When this album was recorded in February of 1961, it had been more than year since the Portrait in Jazz was issued, the disc that won the critics over. By the time of this issue, Evans had released four albums in six years, a pace unheard of during that time. Most musicians were issuing two, three, and even four records a year during the same era. Many speculate on Evans' personal problems at the time, but the truth of the matter lies in the recordings themselves, and Explorations proves that the artist was worth waiting for no matter what else was going on out there. Evans, with Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro, was onto something as a trio, exploring the undersides of melodic and rhythmic constructions that had never been considered by most. For one thing, Evans resurrects a number of tunes that had been considered hopelessly played out, and literally reinvents them - "How Deep Is the Ocean" and "Sweet and Lovely"…

This is a recording from an historical event. On May 14th 1977 there was a Gong festival in the Hippodrome in Paris. 14 hours of Gong in several line-ups and several related bands. Among the bands appearing most notably one named Strontium 90, consisting of Andy Summers (lead guitar), Sting (vocals and rhythm guitar), Stewart Copeland (drums) and Mike Howlett (bass). If someone says "wait a moment, that's Police", yes, you are right. The roots of police stem from this band. A fact hardly anyone knows. Some of the band members had played in several other line-ups of Gong or in solo acts before this final Gong concert, and this can most notably be heard in the performance of Pieere Moerlen on drums. Not that he is bad, but one has heard more lively drumming of him.This is especially notable on "Master Builder"…

For the third time, Blank & Jones take a journey to the depths of the archives of the '80 and offer up a tracklist full of surprises and exclusives. This triple CD deluxe set is a virtual non-stop mix featuring remastered and uncut rare mixes and extended versions. The booklet contains commentary from Blank & Jones on all of the tracks plus pictures of the original 12" single sleeves. Features tracks from INXS, Visage, Duran Duran, OMD, the Cure, Billy Idol, Simple Minds, Real Life and many others.

"Amish Records presents an expanded, gatefold 2LP version of P.G. Six's second album, The Well of Memory, originally released in 2004. This 2025 expanded edition has beautiful new artwork, reimagined by Meredyth Sparks and comes with a bonus LP entitled Lost and Live. The LP includes six previously unreleased songs from The Well of Memory sessions and a handful of live versions of songs from the album.

Gypsies, or more correctly, the Romany or Roma people, have always been nomadic, so it is no surprise that their music has been influenced at various times by Arabic, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Persian, Romanian, Serbian, Slavic, Spanish and Turkish musical idioms. Gypsy jazz has that rare quality of evoking a time and a place. So if you want to be transported back to the Paris of sixty years ago, then bon appétit.

Esquivel was a self-taught musician who created open futuristic sonic landscapes. He formed his own band, boasting 22 musicians and five singers, and over the next 15 years, Esquivel & His Orchestra went on to become Mexico’s most poplar act. Many of the numbers he made popular in his homeland can be heard here, songs that Esquivel later took to the world: Besame Mucho…La Bamba… Latin-Esque… among others. Enjoy!

From Autumn harvest festivals to traditional Japanese folklore steeped in rich history, this album shows the diversity and power of the Japanese drums. From stories of ship-crews being saved by the organization of synchronized beats, to a picturesque soundscape of waves in the sea, to a peaceful thankfulness for loved ones and nature, this release is full of sound stories. This release also features purification drumming heard in Buddhist temples before, during and after ceremonies and a famous taiko drum beat symbolizing the sounds of samurai riding on horseback.

Nothing shakes some action like a snappy guitar-based pop song delivered with a powerful beat, boundless energy and joyous enthusiasm. “Power pop is what we play,” declared Pete Townshend in a 1967 interview to promote the Who’s ‘Pictures Of Lily’. Although the term power pop did not gain much traction at the time, it re-emerged at the beginning of the 70s after the Beatles had dissolved and music began to fracture into various camps. In the USA, bands that remained true to the Beatles tradition began to be referred to as power pop. The Raspberries set the ball rolling in 1972, and young bands began to spring up who really only wanted to sing about girls and having a good time on Saturday night. As the 70s wore on, the new wave had an ever-growing influence on the movement, and even the Ramones donned skinny ties long enough to back up harmony pop masters the Paley Brothers on a thrilling update of Ritchie Valens’ ‘Come On Let’s Go’.

The 2025 album Motel Du Cap on Red Opaque Vinyl - Exclusive to Amazon! From their humble beginnings in Waldorf, Maryland, to selling over 11 million albums worldwide with hits like “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” and “The Anthem,” Good Charlotte has always worn their hearts on their sleeves. Now they’re back, and bringing their rawest, most authentic energy yet with their upcoming album, Motel Du Cap, set to drop on August 8, 2025.

French metalcore titans LANDMVRKS have officially released their long-awaited new album, The Darkest Place I've Ever Been, out now everywhere via Arising Empire. The record delivers a crushing blend of raw emotion and relentless energy, marking the band’s darkest and most personal chapter to date.
The album explores themes of loss, inner turmoil, and existential struggle - all wrapped in LANDMVRKS’ signature mix of metalcore, hardcore, and post-metal influences.

The History of Rhythm & Blues Volume Two investigates the transition from race music through sepia to Rhythm & Blues; the growing importance of radio; the rise of the independent record labels, the 45rpm record and the jukebox and looks at the rhythms behind the blues from shuffle and jump through rumba to rock’n’roll and beyond.

The Grand Master 1944-1962: His Inspiration, His Influence is een album van Ray Charles uit 2024 en is uitgebracht onder het label Fremeaux

For the first time ever, these soundboard recordings (formerly in mono) have been remastered, carefully restored, and remixed to true stereo with outstanding expertise using the most sophisticated technologies to achieve the best possible sound. The accompanying 40-page booklet includes rare photographs and memorabilia taken during these engagements along with introductory notes.

Milan, 1979, only two years had passed since the explosion of punk but it seemed like ten years had passed, 1977 had inexorably changed the destiny of a generation of musicians. Milan in those years felt a bit like Manchester, a city in black and white, with monuments grayed by smog, busy and still far from becoming the “Milan to drink” of the mid-80s. The music scene was totally disconnected from the rest of the Italian underground, the bands were born and imploded within a few months. The inputs that arrived thanks to the English weekly New Musical Express and some Italian fanzines were essential to know what happened across the channel almost in real time. The concerts at the 2001 Odyssey, a club where almost all the really important post-punk bands performed, were fundamental to understand and feel part of something that resembled a revolution, a movement that in those years produced little in terms of discography but that today, after almost forty years, we reveal the absolute uniqueness of the proposals of the protagonists of that Milanese season. Sharp guitars, primordial drum machines, synthesizers bought at a high price and 4 tracks cassette recorders were the tools used to affirm their belonging to a creative movement that developed simultaneously throughout Europe.

The tragically short life of British folksinger Nick Drake left behind some of the most hauntingly beautiful music of its kind, with Drake's softly heartbroken voice guiding his songs to transcendent places over the course of just three classic, near-perfect studio albums. Virtually unknown during his life, Drake's songs have been perpetually reborn in the decades following his mysterious death in 1974. With each new generation that discovers or rediscovers his songs, there have been subsequent repackagings of his minute back catalog, and by the time of Tuckbox, one of several comprehensive discography compilations, the vaults have been combed pretty thoroughly for unreleased material to pad the studio albums. Tuckbox offers more of the same, its 71 tracks including the entirety of classic records Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter, and Pink Moon, as well as a bevy of tracks recorded before and after the periods that produced his studio work…