Françoise Hardy's Vogue years have marked the history of French and international music. Even today, the five years between 1962-67 remain an exceptional moment in her career, the one when she exploded in the eyes of a generation that was born during or just after the Second World War, the generation that would be part of the May 1968 Paris protests. Hardy exploded not only in France alongside her fellow 'Yéyés', but also internationally where she became the symbol of French elegance, talent and charm: the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain… no one could resist Françoise, and she recorded most of her hits in English, Italian and German. 'Tous les garçons et les filles', 'Mon amie la rose', 'L'amitié', 'Le temps de l'amour', etc. are songs that have crossed generations and can be heard in recent movies (Wes Anderson loves Francoise Hardy and has included her songs several times in his films), international television series ('The Walking Dead', 'Industry', 'Week-end family') and advertising spots (Dior 2022 campaign).

MOVE ON UP - From socially conscious Street Funk, to heartfelt love songs - superb Soul penned by Soul Music visionary Curtis Mayfield. Many Wonderful artists added his songs to their repertoire. Curtis Mayfield is way up there on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Best Songwriters.

The arrival of any new VAN STEPHESON music is met with huge anticipation. This release is just a little different from the norm, but no less exciting or musically brilliant. This is Van Stephenson, but with a little help from his friends. As most will be aware, over the course of the last couple of years, I have been archiving Van's vast collection of unreleased songs and demos. There are more than 500, covering all styles from 70s singer/songwriter, 80s AOR and pop to 90s country… and then some. The ultimate goal is to pay tribute to Van with some form of all-inclusive box set/s. During the course of sorting the archives into categories, a certain number of tracks were found to feature vocalists other than Van. I decided that the box sets should be dedicated to just Van with his songs, so the idea came to put together a separate release that featured these songs - Van's own or co-written demos and the various vocalists used on those original sessions. Hence the title - 'Same Pen, Different Voices'. And while Van's voice may be absent from this release - his spirit and his style are all over it, with some absolute melodic classics about to be launched.

King Crimson If there is one group that embodies progressive rock, it is King Crimson. Led by guitar/Mellotron virtuoso Robert Fripp, during its first five years of existence the band stretched both the language and structure of rock into realms of jazz and classical music, all the while avoiding pop and psychedelic sensibilities. The absence of mainstream compromises and the lack of an overt sense of humor ultimately doomed the group to nothing more than a large cult following, but it made their albums some of the most enduring and respectable of the prog rock era.King Crimson originally grew out of the remnants of an unsuccessful trio called Giles, Giles & Fripp.

This outstanding recording preserves one of Jonis superb early North American gigs, a performance at the intimate Second Fret Club in Philadelphia, captured by the citys Temple University radio station, WRTI, in November 1966 and broadcast across the local area. She clearly enjoyed playing at the tiny club and returned there several times the following year for further performances. Despite the undeniably excellent quality of her writing, many of the songs performed were destined to remain unreleased on record for several years. Just four made it onto the eponymously entitled debut album (also known as Song to a Seagull) issued by Reprise Records; Marcie, Michael from Mountains, Song to a Seagull and Night in the City.

Cliff Richard In the years after Elvis Presley but before the Beatles, Cliff Richard was the biggest thing in British rock & roll – and in the years after the Beatles, he was never far from the top of the U.K. charts. Arriving in 1958, just a couple of years after skiffle swept Britain, Richard was the first English singer to approximate the hip-shaking rebellion of American rock & roll with his 1958 debut single "Move It." A smash hit right out of the gate, "Move It" kicked off an astonishing five decades' worth of hits (as of 2014, his last time in the U.K. Top Ten was in 2008, when "Thank You for a Lifetime" went to number three).

Summer is officially here! The newest edition of our Chillhop Essentials series, Summer 2025 is our 38th compilation in this ongoing seasonal tradition.

Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and songwriter, born 15 November 1932, in Ewell, Surrey, England.Promoted and tutored by an enthusiastic father, she had started singing professionally at the age of seven and made her radio debut aged nine. She became a familiar singing voice on wartime radio and in concerts for the troops. By the end of the 1940s she was an established singing star and she also appeared as an actress in many films of the era working with such stars as Peter Ustinov, Anthony Newley and Alec Guinness.

As Principal Bassoon in the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Harri Ahmas (b. 1957) is one of Finland’s most highly regarded orchestral musicians. But he is also the composer of a substantial body of music, including four symphonies, eight concertos, much chamber music and a generous number of works for wind band. Some grandiose and powerful music for organ is threaded through his composing career, too, much of it composed for the musician who plays it here, Jan Lehtola.

Night is falling. In this twilight of the reign of Louis XIV and at the end of his Grand Coucher, the king is at last free from protocol. He then orders the musicians of the Kings Chamber, to come to him; they are the most excellent in the kingdom. These Petits Concerts which were held in the evening before His Majesty enabled the king to hear his preferred repertoire from all that he had loved and even danced to. Here is the Sleep scene from Lullys Atys, the Sombres Deserts by Lambert, the Mutine by Visee, the Grande Piece Royale by Lalande, A Gigue by Marais, La Plainte by La Barre Thibaut Roussel has gathered around him the finest interpreters of the French baroque repertoire, to give us, as if in a walking dream, the intimate music of this Coucher du Roi. Let the night last, sings Le Camus, right up until Couperins Land of Dodo.

Très jeune, Giovanni Paisiello connut un grand succès, aussi bien en Italie qu'à l'étranger. Il est surtout réputé pour son Barbier de Séville (1782) d'après Beaumarchais, déjà, qui influença bien évidemment Rossini et aussi Mozart pour ses Noces de Figaro. Ludwig van Beethoven lui-même utilisera une aria La Molinara "Nel cor piu non mi sento" pour composer une de ses oeuvres. Un autre opéra, créé en 1789, connut un renouveau récent grâce à la superbe interprétation du rôle-titre par Cecilia Bartoli : Nina, ossia la Pazza per Amore.

2009 compilation, the first of two volumes surveying the Ember label's Pop repertoire from 1969 until the label's demise at the end of the '70s. It comprises 21 tracks by 13 artists ranging from obscure American singer Polly Niles to the internationally famous P J Proby, as well as ill-fated actor Alan Lake, Irish vocalist Lee Lynch, French pop star Black Swan and fuzz guitar toting soul band Milt Matthews Inc. a clutch of projects including the Good Vibrations, the Good Ship Lollipop and Rusty Harness came to Ember courtesy of producer Mike Berry. The founding of US outlet Paramount-Ember in 1974, headed by music business veteran John Madara, brought albums by Denny Doherty (formerly of the Mamas And the Papas) and British all-girl glam rockers Mother Trucker into the fold.

The March 18th performance by the New Riders Of The Purple Sage in 1973 at The Felt Forum, (in the basement of Madison Square Garden) also boasted numerous appearances by special friends . Due to Sons Of Champlin having to pull out, NRPS opened for The Grateful Dead for their remaining performances at the Nassau Coliseum. The Dead returned the favour on their night off by appearing at NRPS 18th March show sharing the stage throughout with Ramblin Jack Elliott opening for NRPS. What followed was an explosive and unique performance by two iconic American rock bands. Echoes proudly presents the entire WNEW-FM broadcast of this legendary concert from 18th March 1973 at the Felt Forum, NY. Featuring New Riders of The Purple Sage together with The Grateful Dead and friends.

Ray Charles was the musician most responsible for developing soul music. Singers like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson also did a great deal to pioneer the form, but Charles did even more to devise a new form of black pop by merging '50s R&B with gospel-powered vocals, adding plenty of flavor from contemporary jazz, blues, and (in the '60s) country. Then there was his singing; his style was among the most emotional and easily identifiable of any 20th century performer, up there with the likes of Elvis and Billie Holiday. He was also a superb keyboard player, arranger, and bandleader. The brilliance of his 1950s and '60s work, however, can't obscure the fact that he made few classic tracks after the mid-'60s, though he recorded often and performed until the year before his death.

Once again Vic van de Reijt has managed to put together a CD with his own view on the music history of a European country. This time it has become Italy. Italiano! offers the Italian song from Caruso to Conte & from Naples to San Remo. Many Dutch artists have their hits in Italy, such as Marco Borsato's De Most Dreams His Bedrog, originally performed by Ricardo Fogli under the title Di Tutti i Giorni. There are also Italian songs sung by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.