Hurricane Ruth Live at 3rd and Lindsley is 14 songs of unbridled blues rock fury! Hurricane Ruth is old school, real and raw. Her vocals are deeply rooted in the blues, but make no mistake she can rock the house! She is cut from the same cloth as Big Mama Thornton, Janis Joplin, and Tina Turner. Hurricane Ruth pulls from all these greats to create her own unique sound. Hurricane Ruth is a powerful, unpredictable, everchanging MUSICAL FORCE OF NATURE!

Bryan Adams' influence extends four decades, over which time he has released 14 studio albums. His songwriting has garnered him numerous awards and accolades including three Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe nominations and a Grammy Award. Of his 2022 album, 'So Happy it Hurts' he said, 'The pandemic and lockdown really brought home the truth that spontaneity can be taken away. Suddenly all touring stopped, no one could jump in the car and go. The title song is about freedom, autonomy, spontaneity and the thrill of the open road. The album of the same name, touches on many of the ephemeral things in life are really the secret to happiness, most importantly, human connection'.

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of a new 2CD anthology celebrating the British rock band Widowmaker. Formed in 1975 by former Mott the Hoople and Spooky Tooth guitarist Luther Grosvenor, also known as Ariel Bender. The original line-up of the band featured vocalist Steve Ellis (ex-Love Affair & Ellis), guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton (ex-Hawkwind), Australian bassist Bob Daisley (ex-Chicken Shack) and drummer Paul Nicholls who had previously been a member of Lindisfarne. A few months after they had begun rehearsing at Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Manticore Studios in London, Widowmaker signed to Don Arden's Jet Records label.

The Toccatas are among Bach's earliest works. As the autograph manuscripts have never come down to us, we date their composition between 1705 and 1712. Brought together after the event in a highly diversified set, they bear witness to the influence of northern masters such as Buxtehude, and are above all the site of Bach's stylistic blossoming, giving free rein to his fantasy, his freedom and his architectural and expressive genius.

Deluxe Edition 2 CD set features 35 tracks including b-sides and previously unreleased versions. Sonic Youth's second major-label album, produced and mixed by Butch Vig and Andy Wallace (a team that had helped turn Nirvana's NEVERMIND multi-platinum) was not the barefaced bid for mainstream acceptance that surly underground souls grumbled about in the pages of fanzines. While Vig and Wallace give guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, bassist Kim Gordon, and phenomenal drummer Steve Shelley a wide-screen panorama for their bizarrely-tuned assaults, DIRTY is probably Sonic Youth's most uncompromising album since 1985's BAD MOON RISING–particularly in the lyrical department. Dropping the deliberate obscurantism, Philip K. Dick references, and smart-alecky snottiness, Sonic Youth brackets a slew of pointed political attacks ("Youth Against Fascism," "Swimsuit Issue," and the Jesse Helms-bashing "Chapel Hill") with two passionate tributes to the band members' murdered friend, Joe Cole ("100%" and "JC"). That DIRTY is Sonic Youth's most commercial-sounding album makes it that much more subversive.

It would have been easy to write off the Banshees after the so-so Superstition, especially given the fact that it came after two uneven and disappointing albums (including the unnecessary covers collection Through the Looking Glass) Frankly, one of punk's most consistently invigorating acts seemed to have run their course. Sure enough, The Rapture proved to be their final recording. The surprise is that it's a career highpoint. The band deny, incidentally, that they knew this was to be their last album. Quite how Siouxsie, Severin and Budgie rediscovered their chemistry is a moot point - some credited producer John Cale, who worked on four tracks - but rediscover it they did. Despite nods to the band's past in the savage "Not Forgotten," the real gems are the sunny-side-up "O, Baby" (when did Siouxsie ever sound so genuinely happy?) and an 11-minute title-track that is as dazzling as anything they have ever performed. A classic case of leaving the scene on a high note, and a fitting final chapter from one of punk's finest, and most dignified, bands.

This 27-track CD of rather mysterious origin is the most comprehensive Billie Davis anthology, but not without its imperfections. In its favor, it does include nine tracks from her 1963-1964 girl group-influenced singles, whereas the most commonly available Davis anthology (Tell Him: The Decca Years has just four of those. In all, it has ten songs not on Tell Him: The Decca Years, but is also missing three songs that are not that release, whose sound quality is better (though not seriously flawed). And the liner notes on Her Best: 1963-1970 are perfunctory, though it does contain a complete 1962-1970 Davis discography. So what most people would pick this up for are the ten songs not on Tell Him, which are useful for Davis fans, but not (with one exception) among her most outstanding recordings. That one exception is the moody, sassy 1964 single "Whatcha' Gonna Do," perhaps her best girl group-styled effort; the Mersey-influenced chirpy warble of its B-side "Everybody Knows" is pretty enjoyable too.

A collection from the Mercury funk lineup that covers the hits from the first five Gap Band albums. Every major hit that they had is included here. What one might notice is that all of the major hits ("You Dropped a Bomb on Me," "Burn Rubber on Me," "Early in the Morning," and "I Don't Believe You Want to Get up and Dance") all sound surprisingly similar. This may or may not be a large surprise to everyone, but the bright note about their similarity is that the basic riffs and rhythms that they all use are extremely catchy. The energy that the Gap Band exudes in the midst of producing a song is stunning, and this compilation displays that to the fullest extent. For a basic introduction to the forms of funk that the Gap Band followed, this album would certainly suit any given listener. For those who only need one Gap Band album in their collection, this one also fits the bill perfectly. For die-hard fans who already have all of the band's albums, this one would probably only really serve as a summary.

This is the album debut from the Nash Ramblers, Emmylou Harris' acoustic backing band featuring Sam Bush and Roy Huskey, Jr., recorded over three nights in the former home of the Grand Ole Opry. Harris' choice of songs strikes a balance between hillbilly classics and folk-influenced rock, with Bill Monroe receiving the heaviest tribute but sharing space with Tex Owens, Bruce Springsteen, and John Fogerty.

As part of Chandos Tribute to Lydia Mordkovitch, this re-issue features Bruch’s Violin Concertos Nos 2 and 3 performed by Lydia Mordkovitch with Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra. Both were recorded in 1998 in Blackheath Halls in London.

Working together since 1978, the partnership of Zorn and Frith is one of the most enduring musical partnerships in the downtown scene. Their periodic duo concerts have always been special events in themselves, but when it happens in celebration of Zorn's 50th Birthday, it takes on even greater meaning. Two masters of improvisation meet head to head in the redhot crucible of Tonic for an hour of telepathic communication and exploration, and you are there.

The ‘Hammerklavier’ sonata is by far Beethoven’s longest piano sonata, and in his view it was also his finest. It was begun in or just before December 1817, after a fallow period of over a year in which he had composed next to nothing, hindered by the after-effects of an infection in October the previous year, according to his own account. He seems to have intended from the outset to dedicate the sonata to Archduke Rudolph of Austria (1788-1831), who had been his pupil, friend, patron and chief supporter for nearly ten years. Its nickname derives from Beethoven’s search for a German word for the piano. The word used today, ‘Klavier’, could in those days mean either piano or harpsichord, and so after asking for advice he decided on ‘Hammerklavier’ for the instrument. He then used this term in his preceding sonata (Op 101 in A major), the present one, and the one after (Op 109 in E major). These other two sonatas, however, begin gently, whereas the hammer-like blows at the start of Op 106 suggest ‘Hammerklavier’ as an appropriate nickname. It was issued as a ‘grand sonata’, a term reserved by Beethoven for large-scale sonatas written and published separately.

Since the early 1990s, the excellent French label Opus 111 has released a number of recordings by the Russian Patriarchate Choir, which was founded in 1980 by Anatoly Grindenko. Grindenko, a successful performer on the double-bass and viola de gamba, has combined a devotion to the living tradition of the Orthodox liturgy with important and original musicological scholarship. The result has been the careful editing and inspired performance of a number of manuscripts representing early, and sometimes all but lost, traditions of Orthodox chant.

Mr Demachy's 'Pieces de violle' of 1685 are for viole solo, scored without basso continuo. Demachy represents the previous generation to Marais and Forqueray le pere, whose works included a separate bass voice in addition to the viole.

Janitsch was a superb contrapuntist, so it's fortunate his historically significant compositions are among the surviving manuscripts in the Archive of Berlin's Singakademie. In this recording on CPO, they offer the modern listener a vibrant impression of the cultured and imaginative spirit that animated Janitsch's Musical Academies in Berlin. The members of the chamber music ensemble Epoca Barocca share a passion for the performance of baroque music on original instruments, and their programmes regularly feature unjustly neglected works from the baroque era.