It's quite easy to place Roberta Flack near the top of the pile of singer/songwriters who changed the course of pop music, not only soul music, during the '70s. She was fortunate enough to deliver the velvet-smooth ballad "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" to an unsuspecting public, and followed it up with an onslaught of ballads that would keep her on the charts for the remainder of the decade. From start to finish, this greatest-hits compilation is the most comprehensive look at her finest moments available on record. From her legendary string of duets with Donny Hathaway to her duets with Peabo Bryson and Maxi Priest that kept her at the top of the charts through the '80s, they're all here.

Schubert set the poetry of over 115 writers to music. He selected poems from classical Greece, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, from eighteenth-century German authors, early Romantics, Biedermeier poets, and Heine. The Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition presents all Schubert’s Lieder, over 700 songs, grouped according to the poets who inspired him. Thanks to the Bärenreiter’s Neue Schubert-Ausgabe (New Schubert Edition), Tübingen, which uses primary sources, the performers have been able to benefit from the most recent research of the editorial team.

As director of Musica Antiqua Koln, Reinhard Goebel was constantly on the lookout for musical treasures from the Baroque. In Dresden and Leipzig after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Goebel secured access to original manuscripts which allowed him and his Musica Antiqua Koln to record some of the most insightful Bach albums in DG's history. This 13CD box presents Goebel's finest J.S. Bach recordings for DG including The Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites and Chamber Works.

Liszt’s sonata is regarded by many as his ultimate masterpiece and it ranks alongside other “greats” in the pantheon of piano repertoire. This was not always the case, however, and in the 19th century it was met with extreme reactions, from admiration to suspicion and envy. The critic Eduard Hanslick declared “Anyone who has heard this and finds it beautiful is beyond help”, while Wagner heaped praised upon it (perhaps unsurprisingly). Alfred Brendel has called it “the most original, powerful and intelligent sonata composed after Beethoven and Schubert”.

Violinist Daniel Lozakovich was already a veteran at 18, having made his debut at age nine and signed to Deutsche Grammophon at 15. It may seem that each year brings a prodigal new violinist, but Lozakovich, a charismatic soul who boxes on the side, bow hand be damned, is one of the best. His Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, is muscular and unafraid of a little gravel in the tone. Sample his finale, a broad, arch-Russian thing where he is ideally backed by his mentor, Vladimir Spivakov, leading the new National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia. Lozakovich grabs your attention from the start but never overplays the transitions.

This recording presents five virtuoso violin players in five distinctly different music genres: Irish, American jazz, Appalachian, Cape Breton, and Cajun. The fiddlers are Brenden Mulvihill, Claude Williams, Kenny Baker, Natalie MacMaster, and Michael Doucet; three of them (Williams, Baker, and Doucet) are recognized as National Heritage Fellows by the National Endowment for the Arts. Recorded while on tour in 1994, the fiddlers are on their game with lively presentations of their individual music styles.

This three-CD set from the prestigious Mosaic Select label has the Pacific Jazz trio performances led by pianists Russ Freeman, Richard Twardzik, Jimmy Rowles, and Clare Fischer. One of the Rowles' sessions is actually a quartet date with guitarist Al Hendrickson added, but it certainly has the feel of a trio. The first disc has 14 titles featuring Freeman from 1952-1957 and the only seven studio sides led by the ill-fated Twardzik (other than a rehearsal session released elsewhere). The music was originally issued as Russ Freeman/Richard Twardzik, Russ Freeman Trio and Jazz Swings Broadway. Freeman shows that he was the definitive West Coast jazz pianist of the '50s while Twardzik hints at an original style that was never allowed to fully develop. The second disc showcases the sparse and witty style of Jimmy Rowles on its first 11 numbers (mostly from the album Rare But Well Done) while the remainder of the disc and all of CD number three have the music from Clare Fischer's First Time Out and Surging Ahead, some of the rarest material on the three-fer. All in all, this is a highly enjoyable and logical reissue, bringing back some particularly rewarding performances from four underrated pianists.

Here are 100 tracks by Bob Dunn-one of the very first people to play amplified steel guitar in a country group and on record-and the illustrious string men who followed in his trailblazing footsteps! These helped forge the very sound of country music: (with Dunn) St. Louis Blues; Little White Lies; Jitterbug Jive; Texas Hambone Blues; Easy Ridin' Papa; Blue Skies ; (with Lefty Perkins) Honky Tonk Blues; Rose Room; High Geared Daddy; Long Long Ago ; (with Billy Briggs) Hi Flyer Stomp; Am I Blue; Oh Monah!; Mama Inez; Pretty Baby Boogie ; (Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant) Cracker Jack; Midnight Ramble; Georgia Steel Guitar; Railroadin'; Speedin' West; Caffeine Patrol; Stainless Steel; Stratosphere Boogie; Flippin' the Lid, and more.

Sade's second album improved on the performance of her debut, as "Sweetest Taboo" was a huge hit and "Never as Good as the First Time" landed in both the R&B and pop Top 20. She was once again the personification of cool, laid-back singing, seldom extending or embellishing lyrics, registering emotion, or projecting her voice. This demeanor made her more desirable in the minds of many fans and was perhaps the ultimate misapplication of the notion of sophistication. But this album topped the pop charts and eventually went triple platinum.

If Genesis truly established themselves as progressive rockers on Trespass, Nursery Cryme is where their signature persona was unveiled: true English eccentrics, one part Lewis Carroll and one part Syd Barrett, creating a fanciful world that emphasized the band's instrumental prowess as much as Peter Gabriel's theatricality. Which isn't to say that all of Nursery Cryme works. There are times when the whimsy is overwhelming, just as there are periods when there's too much instrumental indulgence, yet there's a charm to this indulgence, since the group is letting itself run wild.

With their second album, Mirage, Camel begin to develop their own distinctive sound, highlighted by the group's liquid, intricate rhythms and the wonderful, unpredictable instrumental exchanges by keyboardist Pete Bardens and guitarist Andy Latimer. Camel also distinguish themselves from their prog rock peers with the multi-part suite "Lady Fantasy," which suggests the more complex directions they would take a few albums down the line. Also, Latimer's graceful flute playing distinguishes several songs on the record, including "Supertwister," and it's clear that he has a more supple technique than such contemporaries as Ian Anderson. Camel are still ironing out some quirks in their sound on Mirage, but it's evident that they are coming into their own.

Best known for a pair of adult contemporary smashes – "Please Don't Leave," a duet with Michael McDonald, and the Pretty Woman soundtrack's "Fallen" – Lauren Wood has parlayed a variety of talents into a career spanning two decades, even if she hasn't remained highly visible throughout that time.

A Day to Remember conjure their blistering early work on their eighth studio album and second for Fueled by Ramen, 2025's Big Ole Album, Vol. 1. The Florida metalcore band have streamlined their sound in the decades since their 2005 debut, embracing pop hooks while still digging into the eviscerating guitars and throaty vocals. It's a potent combination that made albums like Homesick, What Separates Me from You, and Common Courtesy so abrasively memorable. With their move to Fueled by Ramen for 2021's You're Welcome, ADTR embarked on the next chapter in their saga, crafting an album that nicely balanced the heavier aspects of their sound with their knack for melodic choruses. They further champion this sweet-and-sour approach on the Big Ole Album, pummeling the listener right from the start in classic fashion with "Make It Make Sense"…

Keef Hartley came to prominence as a member of the British R&B group The Artwoods before joining John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in 1967. He contributed to the album "Crusade" before leaving in 1968 to form the first line-up of his own band. With Gary Thain (bass), Peter Dines (keyboards), Spit James (guitar) and horn section that was a whos who of British jazz (Henry Lowther, Chris Mercer, Lyn Dobson and Harry Beckett), Hartley recorded his first album for Decca's Deram label in March 1969. Now regarded as a classic of the genre, "Halfbreed" is a fine example of the fusion of rock, jazz and blues.

Moondog Matinee is the fifth studio album by Canadian/American rock group the Band, released in 1973. It consists entirely of cover material reflecting the group's love of R&B and blues music, with one exception in their interpretation of the theme from the film The Third Man. The original idea had been to replicate the group's setlists of the mid-'60s when they had been known as Levon and the Hawks, playing clubs throughout Canada and the US. Of the ten tracks, only one, "Share Your Love (With Me)" had been performed by the group in the mid-'60s. The rest were merely tracks the group admired, two of them, "Holy Cow" and "A Change Is Gonna Come", chronologically coming after the group's club days.