Alexander Melnikov’s recent, excellent set of the Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues (currently nominated for the BBC Music Magazine Awards) demonstrated eloquently that he was no slavish follower of performing tradition. This new disc of Brahms’s earliest surviving piano works shows his questing musicality in another way. In an absorbing booklet essay on Brahms’s pianos and pianism, Melnikov cites the copious (and contradictory) evidence of how Brahms played, and what pianos he used and favoured. Brahms’s partiality for Steinways and Streichers is well attested, as is his admiration for Bösendorfer’s instruments, and Melnikov has opted here for an 1875 Bösendorfer even though, as he comments, it is ‘notoriously difficult to play and to regulate’, shortcomings ‘compensated by the beauty and nobility of its sound’. Those qualities, along with immediacy of attack, agile articulation and individuation of registers, are admirably well caught in this recording: no matter that none of these works were played on such an instrument when they were new. Melnikov shows himself a formidable Brahmsian, and the piano’s ‘nobility’ is best displayed in the surging grandeur he brings to the finale of the C major and the intensely sensitive readings of both sonatas’ variation-form slow movements.

Like her first two efforts for Rounder, True Believer is a stellar collection of contemporary soul performed in the classic '50s New Orleans tradition. The difference is in conception. True Believer focuses on heartbreak songs, and there is genuine anguish in Irma Thomas' voice, making new songs by the likes of Dan Penn, Dr. John, Tony Joe White, Allen Toussaint, and Doc Pomus sound like instant classics. Another excellent effort from a woman who has plenty to her credit.

As part of the celebrations of the 40th Anniversary of ABBA wining the Eurovision Song Contest, Universal Music are proud to present a new 3CD 40th anniversary ABBA Gold release. Disc 1 and 2 is a comprehensive collection of ABBAs hits, including the likes of Waterloo, Dancing Queen and The Winner Takes It All; whilst disc 3 includes a selection of Golden rarities.

Finnish frontrunners of icy melodic death metal Wolfheart have proven themselves to be one of metal's most captivating acts of northern heritage and one of the fastest rising bands in the international melodic death metal scene. Over the course of their career, the band has remained relentless with the release of their highly acclaimed 6 full-lengths, gaining massive praise from fans and press alike with their wintery tales of battle and triumph. The new album, "Draconian Darkness", picked up right where Wolfheart left off. Taking every aspect of their trademark sound of colossal melodies, growling vocals and driving drum rhythms to searing new levels. "Draconian Darkness" is showcasing what Wolfheart's music is known for: deep, dark, and beautiful melodies combined with powerful and raw energy.

A real gem from that key moment in Japanese fusion when some of the nation's best artists were hopping over to the American scene - cutting records like this, which often beat the American soul fusion scene at its own game - thanks to the help of a big array of all-star players! Masayoshi Takanaka plays guitar solos throughout, but also gets some help from Lee Ritenour on the electric strings - in a group that also has arrangements from Greg Adams of Tower Of Power, who brings in the rest of the TOP horns too - plus keyboards from Patrice Rushen, bass from Chuck Rainey, and drums from the great Harvey Mason - a rhythm combo that really keeps things groovy throughout. There's two vocal tracks on the set - which feature work from Jim Gilstrap, Maxi Anderson, and The Waters.

The debut solo album by the Lindisfarne frontman, cut shortly after that band's initial breakup, Pipedream is very much the son of its father, a faintly folky collection of songs that, one presumes, were originally intended for the next Lindisfarne album before events finally overtook them. As usual with Alan Hull's post-Dingly Dell output, nothing here truly leaps out to grab your attention; rather, Pipedream is a meditative, reflective collection characterized as much by Hull's often-plaintive vocal than by any particular melody. But "Country Gentleman's Wife," "Song for a Windmill" and the gorgeous "Justanothersadsong" are latter-day Hull jewels, while the biting "The Money Game" reflects on the end of the band with grandiose venom. [Originally released in 1973, the LP was reissued on CD in 2005 and includes six bonus tracks.]

In Search of The Lost Chord (1968). "In Search of the Lost Chord" is the album on which the Moody Blues discovered drugs and mysticism as a basis for songwriting and came up with a compelling psychedelic creation, filled with songs about Timothy Leary and the astral plane and other psychedelic-era concerns. They dumped the orchestra this time out in favor of Mike Pinder's Mellotron, which was a more than adequate substitute, and the rest of the band joined in with flutes, sitar, tablas, and cellos, the playing of which was mostly learned on the spot. The whole album was one big experiment to see how far the group could go with any instruments they could find, thus making this album a rather close cousin to the Beatles' records of the same era…