With "Canto di Primavera" Banco closes the era of the seventies giving their music a touch of late Camel sound, as it evident in the opener instrumental "Ciclo". We are far from the richness and complexity of albums as "Io Sono Nato Libero", "Darwin" or even "Come in un Ultima Cena" but there are still some excellent moments of excellent contribution to the italian progressive scene. The sound is more polished and song-based with relaxing and melodic ballads enriched by nice keyboards parts, acoustic guitars, sparse sax touches and even mandolin.

Jack Bruce must have enjoyed his 2005 get-together with Cream so much that, when Clapton and Baker were unwilling to continue the collaboration, he rang up Robin Trower to renew the brief power trio fling they had in the mid-'80s. The Trower-Bruce pairing had released only two albums, B.L.T. and Truce, and was dormant since 1982, so this 2007 reunion was somewhat of a continuation of the project, albeit one separated by a quarter century. The results impressively continue where Truce left off, as Bruce brings his distinctive croon/moan to bluesy, riff-oriented tunes dominated by Trower's silvery guitar runs. Gary Husband fills the drum slot adequately if inconspicuously, but his contributions are mixed so far under Bruce's vocals and Trower's guitar that they are secondary. The previous two releases called in Trower's old Procol Harum lyricist Keith Reid and Bruce collaborator Peter Brown to write the words, but Bruce and Trower pen these 11 songs without outside assistance.

Rogers re-emerged after a long layoff with a 1972 album for Leon Russell's Shelter label called Gold Tailed Bird. It wasn't the equivalent of his immortal Chess stuff, but the Shelter sides, here in their entirety, are pretty decent themselves (and no wonder, with the Aces, Freddy King, and reliable Chicago pianist Bob Riedy all involved). A few extra numbers not on the original Shelter LP make this 18-song set even more solid.

Japan only release edition! Best selection album of Sarah Brightman. 18 tracks, releasing in SHM-CD format. Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, musician, songwriter, and dancer. Brightman began her career as a member of the dance troupe Hot Gossip and released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 1981, she made her West End musical theatre debut in Cats and met composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, whom she later married. She went on to star in several West End and Broadway musicals, including The Phantom of the Opera, where she originated the role of Christine Daaé.

For this notable set, pianist Jacky Terrasson teams up with the smoky, chance-taking vocalist Cassandra Wilson, either Lonnie Plaxico or Kenny Davis on bass and percussionist Mino Cinelu. The music is quite impressionistic and atmospheric. Terrasson and Wilson stick to standards, but their renditions of such songs as "Old Devil Moon," "My Ship," "Tea for Two" and even "Tennessee Waltz" are quite haunting and floating, slightly disturbing and occasionally sensuous. Terrasson, who takes "Autumn Leaves" and "Chicago 1987" (the one non-standard) as solo pieces, was on his way to forming his own style, while Wilson had certainly found her niche. An intriguing matchup.

The four chamber works by Austrian Thomas Larcher recorded here show that's he's a composer to watch out for. His compositional voice is strikingly unencumbered by adherence to any orthodoxy, and his work is direct in its emotional and intellectual communication. My Illness Is the Medicine I Need, for soprano, violin, cello, and piano, is particularly effective; its aphoristic texts come from a Benetton "Colors" magazine that included photographs of psychiatric hospitals and quotations from their patients. Larcher's understated text setting allows the voices of the patients to be heard with unaffected bleakness and it is strongly moving. Even though it uses a contemporary harmonic language, the string quartet Ixxu (1998-2004) is old-fashioned in its emotional clarity. Its last movement, "ruhig," is genuinely peaceful and brings to mind the serenity of Arvo Pärt's Fratres. His 1990 quartet Cold Farmer is similarly direct and generous in inviting the listener in, and here again the slow movement is especially deeply felt and engaging.

Tom Waits collaborated with director Robert Wilson and librettist William Burroughs on the musical stage work The Black Rider in 1990. A variation on the Faust legend, the 19th century German story allowed Waits to indulge his affection for the music of Kurt Weill and address one of his favorite topics of recent years, the devil. Waits had proven an excellent collaborator when he worked with director Francis Ford Coppola on One from the Heart, making that score an integral part of the film. Here, the collaboration and the established story line served to focus Waits' often fragmented attention, lending coherence and consistency. He then had three years to adapt the score into a record album in which he did most of the singing and writing (though Burroughs contributed, singing one song and writing lyrics to three)…

Having not hit the road for most of the 80s, The Steel Wheels Tour was an astounding return for the Rolling Stones, not least as it was the longest tour they had by that point undertaken. It was also to be their last with Bill Wyman. Steel Wheels Live was recorded towards the end of the band’s 60-date run through the stadiums of North America, in the second half of 1989.

This release fills a gap in Barbieri’s discography. The artist we met in his first work as a single leader, In Search Of The Mystery (1967), moved in the realm of pure improvisation, going in the direction of the spirituality of Albert Ayler and Pharoah Sanders. In the Roman sessions, however, Barbieri recovers his original matrix deeply rooted in the language of John Coltrane and, in part, in that of the early Ornette Coleman. To some extent it is a completely new Barbieri that emerges from these recordings.

With Sam Shepherd’s Floating Points project moving further away from the dancefloor and former status as king of Plastic People with every release, it seemed like only a matter of time before he made a record with an orchestra and a free-jazz luminary. From that point of view, then, the music on Promises – a single, 45-minute semi-minimalist quasi-concerto for saxophone backed by various keyboard instruments and a string orchestra recorded in what appears to be a single, live, and rather spine-tingling take – is not a huge surprise. From the point of view of how much can be done with such sparse foundations, how to bring together fairly disparate musical worlds, and how captivating a recording can be, though, Promises is astonishing.

A re-interpretation so often comes from an impulse, even if subliminal, of one-upmanship – let me do better, wait ‘til you hear it my way. Sometimes though, and it happens too rarely, the cover is an act of devotion in which a musician’s humility produces something more beautiful than bravura could. When Erik Hall undertook his painstaking reconstruction of Steve Reich’s 1976 masterpiece of minimalism, “Music for Eighteen Musicians”, it was as much an exercise in modesty as ambition. With its repetitions and complex constructions, the piece makes great demands on stamina and concentration, and Reich himself advised that these challenges meant it should probably be performed with more than eighteen musicians. Hall, however, recorded every part himself in his small home studio, playing instruments he had on hand, in live, single takes.

Eric Clapton's intimate concert filmed in London in front of a small audience in December 2023. Eric’s set included "Tears In Heaven,” “Layla," "River Of Tears," "Got To Get Better In A Little While,” and a very special version of George Harrison's "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)" featuring a special guest appearance from Dhani Harrison. Also featuring a special bonus track titled "Prayer of a Child" - a brand new studio recording.

Arguably the most iconic and lastingly influential jazz singer of all time, Billie Holiday expressed an incredible depth of emotion that spoke of hard times and injustice as well as triumph. With accompaniment by some of the finest bands of the era, these classic tracks were recorded during her creative heyday when her voice was at its potent best.

Prepare to embark on an auditory journey like no other as Norwegian prog-rock maestros Airbag unleash their highly anticipated sixth studio album, "The Century of the Self." Showcasing their trademark fusion of mellow introspection and dynamic energy, from the mesmerizing depths of "Dysphoria" to the haunting crescendo of "Tyrants and Kings," each track captivates with irresistible vocal hooks and virtuosic lead guitar work that has become synonymous with the Airbag sound. As the album unfolds, listeners are taken on a voyage through introspection and intensity, from the introspective balladry of "Awakening" to the foreboding depths of the single "Erase."