In the fall of 1983, a struggling singer from Ozone Park, Queens with audacious vintage style and a riot of candy-colored hair was about to go supernova in the new MTV-dominated music scene: Cyndi Lauper. She's So Unusual was just released and it blazed with a vivid kaleidoscope of styles including new wave, pop, post-punk, girl-group Motown and reggae. It was a perfect complement to Lauper's astonishingly supple voice and the irresistible vibrancy of the songs immediately endeared them to audiences all over the world.

For folk singer Willi Carlisle, singing is healing. And by singing together, he believes we can begin to reckon with the inevitability of human suffering and grow in love. On his latest album, Critterland, Carlisle invites audiences to join him: “If we allow ourselves to sing together, there's a release of sadness, maybe even a communal one. And so for me personally, singing, like the literal act of thinking through suffering, is really freeing,” he says.

Nowhere is the beat of a drum more symbolic of a culture than in Africa, where it’s forever been the heartbeat of daily life. From the trance percussion of South Sudan to the gnawagroove of Morocco, this is an exploration into a continent’s rhythmic life source.

Night is Alive proudly presents “This Christmas,” an extraordinary album that brings together the unparalleled talents of Teddy Horangic and Frank Lacy on vocals, accompanied by an exceptional lineup of musicians. Featuring the mesmerizing melodies of Xavier Davis on piano, the soulful saxophone tunes by Wayne Escoffery, the soaring trumpet sounds of Jeremy Pelt, the rich trombone tones of James Burton III, the groovy bass lines of Richie Goods, and the rhythmic beats of Quincy Davis on drums, this album is a masterpiece of musical collaboration and holiday cheer.

The group's follow-up to their comeback album is a major step forward, with more mature songs, more improvisation than the group had featured in their work since the early '70s, and more confidence than they'd shown since Brothers and Sisters. It's all here, from acoustic bottleneck playing ("Come on in My Kitchen") to jazz improvisation ("Kind of Bird"), with the most reflective songwriting ("Nobody Knows") in their history.

Deluxe two CD edition includes a bonus CD that contains the 3D60 version, which, as the name suggests, allows you to listen in glorious three-dimensional sound and comes enhanced with a weblink giving access to Push Entertainment technology, to buy a 15 min Ambient mix from the Metallic Spheres microsite. 2010 release, a collaboration between David Gilmour, the voice and guitar of Pink Floyd, and The Orb, the renowned British Ambient/House collective. Together, they created a two-part sonic mixture in a range of styles combining David's unique guitars and The Orb's crafted sound manipulations.

Two mid-'70s albums from ex-Traffic man Dave Mason. Both albums made the US Top 30 where Mason enjoyed a decade of success. Mason toured throughout the '80s and '90s, even joining Fleetwood Mac for a while in 1994. Digitally remastered and slipcased with new notes.

Capturing a homecoming gig for the conquering hero, Live at Grossman's 1994 finds blues-rocker Jeff Healey returning to a favorite club. Looking back, it’s easy to see that Healey was between stages: his most popular albums were just behind him and the years of him carving out a niche as a working bluesman who dabbled in jazz were ahead of him. Here, he was performing with the velocity and volume of a blues-rocker at his peak, invigorated by an intimate setting where he could just play, not worrying about throwing in “Angel Eyes” or “I Think I Love You Too Much.” The result is a set where he salutes his idols – Clapton, Elmore James, Albert King, Howlin’ Wolf, Hendrix, even the Beatles via an excellent “Yer Blues” – and it’s one of his purest and best records as a straight-ahead blues-rocker.

The exclusive tribute album A Farewell To Sepultura features iconic and rare cover versions of Sepultura songs by bands such as Napalm Death, Children Of Bodom, Suicide Silence and Krisiun as well as two bonus tracks by Sepultura themselves! This very special Sepultura CD is only available with Metal Hammer 11/2024.

Chicago was one of the most successful bands of the rock era, racking up 21 Billboard Top Ten hits between 1970 and 1990, a period where they survived the departure of key band members while also subtly adapting to changing times. That's not an easy task for any rock band and it's especially difficult for a group like Chicago, a band that placed equal (if not greater) emphasis on horns as guitar. Picking up where Blood, Sweat & Tears left off, Chicago initially specialized in jazz-inflected prog-rock, using the sides of a vinyl record as canvasses for sprawling, adventurous rock. Chicago quickly learned how to channel this expansive sound into concise pop songs, scoring hits in the early 1970s with such punchy tunes as "25 or 6 to 4" and "Beginnings," while also showing facility with sweeter melodies on "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" and "Saturday in the Park." As the decade progressed, the band began to emphasize their softer side with bassist Peter Cetera singing such mellow standards as "If You Leave Me Now," "Baby, What a Big Surprise" and "Hard to Say I'm Sorry."

The Best Christmas Album In The World…Ever! – Two CDs with the greatest hits of the Christmas Music. songs by John Lennon, Slade, Wizzard, Elton John and many more!

This recording has a huge advantage over most of its rivals for the attention of Tallis listeners: the wonderful acoustics of Winchester Cathedral. In this magnificent space, the soaring lines and resplendent harmonies of Tallis's greatest masterpieces find sympathetic resonance, resulting in a heightened dramatic presence that takes the music beyond earthly confines. Of course, beyond the exceptional quality of the writing, credit must go to the phenomenal men and boys of Winchester Cathedral Choir. Where, even in England, does one find trebles who sing with more assuredness, musicality, and beauty of tone? With a repertoire including "In ieiunio et fletu," "Salvator mundi," "In manus tuas," "The Lamentations of Jeremiah," "O nata lux," and the unbelievable 40-part motet "Spem in alium," this is the Tallis disc to own if you're buying only one.

Boy Meets Girl's George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam wrote Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)," so they understand how important a foundation is to adult contemporary pop – without something to pull the listener along, the songs become just flash and keyboard flutter, platitudes about love and loss. And while Reel Life suffers a little bit from the over-synthesized instrumentation of its era, Boy Meets Girl more often than not pushed the right melodic buttons on this, their biggest album. "Bring Down the Moon" and "Stay Forever" are particularly strong, while the hit single, "Waiting for a Star to Fall," is just a classic.

It's sure hard to call Castle's 2006 triple-disc box a "deluxe" release – it has the drab title of Invictus Soul Box Set and it's just slapped together in a CD-sized cardboard box, containing good liner notes by Peter Doggett but little else in the way of packaging (there are no photos from the label, either of the artists or the singles, anywhere to be found). This stands in contrast to Castle's previous treatment of the Invictus catalog, when they released a bunch of stellar single-artist retrospectives in the early 2000s, but ultimately it doesn't matter: on a sheer musical level, Invictus Soul Box Set is superb. It follows no strict chronological order, jumping from year to year within each disc, but it roughly breaks down to having the biggest hits on the first disc, follow-ups and neglected treasures on the second, with the funkiest stuff reserved for third. This gives the box a flow, but the truth is, this music could be played in random order and it would still be satisfying because each cut was designed to stand on its own merits as a single. Ironically, several of the versions showcased here are album versions – such as Flaming Ember's dynamic "Westbound Number Nine" – instead of singles, but these are subtle differences that do not change the overall effect of this box's addictive onslaught of soul. Holland-Dozier-Holland's skills as writers, producers, and overall talent scouts and shepherds were not diminished at all.

Suuns' album "THE BREAKS" is a mesmerizing sonic journey that pushes the boundaries of experimental rock. Released by Joyful Noise / Cargo, this record showcases the band's unique blend of hypnotic rhythms, haunting vocals, and intricate instrumentation.