With his Sam Cooke phrasing and rough-as-sandpaper voice, Rod Stewart has been both brilliant ("Maggie May") and shameless ("Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?") during his four-decade career, and if he now seems well past his sell-by date, there's no denying that his distinctive voice is a pop culture wonder. This uneven best-of collection drawn from Stewart's often striking Mercury Records era (1969 to 1972) lacks key tracks like the epic "Every Picture Tells a Story," although it does have Stewart's wise cover of Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe," the wonderfully ragged "Cut Across Shorty," and, of course, "Maggie May." This will do for casual fans, perhaps, but why not just go ahead and get his four Mercury albums in their entirety for even more fun?

72 Tracks. Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Toni Braxton, Billie Holiday, Bonnie Tyler, Nina Simone, Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Gladys Knight, Jennifer Rush, Anastacia, Dionne Warwick, Alison Moyet, Etta James, Rita Ora, Bette Midler, Alicia Keys, Chaka Khan, Leona Lewis, Pink, Eartha Kitt, Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, Carly Simon, Aaliyah, Delta Goodrem, Labelle, Gossip and more, and many more…

The Reverb Syndicate is an almost exclusively instrumental "Spy-Fi" surf band from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada who have been playing since 2006. Their music is of "soundtracks to 1960s spy films that don’t exist". They toured England and Scotland in 2008 and again in 2012, and have played at the 2007 and 2010 Ottawa Bluesfest. They have released four studio albums; Operation: Jet Set! (2006), Sputnik A-Go-Go (2007), Mondo Cacti (2011) and Odyssey (2015).

Singing drummer (or drumming singer?) Phil Collins, born January 30, 1951, first earned recognition as a member of the prog rock group Genesis. While still a member of Genesis, Collins began a wildly successful solo career, releasing his first album Face Value, featuring the hit single "In the Air Tonight," in 1981. Collins would follow with a string of soulful pop hits that would make him a ubiquitous radio presence, including: "Against All Odds," "Easy Lover" (a duet with Earth, Wind and Fire's Philip Bailey), his cover of the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love," "Sussudio," and "Don't Lose My Number."

A new live album that sees the band reflecting on their 6th album, Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief (Live Recordings 2003-2009) is comprised of performances of songs in London, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, and Dublin between 2003 and 2009. The album was mixed by Ben Baptie and mastered by Matt Colton. Speaking about the new live album, Thom Yorke, who recently co-created the critically acclaimed Hamlet Hail to the Thief, a frenetic adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, says: “In the process of thinking of how to build arrangements for the Shakespeare Hamlet/Hail To The Thief theatre production, I asked to hear some archive live recordings of the songs. I was shocked by the kind of energy behind the way we played. I barely recognised us, and it helped me find a way forward. We decided to get these live recordings mixed and released (it would have been insane to keep them for ourselves). It has all been a very cathartic process. We very much hope you enjoy them.”

My third album HEROINA was born at a time when I felt like I was losing control. Over my body, over my career, over my identity. Living with chronic pain for so long, while trying to survive as an independent artist and new mom in this state of the world, forced me to go through a dark time. I created HEROINA as an armor, and as a mirror.

After an eight-year hiatus from new releases, the internationally acclaimed Italian artist Pupo returns with his highly anticipated new album, Insieme. The title track, released on January 17th, offers a promising first taste of the upcoming musical masterpiece, which is already generating considerable excitement. Insieme features not only brand-new compositions but also beautifully reinterpreted Italian versions of classics by his longtime producer, David Brandes. These re-recordings blend the magic of bygone eras with modern, fresh sounds, creating a unique listening experience that will delight both loyal fans and new listeners alike.

An exclusive 8-CD box set containing albums and rare recordings made by the Czech jazzrock legend Martin Kratochvíl! The box set includes albums not previously released on CD or unavailable for many years, as well as studio recordings with a hallmark of surprise from the repertoire of Martin Kratochvíl’s Jazz Q. The compilation has been put together by the band’s front man and supplemented by an interesting memoir of his colleague Tony Ackermann.
From the introductory “Pozorovatelna” (Observatory) to the concluding bonus “Co se na desky nevešlo” (Outtakes), the listener is presented with first-class pieces performed by superlative instrumentalists and vocalists. Besides the keyboard wizard Kratochvíl, you will hear Francl, Padrůněk, Vrbovec and Dugganová, and, as time went by, other of his permanent or occasional musical partners…

This was Heldon's last studio release, although the reissued Rhizosphere CD includes a 1982 Heldon concert recording with slightly different personnel. Stand By features the classic trio lineup of the brilliant Francois Auger on percussion, Patrick Gauthier on keyboards and Pinhas on guitars, keyboards and electronics, with some additional assistance from Didier Batard on bass, Didier Badez on sequencers and Klaus Blasquiz doing voices. The two long pieces on the CD are an interesting contrast. The title piece starts with some nasty distorted fuzz guitar from Pinhas over ponderous, menacing bass and drums. King Crimson at its most aggressive could be considered a model, but this track is also very close to the so-called "zheul" sound of Magma, another French prog-rock band of the period, which shared Pinhas' interest in science fiction motifs, among other things…

'+ -" (plus minus) - is a unique Joy Division retrospective box set consisting of ten CD singles presented in a beautiful box. All tracks have been newly re-mastered from original tapes by Stephen Morris and Frank Arkwright (Metropolis Studios) with creative direction for '+ -" box set artwork coming from Peter Saville. Compiled by renowned journalist and author Jon Savage, the boxset is released in celebration of Ian Curtis - in the year that is the 30th anniversary of his death. +- includes singles which have previously been issued and some which have been created specifically for this release. Although they released two albums in two years - 'Unknown Pleasures' (1979) and 'Closer' (1980), Joy Division recorded many other tracks throughout their career that were released on stand-alone singles - most notably 'Transmission' and 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. +- brings these singles, and more, together in one place. As a co-founder of the legendary independent label Factory Records Peter Saville leant his eyes to the project providing stunning outer packaging and suggesting the concept for the sleeves. Each cover is based upon its original and - as a snapshot of a band and a time - serves to remind the owner of the unique position Joy Division hold in British musical history.

Setlist at The Joy Theater New Orleans, LA on 11/1/2025.

An Italian Tenor Goes From Childhood Trauma to a Long Reign as Classical Crossover’s Easygoing King Cosima Spender's doc offers interesting scenes showing how the maestro maintains his voice and navigates his world without sight, while taking him at his contented word that his adult life has been 'a fairy tale.'

Take early steps back to 1960s London with Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Kenney Jones, Ronnie Lane and Ian McLagan to the Faces’ first and previously unheard recording session at Olympic Studios in Barnes. Walk by the River Thames to Bermondsey to hear rehearsals in The Rolling Stones’ warehouse, the earliest recordings of the Faces captured in all their raucous glory on the band’s own cassette tapes. Hear the Faces before they took the First Step!

Ash Ra Tempel's second album featured the first of several personnel changes, Klaus Schulze having departed for other realms and replaced as a result by Wolfgang Muller. A few guest players surfaced here and there as well, with one John L. taking the lead vocals - another difference from the self-titled debut, which was entirely instrumental. The general principle of side-long efforts continued, though the first half was split into two related songs, "Light" and "Darkness." "Light" itself sounded halfway between the zoned-out exploration of "Traummaschine" and bluesy jamming, a weird if not totally discordant combination that still manages to sound more out there than most bands of the time. Gottsching's fried solo, in particular, is great, sending the rest of the song out to silence that leads into "Darkness"…

Contemporary jazz icons Bob James and Dave Koz mark a unique milestone with this aptly titled duo album Just Us, a piano and saxophone only collection of fresh originals and colorful re-imaginings of Great American Songbook standards. Its inspired format ventures spontaneously beyond the trademark sounds that fueled their superstardom and years of Billboard chart-topping successes into something entirely new, and fresh. A must listen for any fan of these artists.