From its kaleidoscopic array of junk-culture musical styles to its assured, surrealistic wordplay, Beck's debut album, Mellow Gold, is a stunner. Throughout the record, Beck plays as if there are no divisions between musical genres, freely blending rock, rap, folk, psychedelia, and country. Although his inspired sense of humor occasionally plays like he's a smirking, irony-addled hipster, his music is never kitschy, and his wordplay is constantly inspired. Since Mellow Gold was pieced together from home-recorded tapes, it lacks a coherent production, functioning more as a stylistic sampler: there are the stoner raps of "Loser" and "Beercan," the urban folk of "Pay No Mind (Snoozer)," the mock-industrial onslaught of "Mutherfuker," the garagey "Fuckin' With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock)," the trancy acoustic "Blackhole," and the gently sardonic folk-rock of "Nitemare Hippy Girl."

The ensemble of the Bachakademie, the Gaechinger Cantorey, plays under the direction of Hans-Christoph Rademann. For this purpose it comprises the instrumentalists and up to four vocalists per voice, including the soloists, all specialists in their field, as Bach himself wished it. This is a vision that only now can be fulfilled in it's ideal form. To this day the music will inspire it's audience to devotion, challenge them to reflect and make them glad. It addresses questions of faith and comes to terms with particular situations of human life.The Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart is performing all these cantatas in chronological order exactly 300 years later. The performances follow the latest state of Bach research documented in the new 2022 catalogue of Bach's works BWV3.

Hailed as “fresh, different and exhilarating” by the San Francisco Chronicle, violinist Grace Park, winner of the prestigious Naumburg International Violin Competition, presents her debut solo recording with the Prague Philharmonia directed by Emmanuel Villaume. The album features a new orchestration of Dvořák’s Four Romantic Pieces, a rarely played work of exceptional lyrical beauty, alongside the composer’s Romance, which showcases Park’s ability to blend heart-stirring warmth with absolute technical mastery.

Third is a live and studio album by the English rock band Soft Machine, released as their third overall in June 1970 by CBS Records. It is a double album with a single composition on each of the four sides, and was the first of two albums recorded with a four-piece line-up of keyboardist Mike Ratledge, drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt, saxophonist Elton Dean, and bass guitarist Hugh Hopper. Third marks a shift in the group's sound from their psychedelic origins towards jazz rock and electronic music. "Facelift" is a live recording by the previous line-up of the band, a five-piece with Lyn Dobson on saxophone and flute alongside Ratledge, Wyatt, Hopper and Dean. The remaining tracks are studio recordings by the four-piece line-up, augmented by a few session musicians. Jimmy Hastings (brother of Pye Hastings from Caravan) makes substantial contributions on flute and clarinet on "Slightly All the Time", free-jazz violinist Rab Spall (then a bandmate of Wyatt's in the part-time ensemble Amazing Band) is heard on the coda to "Moon in June", and Nick Evans (who had been a member of Soft Machine during late 1969 when they spent a short time as a seven-piece band) makes brief appearances on trombone in "Slightly All the Time" and "Out-Bloody-Rageous".

T-Square is a Japanese jazz fusion band that was formed in 1978. They became famous in the late 70s and early 80s along with other Japanese fusion bands. Its most successful lineup included guitarist Masahiro Andoh, bassist Mitsuru Sutoh, saxophonist, flutist and EWI player Takeshi Itoh, keyboardist Hirotaka Izumi, and drummer Hiroyuki Noritake. They are known for songs such as "Truth", "Japanese Soul Brothers", "Takarajima", and "Omens of Love" among others. "Truth" was used as the theme for Japan's Formula One (F1) racing events from 1989 to 2000. An Arrangement of said tune, "Truth 21c" was used as the theme for Japan's F1 2001 and 2002, respectively, and other remixes of "Truth" were used from 2003 to 2006.

1994 compilation on Repertoire featuring 32 tracks from 1968-1993, plus an extensive booklet, detailed tracknotes by Colin Cooper, full discography & rare photos. Packaged as two standard jewelcases within a slipcase, featured tracks include their #3 1977 smash 'Couldn't Get ItRight', the top 20 hit 'I Love You' and a live version of'Don't Start Me Talking'.

Joseph Haydn’s symphonic oeuvre forms the foundation on which the musical works of the Classical, Romantic and, ultimately, Modern periods stand: Many have failed to present this complex in its entirety. When the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra proudly presented Volume 1 of Haydn’s symphonies in 1999, the intention was to record and publish the complete orchestral oeuvre of this classic composer up to the 200th anniversary of his death in 2009. There were no recordings in the orchestra’s archive and little experience with this composer: a bold plan that ultimately took 25 years to realize. And yet it seemed a thoroughly realistic vision for the still young but independent orchestra, which was not bound by any municipal repertoire. After all, it also promised solid basic funding for the decade for musicians who had previously lived from hand to mouth.

For most intents and purposes, Sugarloaf was finished after their 1973 album I Got a Song failed to generate any attention, but the band continued to push ahead, channeling their frustrations into the bubblegum sarcasm of “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You.” The song became a fluke hit in 1975, prompting a re-release of I Got a Song under a new title borrowed from the hit, which also was prominently featured on the new release. Of course, the fizzy pop of “Don’t Call Us” sounded very little like the rest of the earlier record, which itself wasn’t all that reminiscent of their percolating 1970 hit “Green Eyed Lady,” either. It was a curious mix of pompous neo-prog – best heard on the charging instrumental “Myra, Myra” – light hippie funk, and coolly trippy soft rock, all sounds redolent of the early ‘70s, but certainly not the epitome of it. Which isn’t to say that lead singer/songwriter Jerry Corbetta couldn’t write – in addition to the hits, he knocked off Billy Joel/Elton John’s Western fantasia quite well on “Colorado Jones” – but this album tends to drift in and out of focus, making it a period piece but not much more. [Fuel 2000’s 2010 reissue added a host of worthwhile bonus tracks, including a live version of “Green Eyed Lady.”]

Multi-part music for the same instrument, dating back to Elizabethan consorts of viols, remains outside the typical orchestral repertoire nowadays, but as ever, SOMM remains true to it's stellar reputation for presenting rare and singular releases. Habanera, Music for Eight Cellos and Voice is a joyous recording that grew out of a collaboration between baritone Roderick Williams and cellist Joely Koos, joint Artistic Directors at the 2023 Endellion Summer Music Festival.

This marriage of four players with impressive pedigrees proved to be the success story of 1982 when Asia's debut lodged itself at the top of the U.S. album charts for two months. The album spawned a massive number four single in "Heat of the Moment," a follow-up Top 20 hit in the sweeping "Only Time Will Tell," and a handful of other tracks that received heavy radio play despite going against the grain of the new wave styling of the day. Produced by Mike Stone, Asia's strengths were the powerful vocals of John Wetton, the nimble, classically tinged guitar work of Steve Howe, Geoffrey Downes' majestic keyboard playing, and anchoring the band, Carl Palmer's propulsive drumming. The lyrics are overwrought at moments, but there's no denying the epic grandeur of the music, which provided some much-needed muscle to radio at the time, and did so with style.

The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other is the second album by the British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, released in February 1970 on Charisma Records. It was the group's first album to be released in the UK and the only one to chart in the top 50 in that country. The songs on the album were mostly composed by group leader Peter Hammill but arranged and rehearsed by the whole band. The lyrics covered a variety of themes including relationships with friends, witchcraft and apocalyptic catastrophes, while the music ranged from ballads such as "Refugees" to unusual and aggressive playing on "White Hammer" and "After the Flood". As well as a brief commercial success, the album was well received by critics and continues to be praised.

Compilation album of Japanese Rockin' Psyche & Punk sounds. Recorded in '65-'71 on Universal label. 20 tracks included. Japanese jewel case CD with OBI.

The talented, if underrated bebop pianist Kenny Drew spent his last few decades living in Scandinavia after emigrating from the U.S. in 1961. This 1996 CD has previously unreleased material recorded by the Danish Broadcast Corporation featuring Drew at three different periods in time. There are four tunes apiece of Drew in duets with bassist Niels Pedersen in 1966, playing unaccompanied solos in 1978, and duets with bassist Bo Stief in 1983. All dozen numbers (seven jazz standards, a Scandinavian folk song, an obscurity and two Drew originals, including two versions of "Blues for Nils") are quite rewarding. The music is straight-ahead, often harmonically sophisticated, swinging and occasionally unpredictable. An excellent sampling of Kenny Drew's talents.

The result of the meeting of Michael McCartney (brother of Beatle Paul), who would work as Mike McGear to avoid accusations of coat-tailing, and Post Office engineer John Gorman, the Scaffold took a blend of absurd humor and catchy songs to chart-topping glory throughout the 1960s. Their lineup filled out with Roger McGough and Adrian Henri, the group was briefly known as the Liverpool One Fat Lady All Electric Show, to the horror of everyone around them. Henri soon departed. A change of name later, they were gaining a reputation as one of the most amusing outfits on the scene, with a residency at Peter Cook's Establishment Club (where the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band also held court). The Scaffold's biggest successes were their cheerfully silly singles, starting with "Thank U Very Much" and continuing with "Lily the Pink" (a sterilized adaptation of an old rugby song, featuring Jack Bruce on bass) and the somewhat incomprehensible "Gin Gan Goolie," all of which had a knack for sticking in the mind on endless repeat without causing undue annoyance. These three songs, in particular, are well remembered even as the 1990s draw to a close.

In 2001, Philip Glass composed the music for the film Naqoyqatsi: Life as War. It was the last film in a trilogy by director Godfrey Reggio that featured only images and music. When the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra invited Glass to be a creative director for its Boundless Series during the 2011-12 season, Glass thought of his cello concerto and its possible life beyond film. The CSO commissioned the Cello Concerto No.2 - Naqoyqatsi and gave the composer the opportunity to have it reborn as a proper concerto. The resulting recording is drawn from the live performances. This dynamic seven-movement work is conducted here by long-time Glass champion Dennis Russell Davies with soloist Matt Haimovitz.