The greatest strength of Oehms Classics' live recording of the Hamburg Staatsoper 2005 production of Mathis der Maler is the supple and dramatic conducting of Simone Young, the Australian general manager of the company. The score contains some of Hindemith's most overtly romantic and emotionally expressive music, as well as some extended passages that sound like academic note-spinning. Young is remarkably successful in accentuating the score's moments of sensuality, such as the opening "Concert of Angels," and manages to keep the dramatic momentum up during the more pedestrian passages. The sound is full, clean, and well balanced for a live opera performance.

Going by this album, Phil Lynott would have had a lot in common with Bob Geldof, with both of them writing songs that strove for memorable hooks and related to growing up in the rough end of Ireland. The Philip Lynott Album has some surprisingly sweet moments, considering Lynott's hard-rocking past with Thin Lizzy. It generated a bona fide European pop hit in a remodeled version of "Yellow Pearl" (co-written by Midge Ure of Ultravox), a sarcastic attack on Asian marketing methods.

Pancake from Winnenden near Stuttgart in Suabia emerged from their psychedelic predecessor Nyrvana Pancake in 1974 and now played progressive rock with clear symphonic tendencies. With changing members they released three LPs with self-written tracks, namely "Roxy Elephant" from 1975, "Out Of The Ashes" from 1977, and "No Illusions" from 1979.
Pancake's debut, "Roxy Elephant" is a good representative of the German rock sound of the mid 1970s. So it's not really Krautrock per se, but it definitely has a progressive mindset, with plenty of good ideas. There are no keyboards, and the songs are driven by dual guitars. From a compositional perspective, mid 70s Jane and Birth Control would probably be a good guidepost here…

Dreaming Out Loud finds Michael Chapman in fine form, turning a record that isn't drastically dissimilar from his early work. While it doesn't have the spark of his early albums for Harvest, it has a professional journeyman quality that is appealing in its own way. Chapman plays most of the instruments on the album himself, which can occasionally give the music a stilted feel, but on the whole, it's an ambitious, successful effort that fits nicely into his body of work.

This is the third and final volume in the complete recordings of Lil Green in chronological order as reissued by the Classics Blues & Rhythm Series. By 1947 Lil Green was beginning to sound more than a little like Ida Cox, even when handling songs from Tin Pan Alley rather than straight up out of the tried and true traditional blues repertoire. Comparisons could also be drawn between Lil Green and Nellie Lutcher or Julia Lee. While her "crossover" performances are worthwhile, there's nothing quite like hearing this woman savor the flavor of Bessie Smith hits like "Aggravatin' Papa," "Outside of That," and "You've Been a Good Old Wagon (But You Done Broke Down)." Green's own "Lonely Woman" has a powerful undercurrent running through it – there is even a remote possibility that Ornette Coleman was inspired by this record when conceiving his own composition of the same title in 1959. Even if the link is purely coincidental, these melodies have something wonderful in common. Green's final recordings for the Victor label are strengthened by the presence of tenor saxophonists Budd Johnson, Lem Johnson, and David Young.

While some hardliners will point to his early 1950s Trumpet recordings as his most undiluted work, Sonny Boy's tenure at Chess Records was his longest and most successful and therefore deserves first look for the novice coming to this remarkable bluesman at ground level. This 20-track collection takes 17 tracks from the excellent two-disc Essential Sonny Boy Williamson collection and adds "Sad To Be Alone," "My Younger Days" and an alternate session-second version of "One Way Out" with Buddy Guy on guitar (yes, this is the version that the Allman Brothers used as the blueprint for their cover version) to the final mix. This is another entry into MCA's Chess 50th Anniversary Series and the digital transfers here are exemplary, making this an automatic audio upgrade for those who already have this material in their collection.

Melody Gardot's debut recording came two years after she suffered a near fatal automobile accident, the differently able Gardot triumphing in accomplishing what many others, including her, could only dream of. This project has her singing and playing guitar and a little piano, but more so presenting this project of all original material. Gardot has an interesting personal story, but even more intriguing music that straddles the line between lounge jazz, folk, and cowgirl songs. She's part sophisticated chanteuse, college sophomore, and down-home girl next door. Her innocence, sweetness, and light are very alluring, much like the persona of tragic songbirds Eva Cassidy and Nancy LaMott. Feel empathy for Gardot, but don't patronize her - she's the real deal much more that many of her over-hyped peers…

Many believe that all starts from a certain hit record by one of America’s pioneering and premiere ‘garage’ bands. Yes, it all kicked off with the raucous sound of ‘Louie Louie’ by The Kingsmen, a smash hit back in 1963. A combination of teenage angst and an insidious ‘hook line’ ensured the number would become a classic and inspiration to future generations of rockers. The Kingsmen came from Portland, Oregon and were headed by singer Jack Ely and guitarist Mike Mitchell. ‘Louie Louie’ was their debut single, written by Richard Berry and recorded by him way back in 1957. The Kingsmen’s version got to Number 2 in the US chart and proved a Top 30 hit in the UK in 1964. Although the group was the subject of internal dissent after their first big hit, they went on to enjoy more chart success with such songs as ‘Money’ and ‘The Jolly Green Giant’, both included on this 20 track compilation.

Art Forland has in recent years escaped from classical differentiation with the concept of virtual music. He has done this without having given up the popular aspect of this work with which this demanding search for new music began. At the center of the title of this work is the expression of the dream, which is that virtuality which man has always opposed to reality. A contemporary way of being as sound space.
"Virtual Music" - a musical philosophy stands behind this phrase which merges the rationality of electronic music with the sensuality of the inner psyche. The "Virtual" is the original sense pf the unreal. Electronic code enables the virtual spirit to be made physical reality, and thus arrive at the purest form of music…

Das Vokalensemble Cantus Cölln unter der Leitung von Konrad Junghänel gehört heute zu den renommiertesten Formationen seiner Art. Die über 30 CD-Einspielungen von Cantus Cölln wurden mit zahlreichen internationalen Preisen ausgezeichnet und umfassen musikalische Raritäten ebenso wie wegweisende Interpretationen von "Klassikern" des barocken Repertoires.

Composed against a cataclysmic backdrop of Stalinist oppression and the Second World War, Shostakovich's Symphony No.8 is a deeply affecting poem of suffering. The composer described it as, ''an attempt to reflect the terrible tragedy of war,'' and it contains some of the most terrifying music he ever wrote. Here, Gianandrea Noseda conducts the London Symphony Orchestra with intensity and understanding, allowing the music to tell its own story as it travels from darkness into light, yearning more for peace than for victory.

In their general layout and their style, the three quintets recorded here illustrate Boccherini’s formal variety and freedom: whether first violin and first cello are deliberately highlighted, or the roles are distributed in more balanced fashion, this composer had an unrivalled ability to use the group of instruments to create a limpid, shimmering soundscape, traversed by fleeting zones of shadow and sudden bursts of light.

Jon Anderson joins conductor Nigel Warren-Green and his London Chamber Academy for orchestral arrangements of new material and old favorites on Change We Must (and that sound you hear in the distance is the small army of Anderson's detractors crying "This time he's really gone too far"). But far from being the exercise in self-indulgence that some would charge, Change We Must proves to be a lovely setting for Anderson's compositions. Expertly produced by the vocalist and Tim Handley, the disc finds Anderson's voice in harmonic balance with a wonderful landscape of orchestral sounds. The combined effect is, in a word, lovely. Beginning with the Jon & Vangelis chestnut "State of Independence," the singer and orchestra achieve a natural beauty that the previous pairing aimed at but rarely captured…