Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704) was a French composer who was a contemporary of Louis XIV. Charpentier created liturgical works full of grace and energy, using great imagination for his musical settings. This is very much evident in the selections for this recording, the TE DEUM and the MESSE DE MINUIT. The first one is a joyously triumphant interpretation of the thanksgiving text, using eight soloists, chorus and orchestra, including three trumpets, something unusual for the times.

“This is not at all what I wrote, but play it like this. Do play it this way!” exclaimed Dmitri Shostakovich after Yudina performed the freshly written 24 Preludes and Fugues. This exclamation contains the key to understanding of Maria Yudina’s performing art – a controversial and disputable one that left a profound imprint on the cultural environment of the twentieth century. The 10-album set is the biggest part of Maria Yudina’s surviving studio and concert recordings from the Melodiya archive made between 1948 and 1969.

However cultivated the European centres of Habsburg imperial power may have been, few could regularly have boasted musicians of the calibre of Cinquecento. Their ongoing exploration of Franco-Flemish repertoire from the sixteenth century uncovers major works by Johannes de Cleve and Jacobus Vaet.

Although they generally aren't thought of as being as innovative as their contemporaries the Beatles, the Rolling Stones or the Who, the Kinks, thanks to Ray Davies' ever evolving songwriting and brother Dave Davies' power chording, fuzzed-out guitar sound, may well have influenced the actual sound of later bands more than any of those groups. This fine single disc collection brings together the Kinks' Pye Records singles from the 1960s, and includes the power chord shot heard around the world, "You Really Got Me," as well as its close siblings "All Day and All of the Night," "Tired of Waiting for You" and "Til the End of the Day," and later and relatively more sophisticated hits like "Waterloo Sunset" and "Lola." The end result is a solid chronological survey of the Kinks' most commercial and influential period.

Alarm Will Sound's recording of Steve Reich's monumental orchestral/choral works The Desert Music and Tehillim, released on the Cantaloupe label in 2002, greatly benefits from the group's close connections with the composer: the ensemble's conductor, Alan Pierson, and several of the performers studied at the Eastman School with Brad Lubman, a conductor frequently enlisted by Reich. Also, Pierson's arrangements, which reconcile the chamber and orchestral versions that exist for both works, were prepared in close consultation with the composer; thus, this may well be the definitive recording of these pieces. Brilliantly sonorous in their climaxes – the burst of light near the end of Desert Music, the "Alleluias" that close Tehillim – the players also articulate Reich's intricate canonic textures with nimble precision.

Boulders is the first solo album by Roy Wood. Apart from harmonium on track one played by John Kurlander, all the instruments (including guitars, cello, saxophones, recorders) and voices were by Wood, who also wrote, arranged, and produced the whole album, and did a self-portrait for the front cover. Issued on Harvest, it peaked at No. 15 in the UK Albums Chart. The album also peaked at 176 on the US Billboard 200. Most of the album was recorded while Wood was still in The Move, although it was not released until he had left the Electric Light Orchestra and was fronting Wizzard. Two singles were taken from the album, "When Gran'ma Plays the Banjo" (February 1972), and "Dear Elaine" (August 1973). The latter reached No. 18 in the UK Singles Chart. "Rock Down Low" and "The Locomotive" were sometimes featured by Wizzard in their live performances. "Songs of Praise" was recorded by the New Seekers and reached the last six for the British entry to the 1972 Eurovision Song Contest. Wood had previously attempted recording "She's Too Good for Me" in 1968 with Move bandmate Trevor Burton, before re-recording the song entirely himself for "Boulders". These early attempts were released on The Move Movements boxed set and on Anthology 1966–1972.

The 12 tracks that appear on The Best of the Alan Parsons Project include some of their greatest singles, like "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" from 1977's I Robot and the inducing "Games People Play" off of The Turn of a Friendly Card. Even though these songs are splendid all by themselves, they seem to lose their conceptual weight when taken away from their original albums. As singles, they do act as a fine representation of how The Alan Parsons Project's music sounds and conveys its mysterious air, but even with a dozen singles on this album there's just too much of their other worthy material that is sadly left off.

Singer/songwriter Michael Bolton emerged in the mid-'80s as a major soft rock balladeer. Originally, he recorded under his real name, Michael Bolotin, turning up on RCA Records in the mid-'70s singing cover tunes and his own blue-eyed soul songs in a voice reminiscent of Joe Cocker. He then became the lead singer of Blackjack, a heavy metal band that made two albums for Polydor before splitting up in the early '80s. Looking to relaunch his career, he changed his name to Michael Bolton and signed to Columbia Records as a solo artist in 1983. Bolton's achievements include selling more than 75 million records, recording eight top 10 albums and two number-one singles on the Billboard charts, as well as winning multiple American Music Awards and Grammy Awards.

44 original recordings from iconic Brazilian artists and American jazz & pop legends: Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, João Gilberto, Flora Purim, Nacho Méndez, Dave Brubeck, Charlie Byrd, George Benson, Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis, Dextor Gordon, George Duke, and many many more… 3CDs, housed in a fold out card digipack case.

This unique 5-CD collection brings together some of the most unforgettable works in Swedish music history, presenting 100 carefully selected Swedish songs written and performed between 1965 and 1995.

2014 two CD set, a 38-track anthology of the first 30 years of Zang Tuum Tumb, one of most eclectic and influential labels of the '80s and beyond. Disc One features 19 hit singles from 1983 to the present day while Disc Two, THE DISORGANIZATION OF POP, takes a tour of ZTTs archive of experiments, overtures, remixes and special projects. Dreamt up by record producer Trevor Horn, his wife and manager Jill Sinclair and NME journalist Paul Morley (who has written a new essay about ZTTs reorganization of pop in the accompanying 24-page booklet) ZTT was founded in 1983 and their ethos was: To deliver a 'surreal variety show - a European cabaret a dream department producing perfect pop.' with a style and a sound that no other record label has managed to equal, ZTT produced 45 UK Top 40 hits and somehow managed to not only discover brand new talent but turn some of it's artists into icons by the release of their second single. Includes tracks by Seal, Grace Jones, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the Art of Noise, 808 State and many others.

A person spends all day building a machine, only for it to torture them all through the night. As if that wasn’t twisted enough, they like it. In fact, they like being tortured so much that, come morning, they wake up rejuvenated, eager to tweak the machine until it runs perfectly in their mind. This is the nocturnal vision that inspired Cryptopsy’s ninth full-length nightmare. “Beware the spotlight”, warns vocalist Matt McGachy before “Dead Eyes Replete” flashes before your eyes with a skull crushing breakdown. An Insatiable Violence mirrors our toxic relationship with social media, but while eerily prescient, the album is influenced by the many mutations that have defined the band’s Hall of Fame discography. Inspired by a mukbang gone horribly wrong, ravenous opener “The Nimis Adoration” is a smorgasbord of gut-busting blasts, Christian Donaldson’s fishhook riffs and a heavy helping of pit-pleasing groove…

Digitally remastered two CD set containing a pair of original albums from the Folk/Rock singer/songwriter: Stars (1974) and Aftertones (1976). The two albums that bookended her hugely successful Between the Lines album, each of these releases are complimented by a bonus live track on each disc. While Stars was a critically successful release, Aftertones consolidated the worldwide success of Between the Lines, particularly in the UK and Japan.

The record features 12 (1 exclusive to physical product) new tracks written and produced by her. Executive produced by FLETCHER and Jennifer Decilveo. FLETCHER has built a one-of-a-kind legacy on speaking her truth in exhilarating detail. she returns with her highly-anticipated third studio album Would You Still Love Me If You Really Knew Me? out now via Capitol Records, it marks a pivotal moment in her journey as one of pop music’s most essential queer voices—ultimately adding a whole new layer of depth and resonance to her truly singular artistry.

All Shook Up is the fifth studio album by American rock band Cheap Trick. Released in 1980, it was produced by former Beatles producer George Martin. As such, this was the first album since their debut to be produced by someone other than Tom Werman. All Shook Up was even quirkier than its predecessor, the platinum-selling Dream Police. Many of its songs were less radio friendly and more experimental, and the cover art, influenced by Magritte's Time Transfixed, led many to question what the band was trying to accomplish. However, at the time, Cheap Trick had severed ties with long-time producer Tom Werman and took the opportunity to take their sound in a different direction. With the assistance of producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick, many of the songs have a dimension not found on any other Cheap Trick album.