On May 14, 1763, Bologna’s Teatro Comunale opened with the world premiere of Il trionfo di Clelia. Completed a year after Orfeo ed Euridice, Gluck’s setting of Metastasio’s story of romantic fidelity put to the test against the background of the Siege of Rome, was tailored both to display the new theatre’s capacity for spectacle (Act II calls for the collapse of a bridge and a heroic swim across the rising waters of the Tiber) and a cast hand-picked for their fioritura (embellishment of a melodic line). Thus while musicologists may cherish Il trionfo di Clelia for its pivotal role in the composer’s progress from the gilded cage of opera seria to the grand austerity of his reform operas, the rest of us can enjoy an inventive score.

Since their formation in Croydon, South London in 1994 Archive have operated as masters of their own destiny, eschewing prevailing trends for a more unique musical blend of their own. Founding members Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths joined forces with South London rapper Rosko John, and Iranian-born singer Roya Arab for 1996’s trip-hop tinged and critically acclaimed debut album ‘Londinium’. Various line-up changes over the years saw Keeler and Griffiths deciding to retire the idea of the "lead singer” in favour of a more flexible collective approach.

Two classic easy-listening albums by Paul Mauriat and His Orchestra, originally released in 1970 and 1971 on the Philips label, together on one CD and remastered from the original analogue stereo tapes for Vocalion's trademark crystal-clear sound.

Commonly identified as shoegaze, Slowdive nonetheless exhibited a broader set of inspirations – one that spanned four decades, including folk-rock, dub, and ambient techno – than the majority of their '90s contemporaries. A combination of geographic origin, labelmates such as My Bloody Valentine and Ride, and a sustained predilection for dreamlike harmonies and psychedelicized layers of guitar, led to inevitable restrictive classification. The band's distinctive sound continually evolved from their late-'80s start through 1995, when they closed out their first phase with a misunderstood ambient album that shed nearly all rock convention. Two decades later, while most of the members remained involved with individual pursuits, the band was reactivated for touring and recorded again. Formed in Reading, England in late 1989, Slowdive originally consisted of Nick Chaplin (bass), Rachel Goswell (guitar, vocals), Neil Halstead (guitar, vocals), Christian Savill (guitar), and Adrian Sell (drums). Goswell, Halstead, and Sell were previously the core of the Pumpkin Fairies, an indie-pop act that had recorded a demo. Savill was a member of Eternal, who released a single on Sarah. Within less than a year, Slowdive signed to Alan McGee's Creation label and released their debut, a self-titled EP of demos.

A New York icon and one of the most successful singer/songwriters of the late 20th century, Billy Joel rose to success in the mid 1970s with a melodic piano-led pop sound that merged Beatlesque hooks with elements of rock, jazz, Tin Pan Alley, and even Broadway. A Long Island native with a powerful voice and knack for storytelling, Joel first made the pop charts with "Piano Man," a rousing barroom sing-along with a bittersweet old-timey feel that became his signature song.

CD Review: Modern Jazz Quartet, Original Album Series: Pyramid, Third Stream Music, The MJQ & Orchestra, Lonely Woman, The Sheriff.
(Warner Jazz 8122797197. CD Review by Alison Bentley)
‘…all that Bach stuff.’ Modern Jazz Quartet vibes-player Milt Jackson often complained about having to play the band’s distinctive jazz counterpoint, according to their bassist, Percy Heath. In this 5-CD mid-period box set, the chord sequences and cadences are often Bach-like, but the improvising is pure bebop: Lewis and Jackson met in Dizzy Gillespie’s big band, drummer Connie Kay worked with Miles and Lester Young, and Heath with Charlie Parker.

To mark her return to the recording studio after CDs of Tartini and Albinoni (both awarded a Diapason d’Or), Chiara Banchini joins forces with Jörg Andreas Bötticher to present her version of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sonatas for obbligato harpsichord and violin BWV 1014-1019. This interpretation is notable, among other features, for the use of a German harpsichord with the disposition 16', 8', 8', 4', freely reconstructed by Matthias Kramer (Hamburg, 2006) after Christian Zell.

Time Waits for No One: The Complete Recordings Review by James Allen
If you ever wanted an illustration of the idea that history is written by the winners, you need look no further than the story of the Knack. Everyone knows how Doug Fieger's heavily hyped skinny-tie band became a new wave sensation under that name via their blockbuster 1979 single, "My Sharona." But 12 years earlier, another L.A. singer/songwriter/guitarist led his band through its own brief swirl of publicity using the same band name and recording for the same label (Capitol). Although they were just as talented in their own way as the "My Sharona" gang, Michael Chain's '60s iteration of the Knack never came near a hit, and despite a big promo push for their initial batch of singles, they never cut a full album, and they quickly slipped through the cracks of history, unknown to all but hardcore '60s pop mavens.

UK collection from the Pop singer/songwriter. Keep Me in Mind completes our reissue program of the singles recorded by Jackie DeShannon for the Liberty and affiliated Imperial labels. Jackie spent 10 mostly glorious years at the company, recording everything from folk-rock and R&B to Bacharach sophistication and beyond. The first two volumes of our series covered the years 1960 to 1967 and comprised 100% mono single mixes. This third volume takes US into the stereo era. Tracks 1 to 18 are mono, the rest are stereo, mirroring how the singles were released at the time. The set commences with the endearingly kooky 'Changin' My Mind' and concludes with a previously unissued edit of Jackie's reading of Leonard Cohen's 'Bird on the Wire', a cancelled single from 1970. In between are included such self-penned gems as 'I Keep Wanting You', 'Nicole', 'Laurel Canyon', 'Mediterranean Sky' and Jackie's signature song 'Put a Little Love in Your Heart', plus her versions of the Bands' 'The Weight', Bobby Womack's 'What Is This' and John Sebastian's 'Didn't Want to Have to Do It', another cancelled single. Ace.

"It's A Wonderful World" is an attractively packaged and specially priced 3-CD set in Digipak Packaging and comprising three of Miss Kent's most popular Candid albums (Close Your Eye, The Tender Trap & Let Yourself Go). The collection features 36 songs from all time great composers of what has become known as 'The Great American Songbook' - Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, George & Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers and others.

La Mort d’Abel (1810/1825) – halfway between opera and oratorio – presents, in a spectacular fashion, the murder of Abel by his brother Cain consumed by jealousy. Rodolphe Kreutzer deploys therein the grand art of the tragédie lyrique imagined by Gluck whilst adding his own personal touches, which identifies him as being more than the modest violinist dedicatee of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata. As a top ensemble in Belgium and across Northern Europe, Les Agrémens and the Chœur de chambre de Namur have, for a long time, been exploring rare repertories with enthusiasm, creativity and to the highest standards. Assisted by singers from the rising generation (notably tenor Sébastien Droy and baritone Jean-Sébastien Bou), conductor Guy Van Waas ventures triumphantly into music which nobody before him had imagined there existing such quality.

Si quieres todo y lo mejor de lo mejor a un precio increíble, ésta es la colección de álbumes con todas las canciones que necesitas para escuchar en tu coche, en tu casa o donde quieras, no te falta de nada.La serie esencial reúne los artistas más importantes con las canciones esenciales de sus repertorios desde sus comienzos hasta sus últimos lanzamientos.

Comes a stunning 2CD compilation of US Femme Pop gems from the Red Bird, Vee-Jay, Sound Stage 7, Black Pearl, Fire and Fury labels. Comprising solo thrushes and girl groups, R&B divas and teen angels, 'Boys Can Be Mean' is as sensational a set of 60s songbirds as one could hope to find. The genre continues to influence and captivate contemporary pop and fashion; the late Amy Winehouse cited The Shangri-Las among her favourites, while Grammy Award-winning Adele's musical bloodline has much in common with white Soul singers such as Evie Sands and deep soul greats like Bessie Banks.'Boys Can Be Mean' runs the gamut of teen emotion from despair to elation with stone classics such as 'Gettin' Mighty Crowded' (Betty Everett), 'Letter Full Of Tears' (Gladys Knight & The Pips), 'Please Don't Go' (Yvonne Carroll) with lesser-heard but no less-angsty contributions from Tracey Dey, Melinda Marx and The Clinger Sisters. Combining collector's favourites with a helping of Hot 100 hits, this set also includes 14 rare recordings not previously available on CD plus several making their first official reissue release, among them Barbara Green, The Angelos and Judy Thomas. The set also features a hidden bonus track new-to-CD.

The Paradise Edition added a second CD for a total of 23 tracks. Even after selling nearly three million copies of her debut album worldwide, Lana Del Rey still faced a challenge during 2012: namely, proving to critics and fans that Born to Die wasn't a fluke. In that spirit, she released Paradise, a mini-album close to Christmas, one that finds her copying nearly wholesale the look and feel of her vampish Born to Die personality. The sound is also very familiar. Strings move at a glacial pace, drums crash like waves in slow motion, and most of the additional textures in these songs (usually electric guitar or piano) are cinematic in their sound and references. Del Rey is in perfect control of her voice, much more assured than she was even one year ago, and frequently capable of astonishing her listeners with a very convincing act, even while playing nearly the same character in each song.

The 1973 album was her fourth solo release – another collaboration with John Cale – and was recorded in 1973 in London. Cale chose Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music to work on the album with him; between them they provided the entire instrumental framework for Nico and her harmonium.This issue of The End is remastered here for the first time, and comes with a bonus disc of tracks including The End and a previously unreleased version of Das Lied der Deutschen performed live at London’s Rainbow Theatre on June 1, 1974, and some John Peel session tracks which are either unreleased or new to CD.