The two discs of Steve Miller Band: On Tour 1973-1976 feature two Steve Miller Band concerts recorded in 1973 and 1976, respectively, by (and for eventual broadcast on) the infamous King Biscuit Flower Hour. The soundboard recordings are pristine, with each bandmember occupying an equal part of the spectrum. The 1973 incarnation, captured at Shady Grove in Washington, D.C., still holds some connection to the earlier, more blues-based years of the band. As such, the disc contains a good deal of blues-rock jamming, much of which is admirably tight, though it falls prey to some of the era's excesses. Also contained is an early version of "Fly Like an Eagle," which Miller road-tested in several versions before setting it to wax. Following extensive touring around that period, Miller took an extended hiatus from the road, during which time he recorded both Fly Like an Eagle and Book of Dreams, what would prove to be his two most successful albums. Following the recording of those albums, Miller took to the road again, with a new band featuring Gary Mallaber, Lonnie Turner, Norton Buffalo, David Denny, and Byron Allred. The music is different, too. The blues influence is still there, but the band is sleeker and more modern.

Yunchan Lim is the one of the most talked-about classical artists on the planet. In 2024, he presents his debut studio album on Decca Classics - the Chopin Études, Op.10 & Op.25. "To me, Chopin is a composer who yearned for the past. I wanted the album cover to feel like solitude and nostalgia, and to look like you have come across an old photo." - Yunchan Lim

James Brown's two-CD 40th Anniversary Collection gathered 40 of the soul-funk giant's biggest hits, and in keeping with its title, The 50th Anniversary Collection is just that little bit bigger and better, with (could you guess?) 50 of his most famous tracks. From 1956's "Please, Please, Please" to 1988's "Static, Pts. 1 & 2," it has almost all of his biggies, though the absence of the 1986 Top Five hit "Living in America" is puzzling indeed. But that's a minor quibble given the dozens of classics onboard, which taken as a whole not only represent the best Brown compilation on the market, but also make a plain case for the singer as one of the major talents of 20th century American music. It's not wholly redundant on the off-chance that you're willing to replace 40th Anniversary Collection, mopping up a few hits of note ("Bewildered," "Bring It Up," "Let Yourself Go," "I Can't Stand Myself [When You Touch Me], Pt. 1," "It's a New Day, Pt. 1," "The Popcorn") that didn't make the cut the previous time around. If you're keeping score, it does lose a couple minor goodies from 40th Anniversary Collection ("Money Won't Change You," "King Heroin"). Also, the '70s funk years might be given too much emphasis and his R&B-soul beginnings shortchanged, though there are plenty of other reissues of his '50s/'60s material out there if you want to investigate further.

Quintets with double bass? The combination is rather rare, but to Boccherini, court composer to the Infante Don Luis and then to Charles II in Madrid, it must have had a special significance, because these three works are unique among his 125 string quintets.

Released the year after he was voted Best Acoustic Guitarist for a second time by Guitar Player magazine, Australian virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel further establishes his esteemed reputation with this collection of festive covers, All I Want for Christmas.

The Evpatoria Report was born in January 2002 and the band consists of two guitars, a bass, drums, a violin and a keyboard. The band offers an instrumental rock combining serenity, power and intensity. The Evpatoria Report is a brilliant band. Their music feels interstellar, putting you in the body of an astronaut as they float among the stars. It can be calming just as much as it is suspenseful while you sit in anticipation for the unknown. It is the flawlessness in how human this music sounds that makes this album so powerful. The songs are long, giving the music plenty of room to breathe and create tension and do with it as it pleases.
Its first release was a two-track EP in 2003, followed by two albums: "Golevka" in 2005 and "Maar" in 2008.

With nearly as many lineup changes as one of their influences, Yes, Arena was one of the dominant neo-prog groups of the 1990s. A supergroup of sorts, Arena has featured former members of Marillion, Pendragon, IQ, and Shadowland. Arena was formed in 1994 by Mick Pointer, the former drummer of Marillion, and Clive Nolan, the former keyboardist of Pendragon. The group was rounded out by the addition of Cliff Orsi (bass), John Carson (vocals), and Keith More (guitars).

Blood Incantation’s Absolute Elsewhere is unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. At roughly 45 minutes, the two compositions that make up this album are as confounding as they are engaging in their scope, melding the 70's prog leanings of Tangerine Dream (whose Thorsten Quaesching appears on "The Stargate [Tablet II]") with the deathly intent of Morbid Angel. Absolute Elsewhere, which takes its title from the mid-70's prog collective (best known as a celestial stopover for King Crimson drummer, Bill Bruford), Blood Incantation are leaving the notion of genre behind and writing a new language for extreme music itself.
Deluxe Artbook Edition featuring 3 CDs containing “Absolute Elsewhere” (Album), “All Gates Open” (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), “Luminescent Bridge” (Maxi Single, 2023, previously only released on vinyl).

Throughout their career, Caravan Palace has consistently defied musical conventions and genres, forging their unclassifiable, hybrid pop signature sound. Embraced by multiple communities (dancers, gymnasts, gamers, video animators…) who turned their songs into viral hits, the group has achieved enormous success, accumulating several billion streams across all platforms as well as an RIAA Platinum Certified Single with "Lone Digger". Their idiosyncratic soundscapes achieve the rare feat of being both leftfield and commercial. Gangbusters Melody Club, their fifth album is a joyous jigsaw puzzle of an album and their most dancefloor-friendly to date.

Before this, the last the world heard from international cult songwriter Bill Pritchard was his unexpectedly electronic-heavy 2005 album, By Paris by Taxi by Accident. That album came after a long disappearance from public performance that followed several spirited albums of introspective college rock-era alternative pop crafted by Pritchard either alone or with his band Beatitude.

Ilya Gringolts made a splash with his CD of the Paganini D Major Concerto, so it's no surprise that he excels in these fiendishly difficult solo pieces, including one of his own. His playing is dazzling, secure even in the most tortuous passages. The Hindemith sonatas are abstract, anti-Romantic works.

The second release from Katia and Marielle Labèque's own KML label largely revisits Debussy and Stravinsky works that the duo previously essayed for Philips. Their newer versions are preferable, and may well represent the Labèque sisters' finest recordings to date. Whereas a driving, steel-edged literalism characterizes their earlier Debussy En blanc et noir, the duo now imbues the score with greater rhythmic leeway.