"iPop" (written & produced by dance duo Shelter) is Andy Bell’s (Erasure) 3rd solo album after Manhattan Clique's "Electric Blue" and Pascal Gabriel's "Non-Stop". The album was written and recorded by Shelter - and released on their Ministry of Pop label - but includes two tracks (‘Stars’ and ‘Electrostatic’) which were written in collaboration with Andy Bell, and one track, "Lift Me Up", which also features Vince Clarke (Erasure, Yazoo, Depeche Mode).

Drummer/label head Pat Ford reunited with Charlie Musselwhite and brought along brother Robben Ford on guitar, producing this return to form. Musselwhite is up to the task in all departments – singing, playing (great tone), and especially songwriting (the title tune and "Seemed Like the Whole World Was Crying," inspired by Muddy Waters' death) – but it had been a while since Robben Ford had played low-down blues (touring with Joni Mitchell, putting in countless hours in L.A. studios), and it may have been wiser to give the guitar chair to Tim Kaihatsu, who by this time had seniority in terms of hours on the bandstand with Musselwhite, above any other Musselwhite alumnus. Pianist Clay Cotton is in fine form. This time out, the deviations (to be expected by now) include Don & Dewey's "Stretching Out," an impressive chromatic harp rendering of "Exodus," and Musselwhite's solo guitar outing, "Baby-O." Easily Musselwhite's best-engineered album yet (nice job, Greg Goodwin).

Ella Zonis Mahler’s compilation of these Iranian classical music performers was originally issued on Folkways Records in 1966. Ten of the twelve model melodic patterns (dastgahs) are represented here, in a variety of instrumental and vocal performances.

Hasten Down the Wind is the Grammy Award-winning seventh studio album by singer/songwriter/producer Linda Ronstadt. Released in 1976, it became her third straight million-selling album. Ronstadt was the first female artist in history to accomplish this feat. The album earned her a Grammy Award for 'Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female' in 1977, her second of 13 Grammys. It represented a slight departure from 1974's Heart Like a Wheel and 1975's Prisoner in Disguise in that she chose to showcase new songwriters over the traditional country rock sound she had been producing up to that point. A more serious and poignant album than its predecessors, it won critical acclaim. The album showcased songs from artists such as Warren Zevon ("Hasten Down the Wind") and Karla Bonoff ("Someone to Lay Down Beside Me"), both of whom would soon be making a name for themselves in the singer-songwriter world.

Disco Not Disco is a compilation album from the Disco Not Disco series released by Strut Records in 2000. The album is a probe for both the experimental side of disco and punk genres, as well as underground music scene in general. The first volume is more rock and funk oriented and features three experimental studio projects by Arthur Russell, namely Dinosaur, Indian Ocean and Loose Joints, British new wave musician Ian Dury, and even musicians like Yoko Ono, Steve Miller Band or jazz trumpeter Don Cherry. It was compiled by Joey Negro, a British DJ and producer.

In the course of his illustrious career, Fabio Biondi has nurtured a remarkable empathy with Italian music from across many centuries, but strikingly so with the early Baroque violin sonata repertory, the development of which was dramatically propelled into the future by Arcangelo Corelli with his Op 5 collection. It is this empathy possessed by Biondi which has inspired the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome (from its bowed instrument collection) to make him a loan of the precious 1690 “Tuscan” violin made by Antonio Stradivari, for this Glossa recording.

When in 2003 the 250th anniversary of the Residenz-Theater in Munich was to celebrated, it was decided to perform the same opera which was performed at the opening of the theatre in 1753: Catone in Utica by Giovanni Battista Ferrandini. That was a bold decision, as Ferrandini is not exactly a household name in our time. He isn't a completely unknown quantity, though; his lamento 'Pianto di Madonna' was once attributed to Handel. It is perhaps due to this misattribution that it was ever recorded.

The Carpenters were one of the more ubiquitous and successful acts of the early and mid-'70s. Songs like "Close to You" and "Rainy Days and Mondays" make the shortlist of pop classics of the '70s. Unfortunately, their 1973 retrospective, 1969-1973, might have wrapped up their commercial careers too soon. This 1975 effort seems to be willing to explore sad emotions with the blithe songs appearing almost as an afterthought. Although it would sound the death knell for many efforts, with Karen Carpenter's pitch-perfect and sorrowful voice, it's actually a nice fit, and an emphasis on the duo's subtext. The beautifully arranged "Aurora" sets the album's ambience. "Eventide," a continuation of the melody and theme, shows up later in the album…

Bob Dylan is waarschijnlijk de meest invloedrijke singer-songwriter van de popmuziek tot op heden. In de jaren zestig maakt hij naam in de folkscene in New York en brengt hij inmiddels klassieke popsongs als " The times they are a-changin'" uit. Hij verandert de folkpop voor altijd wanneer hij elektrische instrumenten aan zijn palet toevoegt. Tijdens zijn decennia lange loopbaan brengt hij talloze albums uit, die zelden teleurstellen. Opvallend genoeg beleeft hij in het nieuwe millenium een muzikale renaissance met sterke albums als Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020).

Nathaniel Charles Gonella was an English jazz trumpeter, bandleader, vocalist, and mellophonist. He founded the big band The Georgians, during the British dance band era. The band took its name from a popular version of the song "Georgia on My Mind" that he recorded for Lew Stone in 1932 and which became the trumpeter's signature tune. The Georgians began as a band within Stone's shows before setting up as an independent unit. He became a headline act on the variety circuit before the outbreak of World War II.

The first solo release by contemporary blues-based artist Keb Mo' mixes a reverence for traditional country blues with more streamlined elements of commercial pop. Keyboards, bass and drums (in addition to Keb Mo's contributions on guitar, harmonica and banjo) flesh out breezy soul-inflected pop such as "She Just Wants To Dance" and the island flavored "Tell Everybody I Know." Though gears continue to shift, from organ-drenched gospel to hillbilly lite, Keb Mo' brings things back to the source with inventive homages to the blues altar, such as in his re-casting of two Robert Johnson songs.

NOW Music proudly presents NOW That’s What I Call Gold – The Ultimate Hits. This essential 4CD set brings together 85 tracks by legendary artists with timeless anthems, celebrating some of the greatest hits of all time, including chart-topping classics and enduring favourites.

The change of direction on Lontano, the third release by Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and his three young collaborators - Marcin Wasilewski (piano), Slawomir Kurkiewicz (bass), and Michal Miskiewicz (drums) - is startling. Whereas Soul of Things (2002) and Suspended Night (2004) focused on Stanko's increasing sense of balladry and structurally harmonic, assonant atmospheres, Lontano showcases a band confident enough after playing for five years to find real space for free improvisation. Recorded in the south of France instead of Oslo, producer Manfred Eicher works his name magic and allows stillness and silence to play as much a role as the performers engaging one another musically. The opening title track is the first of three such excursions with the title "Lontano"…

YMO 1979 Record of World Exploration and Live Box Set is finally released. In 1978, YMO debuted in the album "YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA". In July 1979, the same album was released worldwide from A&M label "Horizon" (at the time). In August of the year, Tubes appeared as a special guest in LIVE three days at LA. This is the YMO first overseas performances, and the third day of performance has been recorded as well as video recording. In the fall, he planned the international tour, "TRANS ATLANTIC TOUR." Recordings were performed in London, Paris, and New York, and they were released as a live album "Public Pressure" in 1980. Some of the later release was finally released in the form of showing the full appearance of the performance that this live recording has been taken. Based on the supervision of Haruomi Hosono, the world engineer GOH HOTODA mixes from multi-tape to the latest sound source, reconfirming how YMO is the only one and only one of a kind. In addition, the tour's video works are upconverted with the latest technology. You can watch this historical live even in videos. In addition, the booklet shows unpublished photos and is a permanent storage box set.

Samurai is truly a lost classic of the Progressive era. Released on the short lived Greenwich Gramophone label in 1971, the album was influenced by the experiments of groups such as King Crimson, Gentle Giant et al, but was more than a mere clone of these bands. Evolving from the equally excellent band Web (whose album 'I Spider' is a classic of the genre), the musicianship on the album was excellent and Keyboard player Dave Lawson's compositions were groundbreaking and memorable. Sadly the group disbanded shortly after the release of the record resulting in limited sales. However, the influence of the album was not lost as both Dave Lawson and Tony Reeves soon joined Dave Greenslade to form the group Greenslade, effectively taking up the musical mantle laid down by Samurai. This Esoteric reissue features a booklet with previously unseen photographs and an interview with Dave Lawson.