Marvin Gaye Graced with an extraordinary voice, complex personality, musical genius, and a backstory worthy of a Hollywood movie, Marvin Gaye wasn't your average soul singer. Born in Washington on the 2nd of April in 1939, the now legendary singer began his career singing at church at the age of four, accompanied by his father on piano. Marvin's mother was a supportive figure who encouraged her son to pursue music, and once he got to high school, he joined various doo-wop groups. By contrast, Marvin's father was a violent man who would regularly beat his son, and this pushed Marvin to join the U.S air force once he had completed his schooling. He quickly became disillusioned with the forces however, and faked madness in order to be discharged. Back in Washington, Marvin Gaye started the Marquees with his best friend, Reese Palmer. The band made quite a buzz, and found itself working with Bo Diddley, who managed to secure them a contract at OKeh records, a sub-division of Columbia.

The fifth consecutive fortnightly release from the LPO label, currently celebrating their 20th anniversary year.

As part of its successful 'sessions' series, FTD is pleased to announce the release of The Harum Scarum Sessions - the 60th anniversary edition! Newly mixed and mastered by Sebastian Jeansson and Vic Anesini, the masters and outtakes now offer far superior audio to the original 1965 soundtrack album. For purists, the original masters are also featured on Disc 3.

The Living Fire is a celebration of choral music written for or associated with Jesus College, Cambridge. Featuring several premiere recordings of contemporary choral works by emerging composers, this album highlights the artistry within the College whilst honouring it's rich musical legacy. At the same time, it looks forward: the impetus behind this project was to provide a platform for emerging artists from within the College community to showcase their work. This project holds particular significance for several Choir members since, among the lyricists and composers, are former ensemble members. Their deep connection to the group has allowed for the creation of choral works uniquely suited to individual voices and our corporate strengths, making these world premieres all the more fitting. Many of the other contemporary works on this album are staples of Choral Evensong, beloved by the Choir and heard in Chapel services for many years. This album is a celebration of the bright future of music at Jesus College, the Choir's integral role in this special community, and it's broader contribution to the development and enjoyment of choral music globally.

Ike & Tina Turner As husband and wife, Ike & Tina Turner headed up one of the most potent live acts on the R&B circuit during the '60s and early '70s. Guitarist and bandleader Ike kept his ensemble tight and well-drilled while throwing in his own distinctively twangy plucking; lead vocalist Tina was a ferocious whirlwind of power and energy, a raw sexual dynamo who was impossible to contain when she hit the stage, leading some critics to call her the first female singer to embody the true spirit of rock & roll. In their prime, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue specialized in a hard-driving, funked-up hybrid of soul and rock that, in its best moments, rose to a visceral frenzy that few R&B acts of any era could hope to match.

Alexander Melnikov returns to Rachmaninoff with an exploration of the poetic world of the Variations on a Theme by Chopin. He travelled to Lake Lucerne to record this album on the master’s own piano at Villa Senar, Rachmaninoff’s last summer home. To accompany this eminently lyrical music, he joins forces with the luminous soprano of Julia Lezhneva and invites us to discover some of the Russian composer’s most beautiful songs from this period of intense creative ferment.

What is this Bryn Terfel collection, exactly, that contains "Simple Gifts," the beginning of Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater," "Send in the Clowns," and even "The Rose" (not the one e'er blooming, but the Bette Midler or Conway Twitty vehicle)? It is, per the back cover text, Bryn's "personal collection of sacred, spiritual, and meditative songs." The album still might seem like quite a hodgepodge to a browser reading the tracklist, but it is exactly the elusiveness of the thread connecting these songs that makes this a superior example of the crossover vocal species.

Chuck Berry is perhaps the defining musician of the early rock & roll era, the one figure responsible for the music's sound, style, and sensibility that created the blueprint for the generations that followed.

A double anthology from the celebrated Welsh opera and concert singer Bryn Terfel. At His Very Best takes in recordings from his recent duet album with tenor Rhys Meirion, several of Bryn's earlier albums on Wales's Saydisc label and a recording of a newly commissioned work performed together with the Rhuthun Choir.

A feisty 4CD clamshell box set exploring the melting pot of British indie dance music that shook the lager drenched dancefloors in the second half of the 1990s. A supersonic soundclash of iconic electronic outfits like The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, Basement Jaxx, Leftfield, Death In Vegas, Moloko, Orbital and Bentley Rhythm Ace, alongside floor-fillers from indie titans like Blur, Shed Seven, Charlatans, Super Furry Animals, Supergrass, Tricky, Sleeper, Gomez, Radiohead and Cornershop. Over four hours of party tunes and afters grooves, packed with punchy remixes from Chemical Brothers, Arthur Baker, Norman Cook, Midfield General, Mint Royale and Lynch Mob. As Britpop exploded across UK culture, Cool Britannia ruled the airwaves and was plastered across the pages of magazines and newspapers. Music festivals were making their great comeback and DJs and dance acts were sharing stages and headline slots with the biggest guitar bands around. This compilation takes a slippery trip through the hedonistic tunes that were filling the dancefloors, fields, front rooms and bedrooms across Great Britain as the country drank, danced and partied towards a new millennium. Featuring over 50 cuts across 4CDs bouncing from Britpop to Trip Hop and bopping from Big Beat to Techno with a superb selection of relentless remixes, chart-topers and chilled beats thrown in for good measure.

A contemporary of Mozart, Johann Christoph Vogel also died at an early age. Forward looking in approach, this composer of a tormented disposition, sought to extend the operatic revolution undertaken by Gluck in the 1770s. First performed in 1786 at the Opéra de Paris, 'La Toison d’or' reveals that search for an expressive art which demanded an all-embracing involvement from the performers and supplied the music with a sometimes unbearable intensity for audiences of the time.

Recording Bach's six Cello Suites realized Emmanuelle Bertrand's most cherished dream. Her performance here features an exceptional instrument, built by Carlo Tononi in Venice in 1730. This cello, with it's deep and powerful sound, has been set up in 'Baroque' style (with gut strings and bow to match). In Bertrand's hands it proves to be the perfect choice for tackling one of the most impressive monuments in all western music.

Like Mozart, Brahms was a bit uncomfortable writing string quartets, where the desire to maintain an absolutely democratic discourse among the participants often led to overly dense textures and rhythmic heaviness. The extra viola part offered by the quintet medium, however, allowed both composers to relax a bit and write music with the richness of texture they both loved, without forcing. These two works really don't seem to get the attention that they deserve, either on recordings or in concert, but they are both vintage Brahms. Fortunately, Naxos seems to be dedicated to a complete survey of the chamber music of the great composers, and they are working with a very fine stable of artists.

Nicole Zuraitis created siren songs volume 1 with a clear purpose in mind: Celebrate women songwriters. It’s a concept she’d been thinking about for years. Her own success as a songwriter made the project even more timely: in 2024, she became the first artist, man or woman, to win Best Jazz Vocal Album at the GRAMMYs for a project of entirely original music and arrangements — her album How Love Begins.

Siren Songs Volume II continues a heartfelt tribute to influential women songwriters, offering an acoustic, minimally produced sound that spans multiple genres. With its first single "Rhiannon" released in May 2025, the project also aims to spotlight the ongoing issue of under-recognition and under-compensation of women in the music industry.