Cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Denes Várjon are known as instrumentalists for connoisseurs, delving deep into the structures of work and programming them in intelligent ways. You wouldn't pick Isserlis as a Chopin specialist, and Chopin wrote very little chamber music anyway. But he and Várjon deliver a gripping performance of the Chopin Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65, a notoriously troublesome work whose text is far from fixed. They play the first movement Maestoso, as it is marked in some sources, and they present a vision of the sonata as a work of great seriousness, complexity, and ambition.

If your ideal vocal recording places the performer next to your seat and your ideal vocal performance has the performer singing directly into your ear, this disc by mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozená will be just about ideal. No matter what the repertoire – and Kozená performs everything from Bach to Gounod to Shostakovich – and no matter what the context – and Kozená takes on everything from song to opera to oratorio – Kozená is right next to the listener, singing straight into his/her ear. Given her exceedingly warm tone, her extremely rich delivery, and her extraordinarily sibilant pronunciation, Kozená's intimate delivery may be too much for those with heart conditions or those all too easily affected by singers. But for those made of sterner stuff, Kozená's performances here will be the stuff dreams are made of.

Charpentier’s Médée is one of the glories of the Baroque. Medea’s betrayal by Jason, her comprehensive revenge and the plight of those caught up in this epic tragedy prompted Charpentier to compose music of devastating power. Transcending the constraints of the Lullian tragédie lyrique, he produced characterisations of astonishing complexity and invested vast stretches of music with a dramatic pace and a harmonic richness rivalled among contemporaries only by Purcell. The electrifying exchanges of the third act, mingling pathos with extreme violence, alone put Charpentier on the same imaginative level as Rameau and Berlioz. The machinations of the fourth act and the dénouement in the fifth maintain the same captivating impetus.

Somewhat overshadowed by Decca's rush-released From the Beginning, appearing just weeks before this 1967 LP, and often confused with their 1966 debut by virtue of its sharing an identical title, the Small Faces' eponymous debut for Immediate Records is one of the great British pop albums of the '60s. The Small Faces were breaking away from their R&B roots, dabbling with LSD and psychedelia, and tightening up their songwriting, emphasizing pop melodies in a way they never did on their debut. Sonically, The Small Faces doesn't get as far out as the abandoned Decca cuts that surfaced on From the Beginning - there may be some harpsichords but no outright psychedelia - but it is bright, colorful, and concentrated, its very brevity playing like snappy pop art…

Founded by the highly talented Emily Highfield, Australian dark folk/blackgaze project Suldusk released their debut album, Lunar Falls, in 2019. With their “killer debut album” (Folk N Rock), Suldusk not only stunned listeners and international press, but also rock and metal empire Napalm Records, who proudly welcomed the band to their eclectic artist roster in 2023!
March 1, 2024 will see Suldusk release their sophomore studio offering, entitled Anthesis, continuing where they left off with their captivating debut, yet musically more complex. While Suldusk started as a one-woman project, for Anthesis, Highfield recruited incredibly talented musicians to help elevate the vision of their acoustic-based music to the level of an intense, powerful and heavy record…

The incipient incarnation of Atomic Rooster – with Vincent Crane (organ/vocals), Nick Graham (vocals/bass), and Carl Palmer (drums) – was together just long enough to document its debut, Atomic Roooster (1970) – (note: the extra O is intentional). Prior to the last-minute addition of Graham – the only bassist Atomic Rooster ever had – the band emerged from the remnants of the then recently defunct Crazy World of Arthur Brown. The material was primarily courtesy of Crane and consisted of heavier sides. His versatility is evident throughout the impressive array of styles ranging from the folk-inspired pastoral "Winter" to the bluesy horn arrangement heard on "Broken Wings."

Thin Lizzy's Acoustic Sessions is a groundbreaking new frontline album that brings together the legendary voice of Philip Lynott, the masterful guitar work of founding member Eric Bell, and the powerful original drum takes of Brian Downey. This unique project offers fans a rare opportunity to experience Thin Lizzy's classic hits like never before, with Lynott's previously unheard vocal takes perfectly complemented by Bell's fresh acoustic arrangements and Downey's dynamic drumming. Drawing on material from the band's iconic Decca era in the UK, the album revisits tracks from Thin Lizzy's first three albums, presenting them in an intimate, stripped-down format that is sure to captivate both longtime fans and a new generation of listeners.

After bouncing around Philips, Atlantic, and Capitol playing Brazilian jazz or searching for an ideal blend of Brazilian and American pop, Sergio Mendes struck gold on his first try at A&M (then not much more than the home of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass and the Baja Marimba Band). He came up with a marvelously sleek, sexy formula: dual American female voices singing in English and Portuguese over a nifty three-man bossa nova rhythm/vocal section and Mendes' distinctly jazz-oriented piano, performing tight, infectious arrangements of carefully chosen tunes from Brazil, the U.S., and the U.K. The hit was Jorge Ben's "Mas Que Nada," given a catchy, tight bossa nova arrangement with the voice of Lani Hall soaring above the swinging rhythm section…

U.S. progressive rockers Spock's Beard released their 13th studio album, "Noise Floor". For this disc, Ted Leonard, Alan Morse, Dave Meros and Ryo Okumoto are joined in the studio once again by drummer and original member Nick D'Virgilio. Spock's Beard is a band that is in a continual state of evolution, as is always the case with genuinely creative musicians. And "Noise Floor" fits perfectly into this process. "We are always about evolution, not revolution. But what we have done this time is make the songs more melodic," believes vocalist/guitarist Ted Leonard. "We still love our crazy prog, but now appreciate how important it is to grab people's attention early on."
As with all Spock's Beard songs, most of the new album was written by the individual members, and then brought to the rest of the band as high-quality demos…

Brian Eno's second album collaboration with Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Cluster consists of slow-moving instrumentals full of repeated synthesizer sound patterns and sustained guitar notes in the ambient style familiar from Eno's collaborations with Robert Fripp and albums of his own, such as Discreet Music. (One song, "Broken Head," features recited vocals by Eno, and on another, "The Belldog," he sings. On "Tzima N'Arki," he sings backwards.)

Shinin' On is the eighth album by Grand Funk Railroad and was released in 1974. Although not as successful as its predecessor, We're an American Band (1973), it peaked at #5 in the US and was certified gold, and its first single, a cover of "The Loco-Motion" topped the U.S. charts. The original cover was done in bi-visual 3-D and included the required blue and red lensed glasses to view it. A Quadraphonic mix of the album was available in the Quadraphonic 8-Track cartridge format. The title song was featured in The Simpsons' 7th season episode "Homerpalooza" on May 19, 1996.