The Carpenters' radio-friendly soft rock virtually defined the genre in the early 1970s, and this album - their third full-length - was the group's ace card. Following on the heels of the wildly successful Close to You, Carpenters features more breezy melodies marked by rich arrangements and beautiful lead vocals, courtesy of siblings Richard Carpenter and Karen Carpenter, respectively.
The record is most notable for two of the duo's strongest and best-loved singles. "Rainy Days and Mondays," written by soft pop gods Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, is a bittersweet pop masterpiece fleshed out by Richard's string orchestrations and smoothly produced backing vocals, while Leon Russell and Bonnie Bramlett's "Superstar," from its melancholic verse to its dramatic chorus, is equally hard to resist…

You don't have to be a bluesman to be known for your harmonica playing - Stevie Wonder has taken his share of memorable harmonica solos, and the distinctive Toots Thielemans (who is arguably the Stan Getz of the harmonica) has demonstrated that a harmonica player can handle the most sophisticated of jazz. That said, no musical idiom has given listeners more first-class harmonica players than the blues. From the Mississippi Delta and the bayous of Louisiana to Chicago's South Side, the harmonica has long been the blues' most famous wind instrument. Spanning 1950-1999, This Is the Blues Harmonica gives listeners an appealing taste of some of the harmonica soloists (many of them singers) to whom Delmark has had access over the years. At its best, this compilation is excellent - and at its worst, it is at least decent…

Like his debut, Smithville is another set of thoroughly winning straight-ahead bop from the underappreciated trumpeter Louis Smith. Stylistically, there are no surprises here - this is mainstream bop and hard bop, comprised of original and contemporary bop numbers, as well as standards ("There'll Never Be Another You," "Embraceable You") - but since the music is performed so well, it doesn't matter. There is genuine passion to this music, not only from Smith, but also from pianist Sonny Clark, tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Taylor. It's a first-rate hard bop set that deserves wider distribution than it has received.

Born in February 26, 1939 in Rio de Janeiro, Simonal discovered his artist vocation while he was doing obligatory military service. Like others big Brazilian artists, he started his career playing at bars and night clubs in Rio, singing rock, mostly in English. He composed and produced for Carlos Imperial, who found him, and took him to his TV show, helping to record his first album, in 1963, very Bossa Nova influenced. Right after that Simonal became one of the main artists of that time, with the hits "Meu Limão, Meu Limoeiro", "Mamãe Passou Açúcar em Mim" e "Sá Marina". At some point, Simonal was accused of collaborating with the Brazilian military regime (1964-85), which, some claim, took him away from the public during the 80s and 90s. And he came back with the album "A Bossa de Wilson Simonal". He died on July, 2000. The year of 2009 may well be remembered as an important milestone in Simonal's artistic redemption - albeit again resurfacing his and his family's tragic personal lives. The documentary "Simonal - Ninguem Sabe O Duro Que Dei" and its soundtrack, together with Ricardo Alexandre's biography "A Vida E O Veneno De Wilson Simonal" were released during the year.

Bruckner's early string quartet is more a composition exercise than a full-fledged work of art, but the quintet is something else entirely: a chamber music masterpiece to rank with the great symphonies in expressive intensity and sheer musical grandeur. Indeed, there are a few places where Bruckner seems to demand an almost orchestral volume of tone, and the slow movement has been successful performed (and recorded) by a full string orchestra. The Intermezzo is none other than an alternative scherzo for the quintet, composed because the original players at the premier found Bruckner's first thoughts too difficult. Well, the members of L'Archibudelli certainly don't find the music too difficult–you won't find better performances anywhere.

Atom Heart Mother, for all its glories, was an acquired taste, and Pink Floyd wisely decided to trim back its orchestral excesses for its follow-up, Meddle. Opening with a deliberately surging "One of These Days," Meddle spends most of its time with sonic textures and elongated compositions, most notably on its epic closer, "Echoes." If there aren't pop songs in the classic sense (even on the level of the group's contributions to Ummagumma), there is a uniform tone, ranging from the pastoral "A Pillow of Winds" to "Fearless," with its insistent refrain hinting at latter-day Floyd. Pink Floyd were nothing if not masters of texture, and Meddle is one of their greatest excursions into little details, pointing the way to the measured brilliance of Dark Side of the Moon and the entire Roger Waters era…

These 2 long pieces are the sonic equivalent of floating in a body of water on another planet, with gentle washes of water sounds, waves, and deep, harmonic synth chords that breathe and expand. Organic sounds like twigs/sticks bring to mind Alio Die's sacred, earthy tone poems, plus we hear mysterious voices in the background that disorient. This album is a total sound immersion experience, and should be listened to on headphones for the full, almost "3-D" effect as the sound swirls and washes over you from all directions. Sonic Continuum is a serene, cyber-organic journey, both earthy and alien at the same time.

An Intense Journey Into Toxic Relationships Balanced With Gorgeous Arrangements And Dark Humor: Lou Reed’s Conceptual Berlin Features A-List Cast And Bob Ezrin Production. Sourced from the Original Master Tapes and Strictly Limited to 2,000 Numbered Copies: Mobile Fidelity’s Hybrid SACD Presents the Singer-Songwriter’s 1973 Album in Audiophile Quality. Like the records he made with his first band, Berlin finds Lou Reed decades ahead of the times.Though dismissed upon its original release in 1973, the former Velvet Underground member’s third solo effort ultimately landed on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and remains one of his most lauded works.

HYBRID SACD PRESENTS LANDMARK 1970 ALBUM IN REFERENCE-LEVEL AUDIOPHILE SOUND Ladies of the Canyon can be viewed as Joni Mitchell's coming-out party. Having recently moved to Lookout Mountain in Los Angeles' Laurel Canyon area - her house is depicted in a watercolor painting she made for the record's cover - the Canadian icon turned to her immediate surroundings for inspiration all the while taking the pulse of national affairs, corporate enterprise, celebrity, and her relationship with Graham Nash. The rather upbeat Ladies of the Canyon also finds the singer-songwriter morphing into the groundbreaker who would shed folk music's constructs and wade into pop, jazz, soul, and poetry with a combination of depth, sophistication, self-examination, and acumen no one had ever heard. Deemed 'powerful and brilliant' upon release by The New York Times, this 1970 set marks the first of six consecutive masterworks Mitchell made - and an album that deserves to be heard in reference-grade audiophile sound on Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition hybrid SACD.

One hype sticker says "Made in the USA - QualityRecordPressings.com". Another hype sticker bears the Atlantic75 logo and states: The 75th anniversary of Atlantic Records. 75 historic titles hand-picked and supervised by Analogue Productions CEO Chad Kassem. Mastered from the original analog tapes of best available source by the mastering engineers. Cut at 45 RPM and pressed on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl.

This is Music: The Singles 92–98 is a singles compilation album by the English alternative rock band The Verve. The compilation was released in November 2004 and included two previously unreleased tracks: "This Could Be My Moment" and "Monte Carlo". The album was named after a track by the same name off their 1995 album A Northern Soul. The album cover is based on the cover of their 1992 single, "She's a Superstar".

J.A.V. stands for Jozéfinn' Austral View, a group of five musicians from three different nationalities embarking on a remarkable musical journey. Founded by Jean Pierre Jozéfinn’, a musician from Réunion Island, the project explores musical syncretism by blending traditions like maloya, sega, salegy, tsapiky, and goma with jazz. To bring this vision to life, Jozéfinn’ has gathered exceptional musicians from the southwestern Indo-Oceanic region.

After making a record, and touring, with boygenius—her super-group collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus—you might expect Julien Baker to be itchy to return to her solo career. Instead, the guitar god is still in teamwork mode and has joined forces with singer-songwriter TORRES (née Mackenzie Ruth Scott) for a classic country record, rather than pandering to new fans who fell for the "boys" on Taylor Swift's "Eras" tour. Both TORRES and Baker have flirted with country before, but here they go all the way, their way.

An incredible batch of Brazilian fusion – cut by keyboardist Manfredo Fest, and one of the few records he ever waxed in the US during the 70s! The record mixes Fest's soaring Brazilian groove with a tight soulful set of arrangements by Jerry Peters – a bit club-oriented, with a similar sound to some of the other records on the Tabu label at the time, but always sensitive to Fest's playing and writing – especially his Brazilian roots! The record features wonderful vocals by Roberta Davis – a very soulful singer who had a hip wordless style that was similar to Tania Maria's at the time – breezy, scatting, and very nice. Her work really makes the record sparkle, working perfectly with Fest's jazzy electric keyboards in a perfect way!

Infiniment (Infinitely) is a 2-CD compilation of Jacques Brel's best known songs. This compilation of remastered songs also contains 5 unpublished titles from the recording session of the album Les Marquises: "La cathédrale", "L'amour est mort", "Mai 40", "Avec élégance", and "Sans exigences". A booklet is included with the lyrics of the 5 new titles. Infiniment was released on 30 September 2003 to mark the 25th anniversary of Brel's death.