Although the cover art might suggest that this compiles, features, or in some way includes material from Michael Nesmith's four-year (1966-1970) tenure as a Monkee, this isn't the case at all. Additionally confusing matters is that the same 25 tracks on this collection are replicated – right down to the exact running order – on the unimaginatively titled Best Of: Original Hits. Regardless, the contents of both have been culled from Nesmith's first half-dozen post-Monkees long-players. The tune stack is well represented by the First National Band LPs Magnetic South (1970), Loose Salute (1970), and Nevada Fighter (1971) – plus, to a much lesser extent, Tantamount to Treason (1972), And the Hits Just Keep on Comin' (1972), as well as Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash (1973).

Arriving in the wake of the success of the 2018 Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, 2019's immaculately produced box set Never Boring showcases the solo work of lead singer Freddie Mercury. Though he only ever released one proper solo album outside of Queen, 1985's Mr. Bad Guy, Mercury did record enough individual material throughout his storied career to fill the three discs that make up this collection. Included are an 11-track special edition of Mr. Bad Guy, a nine-track edition of 1988's Barcelona - his orchestral collaboration with opera diva Montserrat Caballé - and a compilation disc that brings together a handful of errant solo performances, including his 1987 cover single of the Platters' "The Great Pretender"…

Veteran Hammond B-3 master Dr. Lonnie Smith pairs with punk icon Iggy Pop on his inspired and deeply funky 2021 album Breathe. Smith initially came into his own in the 1960s, releasing a string of groove-based albums for Blue Note, including 1968's Think!, that helped define the sound of forward-thinking organ jazz. Over 30 years after his last album for Blue Note, he returned to the label with 2016's vibrant Evolution and 2018's All in My Mind; albums that found him recapturing the earthy energy of his original recordings. Continuing this latter-career resurgence, Breathe again finds him working with producer Don Was, and backed by an energetic ensemble of all-stars including guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and drummer Johnathan Blake, who make up his core trio. He also expands the group to a septet on several tracks, bringing trumpeter Sean Jones, tenor saxophonist John Ellis…

Native from Naples, Italy, pianist Lorenzo Pone lives in Salzburg and is one of the most highly acclaimed young pianists today. Having been a student of Paul Badura-Skoda’s for almost a decade, he dedicates his debut album “Tribute to Paul Badura-Skoda” to this great master. Universally praised for the distinctive quality of his sound and his formidable perfectionism, Pone presents among others piano sonatas which he worked on with Badura-Skoda during the last weeks of the latter’s life in 2019, among them the Sonata No. 51 by Joseph Haydn, the Grand Sonata No. 26 in A-flat major by Ludwig van Beethoven, the Piano Sonata Op. 1 No.

The sixties and seventies formed an unprecedentedly successful and productive period in Dutch music history. As a tribute to these glory days, a series of 2CDs of the most influential Dutch bands from these golden years have been released under the title 'The Golden Years of Dutch Pop Music'. On each CD, all original A and B sides of the singles are chronologically collected, where possible supplemented with relevant album tracks.
In their eight-year existence, Ekseption came as close as any group from the European continent ever did to stealing the thunder of early classical rock outfits such as the Nice and rivaling the early work of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. In Holland, they charted singles based on classical compositions and released successful concept albums, and were - along with Focus - the top progressive rock band in the Dutch-speaking world.

Over fifteen years ago the DJ duo from Cologne (Blank & Jones) decided to strike quieter, more relaxed tones. From the passion for Ambient, Chill Out, Downbeat, Lounge Music, Beach House, Bar Grooves and Co. was created the idea of ​​Milchbar Seaside Season - a summer soundtrack for the cult Norderneyer Location milk bar. On the first compilation followed in recent years regularly further new Chillout compilation.

The Anthology 1961-1977 is a compilation album of songs by Curtis Mayfield when he was with the Impressions and when he was solo. Of the 40 tracks, 30 are from Mayfield's time with the Impressions. The album includes liner notes written by Robert Pruter. In 2003, the album was ranked number 178 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

This album presents three highly distinctive, yet complementary masterworks. The foremost of which is Brahms’s third Piano quartet Op.60 – the Werther quartet; its music unquestionably reflecting the profound emotions of love, despair and overwhelming sorrow which lead to the ultimate demise of the protagonist in Goethe’s famed novel. In this unique and fresh, but highly considered interpretation, a new light is shone on one of Brahms’s greatest works. Hindemith’s moving Viola sonata Op. 11 No.4 blends Germanic depth with French tinged colour, its counterpoint and lyricism showcasing a composer equally adept in complexity and folk-like charm. To conclude the album, Penderecki’s Cadenza for solo viola is a sharp stylistic contrast, to the Brahms, yet draws a powerful message as a companion piece; its exploration of the falling semitone motif covers a vast emotional spectrum with relentless virtuosity, culminating in pained, hoarsely whispered harmonics.

Cut in front of an appreciative throng at FitzGerald's in suburban Chicago, Mack cuts loose the way he so often does in concert, sticking almost exclusively to his Alligator-era tunes ("Satisfy Suzie," "Cincinnati Jail," the tortured soul ballad "Stop") and never looking too far backwards.

Like 2005's Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection, 2018's The Story So Far: The Best of Def Leppard spans 35 songs spread over two discs. Since this is a basic hits collection, that means there is considerable overlap between the two compilations: a grand total of 20 tracks, with the remaining 15 largely dedicated to deep cuts, along with a new cover of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus." On the whole, The Story So Far doesn't necessarily best Rock of Ages, but it's not worse, either. The difference between the two compilations is on the margins, with the album cuts on both proving that Def Leppard delivered plenty of excellent music that wasn't always hits.

The ultimate violin virtuoso, Niccolò Paganini also wrote more than 100 pieces for guitar, including these Ghiribizzi (‘whims’). Composed for ‘a little girl in Naples’ who must have been both talented and eager to develop her technique, these whimsical works explore a wide range of musical styles idiomatic to the guitar. Many of the 43 short movements draw on themes by Rossini, Paisiello, Süssmayr, Mozart, Giuliani and, of course, Paganini himself. Praised by Les cahiers de la guitare as ‘inspired’ and Koelner Stadt Anzeiger as a ‘genius’, Denis Sungho Janssens made his 2005 Carnegie Hall début as a Rising Star of the European Concert Hall Organization.

Recorded in the UK in late 1971, First Album was a fine addition to the small but burgeoning British country rock scene that encompassed the likes of Matthews Southern Comfort, Quiver, Help Yourself, and Brinsley Schwarz. Roger's band on this album features some of the finest musicians of the era, including Glenn Campbell, fresh out of Juicy Lucy (and formerly of The Misunderstood), drummer Rod Coombes, sax player Chris Mercer and bassist De Lisle Harper. Harper, who has played with everyone from Gass and Bond & Brown to the Strawbs and Whitesnake also did the atmospheric brass, string and woodwind arrangements. Ex-Family man John Weider was present on fiddle and guitar, whilst drum duties were shared additionally by Kokomo's Terry Stannard and the Greaseband's ever reliable Bruce Rowlands. The late Tommy Eyre handled most of the keyboard chores. This is the first time this album has ever been released on CD. This issue boasts an additional four bonus tracks, which were all recorded a year after the original LP. The accompanying 12 page booklet includes comprehensive liner notes and full lyrics to every track.

Arguably, there is no better time to look at human existence on the planet and in the universe in the 21st century. In one way or another, Great Britain's Hawkwind have been doing this since the releasing their eponymous debut album in 1970. That said, their recordings for Cherry Red offer creative renaissance. They continue to wind cosmic consciousness, metaphysical and occult philosophies, and existential dread in sonically inventive sounds that juxtapose psychedelia, prog rock, jazz fusion, and electronica in a cornucopia of dystopian futurism but maintain a wry, Samuel Beckett-esque glimmer of hope. There Is No Space for Us extends the concepts explored on 2023's The Future Never Waits and 2024's Stories from Time and Space; together, they account for a keyboard-focused trilogy.

It's a beautiful thing when a jazz group stays together for as long as drummer Billy Hart's Quartet has. Since debuting in 2006, the quartet, featuring tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Ethan Iverson, and bassist Ben Street, has only grown more entwined; a sentiment they further underscore on their fourth album, 2025's Just. An icon at 83 years old who has played with such luminaries as Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis, Hart's reputation precedes his quartet. Yet, his bandmates (who are all under 60) are also stars in their own right; something that could describe them as a kind of supergroup, if not for their deeply ego-less and generous playing; this is a band in the truest sense.

Irish pianist Barry Douglas has largely avoided recording, but has made a substantial reputation on the concert stage. You'd think he might have cultivated a commanding, public style, but in this first-in-a-series album of Brahms piano works, he instead offers quiet, finely wrought interpretations. The programming concept itself is a bit involved, but Douglas pulls it off: instead of offering short works in complete sets, he picks and chooses in order to create a convincing sequence of moods and modes of expression. Here, Douglas sets Brahms' late works against broader works from earlier in the composer's career. His control over the Intermezzo, Capriccio, and Romance sets of Opp. 116, 117, and 118, is extraordinary, and few pianists have ever evoked so well the quintessential reaction to late Brahms: that when you hear the performance just once, you have an uncanny feeling of barely having scratched the surface. In Douglas' hands, the larger Rhapsodies, Op. 79, and the Ballade in B major, Op. 10/4, almost inspire relaxation: here Douglas turns up the volume and revels a bit in the melodies.