Most '60s bubblegum groups were faceless studio concoctions, made up of hired professionals and given nominal group identities after the fact. The Archies made no pretense of being a real band in the first place - their music, including the smash hit "Sugar, Sugar," was "performed" by the animated TV cartoon characters spun off from Archie comics. In reality, of course, they were a studio concoction made up of hired professionals (most notably lead singer Ron Dante), but in this case, they weren't technically faceless.
The Archies (1968) is their debut studio album.

This LP contains two broadcasts featuring Charlie Parker at Boston's Storyville club in 1953. one set finds him accompanied by the Red Garland Trio (two years before Garland became famous playing with Miles Davis) while the other one also features trumpeter Herb Pomeroy and a trio led by pianist Sir Charles Thompson. The recording quality is just so-so but Bird was in fine form for these sessions, playing hot versions of his usual repertoire.

The English veterans have combined mood tunes with several very strong songs here, with a soundscape that is really fascinating. At the most mellow you may associate the music with early Marillion and late 70's Eloy, while the harder parts stretch out towards prog metal territory. And the mood of the album is a dark one, filled with sadness, grief and anguish - and something undefinable "more". As for instrumentation, the synth is central in adding to melodies and soundscape, as backdrop or floating above the other instruments in the soundscape. The guitars are dark, polished but somewhat gritty, and played so that you'll hear each individual tone to a shorter or longer extent rather than plain riffing. Rhythm section is energetic and hard, often played in a fashion reminding of prog metal. And the vocals are used as an instrument in it's own right as well.

20 years of Pop Ambient. Pop Ambient Music is medicine against illnesses, that you don’t even suffer from. It’s giving everything, demanding nothing.
Musical lotus leafs, off which the virtual wastewater of our time is rolling like the reality is dripping off the matrix.
 In this sense, we’re happy about the pop-ambient anniversary greetings from new and old companions like Thore Pfeiffer, Max Würden, Yui Onodera, Jörg Burger, Thomas Fehlmann, Morgen Wurde, Leandro Fresco aswell as contributions from T. Raumschmiere, Andrew Thomas and, after a long break, from friends from early days like Joachim Spieth, Markus Guentner und Klimek.

This 4CD set contains the complete master studio recordings of Elvis Presley from the 1950s. It includes personal acetates, cut in 1953 and early 1954, all of his early Sun recordings from 1954-55, as well as every RCA studio master and movie studio soundtrack recording made between January 1956 and June 1958. The set also contains bonus tracks of recordings made at radio stations, as well as alternate movie soundtrack recordings. All tracks have been professionally remastered to provide the best sound quality ever released.

As part of its successful 'Sessions' series, FTD is pleased to announce the release of 'The Girl Happy Sessions'. Mixed by Vic Anesini and mastered by Jan Eliasson, It contains all the masters and available outtakes. Highlights include unedited masters and the rare vocal re-record of 'I Feel That I've Known You Forever' especially made for the motion picture Tickle Me.

75 minutes CD containing music from each of the recorded events, primarily focusing on previously unreleased material.

Jeff Lynne revived Electric Light Orchestra in 2015 – due to legal reasons, they were now called Jeff Lynne's ELO – releasing a comeback album called Alone in the Universe and steadily mounting a return to the road. Several dates happened in 2016, but the tour reached its apex in June 2017, when the group played in front of 60,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium. Released five months after that June 24 gig, Wembley or Bust – which was accompanied by a concert film – features the entirety of the gig, and if it's not heard too closely, it could sometimes be mistaken for an ELO greatest-hits album.

This epic achievement has been made possible by the development of some breakthrough new audio technology called “DES” (Digitally Extracted Stereo). Engineers can now zero in on the frequencies of various instruments and vocals, isolate them, and then extract this sound data from the original mono masters and mix them like a modern, multi-track recording. The result is an exciting, more lifelike listening experience that’s offered nowhere else!

Ten years ago, Americana maestros The Mavericks released Mono, which - as the title says - was mixed in mono like the classic records that inspired so much of the music we all know and love. Now, a decade later, they're revisiting and remixing Mono, expanding it into stereo for the first time ever. Mono (In Stereo) is a feel-good jaunt through the band's distinctive blend of Latin and Americana music, with classic tracks like "Summertime (When I'm With You)" and "All Night Long." Available on "Bullhorn Red" color vinyl. Limited Edition.

A lost set of modernist piano jazz from the British scene of the late 60s – very much in the mode of the best American work of the time by pianists like Steve Kuhn or Don Friedman! Taylor's got an incredible touch on the keys – a post-Bill Evans mode that uses space as much a sound, and which paints in broad colors and tones that seem to glisten in their own unique place in the musical spectrum. The sound is free, but never too "out" – and the trio performs a number of strong originals like "Just A Blues", "Two Autumns", "Guru", and "Abena" – plus completely transformed versions of "Stella By Starlight" and "All The Things You Are".

Wake Me Up When The Sun Goes Down is the ninth studio album by Canadian rock band Honeymoon Suite, marking another vibrant chapter in their storied career. The album blends high-octane rock tracks with smooth, melodic anthems, staying true to the band’s 80s-inspired sound while incorporating contemporary production techniques. Featuring driving rhythms, soaring guitar solos by Derry Grehan, and the emotive vocals of lead singer Johnnie Dee, the record delivers a mix of anthemic choruses and introspective moments. Produced by acclaimed songwriter Michael Krompass, the album captures the timeless essence of Honeymoon Suite’s legacy with a modern sonic twist, appealing to both long-time fans and new listeners.

Released at the front end of 1999's Lilith Fair, Mirrorball is a take-home sampler of the live performances that catapulted Sarah McLachlan into the modern rock stratosphere. Over half of the album's 14 songs are radio hits (including four of the first five), proving McLachlan's worth as a pop songstress bar none, but also hinting at an underlying stagnation in her recent musical output. Though fans of McLachlan and folks who missed her Lilith performances will likely enjoy Mirrorball, it's a little too by-the-book to win any converts or please critical listeners. There is little dialogue between songs, for example, and the sound quality is so pristine that if it weren't for the occasional hoot and holler from the audience, one would never know it's a live album.

Hothouse Flowers were still busking on the streets of Dublin when Bono saw them on Irish TV in 1986. He arranged for the young band to release its first single on U2's custom label, Mother Records, and the band's first two albums, 1988's People and 1990's Home, were successes in Europe and Australia even if they didn't make much headway in North America. After three years of global touring and songwriting, Hothouse Flowers released Songs from the Rain. They fall short again. Lead singer Liam O'Maonlai has an attractive tenor but it lacks Bono's siren edge, and O'Maonlai's delivery is too bland and ordinary to compensate. O'Maonlai's bandmates write Celtic-rock anthems with the requisite soaring melodies and galloping rhythms and hymns with the expected mystic imagery and lush harmonies, but it's all a bit too formulaic and humdrum to make much of an impression. Worst of all are the band's lyrics, whose soft-headed solipsism is obvious in lines like, "If you take the time to listen, there's a chance you will meet your soul" or "Let doubt be the furthest from our minds, so we can continue to be and know that we should be here." On this new album, Hothouse Flowers sound very little like the U2 of 1993 and too much like Firefall, Colorado's mellow-rockers of 1976.

In July 25, Rhino Entertainmentwill reissueBLACK SABBATH's "The Eternal Idol" album — more than three months after a Record Store Day reissue of the album arrived on limited-edition translucent red 140g-weight LP. The new reissue of "The Eternal Idol" will feature new remastering from the original analog tapes and will include two bonus tracks, "Some Kind Of Woman" and "Black Moon". It will come with a new booklet for the CD and a lyric sheet for the LP. Originally released in 1987, "The Eternal Idol" was BLACK SABBATH's thirteenth studio album and was the band's first LP to feature vocalist Tony Martin.