Behind The Dykes is a double LP compilation presenting the best bands and artists the Dutch had to offer in the period 1964-1972. The Netherlands was the first non-English speaking country to storm the Billboard Hot 100 with a string of hit singles from bands such as Shocking Blue, Focus, George Baker Selection, Golden Earring, and Tee-Set. This set presents the bands that followed closely behind, with singles and albums that internationally have become highly sought-after records. Some bands with a rich discography, others with no more than one or two singles under their belt. Original singles of many of these tracks are currently offered and/or sold for hundreds of Euros on Discogs, and many original pressings were so limited at the time of release that they are impossible to find.

More pop, soul and beat gems from the London-based company’s 60s girls – with a touch of folk, psychedelia, bubblegum and even jazz. To the 60s Brit Girl enthusiast, discovering the Pye back catalogue is like being a kid in a sweet shop. It was first plundered for the purposes of reissue back in 1990, with the initial volume of the “Here Come The Girls” series which, during its eventual nine-year run, grew to include a further five collections of sublime and neglected gems from girls whose recordings appeared on Pye or sister label Piccadilly. In 2016, 17 years after the last of those compilations, and with a renewal of interest in all things Brit Girl, Ace visited the Pye catalogue for the “Scratch My Back! Pye Beat Girls 1963-1968” CD. But it’s now 2021, and for the new, or even seasoned devotee of the genre, four years is a long time to go without a top-up fix. So in a timely gesture of sustenance, Ace hereby presents “She Wants You! Pye Records’ Feminine Side 1964-1970”, a further set of tracks by the company’s female talent, over half of which never appeared on those 1990s reissues.

As you drive into Liverpool you will see a sign Liverpool 'Home Of The Beatles', which is absolutely true, but the city's contribution to popular music is far greater than that, covering the years before the Beatles, the Beatle years themselves, and more recent times. The Wall of Fame in Mathew Street salutes Liverpool's number 1 hit-makers and there is plenty of space for further additions. Compiled and annotated by author and BBC Radio Merseyside broadcaster Spencer Leigh, Liverpool Sounds presents 75 tracks which, by and large, relate to the pre-Beatles area. There are great songs, great comedy and great performances, and every track is here for a reason.

LOS ANGELES, CA – May 24, 2024 – Capitol Records and Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), in conjunction with Peggy Lee Associates, today release Peggy Lee: From the Vaults (Vol. 2), the second installment in the new digital series that features rare tracks currently unavailable on streaming platforms. Recorded for Capitol between 1948 and 1951, the 12 selections on From the Vaults (Vol. 2) include songs from stage and screen by American songbook giants Irving Berlin and Yip Harburg; a song co-written by jazz great Benny Carter; another by classical-popular composer Alec Wilder; and one co-written by Lee herself.

2014 two CD collection of rarities and remixes by one of the '80s finest and most successful pop acts. Thompson Twins were one of the most successful British pop groups of the 1980s, with a string of hit records, including 'Love On Your Side' (#9), 'We Are Detective' (#7), 'Hold Me Now' (#4), 'Doctor! Doctor!' (#2), 'You Take Me Up' (#2) and 'Sister Of Mercy' (#11).REMIXES & RARITIES assembles rare tracks from the archives alongside classic full length extended versions of the group's hit singles from the golden era of the 1980s. Compiled and collated with the support and involvement of Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey. Six tracks appear on CD for the first time, including sought-after early B-side 'In The Beginning', the 7' version of US single 'The Gap' and the US Remix of 'Lay Your Hands On Me'. Remastered from the original tapes.

For smooth vocals with some funky backing you can't beat the Chi-Lites, whose 70s smash hits are all included in this generous package, mastered from the best sources ever. They were Chi-Town's #1 soul group of the 70s. Between 1969 and 1975 the Chi Lites racked up 23 US Hot 100 hits. This compilation achieves a fine balance that incorporates all their biggest successes and throws in a few of the lesser hits that are beloved by all connoisseurs of quality group soul. Millions of young people around the world danced to the Chi-Lites in 2003. Sure, they may have thought they were dancing to Beyonce Knowles, but us older kids were ever happy to inform the young whippersnappers that B's massive floorfiller Crazy In Love would have sounded a bit, well, empty without the superpowered horns and bongos from the group's 1970 hit Are You My Woman (Tell Me So) to push its beats along. With a catalogue that also includes Oh Girl, Have You Seen Her, Stoned Out Of My Mind, Homely Girl and loads more like 'em, there's never been a time when the royalty well has run low or dry for The Chi-Lites prolific songwriter Eugene Record. If you want to hear soul harmony in its purest form, you've come to the right place.

The Music Band – Jazz is an album by War, the fifth and final entry in their "Music Band" series, released on MCA Records in 1983. It consists of outtakes from sessions for their 1979 albums The Music Band and The Music Band 2, and features several lineups of the band which existed that year. War were no longer recording for MCA when this album was released, and no singles from the album were issued. Track 1 was probably recorded/written in 1979 , when B.B. Dickerson was still in band and before Charles Miller was murdered. Track 2 could have been recorded/written anytime up to 1979.

A very special 2CD ‘80s metal retrospective from Los Angeles-born and bred band Autograph!
Includes the original studio demo version of the band’s monster hit single “Turn Up The Radio” plus more pre-Sign In Please demos, which landed the group a major label deal with RCA in 1984! Also features newer recordings from Autograph frontman Steve Plunkett that fans will surely enjoy!

Aside from being a fine act on record, Renaissance were also a marvellous live band, featuring the sublime vocals of singer Annie Haslam. Although Esoteric's expanded Renaissance re-issues featured BBC recordings, this set comprises material previously omitted from these releases. 'Can You Hear Me: Broadcasts 1974-1978' includes the stereo radio version of the band's 1977 BBC Sight & Sound In Concert performance (recently discovered in the archives and issued on CD for the first time) and a previously unreleased performance for BBC Radio's In Concert from October 1978, both newly remastered from the BBC masters. Also included is a region free video Blu Ray disc which features the band's appearance on the Swiss TV show Kaleidospop from 1974 (previously unreleased), the complete 1977 BBC TV Sight & Sound In Concert performance & a performance of Northern Lights from BBC TV's Top of the Pops show. 'Can You Hear Me: Broadcasts 1974-1978' is a collection of wonderful live performances by Renaissance and is an essential addition to their fine body of work.

Come now, let us all genuflect before Lamb of God, for to them we owe our metal souls. In the fat rat-infested, decrepit tenement called Heavy Rock Manor, the Virginia-based shock unit is one of the few groups striving to keep the power on and the hallways clear of gluttonous rap-rock/post-grunge False Marias. Yes, yes, Ashes of the Wake arrives via Epic Records, but this only will inflame the ire of the ignorant. For the rest of us, Lamb's ascendance to the majors melts a little more of the crap rock golden calf. Where previous efforts were fully automatic hot LZs, they were also slightly muddled for the very same reason. They fired in all directions. With Ashes, producer Machine has sharpened the corner of every riff and tightened the turns on classicist metal gallops.

Embark on a captivating sonic voyage with the mesmerizing new album "Embers" from the internationally acclaimed instrumental band, GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT!

Just 2 days before the official release, The Wailers - led by Aston Barrett Jr. - announced their brand new album Evolution. The album will be released this Friday on August 30th and features Marcia Griffiths, Mykal Rose on three songs, Gramps Morgan and Emily Estefan. The latter of whom is the daughter of the album's producer Emilio Estefan, who also produced the band's last GRAMMY nominated album One World (2020). "The Wailers are thrilled to announce the pre-save launch of Evolution, another album produced by the legendary Emilio Estefan! This album marks a new chapter in The Wailers’ journey, and we can’t wait to share it with you."

In popular mythology Haydn’s name is far less closely associated with the piano sonata than with the string quartet or symphony. Though a more than competent pianist (one writer in London described his playing of the brilliant fortepiano solo in the Symphony No 98 as ‘neat and distinct’), he was by his own admission no ‘wizard’ on the keyboard, and unlike Mozart and Beethoven never wrote sonatas for his own performance. Yet the keyboard remained central to Haydn’s creative process. His morning routine would invariably begin with him trying out ideas, for whatever medium, on the clavichord, the harpsichord or, from the 1780s, the fortepiano; and he composed prolifically for keyboard through most of his adult life, beginning with the harpsichord works he produced for aristocratic pupils during his ‘galley years’ in Vienna and culminating in the three great sonatas (Nos 50–52 in Hoboken’s catalogue) inspired by the sonorous Broadwood instruments he encountered on his London visits.

The Esterházy princes’ love of hunting prompted their ‘house composer’ Joseph Haydn to make extensive use of the horn. At the time, this was still the hand horn (Waldhorn), limited to ‘natural’ harmonics, since it did not yet have valves. Between 1761 and 1790 there were a total eighteen horn players in princely service, but no trumpeters! So, in his Symphony no.48 of 1769, for example, Haydn used the horns as ‘replacement trumpets’, instructing them to play an octave higher than usual. The horns strike a flamboyant note in Haydn’s symphonies, which is probably why an anonymous copyist of no.59 dubbed it the ‘Fire’ Symphony. The Symphony no.31 ‘Horn Signal’ (1765) gives its name to this thirteenth volume in the Haydn2032 Edition. The four horns ring out majestically and the musicians of Il Giardino Armonico perform this music in their characteristically impetuous style, under the fiery direction of Giovanni Antonini.

Wenzel Raimund Johann Birck (1718-1763) was one of the early proponents of Symphonic music in Vienna, along with Georg Christoph Wagenseil and Georg Matthias Monn, and an early tutor for Mozart. Birck also, along with Georg Christoph Wagenseil tutored a young Joseph Haydn. He was the court organist for Maria Theresia and the music teacher for emperor Joseph II.