Chris Rea remained one of the best-kept secrets in the music industry, releasing five albums between 1979 and 1983, none of them reaching even the Top 50 in the charts. All were very well received by both the critics and the public who knew the secret. His secret was a brand of late-night rock that had an element of class, not dissimilar at this stage of his career to the early-'80s Dire Straits albums, but totally out of step, and proudly so, with the music of the time – new romantic, power and synth pop. He opened the album Water Sign with the song "Nothing's Happening by the Sea," which was so far laid back it was almost horizontal, with a harmonica instrumental break, and the album closed with a nod to synth pop on the track "Out of the Darkness." "Love's Strange Ways" was a similarly slow-moving Dire Straits-style number with an acoustic guitar picking out some notes throughout the song. "Let It Loose" had a driving rock beat, as did "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat," the only single taken from Water Sign.

Miles in the Sky reflects the intriguing curiosities and rainbow possibilities suggested by the album cover. Miles Davis’ fifth and final album with his classic second quintet is kaleidoscopic in sound, forward-looking in structure, and contextually grounded in approach. As the legendary leader’s first venture into what would become fusion, it’s historical for containing the premier appearances of electric piano, bass, and guitar on a Davis effort. Laden with rich textures and style-bridging elements, Mobile Fidelity’s SACD brings the aural magic into focus. Mastered from the original master tapes, this collectable audiophile version of Miles in the Sky joins the ranks of eleven other essential Davis sets given supreme sonic and packaging treatment by Mobile Fidelity.

The Gesualdo Six literally made its name with performances of Carlo Gesualdo's Tenebrae Responsories, but that's not the British vocal consort's only specialty. Each of the singers was trained in the English choral tradition, and sacred works of the 16th and 17th century are close to their hearts. This 2018 Hyperion release is a brief survey of motets by Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Thomas Tomkins, John Sheppard, Robert White, John Dunstaple, Thomas Morley, John Taverner, William Cornysh, Orlando Gibbons, and Robert Parsons, which represent the changing theological and liturgical aspects of English religion in the Renaissance. The ensemble, conducted by Owain Park, sings with evenly blended tones and an extraordinary harmonic richness, notwithstanding the assignment of one voice to a part and the exposed polyphony that sometimes creates an austere effect. Also quite noticeable are the cross-relations that add poignant dissonances to the counterpoint, as in Tallis' Loquebantur variis linguis, Taverner's Quemadmodum, Gibbons' O Lord, in thy wrath rebuke me not, and Parsons' Deliver me from mine enemies. This album was recorded in Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge, where The Gesualdo Six gave its first performances, and the sound is enhanced by vibrant acoustics that give the group a radiant aural halo.

This double album matches and mixes together four masterful musicians: pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Joe Pass, bassist Niels Pedersen and harmonica great Toots Thielemans. Together they perform O.P.'s "City Lights" and ten veteran standards with creativity, wit and solid swing. There are a few miraculous moments as one would expect from musicians of this caliber and the results are generally quite memorable.

This beautifully conceived program brings together the complete works for piano duet by three major American composers: Edward MacDowell (1860-1908), Amy Beach (1867-1944) and Samuel Barber (1910-1981).

The Swiss harpsichordist, Ursula Dütschler, studied with Jörg Ewald Dähler at the Konservatorium Bern with a soloist diploma. She continued her musical training with Kenneth Gilbert at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and with Malcolm Bilson (Hammerflügel) at the Cornell University in the USA. She won several prizes, including the 1989 International Cembalo Competition in Paris and the 1991 International Erwin Bodky Competition for Hammerflügel in Boston/USA. Today Ursula Dütschler lives in Holland and appears as a soloist, chamber musician and Lieder accompanist. She has performed with various important orchestras. Together with Malcolm Bilson and some musician colleagues she participated in 1997 in perforamance of the 32 piano sonatas of L.v. Beethoven on historical instruments. Ursula Dütschler has recorded several CD's, among which four CDs with works for solo harpsichord by Scarlatti, Byrd, Balbastre and Bach.

In 1884, Antonín Dvořák undertook his first concert tour to England. This was to become a highlight of his career to date and brought him international recognition and economic security. It was a time of private and professional bliss. It is interesting to note, however, that the Seventh Symphony by no means reflects a consistently pastoral, idyllic atmosphere. On the contrary, the music often has a dramatic and sombre effect. It is possible that Dvořák was coming to terms with the blows of fate he had suffered: he had lost his mother and three children.

Italy was a very progressive country in the fine arts during the late medieval to the baroque eras; the arts were especially great in Florence! This is a fine tapestry of Italian renaissance music with rich instrumental sounds and voices that can swoon the senses. The instrumental arrangements are perfect and the singers sound like they're celebrating the songs, instead of performing them. Philip Pickett has always recorded some of the finest early music.

Do you ever feel like those standard hits-of-the-70s compilations don’t quite capture the 1970s that you remember? Do you feel like many of your personal favorites, even when they were big hits, are rarely if ever included? That’s why we created Hard To Find 45s On CD, Volume 18: 70s Essentials – to bring back all those seldom-heard classics that other collections seem to have forgotten. And we make them sound better than ever!

In another world, society has built an immense mountain To make the mountain bigger, they must make the hole they live in deeper and deeper. All of society is built around the creation of the mountain, and a mountain religion dominates all thought. At the top of the mountain is rumoured to be a huge mirror that reflects endlessly recurring images of the self, and at the bottom of the pit is a giant golden snake that is the primal fear of all believers. A “Mountainhead” is one who believes the mountain must grow no matter the cost, and no matter how terrible it is to dwell in the great pit. The taller the mountain, the deeper the hole.

Scope Neglect is an experimental and genre-shifting album forged from Frost’s admiration for metal with the mindful removal of its conventional attributes. Where the record touches aspects of the genre, it’s met with glitching electronics, immersive ambient industrial churns and deeply contemplative explorations that result in something impossible to pigeonhole. Created with guitarist Greg Kubacki (from New York’s progressive metal band Car Bomb) and bassist Liam Andrews (from Melbourne band MY DISCO), the album was recorded at Candy Bomber studios in Berlin with engineer Ingo Krauss (Swans, Nick Cave, and Mick Harvey).

The percussionist András Dés, who has been living in Vienna for five years, has formed a quartet with two Austrian musicians, Martin Eberle and Philipp Nykrin, and his old bandmate Márton Fenyvesi, who is now also based in Vienna, to capture the essence of European jazz: diversity, openness and the power of listening to each other.

Reissue of the 6 albums of the original Mutantes lineup – 1968 to 1972, including “Tecnicolor”, recorded in 1970 and first released in 1999. Additionally, the unreleased collection “Mande um Abraço pra Velha” – which rescues the group's main moments participating or sharing albums by other artists, single tracks and released single tracks. It comes with a historical insert with texts by Rodrigo Faour.

Legendary rocker, one of the purest incarnations of this wild music which was preparing to invade the musical landscape, Vince Taylor caused a real shock on his arrival in France. An inveterate showman, he will turn his concerts into moments of pure madness that will regularly turn into riot. He will record a breathtaking succession of "EP's" as incandescent as they are impeccably produced, with the complicity of talented musicians who are perfectly trained. Vince Taylor's career will be a chain of scandals and triumphs. Brought together in this luxurious triple digipak, Vince's recordings for Barclay in their entirety are for the first time accompanied by the first 8 tracks recorded in England at the start of his career, including the immortal Brand New Cadillac. The 16-page booklet, richly illustrated with rare documents, is accompanied by testimonies and comments from Dick Rivers, Marc Zermati, Philippe Maneuver and Jacky Chalard who all lived up close to the legend of "the black angel of rock"

Like the film itself, the soundtrack to Miami Vice is no 1980s retro-ride. Sure, it opens with "In the Air Tonight," but it's a cover by nü metal band Nonpoint taken from their 2004 album Recoil. Director Michael Mann's slick revisionist aesthetics are confirmed on two types of tracks. First, there are the dancefloor-friendly ones like "One of These Mornings" (a collaboration between Moby and Patti Labelle) and a house remix of Nina Simone’s "Sinnerman" by Felix da Housecat. Then there are the more atmospheric offerings, such as a couple instrumentals by Scottish band Mogwai and the last four tracks, that suggest the kind of steel-blue ambiance Mann is so good at creating (especially John Murphy's "Mercado Nueva" and Klaus Badelt & Mark Batson's "A-500"). Odder is the lack of local flavor: there's only a pair of Latin-flavored tracks, Arranca and Emilio Estefan, for instance. Not to mention that if ever there was a soundtrack that should have included at least one Miami bass song, it's this one. As for those who still associate Miami Vice with pastel colors and the 1980s, they're better off checking out the soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City–a video game that's actually more faithful to the spirit of the TV series than the movie that bears its name. –Elisabeth Vincentelli