Joe Cocker was an English singer, gravel-voiced vocalist whose animated live shows (especially at Woodstock) made him a legend, perhaps the finest soul singer Britain ever produced. He hit number one in the U.K. in November 1968 with his version of the Beatles' "A Little Help from My Friends." His career really took off after he sang that song at Woodstock in August 1969. A second British hit came with a version of Leon Russell's "Delta Lady" in the fall of 1969 and both of his albums, With a Little Help from My Friends (April 1969) and Joe Cocker! (November 1969), went gold in America. In 1970, his cover of the Box Tops hit "The Letter" became his first U.S. Top Ten.

The Exclusive Edition includes two bonus tracks in addition to the major release. George Benson's place as one of the greatest and most successful guitarists in the history of jazz is secure, but what's easy to forget sometimes is that he began his career as a vocalist, and if this release, a tribute to Nat King Cole, comes as any kind of surprise, it shouldn't. Benson's and Cole's careers are remarkably similar, both becoming known first as instrumentalists, Cole as a pianist, and Benson, of course, as a guitarist, with both eventually easing into the pop mainstream because of their voices. Cole was a one of a kind vocalist, of course, and even Benson wouldn't claim to equal him as a singer, but Benson has a similarly soothing and lush tenor voice that more than holds its own on these familiar songs.

Provogue Records is proud to announce the new studio album from the legendary Steve Cropper, 'Friendlytown'. The follow-up to his 2021 album, 'Fire It Up', which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues Album Chart, and was nominated for the Best Blues Album at the 64th Grammy Awards, 'Friendlytown' is yet another hit from the guitar hero. Featuring guest appearances from Billy Gibbons, Brian May, and Tim Montana, 'Friendlytown' is a must have for fans of Cropper's world-renowned repertoire. "I feel great about this batch of songs. It's packed with great radio hooks, and features some of the best musicians in the world," says Cropper. "It's like guitar heaven."

This gargantuan 35-disc set of Alfred Brendel's complete Vox, Turnabout, and Vanguard recordings released in late 2008, concurrent with his retirement from concert life, will be mandatory listening for anyone who reveres the Austrian virtuoso. When these recordings were made between 1955 and 1975, Brendel was at the start of his international career, and his performances here have a fire, energy, and a drama that his later recordings sometimes lack. Brendel devotees, however, may also find his performances lack the intellectual rigor of his middle period recordings and the poetic depths of his later recordings. Compare his demonic account of Mozart's Twentieth Concerto here, for instance, with his more elegant later account. The difference is clear.

Nonesuch releases the first recording of John Adams’ 2017 opera, Girls of the Golden West, on April 26, 2024. Longtime Adams collaborator Peter Sellars created the opera’s libretto, drawing from original sources, and also directs this performance. The composer leads the LA Phil in this live recording from Disney Hall. Girls of the Golden West also features the Los Angeles Master Chorale, conducted by Grant Gershon, and a cast led by Julia Bullock, Davóne Tines, Paul Appleby, Hye Jung Lee, Elliot Madore, Daniela Mack, and Ryan McKinny.

For a long time, Anton Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony (together with his Second) was regarded as something of a “poor relation” in his immense symphonic oeuvre, even though the composer himself had moodily referred to it as his “boldest”. Over the decades, in view of its performance figures and recordings, this has changed significantly: The work has now secured itself a permanent place in the repertoire. The Sixth Symphony belongs to the creative process of the two preceding symphonies, the “Romantic” Fourth (1874/1880) and the Fifth (1875), and is now seen as an important preliminary stage in Bruckner’s last great upsurge that followed the composition of the “Te Deum” (the initial sketches of which date from 1881), and culminated in the sublime grandeur of his final symphonies, the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth.