2006 two CD compilation series from the team that brought you the Blue Series, the biggest selling Jazz series ever. These compilations will all cover distinct historical and stylistic phases of the label's history, gathering together tracks that are rarely anthologized alongside some of the more well known cuts. Each one will then be housed in a distinctive sleeve that looks like a Blue Note compilation that was done at the specific period covered by the release. Sharp Shades & Finger Snaps features 19 tracks including cuts from Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Hank Mobley, McCoy Tyner, Grant Green, Lee Morgan and others.

No matter what your opinion of the composer, these Piano Trios represent two of the most ravishing inspired chamber works ever written. There are moments reminiscent of the panache of Chausson, the melancholy of Schubert, the playfulness of Saint-Saens, and the pathos of Shostakovich yet the trios ultimately maintain an identity uniquely their own. Recorded in 1986, the Beaux Arts Trio (in arguably their most esteemed line-up of Menahem Pressler, Isidore Cohen, and Bernard Greenhouse) as well were in top form and deliver performances that can hardly be bettered. An absolute must for all chamber music fans.

This well recorded disc from 1985 delivers impressive readings of both of these works. Mullova takes a very individual view of these concertos and has the technical assurance to communicate her view with compelling certainty.
The Tchaikovsky concerto is played in the full uncut version that was written by the composer. This is now becoming more common but in 1985 was still unusual enough to warrant comment. By playing the notes as Tchaikovsky had intended Mullova signals a very serious intent which she carries out throughout these two concertos.

None of these reconstructions are included in Teldec’s Bach 2000, although the better-known ‘originals’ obviously are. The real newcomer is the Sinfonia, BWV1045 (5'34'') ‘to an unknown cantata’ which – as befits a BWV number that immediately precedes the First Brandenburg Concerto – is rumbustious, festive and thematically likeable. Time and again I could sense allusions to other Bach instrumental pieces, though the soloist’s ceaseless arpeggiating is sometimes a distraction. We’re told it’s authentic (the manuscript source suggests a violin concerto in the making) but something about its harmonic language doesn’t quite ring true, though that reaction might well be due to lack of familiarity.

This two-CD set is actually part of an ambitious undertaking: ESS.A.Y Recordings recorded these sonatas in two different versions, this one featuring Ms. Tenenbaum on a modern violin and accompanied by a modern piano played by Richard Kapp; the other recording (reviewed below) features Ms. Tenenbaum playing an older violin and accompanied by a harpsichord played by Gerald Ranck.

The Melbourne-based Spectrum was a highly regarded Australian progressive psych rock band that came together in 1969 around its central figure, expatriate New Zealand guitarist/singer/songwriter, Mike Rudd. In its formative year Spectrum played covers of work by its contemporaries, such established psychedelic / progressive artists like Pink Floyd, Soft Machine and Traffic before developing a style of its own.
Many fans will tell you that Spectrum music is some of the greatest progressive psych rock recorded in the day, and nominate the band as purveyors of a uniquely Australian sound and identity. Spectrum's debut, Part One was originally released on EMI's progressive label Harvest and is rightfully regarded as not only a landmark progressive rock release, but the beginnings of one of Australia 's more remarkable bands. Aztec Music's deluxe reissue of Part One has 7 bonus tracks…

One of the most prolific men in music, Bill Laswell doesn't release albums under his own name as often as he once did, which makes Book of Exit, the fourth in his "Dub Chamber" series, especially worthy of attention. While the previous "Dub Chamber" releases leaned more toward hard Jamaican-style dub music, with instruments dropping in and out and plenty of reverb and delay, this is altogether a different beat, in large part due to the vocals of Ethiopian singer Gigi. And what Laswell, Gigi, drummer/tabla player Karsh Kale, and percussionist Aiyb Dieng end up with is really ambient dub - something lighter and more flowing because it adapts itself to the vocals. And Gigi is in excellent form, possibly better than on her own debut, whether on "Ethiopia" or the memorable, beautiful "Jerusalem," which mixes a slight R&B inflection with dub for something outstanding, beautiful, and ethereal…

Barbara McNair is certainly not the only singer to get lost in the shuffle at Motown at the company's mid-'60s zenith, but her tenure there seemed particularly star-crossed – as this 48-track Ultimate Motown Collection illustrates, much of her finest material was inexplicably withheld from release (in particular the much-bootlegged Northern soul classic "Baby a Go-Go"), while official singles like "My World Is Empty Without You" were issued in the wake of existing hit renditions by other Motown artists. But McNair boasted a genuinely sophisticated, sexy style that was unique in the Motown canon, and her voice – though by no means a powerhouse – is nevertheless stronger and more affecting than Diana Ross, whose hand-me-downs she often received. Compiling her full-lengths Here I Am and The Real Barbara McNair, the unreleased Barbara McNair Sings Smokey, non-LP singles, and rare vault material, this two-disc set finally pays McNair the respect she's always deserved – complete with informative liner notes and excellent sound, it's tough to imagine a better representation of her music.

The late singer and songwriter Blaze Foley is almost unheard of outside of the circles of music fans who follow that scene closely. For many Austin musicians, he was a crazy saint, an iconoclast who was banned from virtually every bar in town, but whose songs are deeply admired and whose persona was singular – he didn't give a good god damn what anybody thought of him. He has been immortalized in Lucinda Williams' beautiful "Drunken Angel" and songwriter-guitarist Gurf Morlix, who played with him, lovingly mastered a record they made together in the late '70s which was released in 2006 as Blaze Foley & the Beaver Valley Boys. Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Kings of Leon, Lyle Lovett, and John Prine, among others, have recorded his songs. He's been exploited on a few compilations that have come out over the years with awful post-production work that he would never have agreed to. Fat Possum deepens the legend further without soiling the artist in the process. The Dawg Years is a collection of 20 Foley songs, recorded when his moniker was Deputy Dawg.

Best Of…, also referred to as Sia: Best Of…, is the first greatest hits album by Australian singer-songwriter Sia, released in Australia on 30 March 2012 through the Sydney-based independent record label Inertia.[2] The compilation includes tracks from four of her previous studio albums: Healing Is Difficult (2001), Colour the Small One (2004), Some People Have Real Problems, (2008) and We Are Born (2010). Also included are two tracks featuring Sia as a vocalist ("Destiny" by Zero 7 and "Titanium" by David Guetta), "My Love" from The Twilight Saga: Eclipse film soundtrack, plus a remixed version of "Buttons" by Brazilian rock band CSS.

In nearly all his pieces, Duphly presents two contrasting images—the bold and brazen virtuoso, and the wistful dreamer. The one exploits the compass of the harpsichord with scales and dense chords while the other enchants with delicately voiced textures. Only occasionally, as in pieces such as the fiercely passionate ''Medee'', or the elegant ''Les Graces'', does one mood prevail. Nimbly shifting back and forth between these extremes within pieces (as, for example in ''La larare'' or ''La d'Hericourt'') and between them presents a formidable challenge to any performer.

The Art of Renée Fleming is essentially an album of the soprano's most popular hits, probably not targeted at listeners who are already big fans (who are likely to already have the albums from which these selections were culled), but at more general audiences interested in expanding their operatic horizons. With a few very familiar exceptions, the songs and arias are from the Romantic and post-Romantic eras, and showcase the luxurious creaminess of Fleming's voice and her ability to spin out melodic lines with seamless, soaring lyricism.

An invitation to experience music played in the court of Versailles – for Louis XIV and his successors. An imaginary story gives it its framework: A young provincial beauty comes to the court, is presented to the King and becomes his favourite, falls into disgrace through the intrigues of her rivals, but finally retrieves her honour.

When one speaks of a man full of fire, genius and life, one has to think of Monsieur Guillemain, Musician to the King; he is perhaps the most extraordinary and adroit violinist one can hear play. There are no difficulties that can stump him and he can compose learned pieces which sometimes embarrass his rivals. Among the great Masters, this celebrated artist is one of the most productive. His works are full of touching beauty.