Featuring a mere six tracks, most of them well over six minutes in length, Introspective was a move back to the clubs for the Pet Shop Boys. Over the course of the album, they incorporated various dance techniques that were currently in vogue, including Latin rhythms and house textures. The title isn't entirely an arch joke, however. Like Actually, Introspective was an exploration of distant, disaffected yuppies, which naturally resulted in a good deal of self-analyzation. Melodically, the essential song structures were as strong and multi-layered as the previous album, yet that was hard to hear beneath the varying rhythmic textures that composed the bulk of each track. Nevertheless, the mixes are more compelling than the remixes on Disco, and the songs include several of their best numbers, including "Left to My Own Devices" and "Domino Dancing," as well as the reconstruction of "Always on My Mind" and a cover of Blaze's club classic, "It's Alright."

Based on 33 years of scholarship and promotion by the Istituto Nazionale Tostiano and a lifetime of studies on the part of Francesco Sanvitale, this volume lives up to its predecessors in bringing to wider attention the work of a born songsmith, at home in the English and French tongues as well as his native Italian, and one who brought the genre of salon song to a peak of perfection. No one, not even the most dedicated Tosti singers such as Gigli and Caruso, had ever addressed Tostis oeuvre with anything near a comprehensive approach. Yet the chronological approach to his work taken by this project proves that he was certainly not confined within the limited universe of love requited, rejected, desired, misunderstood, suffered or unspoken. The songs in this third volume cover the last decade of the 19th century, by which time Tosti had settled in London, been appointed singing teacher to the royal family and to a professorship at the Royal Academy of Music.

Medicine Hat, the debut recording from the Will Bernard 4-Tet, is an engagingly eclectic set of adventurous contemporary jazz. Much like Medeski, Martin and Wood, Bernard has a rootsy worldbeat groove that draws heavily from soul-jazz, but his solos are far more ambitious and risky than those of the trio. There are a few moments on Medicine Hat where Bernard and his mates meander instead of explore, but on the whole, it's a first-class debut.

Denmark's Michala Petri has continued to dominate the modest but persistent recorder "scene" despite the emergence of a host of younger recorder players from the ranks of Dutch-trained historical-instrument specialists. Collecting a group of her 1970s and 1980s recordings, as has been done here, is an eminently justifiable enterprise, for it was these recordings whose laserlike intonation, whip-smart ornamentation, and all-around attractiveness that caught the attention of listeners in the first place. Petri uncovered and recorded a good deal of Baroque repertory for the instruments, recording it with the likes of England's Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

Louis Armstrong - The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (2001) {4CD Set Bluebird-BMG 09026-63846-2 rec 1932-1933, 1956}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.08 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 574 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 150 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1932-33, 1956, 2001 Bluebird / BMG | 09026-63846-2
Jazz / Early Jazz / Mainstream Jazz / New Orleans Jazz / Swing / Trumpet

Most of the music on this four-CD set from 1997 has been reissued many times, both on LP and CD, but this is the most "complete" set thus far. Louis Armstrong recorded for RCA during two separate times. During 1932-1933, he led an erratic (and under-rehearsed) big band on a series of numbers, but all of the selections have their moments of interest. Although not up to the level of his Hot Five and Seven recordings of five years earlier, these spirited tracks find Armstrong mostly in excellent form both instrumentally and vocally, and the reissue has four alternate takes never released before.

Rein de Graaff Quintet - New York Jazz (1979) {2015 Japan Timeless Jazz Master Collection Complete Series CDSOL-6353}
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© 1979, 2015 Timeless Records / Solid Records Japan / Ultra-Vibe | CDSOL-6353
Jazz / Post Bop / Hard Bop / Modern Post Bebop / Piano

Reissue with the latest remastering. Features original cover artwork. Comes with a descripton in Japanese. I really have to say that this is a record that any modern jazz record collector should run out and buy. Ronnie Cuber plays baritone sax and i really have to say that he plays wonderfully. I have not heard a bari sax player that I like this well since Pepper Adams in his heyday. Tom Harrell is really a joyful trumpet player. The rythm section is right on. I had never heard of De Graaf. He is a Dutch piano player and I will be looking for his records in the future. This is really one of the best contemporary jazz records that I have heard in a very long time.

George McCrae - Diamond Touch (1976) {2013 Remastered & Expanded Reissue - Big Break Records CDBBR 0210}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 292 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 98 Mb
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© 1976, 2013 EMI / Big Break Records / Cherry Red Records | CDBBR 0210
R&B / Soul / Disco / Funk

Born in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1944, George McCrae started his musical career singing in church and later joining the glee club at school. He formed his own singing group called The Jivin’ Jets before joining the navy in 1963 and reformed the group on his return in 1967 with the addition of his wife Gwen before they later decided to work as a duo on Henry Stone’s Alston label before Gwen went solo and George worked on sessions until a chance moment had him record Rock Your Baby, written by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch of KC and the Sunshine Band.