Having traveled the dusty road previously with alt rock singer Mark Lanegan, U.K. production duo Soulsavers turn to the equally tortured soul Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode) on The Light the Dead See, but this European union still opens their album with a mournful harmonica. Of course, Soulsavers have long been the production duo who prefers the sounds of spaghetti westerns to synthesizers, while making their guests sound as grand and grave as Leonard Cohen lost in the high lonesome, so this Depeche in exile is a perfect fit. Brooding across canyons here, Gahan is somewhere between James Dean and a preacher in this atmosphere, and even if his talk of darkness, the Devil, saviors, and the price you pay has all been covered with the Mode, he still sounds renewed, making sliding the downward spiral sound as intoxicating as ever, even when he explains what waits for those who hit the bottom…

Pat Martino has released a duo album with Grammy Award-winning keyboard player/arranger Gil Goldstein. This is also a re-performance of their classic 1976 album "We'll Be Together Again." With that in mind, Gil dared to use a Fender Rhodes. The sound it produces has a healing taste that will soothe not only jazz fans but everyone. The compositions included are mainly famous jazz songs that are popular in Japan in response to offers from Japan, but also include Pat's originals.

2012 collection from the New Wave icons compiled by German Electronic duo Blank & Jones. Features remixes and album versions of their biggest hits including 'Do You Really Want to Hurt Me', 'Miss Me Blind', 'Karma Chameleon' and many others.

Second volume to complete the anthology of Wicked Lady recordings, their final tracks recorded in 1972, just before the band split up and guitarist Martin Weaver left for Dark (of "Round the Edges" fame). Another batch of excessive, over-the-top doomy psychedelic hard-rock including underground classics like "I'm a Freak" and the 21 minute epic "Ship of Ghosts".

Bassist Anders Jormin steps out with one of his projects, with an ensemble formed for the Swedish Jazz Celebration 2010. Anders sets his own lyrics – written in ancient Latin – and poetry of Denmark’s Pia Tafdrup for singers Mariam Wallentin and Erika Angell. Anders: “Latin seems to carry an almost magic ability to embrace and express whatever humanity has needed to communicate. The sense of eternity and mystery of this ancient language joined with the instantaneous presence and creativity of true improvisers became the inspiring framework in which the distinctive compositions came alive.” Improvisers on hand are the great Swedish free sax player Fredrik Ljungkvist and Jormin’s highly expressive partner from the Bobo Stenson Trio, drummer Jon Fält.

2012 five CD set containing a quintet of albums from the Grunge/Alt Rockers, each housed in a miniature LP sleeve. Includes the albums Core (1992), Purple (1994), Tiny Music … Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop (1996), No 4 (1999) and Shangri-La Dee Da (2001).

Yes, the Country & Western stars could also rock!!! Even though the Cowboys were a little more leisurely than the "real" rockers, listening to this edition can make you feel pretty warm. "Rockabilly Cowboys: 250 Original Recordings" is a comprehensive compilation of rockabilly and country music from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. This set is perfect for fans of early rock and roll, as well as those with an interest in the roots of country music. With 250 unique tracks, this collection is a treasure trove of musical history, showcasing the evolution of these genres and the pioneering artists who shaped them.

On May 14, 1763, Bologna’s Teatro Comunale opened with the world premiere of Il trionfo di Clelia. Completed a year after Orfeo ed Euridice, Gluck’s setting of Metastasio’s story of romantic fidelity put to the test against the background of the Siege of Rome, was tailored both to display the new theatre’s capacity for spectacle (Act II calls for the collapse of a bridge and a heroic swim across the rising waters of the Tiber) and a cast hand-picked for their fioritura (embellishment of a melodic line). Thus while musicologists may cherish Il trionfo di Clelia for its pivotal role in the composer’s progress from the gilded cage of opera seria to the grand austerity of his reform operas, the rest of us can enjoy an inventive score.

Since their formation in Croydon, South London in 1994 Archive have operated as masters of their own destiny, eschewing prevailing trends for a more unique musical blend of their own. Founding members Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths joined forces with South London rapper Rosko John, and Iranian-born singer Roya Arab for 1996’s trip-hop tinged and critically acclaimed debut album ‘Londinium’. Various line-up changes over the years saw Keeler and Griffiths deciding to retire the idea of the "lead singer” in favour of a more flexible collective approach.

Two classic easy-listening albums by Paul Mauriat and His Orchestra, originally released in 1970 and 1971 on the Philips label, together on one CD and remastered from the original analogue stereo tapes for Vocalion's trademark crystal-clear sound.

Commonly identified as shoegaze, Slowdive nonetheless exhibited a broader set of inspirations – one that spanned four decades, including folk-rock, dub, and ambient techno – than the majority of their '90s contemporaries. A combination of geographic origin, labelmates such as My Bloody Valentine and Ride, and a sustained predilection for dreamlike harmonies and psychedelicized layers of guitar, led to inevitable restrictive classification. The band's distinctive sound continually evolved from their late-'80s start through 1995, when they closed out their first phase with a misunderstood ambient album that shed nearly all rock convention. Two decades later, while most of the members remained involved with individual pursuits, the band was reactivated for touring and recorded again. Formed in Reading, England in late 1989, Slowdive originally consisted of Nick Chaplin (bass), Rachel Goswell (guitar, vocals), Neil Halstead (guitar, vocals), Christian Savill (guitar), and Adrian Sell (drums). Goswell, Halstead, and Sell were previously the core of the Pumpkin Fairies, an indie-pop act that had recorded a demo. Savill was a member of Eternal, who released a single on Sarah. Within less than a year, Slowdive signed to Alan McGee's Creation label and released their debut, a self-titled EP of demos.

A New York icon and one of the most successful singer/songwriters of the late 20th century, Billy Joel rose to success in the mid 1970s with a melodic piano-led pop sound that merged Beatlesque hooks with elements of rock, jazz, Tin Pan Alley, and even Broadway. A Long Island native with a powerful voice and knack for storytelling, Joel first made the pop charts with "Piano Man," a rousing barroom sing-along with a bittersweet old-timey feel that became his signature song.

CD Review: Modern Jazz Quartet, Original Album Series: Pyramid, Third Stream Music, The MJQ & Orchestra, Lonely Woman, The Sheriff.
(Warner Jazz 8122797197. CD Review by Alison Bentley)
‘…all that Bach stuff.’ Modern Jazz Quartet vibes-player Milt Jackson often complained about having to play the band’s distinctive jazz counterpoint, according to their bassist, Percy Heath. In this 5-CD mid-period box set, the chord sequences and cadences are often Bach-like, but the improvising is pure bebop: Lewis and Jackson met in Dizzy Gillespie’s big band, drummer Connie Kay worked with Miles and Lester Young, and Heath with Charlie Parker.

To mark her return to the recording studio after CDs of Tartini and Albinoni (both awarded a Diapason d’Or), Chiara Banchini joins forces with Jörg Andreas Bötticher to present her version of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sonatas for obbligato harpsichord and violin BWV 1014-1019. This interpretation is notable, among other features, for the use of a German harpsichord with the disposition 16', 8', 8', 4', freely reconstructed by Matthias Kramer (Hamburg, 2006) after Christian Zell.

Time Waits for No One: The Complete Recordings Review by James Allen
If you ever wanted an illustration of the idea that history is written by the winners, you need look no further than the story of the Knack. Everyone knows how Doug Fieger's heavily hyped skinny-tie band became a new wave sensation under that name via their blockbuster 1979 single, "My Sharona." But 12 years earlier, another L.A. singer/songwriter/guitarist led his band through its own brief swirl of publicity using the same band name and recording for the same label (Capitol). Although they were just as talented in their own way as the "My Sharona" gang, Michael Chain's '60s iteration of the Knack never came near a hit, and despite a big promo push for their initial batch of singles, they never cut a full album, and they quickly slipped through the cracks of history, unknown to all but hardcore '60s pop mavens.