Coming to the close of his tenure with Epic records, Duke's great work seemed to be overshadowed by bunk. At the same time, he was becoming an in-demand producer with assignments from Jeffrey Osborne, Phillip Bailey, and Deniece Williams filling his schedule. Guardian of the Light reflects that strain. Released in 1983, Guardian of the Light also had the added baggage of a hard-to-follow concept of a fictional character's mystical exploits…

Released just six months after Gypsy '66, Gabor Szabo's second album as a leader (after leaving a sublime Chico Hamilton band that also included Charles Lloyd) remains one of his finest moments in the studio. Szabo utilized the tales of bassist Ron Carter and his old boss Hamilton on drums, as well as a pair of fine Latin percussionists – Willie Bobo and Victor Pantoja…

Mexican hard rock sister trio, The Warning have finally arrived with their highly anticipated debut full-length album, ERROR with Republic Records. Touching on powerful and emotional subject matter such as technology, the generational gap, anxiety, suppression, and love, just to name a few, ERROR manages to blend powerful lyrical content with timeless sounds that will bridge the gap between younger and older listeners…

Originally released in 1973 as a sprawling two-LP set, The Payback was one of James Brown's most ambitious albums of the 1970s, and also one of his best, with Brown and his band (which in 1974 still included Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, St. Clair Pinckney, Jimmy Nolen, and Jabo Starks) relentlessly exploring the outer possibilities of the James Brown groove…

This album is devoted to Handel's concertante music for solo oboe, of which only a few concertos have survived. He was particularly fond of the instrument and assigned many solos to it in his oratorios, operas, concerti grossi and sonatas. He is even reported to have said of his early oboe works: 'I used to write like the D-v[Devil] in those days, but chiefly for the oboe, which was my favourite instrument.'His some 20 concertos for a solo instrument are mainly for the organ and include just one violin concerto and three oboe concertos (HWV 301, 302a and 287). The latter, featured here, is the best known, as it also appears transcribed for other instruments.

The original Not About To Die was an illegal bootleg, released in the early 1980s, by the dubiously named Amnesia Records. The album comprised selections of demos recorded by Wire for Chairs Missing and 154. These demos had been recorded for EMI, with cassette copies circulated amongst record company employees. However, they were never intended for release.

While the trio with organ is a rarity in the musical repertoire, the format offers extraordinary possibilities. Works presented in this recording reveal a great diversity of 19 th -century compositions – transcriptions of symphonic works played in Paris salons (‘Orpheus’ by Franz Liszt, ‘Danse Macabre’ by Camille Saint-Saëns), an original piece conceived for the Bavarian royal court (Suite op. 149 by J. G. Rheinberger) – as well as a contemporary composition in the style of the period. Listening to these works, the boundaries between orchestral music, chamber music and organ music are blurred in a sophisticated alchemy.

In addition to the interpretive values of the great fortepianist Yasuyo Yano, listening the Schubert’s fortepiano sonatas on an original instrument, always has enormous added value. Second volume of Franz Schubert’s "Sonatas for fortepiano" in which Yasuyo Yano chooses two of the greatest sonatas: No. 19 in C Minor and No. 7 in E-flat Major. The Sonata in C minor, D. 958 is characteristic of Schubert’s feeling of retreat. Towards the end, the movement rushes ever more quietly towards silence, before two brute final chords conclude this grandiose sonata.

Acclaimed ensemble L’Instant Donné presents "Cherche titre", an album of world-premiere recordings of music by Spanish composer Mikel Urquiza, who just received the Composers’ Prize 2022 of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. Full of verve and sparkle, Mikel Urquiza’s music delicately flirts with burlesque, twists melodies and toys with clichés, a playfulness well suited to this ensemble.

Hologram is the first release from New York Post-Punk legends A Place To Bury Strangers on their own newly formed label, Dedstrange. Hologram is the follow up to their highly regarded fifth album, Pinned, and is a sonic return to A Place To Bury Strangers' rawest, most unhinged sound. With songs addressing the decay of connections, friendships lost, and the trials and tribulations of these troubled times, Hologram serves as an abstract mirror to the moment we live in. Written and recorded during the on-going global pandemic and in the midst of the decline of civilization, Hologram is a sonic vaccine to the horrors of modern life.

The most impressive public celebration in baroque Rome was given in honour of Louis XIV in 1686. To celebrate the undisputed protector of the Catholic Church, and one year later the successful operation on the anal fistula of the Great King, the French Ambassador organised a grandiose open-air event on the Pincian hill, between the Trinità dei Monti and the Piazza di Spagna. Corelli's prestigious orchestra in full formation performed "Sinfonie" with trumpets and timpani, accompanied by fireworks.

Ray Charles’ Tangerine Records has announced today that it is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of one of Charles most important and impactful albums; A Message from The People. This special remastered 50th Anniversary edition of the landmark recording, will be available June 17th on Vinyl, CD and all streaming services for the first time in more than 10 years.