One of the reasons we have so much Duke Ellington to enjoy on record is that he liked to tape everything - concerts, works in progress, prototypes, and alternate editions. That, plus the quality of his output, has left us with treasures like this - in contrast to MusicMasters' Benny Goodman archival releases, which are generally inferior to his official releases, the label's Ellington vault releases are essential and delightful. Anyone who has taken in Paul Gonsalves' extended solo from the 1956 Ellington Newport performance may want to own this disc, just for the equivalent Jimmy Hamilton tenor sax showcase on "The Old Circus Train" - Hamilton's clarinet gets center stage on "Girdle Hurdle." Other highlights include the moody, languid, but gorgeous "Swamp Goo," a piece intended for the band's 1967 European tour, in its first studio version…

Harmonic Divergence is the perfect companion piece to Steven Wilson’s highly acclaimed 2023 album The Harmony Codex. On this very limited nine track release, music from the original album has been remixed and reimagined by Wilson, alongside longtime bandmates/collaborators and like-minded bands and producers. The result is a warped mirror image of the original, where oblique electronics are replaced by spidery gothic guitar riffs and cyclical piano tracks are mutated and transformed for the dance floor.

A successful attempt to combine the acoustic ideas of Amadeus Reineck on guitar and sitar with the electronic experiments of Michael Lapp on keyboards, while the vocals (by guest singer Caroline McCombs) and bass (Dieter Bauer) are well in the background. The two of them had met in Berlin in 1976 and started to work together until in 1980 they released their LP "Just a Try".
Sadly it would be their only album together. But while Try was and will always be an obscure little project, it was a memorable and lovely moment. Thankfully it was remastered from the original masters and preserved in CD form by the esoteric German label Garden of Delights.

The fourth in Ryuichi Sakamoto's Year Book series. This volume of 5 CDs is of unreleased and rare tracks from 1985-1989. This was a particularly fruitful period for Sakamoto, gaining worldwide acclaim receiving an Academy Award for The Last Emperor soundtrack, several original albums, commercial music and live tours. He was using keyboards such as Fairlight CMI, Emulator II, Yamaha DX7. Tracks include performances with Yuji Takahashi, Kisaragi Koharu, Haruna Miyake, Kazumi Watanabe, a live session at Roppongi Inkstick, the 1989 NHK FM special song, Kaze no Michi, tracks such as his song Rachael performed by Sandii & The Sunsetz song, and unreleased The Garden for designer Tokio Kumagai.

A Hot Summer Night was filmed and recorded live on 6th August 1983, at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, CA, with an audience of 18,000 fans, during the second-leg of Donna Summer’s 1983 Hard For The Money tour, which supported the recently released She Works Hard For The Money album. Restored from the analogue video tapes, this is the concert’s debut album release and therefore the makes it a perfect sequel to 1978’s Live And More. The set-list includes MacArthur Park, Love Is In Control…, Bad Girls Medley, On The Radio and Last Dance, as well as performances with special guests Musical Youth, her sisters Dara and Mary Ellen on an extended showpiece version of Woman, as well as closing the show with her eldest daughter Mimi, performing State Of Independence.

Enjoy this Compilation with the most successful NOW That's What I Call A Massive Party singers like ABBA, John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Cher, Blondie and many more!

Klaus Schulze, one of the most illustrious exponents of the kraut-electronic musical current, was born on the 4th of August 1947, right in Berlin, the heart of the entire action. He has also used the alias Richard Wahnfried. He was briefly a member of the electronic band Tangerine Dream as well as cofounding Ash Ra Tempel before a pioneering and prolific solo career of 40+ albums (totalling 110+ CDs) in 30+ years.
In 1969, Klaus Schulze was the drummer of one of the early incarnations of Tangerine Dream for their debut album Electronic Meditation. In 1970 he left this group to form Ash Ra Tempel with Manuel Göttsching. In 1971, he chose again to leave a newly-formed group after only one album, this time to mount a solo career…

Above the album worked the 'NOW That's What I Call Gold ', and his release took place on 2021. The album has got songs with a total duration of more than an hour. A compilation is a compilation of original music.

Proper, the famous British reissue label, has given the world a series of four-CD "Proper boxes" that contain essential recordings by legendary musicians. Proper's The Lester Young Story is an excellent introduction to this man's phenomenal artistry. Beginning with two instrumentals from his very first recording session on November 9, 1936, Proper skims along the surface of the first 13 years of Lester Young's career, touching upon his adventures with Count Basie, Teddy Wilson, Billie Holiday, Una Mae Carlisle, Sammy Price, the Kansas City Six and Seven, pianist Nat King Cole, and numerous others who collaborated with Pres on records issued under his name. This musical odyssey is a colorful mosaic of historical recordings that originally appeared on the Vocalion, Columbia, Victor, Signature, Keynote, Savoy, Aladdin, and Mercury/Norgran/Verve labels. The survey closes with two extended jams from a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert held at Carnegie Hall on September 17, 1949. Although it stops short of dipping into the best of his later works, Proper's The Lester Young Story may serve both as a superb introduction and a tasty addition to already well-stocked jazz libraries.

Car Songs The Anthems contains 4CDs Packed Full of Huge Anthems for Your Car Journey! Featuring: Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Kenny Loggins, Survivor, Europe, Wheatus, The Calling, Train, The Script, The Fray, The Only Ones, Anastacia, Avril Lavigne + many more

Legendary drummer, Mick Fleetwood enlisted an all-star cast for a one-of-a-kind concert honouring the early years of Fleetwood Mac and its founder, Peter Green which was held on 25th February 2020 at the London, Palladium. The bill included Neil Finn (Crowded House), Noel Gallagher (Oasis), Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), John Mayall (Blues Breakers), Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac), Jeremy Spencer (Fleetwood Mac), Pete Townshend (The Who), Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) and Bill Wyman (Rolling Stones). Legendary producer Glyn Johns (Small Faces & The Beatles) joined as the executive sound producer and the house band featured Mick Fleetwood himself along with Andy Fairweather Low, Dave Bronze, Rick Vito, Zak Starkey, Jonny Lang and Ricky Peterson.

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.

Ray is a talent that cannot be put into words; his voice, his music is, of course, classic. This is a very good collection of his songs. Also, the 3 CD's look like the 45's you may or may not remember. Some artists can take any song and make it wonderful, Ray is an example of that talent.

Missing song aside, the ‘Ultimate Mix’ of New York City is a massive improvement. The up-tempo tracks – ‘New York City’, ‘Attica State’, ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ – thunder out of the speakers compared to the disappointingly thin originals. Elsewhere, Yoko’s call for female empowerment ‘Sisters, O Sisters’ no longer sounds as if it’s playing on a flexi-disc, ‘The Luck Of The Irish’ benefits hugely from losing its chintzy flute, and removing a few layers of noise from ‘We’re All Water’ reveals the dynamic rocker at its core. Lennon’s voice is pushed to the fore throughout, often at the expense of saxophone – clearly Sean has a similar view on them to his father.

In keeping with previous Lennon box sets, the ‘Evolution’ mixes of New York City track the development of each of its nine songs using demos, rehearsals, snatches of dialogue, and early takes. It’s a thrill to hear these songs take shape and to hear an unguarded and uncompromising Lennon lead the sessions. “I know we’re gonna end up with that clean, clean recorded sound which I hate,” he frets before tearing into a ferocious version of the title track. We hear ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ transform from an eerie home demo to a rollicking boogie, with some choice Lennon witticisms along the way – “Of course, anyone daft enough to decide to play saxophone deserves torturing” and, when attempting to chivy things on, “C’mon, I want to get on to that female lib song before McCartney gets on to that!”. Meanwhile, the studio sessions for ‘Luck Of The Irish’ show Lennon’s softer side as he coaches Ono through her vocal.