Recorded in 1960. Classic straight forward roots blues. This is a wonderful cd of "true" blues with no fluff or frills. Nothing but acoustic duets using vocals, guitar and harmonica with astonishing results. The subject matte of the songs go to the hard basics of black southern life with references both lyrical and Sonny's wonderful "field hollers", whoops, and their combined work chants. Sonny and Brownie represented a strong link to where the modern blues came from and gave a path to how it developed, and this cd is an excellent example of that. A treasure for any real blues lover or anyone interested in understanding the genre.

Here are Oscar Peterson's first recordings, made in Canada before his U.S. breakthrough under the wing of Norman Granz. These Montreal recordings first came out as singles on the Canadian branch of the Victor label. As such, they don't come up for reissue air very often, which is a real shame, because there's some truly extraordinary performances here, including "I Got Rhythm," "In a Little Spanish Town," "Blue Moon," "Sweet Lorraine," and "The Sheik of Araby." Peterson is nothing short of jaw-droppingly excellent on these sides, his playing every bit as deft on the ballads as it is on the uptempo numbers. Plain and simply, these performances belong in every jazz lover's collection.

Arkham are one of the lost legends of early 70's European progressive rock. They were formed in Bruxelles in 1970 by keyboardist Jean-Luc Manderlier & drummer Daniel Denis, along with a bassist. They were probably the most popular progressive rock band in Belgium during their lifetime, playing numerous gigs & festivals, but the band eventually broke up in 1972, when Christian Vander invited Daniel & Jean-Luc to join Magma. Jean-Luc stayed for some time, performing on their Mekanïk Destructïw Kommandöh album, while Daniel only stayed a short while, before eventually returning to Belgium and eventually founding Univers Zero. An all instrumental trio/quartet (late in the band's life, they added electric flugelhornist Claude Deron), their sound was comparable to an original, continental take on Canterbury style bands such as Soft Machine, Egg & Caravan…

Phaedra is one of the most important, artistic, and exciting works in the history of electronic music, a brilliant and compelling summation of Tangerine Dream's early avant-space direction balanced with the synthesizer/sequencer technology just beginning to gain a foothold in nonacademic circles. The result is best heard on the 15-minute title track, unparalleled before or since for its depth of sound and vision. Given focus by the arpeggiated trance that drifts in and out of the mix, the track progresses through several passages including a few surprisingly melodic keyboard lines and an assortment of eerie Moog and Mellotron effects, gaseous explosions, and windy sirens. Despite the impending chaos, the track sounds more like a carefully composed classical work than an unrestrained piece of noise…

Edge of Twilight is a thorough overview of Gentle Giant's years at Vertigo Records, containing nearly every highlight from each of their early records. As a result, it's not only a perfect introduction to the strange, provocative world of Gentle Giant, it could be all the Gentle Giant most prog-rock fans need.

David Coverdale's first two post-Deep Purple solo albums, 1977's White Snake and 1978's Northwinds, were combined onto one CD prior to this package, which came out on the Purple label in 2003. That two-fer, however, didn't have the four bonus tracks that appear on this configuration…

Widely regarded as a master of the cover version, Bryan Ferry’s new interpretations of four classic love songs.

The Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178, popularly known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1892 to 1895. It premiered in New York City on 16 December 1893. It has been described as one of the most popular of all symphonies. In older literature and recordings, this symphony was – as for its first publication – numbered as Symphony No. 5.

This new, excitingly original production of Mozart's most popular opera was the sensation of the 2006 Salzburg Festival. "What young director Claus Guth has made of Figaro - with Harnoncourt's active collaboration - is genius … The stellar cast performed with power and precision …" (Le Monde). "…a fully rounded musical performance…By and large the opera could hardly be more strongly cast. Anna Netrebko is a dreamy, vulnerable and beautifully sung Susanna, and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo's smouldering Figaro is a really macho rival to the Count.” (Gramophone)