Nina Simone's live performances have a power and an intimacy all their own, and those qualities stand out in this recording from Vine Street. It's a stunning form of cabaret singing, dramatic without melodrama, and with roots that reach to Billie Holiday's surprising success with "Strange Fruit." Simone can add profundity to a usually carefree song like "My Baby Just Cares for Me," and the range of the performance broadens with the startling "Be My Husband," a simple pattern reduced to the naked force of a field holler, and the stark hymn "Balm in Gilead." Carefully chosen songs from Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, and Janis Ian achieve new dimensions in Simone's treatments. Her own deeply felt "Four Women" and "Mississippi Goddam" are potent and enduring protests. There's some effectively spare accompaniment from guitar, bass, and drums, but Simone's piano is the essential instrumental voice, from slow barrelhouse to Bach.

Writers on Mozart sometimes take him to task for the alleged mixture of style in the C minor Mass, in particular the use of florid, 'operatic' solo writing amidst all the severe ecclesiastical counterpoint. To object is to misunderstand the nature of Mozart's religion, but it takes a performance as stylistically accomplished as this one to make the point in practice. The usual stumbling-block is the 'Et incarnatus', with its richly embellished solo line and its wind obbligatos. Sung as it is here, by Sylvia McNair, beautifully refined in detail, it's indeed passionate, but passionately devout.

Andre Konchalovsky's 1986 film Shy People, would seem the perfect vehicle for a Tangerine Dream score. Alternately pensive and paranoid, full of taut drama and dreamy expanses as well as moments of true psychological horror, Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke, and Paul Haslinger not only scored the film, but produced and engineered the recording, too.

Following a long-established production pattern, Mike Oldfield assembled some relatively simple pop- and rock-flavored numbers following one long introductory piece on his 1983 Disky release, Crisis. The 20-minute opening title-track is a quintessential Oldfield texture study that consists of sparkling synth washes with edgier material weaving in and out. A fine setup, this track cleanses the aural pallet, preparing the listener nicely for the tunes that follow. Yes fans who can adjust to the sugary highlight "In High Places" will enjoy Jon Anderson's springy vocal work on the track. The energetic guitar romp "Taurus 3" will also appeal to most prog and art rock fans. Those in search of more ethereal Oldfield material should be aware of this record's pop leanings, but open-minded listeners will have a good time exploring Crisis, one of Oldfield's better releases of this type.

Released just after George left Apple for his own Dark Horse label (and appearing in stores just in time for the Christmas season of 1976), The Best of George Harrison neatly splits into a side of Harrison solo hits and a side of his Beatles tunes. This is the only solo Beatles hits compilation to rely so heavily upon Fab Four recordings, which is a good indication of how George didn't rack up as many charting singles as John, Paul, or Ringo, but having the Beatles tunes here does paint a fuller portrait of Harrison's work as a singer/songwriter, even if it makes the collection somewhat less useful – after all, most listeners would want a George Harrison compilation to focus on his solo recordings, not the Beatles' hits they already have.

Japanese only remix album, compiled from tracks previously available on Children Of The Revolution (Tony Visconti '87 Remix) and Get It On (Tony Visconti 87 Remix). Erratum: "Cadilac" is incorrectly titled "Cadillac" - Bolan always spelt it with one 'l'.

With a career spanning over 40 years and over 30 million album sales, Chris Rea’s distinctive husky-gravel vocal and incredible body of work has seen him become one of the most loved solo artists the UK have ever produced. Each set of reissues comes with the original album fully remastered alongside a second disc of live performances, b-sides and previously unreleased versions of tracks from the accompanying album.

No matter what your opinion of the composer, these Piano Trios represent two of the most ravishing inspired chamber works ever written. There are moments reminiscent of the panache of Chausson, the melancholy of Schubert, the playfulness of Saint-Saens, and the pathos of Shostakovich yet the trios ultimately maintain an identity uniquely their own. Recorded in 1986, the Beaux Arts Trio (in arguably their most esteemed line-up of Menahem Pressler, Isidore Cohen, and Bernard Greenhouse) as well were in top form and deliver performances that can hardly be bettered. An absolute must for all chamber music fans.

Phil Miller is an English progressive rock/jazz guitarist who is part of the Canterbury scene. In addition to his solo work, he has played in Hatfield and the North, National Health, and Matching Mole. He has released a number of solo albums, some with his group In Cahoots.
After the demise of National Health, he began preparing for a solo career that began with "Cutting Both Ways" (1987) and continues to this day. This was the first album released under his own name, and the first album to feature his band In Cahoots, who are pretty much of a supergroup themselves: Hugh Hopper - bass (Soft Machine), Elton Dean - saxes (Soft Machine), Peter Lemer - keyboards (Gilgamesh, Mike Oldfield, Pierre Moerlen's Gong) & Pip Pyle - drums (Gong, Hatfield, National Health)…

The Borodin Quartet plays the music of its namesake as to the manner born. Theirs is a beautiful, lush realization of this lyrical work, polished and full of nuance, and well-served by the 1980 analog recording. The coupling with Borodin's First Quartet is especially attractive.

Though it was considered a disappointment upon its release (indeed, its production was much too sleek at times, and it lacked the creative daring of Perfect Strangers), 1987's House of Blue Light has actually stood the test of time just as well, if not better, than its predecessor. The second effort from the re-formed Mark II lineup, this album showed Deep Purple searching for an '80s-flavored hit single, and by doing so, sounding uncomfortably similar to guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's other band, Rainbow.

These sterling performances have been high among the prime available Beethoven Quartet sets since their initial appearance in the early 1970s as sought-after Telefunken LPs. Naïve’s booklet and transfers are the same as those of the 1987 Auvidis Valois set. So what’s this release got that the previous one didn’t? A bargain price, with the eight CDs marked down to the price of four. These are happy days for Beethoven Quartet lovers: my three favorite complete sets (the others are the Quartetto Italiano on Philips and the Talich on Calliope) are all now available at midprice.