"No Secrets," with its iconic cover image, is Carly Simon's third studio album and her first #1. Released in 1972, the record spent five weeks at the top of the Billboard charts. "No Secrets" blends the best of her pop/jazz/bluesy style and spawned four Top 20 hits including the #1 smash "You're So Vain," her powerhouse diatribe to a smug, conceited ex, featuring the back-up vocals of Mick Jagger. "The Right Thing to Do" was another major single, and one of her most gorgeous ballads ever. No one can mistake that voice, which has become one of the most recognizable and endearing in all of pop music. Richard Perry's simple, elegant production pays particular attention to the vocals that run the gamut of sweet to ferocious. It seems Carly Simon knows, intuitively, how to properly emote the feelings of each song to the listener…

Tom Waits’ Glitter and Doom Live doesn't fall into the various traps that many other concert recordings do, though it does have its problems. This double-disc set marks his third live effort in his nearly 40-year career, each one summing up his career to the point of its release. The first, Nighthawks at the Diner, issued in 1975 on Asylum, is regarded by many as one of the greatest live albums of all time. Big Time, released during his tenure at Island in 1986, is hotly debated in fan circles. It is likely that Glitter and Doom Live will be too, but for different reasons. The musical performances here were culled from Waits’ historic sold-out tour of the U.S. and Europe. He compiled and sequenced the tracks himself, intending to make them sound like a single show…

One of the greatest non-blue Note albums ever recorded by Art Blakey in the early days - an album that was originally only ever issued in France, as the material here was done for a great new wave film directed by Roger Vadim! The vibe here is nicely different than some of the more familiar Blue Note albums of the time - in part because the set is a soundtrack, done in a spirit similar to the great Miles Davis French soundtrack of the same period - but also because the album features a very special appearance from the young tenor star Barney Wilen - a key player on the French scene who'd also shown up on Miles' soundtrack, and who's equally great here with Blakey! The rest of the group echoes the Jazz Messengers of the period - with Lee Morgan on trumpet, Bobby Timmons on piano, and Jymie Merritt on bass - players who do a nice job of linking the album to other Blakey work…

With a history going back to 1971, Rebekka had a lot of time to become the refined and unique progressive they were. A Bavarian combo, starting with heavy rock, moving on to folk and Indian ragas in the mid-1970's, becoming Rebekka proper in 1977. Having female vocals (sometimes in English, sometimes in German) and taking on influences of classical and folk musics, like early Renaissance, as well as ethnic and Indian musics, their debut Phoenix sounded like a symphonic progressive twist on early Hölderlin. In demand for theatre productions and such like, Rebekka were off the scene for some time, until Phoenix was rediscovered and gained a repress.

Martin Gore has famously noted that Depeche Mode stopped worrying about its future when the first post-Vince Clarke-departure single, "See You," placed even higher on the English charts than anything else Clarke had done with them. Such confidence carries through all of A Broken Frame, a notably more ambitious effort than the pure pop/disco of the band's debut. With arranging genius Alan Wilder still one album away from fully joining the band, Frame became very much Gore's record, writing all the songs and exploring various styles never again touched upon in later years. "Satellite" and "Monument" take distinct dub/reggae turns, while "Shouldn't Have Done That" delivers its slightly precious message about the dangers of adulthood with a spare arrangement and hollow, weirdly sweet vocals…

Terry Callier's first album - recorded in 1964 when he was a wee teen hanging around Chicago's folk scene! As the title indicates, the album's definitely got a folk-styled sound - but also as the "new" implies, it's got a sound all it's own, fresh and free - and that sound is the genius that is Terry Callier! This is very stripped down material, very dark and brooding - a good chance to hear Terry before he hit the Chess studios and they backed him up with a lot of orchestrations (although we love the orchestrations, too.) The material has a soulful spiritual feel, and is sung with a lot of passion over acoustic guitar. Think of Nina Simone's folksier stuff from the same time, if you need a reference.

Gruesome return with Silent Echoes, a ferocious Death Metal onslaught, fueled by progressive, razor sharp musicianship. Celebrating over a decade as the finest purveyors of old-school Death Metal inspired by the legendary Chuck Schuldiner and the many iterations of Death, the new album sees Gruesome transition away from the no-frills riff-fests heard on their Savage Land and Twisted Prayers LPs, and shift towards a more nuanced form of terror. Silent Echoes is the quartet’strue put up or shut-up moment for one simple reason: It was written and recorded in the spirit of Death’s 1991 progressive death metal masterpiece, Human.

Three weeks after completing his meeting with Luiz Bonfá and only two days after the epochal Getz/Gilberto sessions, Stan Getz was back in the studio recording more bossa nova. Producer Creed Taylor was obviously striking while the iron was hot, getting in as many Brazilian sessions as he could, yet the quality of the music-making remained consistently marvelous. Continuing his practice of running through one star guitarist after another, this time Getz has Laurindo Almeida as the designated rhythm man, featured composer, and solo foil. The rhythm section is an authentically swinging mixture of American sidemen (including Steve Kuhn on piano and George Duvivier on bass) and Brazilian percussionists. Almeida didn't like to improvise, so his solos stay close to the tunes, inflected with a perfectly matched feeling for the groove along with classical poise…

German progressive rock with jazz and psych touches. Originally released in 1975. English lyrics combined with the excellent guitar playing of Evert Brettschneider make this a gem of a release. For a self-released debut this album is really well done and might compete with every professional production without a doubt. Limited to 500 copies 'Broken Door' is a very rare and searched vinyl coming from the early German prog rock history. Many thanks to the Garden Of Delights label which released this diversified album on compact disc in 2003.

This 8 CD box set of 128 tracks will blow your mind with a wide range of chill out music from various artists. It ranges from artists of the 70s such as Brian and Roger Eno, Mike Oldfield, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman, Genesis, to world music from artists like Shelia Chandra, Govinda, Joi, Baaba Maal, to classical themes by Ennio Morricone, Tasmin Little, Michael Nyman and Barrington Pheloung, to New Age and Celtic music from Enigma, Matt Molloy, Mae McKenna, David Byrne, Sacred Spirit, Adiemus, Douglas Spotted Eagle, Yulara, Clear Sound Project, Penquin Cafe Orchestra plus many many more varieties of artists and music. This box set will satisfy everyones taste and mood for chillout music.

The best Beach Boys album, and one of the best of the 1960s. The group here reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly symphonic sound. Conventional keyboards and guitars were combined with exotic touches of orchestrated strings, bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, Theremin, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans, barking dogs, and more. It wouldn't have been a classic without great songs, and this has some of the group's most stunning melodies, as well as lyrical themes which evoke both the intensity of newly born love affairs and the disappointment of failed romance (add in some general statements about loss of innocence and modern-day confusion as well)…

While it's no secret that guitar king Peter Green is obsessed with Robert Johnson, having done two previous recordings of his music, this box is in essence something else. There are three CDs included here, one of which is Hot Foot Powder, the first album by the Peter Green Splinter Group, which included guest performances from the likes of Otis Rush, Honeyboy Edwards, Dr. John, Hubert Sumlin, and Joe Louis Walker, among others. The second disc by the band, The Robert Johnson Songbook, featured mainly the Green band, though Free/Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers guests on a tune. Fans already have these without a doubt, so Snapper Music - with Green's blessing - assembled a 28-cut collection of original Robert Johnson recordings chosen by Green. Adding them all together in a box with a handsome booklet for a decent price makes it all worthwhile…

Using only analog equipment, Radio Massacre International forges huge atmospheres and a sound that fits perfectly in the new-millennium digital domain. While their sound recalls the Berlin school of the early '70s, it also stands proudly with modern digital e-music. Republic contains three long-form compositions that cross all borders. Radio Massacre International is able to perform deep minimalism, experimental sci-fi passages, and dark ambient atmospheres. They compliment and surround those elements with the dense sequences expected of the Berlin school. This is excellent evolutionary Berlin school electronica. Radio Massacre International is on a plane with Ron Boots, Ian Boddy, Klaus Schulze, and Paul Ellis.

Career spanning 17 disc (11 CD + 6 DVD) box set from the British Rock icons. Timeless Flight is a definitive career-spanning Moody Blues box set. The Moody Blues have released 24 albums in a career spanning nearly five decades. They have sold over 50 million albums, earning them eighteen platinum discs and all manner of awards. This set contains 11 remastered CDs featuring key album tracks, previously unreleased mixes, out-takes and complete live concerts, three DVDs of rare television performances from around the world, promotional videos and the previously unreleased live concert from Olympia, Paris in 1970, three DVD audio discs containing the long-deleted 5:1 surround sound mixes, a 120-page hard-back book including a new essay by Moody Blues researcher Mark Powell plus rare and previously unseen photos on heavy weight paper…

This studio album matches together Ella Fitzgerald and the Count Basie Orchestra 16 years after they first recorded together. Basie's sidemen are unfortunately restricted in the Benny Carter arrangements to backup work but Basie has a few piano solos and Fitzgerald is in good voice and in typically swinging form. Highlights include "Just a Sittin' and a Rockin'," "Teach Me Tonight" and "Honeysuckle Rose."