Paice Ashton Lord's sole album is a rather anonymous-sounding late-1970s hard rock/AOR effort. There's more funk, soul, boogie, and jazz influence than you would expect from Deep Purple alumni, but at heart these are typical period mainstream rock songs that don't lend a distinctive personality to the short-lived band. There's an outrageously blatant quote from Blood, Sweat & Tears' "Spinning Wheel" in "Silas & Jerome." The 2001 CD reissue on Purple Records adds eight bonus tracks from the sessions for their unreleased second album, which are of a similar but less polished quality. Some of the songs are instrumentals rather than fully worked-up compositions, and the fidelity on a few of them is substandard, though not truly bad. The liner notes for the reissue give a thorough history of the band.

Digitally remastered edition of this 1978 album from the French composer, performer and music producer. Jean Michel, the son of acclaimed film composer Maurice Jarre, is a pioneer in the Electronic, Ambient and New Age genres. Apart from his recorded output, Jean Michel Jarre is also fondly known as an organizer of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks. Jean Michel has gone on to sell well over 80 million albums in the course of 40 years.

Although best known for the AOR and radio hits from the early 1980s (which included the number ones 'Keep On Loving You' and 'Can't Fight This Feeling'), R.E.O. Speedwagon's long history goes way back to their formation in Champaign, Illinois in 1967. Initially a covers band playing bars and fraternity houses, the initial line-up of Neal Doughty on keyboards, Alan Gratzer on drums and vocals, Joe Matt on guitar and vocals and Mike Blair on bass and vocals, named themselves after the R.E.O. Speed Wagon, a model of American flat-bed truck. By the time they came to record their debut LP for Epic Records in 1971, the line-up had settled around Terry Luttrell on lead vocals, driving force Gary Richrath on guitar and Gregg Philbin on bass, joining Neal Doughty and Alan Gratzer.

With their roots traced in two legendary '60s garage bands, The Outcasts and The Stoics, Homer were without doubt one of the best psychedelic/hard-rock outfits from Texas. Grown in U.S.A. was their only album, released as a private pressing in 1970. Rural psychedelic rock with early prog hints fuelled by stunning lead/dual guitar, melodic vocals and occasional mellotron. The 2002 CD reissue on Akarma adds two tracks from a non-LP 1970.

"I have put my whole soul into this symphony" – Tchaikovsky on Symphony No 6. Tchaikovsky's final symphony, known as the "Pathétique", is a work of haunting beauty and emotional depth—a journey from darkness to fragile light.

With these works for accordion and orchestra, Ksenija Sidorova and Paavo Järvi pay tribute to the music of the Baltic countries: the Latvian and the Estonian, who have been collaborating for over 10 years, recorded in Pärnu with the festival orchestra created by Paavo, a luxury ensemble composed of the best musicians from the greatest European orchestras.

An English Violin portrays musical England at the turn of the 20th century. The violinist Geneviève Laurenceau focuses on the violin concerto by the forgotten composer Guirne Creith, which is sensitively and passionately brought back to life here. Moving pieces by Edward Elgar, Rebecca Clarke and William Walton can also be heard. In addition to the Orchestre de Picardie under the direction of David Niemann, pianist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger can be heard alongside Laurenceau in the chamber music works.

On Italian Perspectives, the Bamberger Symphoniker and Riccardo Frizza trace the revival and evolution of Italian instrumental music. Giuseppe Martucci’s Symphony No. 1 in D Minor, completed in 1895, illuminates the Italian symphonic tradition often overshadowed by opera, blending Brahmsian rigor with striking, passionate outbursts. Respighi’s Trittico Botticelliano brings Renaissance paintings to life with luminous chamber orchestration, while his masterful orchestrations of Rachmaninoff’s 5 Études-Tableaux reveal a rare synthesis of Italian colour and Russian narrative depth. From desolate seascapes and dramatic funeral marches to the playful, suspenseful tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Respighi transforms piano works into vivid orchestral landscapes, preserving every nuance of Rachmaninoff’s originals.

Ella Fitzgerald and the Tommy Flanagan Trio (the pianist is joined by bassist Keter Betts and drummer Gus Johnson) are in top form during this engaging 1965 concert in Hamburg, Germany. She's at her best singing classic material such as the uptempo "That Old Black Magic" and a strutting take of "And the Angels Sing" (not a song typically associated with Fitzgerald). She is also very effective on ballads such as "Body and Soul," "Here's That Rainy Day," and "Angel Eyes." Even though liner note writer implies that the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" is a great jazz vehicle, it is actually a resounding dud here, as was often the case when the singer ventured into covering rock hits of the '60s and '70s. But an occasional misfire should not dissuade anyone from acquiring this LP, as Ella Fitzgerald is in great voice throughout the performance, and Tommy Flanagan's accompaniment is peerless.

After Peter Gabriel departed for a solo career, Genesis embarked on a long journey to find a replacement, only to wind back around to their drummer, Phil Collins, as a replacement. With Collins as their new frontman, the band decided not to pursue the stylish, jagged postmodernism of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - a move that Gabriel would do in his solo career - and instead returned to the English eccentricity of Selling England by the Pound for its next effort, A Trick of the Tail. In almost every respect, this feels like a truer sequel to Selling England by the Pound than Lamb; after all, that double album was obsessed with modernity and nightmare, whereas this album returns the group to the fanciful fairy tale nature of its earlier records…

Founded in Paris in 1996 by Raymond Vișan, Buddha-Bar established itself as a pioneer of lounge music, blending avant-garde, downtempo electronic beats with ethnic world music. Renowned for its signature compilations released by George V Records, the brand curated a sophisticated, hypnotic, and zen-like atmosphere that redefined restaurant ambiance. In perfect harmony with the restaurant’s décor and atmosphere, this poignant and constantly innovative musical style enchants both the Parisian and international clientele. Deep motives and colorful overflows in a melodic sophisticated combination.

The very title of Goin' 50 suggests ZZ Top are considering their 50th anniversary as an event to be celebrated with a sense of humor. That's appropriate. Good spirits and lascivious jokes always have been integral to the trio's appeal, and they can be heard in abundance on this triple-CD/five-LP set that tells their story from beginning to end (there is also a single-disc edition that rounds up the highlights). The set breaks down into three easy acts: the band's greasy early years, spanning from "La Grange" to "Pearl Necklace," are on the first disc; the second installment covers their MTV glory days; the third CD traces the aftermath of Afterburner, beginning with "Viva Las Vegas" and ending with the 21st century barnburner "I Gotsta Get Paid" (plus recent live versions of "Waitin' for the Bus" and "Jesus Just Left Chicago," which brings this full circle to the beginning).