A truly undervalued gem, This Is… Gracious! sat on the shelves for two years after completion before being issued; it's a shame that it was to be last anyone heard from the band for the next two decades.
No sophomore jinx here: on their second album, Gracious truly hits its stride. The first half of the album is a four-part suite, "Super Nova." After its Floydian opening instrumental, the band launches into the bleak "Blood Red Sun"; with a dystopic narrative of environmental holocaust and its martial drumbeat, it's an ideal complement to King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man." Strange, then, that this should lead to "Say Goodbye to Love," an effectively weepy guitar ballad of lost romance and tear-jerking harmonies. It's on the second half of the album, though, that Gracious hits escape velocity…

2007 is a milestone year for German electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze. He celebrated his 60th birthday on August 4th and has also released an excellent solo album entitled "Kontinuum". "Kontinuum" is 76 minutes of continuous music consisting of three long tracks that form one long piece of music. Musically, the album is journey into Klaus Schulze's past, present and future as a musician. Fans of his classic 70's style will definitely feel at home listening to this disc. There are also elements that will appeal to fans today's techno and trance music as well.

At the time these tracks were cut, 1967 and 1968, R.L. Burnside was working on a plantation in Coldwater, MS, cutting silage. Folklorist George Mitchell was on a mission to record unknown blues singers down South. Mitchell heard about Burnside and paid him a visit, asking if he could record him. That night Mitchell returned to Burnside's place with a case of beer and some whiskey. Ten months later, Burnside had his first release. While these 14 tracks didn't jump start Burnside's career, they are stark, organic, and timeless, just Burnside and his acoustic guitar running down mainly traditional material that he arranged. This is an absolute treasure for Burnside aficionados and casual blues listeners alike.

This lovely jazz vocalist recorded something like 150 songs for the Atlantic label alone, about a quarter of which are collected here on this double-CD set. Fans may fear a set of poor song choices with such a large number of recordings to choose from, but the songstress herself was involved in the compiling, working with an enthusiastic producer who seems to get a bigger kick out of music than anyone on the planet, Joel Dorn. This collection comes with his usual send-offs, dripping with camaraderie, and a sense of deep appreciation for the works of art he is presenting. These recordings brings us a voice with all the colors of the rainbow dropped into one swinging and well thought out instrumental combination after another. Jazz fans can listen for blowing from top-flight players such as Frank Foster, Al Cohn, Maynard Ferguson (his tracks are also recommended for dogs as well as jazz fans), Jaki Byard, Oliver Nelson, and Clark Terry. Even the mighty Mongo Santamaria is on hand. Chris Connor and her arrangers must have had pretty consistent good taste with their choice of material, because there are less lemons in the batch than one might expect skipping around through more than a dozen albums spread out over an equal number of years.~Eugene Chadbourne

Die Schönschti Ländlerbox – Best Swiss Folk Music“ ist eine umfassende Sammlung, die der traditionellen Volksmusik der Schweiz, der sogenannten Ländlermusik, gewidmet ist.

Released in a cardboard sleeve.This CD is OUTSTANDING! The first half is more conventional jazz, and the second half is more eltro-jazz. some almost borders on drum n bass! A+

These performances bring out so much of the gorgeous sonority in Gabrieli's music. The marvelous singing of the soloists and choir demonstrate the lavish riches of Gabrieli's triadic harmonies. The sound of the trombones and cornets is neatly absorbed into the overall sound of the vocal ensemble.

Lovers of high-Renaissance polyphony will find much to enjoy with this new CPO release of works by the German composer Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612). Like his contemporary and friend Giovanni Gabrieli, Hassler’s advanced use of polychoral techniques (which would acheive ultimate fruition in the settings of Heinrich Schütz) earned him great fame and recognition in his day. While it’s unlikely that Hassler ever heard his music performed in a program like this, one that intersperses various combinations of solo, instrumental, and choral works, the performances nevertheless provide a fascinating musical glimpse into the work of this rarely recorded master.

Presenting First Vespers and the Salve Service as it might been celebrated in October 1617 in the presence of King Philip III and the Duke of Lerma, Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort & Players bring these early 17th century works to glowing life, the rising and falling cadences of voices mingling with the counterpoint of the magnificent organ of the Cathedral in Lerma.

About the KMG Archive Series — This multi-CD series consists of audio recordings of all eras from deep within the Kevin Gilbert audio vault. Demos, unreleased tracks, alternate mixes, live soundboard recordings, studio rehearsal sessions, and more. The highest quality audio source was used for each title. Some recordings are presented in raw form and exist for the true completist.

2010 two CD collection from the world's most iconic Reggae label. Since the Ska revival of the late '70s, this up-tempo, dance-friendly music has remained in vogue the world over, with each new generation spawning new fans of the genre. Yet for all it's popularity, many of the original Jamaican Ska recordings from the early to mid '60s have continued to remain unavailable. This set goes some way to redressing the balance by featuring 40 tracks from the Island and Trojan archives, almost none of which can be found on any other current CD release and 18 of which are making their CD debut here! Despite the scarcity of these recordings, they are of the highest quality and feature some of the biggest talents of the original era, ensuring the best Ska collection to see issue in years! Spectrum.

Vom Kellerclub in Hagen in die Spitzenplätze der internationalen Charts: NENA ist eine der erfolgreichsten deutschen Pop-Ikonen und feiert ihr 40 Jahre Bühnenjubiläum! NENA 40 das neue Best of Album: Zum großen Jubiläum gibt es eine Zusammenstellung (persönlich von NENA) mit den größten Hits der Ausnahmekünstlerin, die es aus der westfälischen Provinz auf die großen Bühnen der Welt geschafft hat.

"Policy" was the first solo album by Martha Davis, the lead singer in the Motels. Like many of the Motels' moody hits, most of the songs on "Policy" have a melancholic feel. Standing in contrast, however, is the hopeful and climactic "My Promise". Deluxe Vinyl Replicas by Culture Factory constitute high quality reissued compact-discs which reproduce all the components of the original LPs and are their exact replicas in compact-disc size (5.3 x 5.3 inches), with authentic single or gatefold cardboard jackets and paper sleeves. In addition to the above, each compact-disc Deluxe Vinyl Replica includes a black finish CD complete with the original label to give it the look and feel of the original record album. Culture Factory strives to achieve an authentic sound with the highest possible fidelity to the original studio masters. Our remastering process brings out the music's true dynamics and original clarity with low levels of noise. In the remastering studio the audio tracks are handled in the form of high-definition, 96Kz / 24-bit digital files for greatest preservation of fidelity.

Antonín Dvorák's Stabat Mater, Op. 58, written in the aftermath of the deaths of three of his children, is a sober and powerful work, inexplicably neglected and unlike any other work of choral music from the 19th century. Perhaps most performances don't capture its full weight, but this live recording from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons, does so. There are many deep pleasures here. The orchestra's choir is extraordinary: rich yet without a hint of wobble and utterly clear in its sense of the text. Jansons keeps things at a deliberate pace that lets the music breathe and the currents of personal experience rise to the surface. The soloists, none terribly well known, are fine in their individual numbers, but absolutely transcendent in ensembles, nowhere more so that in the sublime "Quando corpus morietur" finale (track 10); there are a couple of other strong recordings of this work, but it seems likely that no one has ever matched this conclusion. The live recording from the Herkulessaal in Munich is impressively transparent and faithful to the spontaneity of the event. A superb Dvorák release.

The show vinyl for the classic debut album by Beastie Boys. Took me a minute to find an upgraded copy of this record. Not sure how many were made but a handful made it out into the field. None can be as clean as this one. Unplayed w no markings… Wow! Notice they didnt include all the songs as this particular show vinyl was pressed for a particular tour sometime around the release of the album. Some of the other instrumentals appear on the singles so they made best use of the real state on a single piece of vinyl because its pressed LOUD! Im happy to offer you this great piece of history. From My Crate To Yours!