Lester Bowie's projects apart from the Art Ensemble of Chicago tread a high wire between challenging improvised music and R&B-pop. This seeming dichotomy purports a universally appealing sound close to selling out, but speaks more to the whimsy and farcical elements Bowie sees in the hypocrisy of life. The Great Pretender is a perfect title for this effort, a mix of funk and humor, gospel and jazz, with no small points of reference to Dizzy Gillespie, early doo wop, Mahalia Jackson, James Brown, and Sun Ra. The lengthy title track modernizes the Buck Ram hit on many levels, as Bowie's sly, ribald, and comedic trumpet playing hits every nerve over a head nodding church hued backbeat, accented by the ooh-ooh vocals of Fontella Bass and David Peaston…

While German Prog/Art rockers Jane may be a familiar name outside of the Prog arena, Harlis were a tremendously talented offshoot of the band who recorded two albums that didn’t conform to the Prog Rock rulebook, but didn’t stray to far from it either. Led by former Jane member Charly Maucher, Harlis were a bit looser than their contemporaries, which added a raw edge to their sound. While the band features excellent musicians, Harlis’ sound is more about the band as a whole as opposed to the skills of the individuals. Adding a bit more Blues and British and American Rock influences into the mix may have turned away some Prog fans, but in doing so, their sound has a timeless quality to it…

Bad is the seventh studio album by American singer Michael Jackson. It was released on August 31, 1987 by Epic Records, nearly five years after Jackson's previous album, Thriller. Bad was written and recorded in nearly a year, and was the final collaboration between Jackson and producer Quincy Jones. Jackson co-produced it and composed all but two tracks. The album features appearances from Siedah Garrett and Stevie Wonder. Incorporating pop, rock, funk, R&B, dance, soul and hard rock, Jackson experimented with modern technology, including digital synthesizers and drum machines, resulting in a sleeker and more aggressive sound on Bad. The lyrical themes include media bias, paranoia, racial profiling, romance, self-improvement, and world peace.

Signed to the UK label AD Music for many years, Bekki Williams is best known for her melodic, emotive, orchestral style of instrumental music, which is well-showcased on her solo albums Elysian Fields, Shadow of the Wind, Innersense and Edge of Human. Classically trained from a very young age, Bekki is an award-winning flautist and multi-instrumentalist who has worked as an orchestra soloist, a music teacher, a backing vocalist, a session musician and a sound engineer, as well as running a commercial recording studio of her own. Expertly crafted, with heart, soul, and strong classical elements which give it immense depth, hers is music with considerable musical structure and style. Bekki is able to imbue her musical creations with a strong emotional content that lifts her music far above the norm.

Iolanta and Perséphone - A double bill consisting of two stage works that “represent an ideal of beauty, poetry and hope” forms this production in Madrid from the Teatro Real. In both works the progression from darkness to light acts as an initiation rite that completely transforms the existential attitude of the leading characters.

To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of its release, comes this remastered edition of Simple Mind's classic album Once Upon A Time. Containing the full original remastered album, Once Upon a Time. Originally released in October 1985, and coming hot on the heels of the global smash single ‘(Don’t You) Forget About Me’ , ‘Once Upon A Time’ was to prove the album that propelled Simple Minds to stratospheric heights of artistic and commercial success. Containing the classic hit singles ‘Alive And Kicking’, ‘All The Things She Said’, ‘Sanctify Yourself’, and ‘Ghostdancing’ the original era-defining Number 1 album now comes as part of this incredible 5CD / 1DVD box set. Bonus discs include a wealth of supplementary tracks, including the original and extended versions of ‘(Don’t You) Forget About Me’, single edits, 12” mixes, B-sides, unreleased tracks and the 2-disc ‘Live In The City Of Light’ concert.

Television composer Frank Duval scored several hits in Germany, including 1979's "Todesengel" and the following year's "Angel of Mine." Born in Berlin in 1940, he studied as an actor and dancer, but also sang with his sister, Maria. By the '60s, Duval was also composing music, both orchestral and pop, and his debut soundtrack – for an episode of the German serial Tatort – aired in 1977. Much busier with composition work during the late '70s, Duval also released some of his recordings through Teldec. From his 1979 debut Die Schönsten Melodien Aus Derrick und der Alte, "Todesengel" became a moderate hit.

During their first two years of recording, the Animals had never quite succeeded when it came to recording LPs - good as some of the songs on their first two albums, done for EMI, had been, there was this sense that single were what this band was really about. Then, newly signed to English Decca, they delivered Animalisms, a truly transcendent collection of a dozen songs, mostly superb covers interspersed with some good originals, principally by Eric Burdon and Dave Rowberry. Burdon was never singing better and the group had developed a bold, tight sound that seemed to lift his soul shouting to ever higher levels of passion and conviction. "Outcast," "Maudie," "You're on My Mind," "Clapping," "That's All I Am to You," "Squeeze Her - Tease Her," "I Put a Spell on You," "She'll Return It," and "Gin House Blues" all rate among the best work the band ever did, passionate, gorgeous, and exciting R&B down to the last note…

1 is a greatest hits album of the English rock band the Beatles, originally released on 13 November 2000. The album features virtually every number-one single the band achieved in the United Kingdom or United States from 1962 to 1970. Issued on the 30th anniversary of the band's break-up, it was their first compilation album available on only one CD. 1 was a commercial success and topped charts worldwide. It has sold over 31 million copies. Since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking US album sales in January 1991, 1 is the fourth-best-selling album in the US, the best-selling album of the 2000s decade in the US, as well as the best-selling album of the decade worldwide. 1 was remastered and reissued in September 2011. It was remixed and reissued again in several different deluxe editions in November 2015, the most comprehensive of which is a three-disc set entitled 1+, which includes video discs of Beatles promotional films. As of June 2015, 1 was the sixth-best-selling album of the 21st century in the UK, having sold over 3.1 million copies.

Less a "best of" than an early full album that brings together some of Muddy Waters' earliest recordings for Chess - a great collection of early singles recorded in Chicago between 1950 and 1954! The work's relatively spare and rootsy overall - a great example of Chicago blues in its formative years, with some traces of a more southern style still in the mix.

After a decade of generally intriguing recordings, pianist Abdullah Ibrahim really found his own voice by the early '70s. His lengthy solo set from February 18, 1973, was released as a pair of Sackville LPs (Sangoma and African Portraits). One selection apiece from the two albums have been grouped with the previously unreleased "Salaam Peace" to form this disc. Ibrahim is heard on three lengthy medleys; best are "African Portraits" and "Fats, Duke & the Monk," although Fats Waller (who is only represented by a brief "Honeysuckle Rose") gets short shrift on the latter. Ibrahim's passionate solos (which are sometimes joined by his verbal cries) are picturesque, episodic, and utterly fascinating on this set even if Ancient Africa actually gets the edge.

An antipodean cosmic space music odyssey from 1966 to now! Featuring Russell Morris, Tame Impala, Cybotron, Sons of the Vegetal Mother and more. After two years of extensive crate-digging and foraging, UK psychedelic DJ duo the Amorphous Androgynous return with the latest installment in their award winning series 'A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble (Exploding In Your Mind) - The Wizards Of Oz'. As the title suggests, 'The Wizards Of Oz' is devoted exclusively to the rich heritage of cosmic space music from Australia and New Zealand. In keeping with previous volumes of this acclaimed series, it traces the lineage from the sixties to the present day, re-appraising the meaning of the term 'psychedelic' along the way, The tracks are expertly woven and mashed together to form a trip as enjoyable as it is both enlightening and educational.