz and classical music lovers equally.

Camille a décidé de tracer sa propre route afin d’être au plus proche de ses volontés artistiques. - - Pour la première fois aussi, elle ne réunit que les musiciens avec qui elle tourne depuis plusieurs années afin d’être au plus proche du son de groupe qu’ils ont obtenu à force de tourner ensemble. - - Cet album se différencie des autres en misant sur un son organique, un peu comme un ‘laboratoire’ qui deviendrait disque. La batterie, très présente sur ses anciens albums, est remplacée par les percussions. Tous les titres, textes, en français, et arrangements sont de sa composition et portent en eux la volonté d’affirmer, une fois de plus, l’alliance de deux mondes difficilement et rarement assemblables : Le jazz et la chanson, tout en gardant la danse, l’improvisation et la transe.

ZZ Top's First Album may not be perfectly polished, but it does establish their sound, attitude, and quirks. Simply put, it's a dirty little blues-rock record, filled with fuzzy guitars, barrelhouse rhythms, dirty jokes, and Texan slang. They have a good, ballsy sound that hits at gut level, and if the record's not entirely satisfying, it's because they're still learning how to craft records – which means that they're still learning pacing as much as they're learning how to assemble a set of indelible material. Too much of this record glides by on its sound, without offering any true substance, but the tracks that really work – "(Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree," "Backdoor Love Affair," "Brown Sugar," and "Goin' Down to Mexico," among them – show that from their very first record on, ZZ Top was that lil' ol' blues band from Texas.

Buoyed by two U.K. number one singles in "Telegram Sam" and "Metal Guru," The Slider became T. Rex's most popular record on both sides of the Atlantic, despite the fact that it produced no hits in the U.S. The Slider essentially replicates all the virtues of Electric Warrior, crammed with effortless hooks and trashy fun. All of Bolan's signatures are here – mystical folk-tinged ballads, overt sexual come-ons crooned over sleazy, bopping boogies, loopy nonsense poetry, and a mastery of the three-minute pop song form. The main difference is that the trippy mix of Electric Warrior is replaced by a fuller, more immediate-sounding production.

Love Songs is a "best of" album by the French Rumba Catalana band Gipsy Kings, which was released in 1996. It includes the new unreleased song "Gitano Soy". A US release of this album has been released in 1998 for USA audience under the name Cantos de Amor. The Gipsy Kings are a group of flamenco, salsa and pop musicians from Arles and Montpellier in the south of France, who perform in Andalusian Spanish. Although group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, Spanish gypsies who fled Catalonia during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. They are known for bringing Catalan rumba, a pop-oriented music distantly derived from traditional flamenco music, to worldwide audiences.

The melodious Andante is the longest of the four movements [of Alfvén’s Third Symphony], deftly written and beautifully performed (particularly by the RSNO’s woodwinds and their delightful contributions). The piece enjoys an expansive climax, given all the space in the world by Willén.

The budget-priced Extended Versions series usually focuses on live tracks by veteran classic rock artists. But the Lynyrd Skynyrd edition is one of the few entries to feature studio tracks amidst the live cuts. Including tracks from the latter-day, Johnny Van Zant era of Skynyrd, the majority of the selections are newer tunes, including such standouts as "Berneice" and "O.R.R.," with only a smattering of live versions of classics – "What's Your Name?," "Free Bird," "Sweet Home Alabama," etc. While the modern-day Skynyrd does an admirable job of re-creating the vibe of their definitive lineup, it doesn't hold up to One More from the Road, one of the finest live rock albums of all time. But if you're curious to hear what Skynyrd has been up to in recent times, Extended Versions is a worthy, and very affordable, collection.

Un formidable voyage musical à la découverte du Moyen Âge pour les petites oreilles. Un conte musical qui nous plonge dans l'univers de « Célèbre », un enfant aux oreilles exceptionnelles, qui rencontre « la fée Musica ». L'histoire est le fil rouge permettant d'introduire une vingtaine de pièces de chant ou de musique médiévale et de faire découvrir la large palette d'instruments utilisés et leurs sonorités. Le livret propose une approche ludique, illustrée et éditorialisée des différents instruments utilisés à l'époque du Moyen Âge. Une belle façon de faire entrer des enfants, par l'image et la musique, dans l'univers du Moyen Âge.

For newcomers to the work of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, this generous two-disc collection of performances from EMI's archive would be a good place to start exploring. The authoritative Pärt performances would probably be the premiere releases on ECM, produced by Manfred Eicher, but these performances are all of a very high quality and there is a handful of works that ECM has never recorded. Pärt's most famous works are here; there are three versions each of the ever-popular Fratres (for violin and piano, string orchestra and harp, and string quartet) and Summa (for mixed voices, string orchestra, and string quartet), as well as the version of Spiegel in Spiegel for violin and piano, Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten for string orchestra and bell, and the concerto for two violins and prepared piano, Tabula rasa.

In the face of the legend that he once was, it's very fashionable to dismiss Eric Burdon's '70s-and-later output as little more than an afterthought – which may or may not be true. But from the moment 1988's I Used to Be an Animal kicks into groove, it's clear that Burdon has spent the last few years doing more than kicking over old traces. The putative soundtrack to the singer's recently published autobiography, I Used to Be an Animal chases that band's career through its own chops and changes, pitfalls and high points, but without ever actually looking back. Situations and ambitions are recalled, to be sure. But the ice-sharp production and soaring, anthemic attack merges memory with modernity, to produce an album that still turns unsuspecting heads around – "what is that you're playing?" The sharpest shock, of course, is the opening title track, a brittle slice of late-'80s funk rap that manages to blend themes as diverse as the Who's "Baba O'Riley," Disco Tex's "Get Dancing," and Falco's "Das Kommissar," and still comes up sassy and fresh.

T-Bone Walker is one of the greatest blues singers of all time. He's not a shouter, he's a singer and he's steeped in the blues tradition. Walker went throught what has become the classic pattern of apprenticeship of the blues singer. He's also a guitar player of considerable ability, with a really compelling rhythm and an intensity that is almost frightening. But it is as a blues singer that T-Bone will be remembered. Featuring 50 classic tracks from his Imperial years, this 2CD set captures T-Bone Walker at his very best. Highlights include 'Travelin' Blues', 'I Miss You Baby', 'I Got The Blues Again' and many more.

On the Who's final album with Keith Moon, their trademark honest power started to get diluted by fatigue and a sense that the group's collective vision was beginning to fade. As instrumentalists, their skills were intact. More problematic was the erratic quality of the material, which seemed torn between blustery attempts at contemporary relevance ("Sister Disco," "New Song," "Music Must Change") and bittersweet insecurity ("Love Is Coming Down"). Most problematic of all were the arrangements, heavy on the symphonic synthesizers and strings, which make the record sound cluttered and overanxious. Roger Daltrey's operatic tough-guy braggadocio in particular was beginning to sound annoying on several cuts…

Madar is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek featuring Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem and Pakistani tabla master Ustad Shaukat Hussain recorded in 1992 and released on the ECM label in 1994. On this CD Jan Garbarek (doubling on tenor and soprano) is accompanied only by Anouar Brahem on oud and Ustad Shaukat Hussain's tabla. Garbarek shows off his distinctive tones and lyricism on a set of gradually developing group originals, two of which are based on traditional Norwegian melodies. It may take some time for listeners to get into this music and notice the fire beneath the ice but the close communication between the players is apparent from the start.

On their third album - and first to be released simultaneously in Europe and the U.S. - Opeth continue to refine their epic, progressive death metal style, replete with harmonized leads and acoustic passages. My Arms, Your Hearse flows logically from one composition to the next, and the mostly long songs have enough variation in texture and mood to hold the listener's interest fairly consistently.