Broadcast live by King Biscuit on July 11th 1978, this superb performance from the now tragically late John Prine recorded at the Bottom Line Club in New York s Greenwich Village, several years into the man s career, is among his finest ever shows. His debut album had been released to huge critical acclaim, albeit somewhat modest sales (reaching only 153 on Billboard), in 1971 on the Atlantic label. Featuring such legendary numbers as Hello in There and Angel From Montgomery (versions of both are featured) it was voted into Rolling Stone s All Time Greatest 500 Albums list in 2003. The tour, of which this gig was part, was performed in support of Bruised Orange (1978), Prine s 5th studio album, and the lengthy 30-song set list features no fewer than 6 of the album s 10 cuts, although strangely John omits to perform the stunning title track. The remainder of the songs played are a mix from 3 out of 4 previous albums (he doesn t play anything from his sophomore record, 1972 s Diamonds In The Rough) plus a smattering of cuts yet to be released at show-time, but made available on 1979 s Pink Cadillac and post-1980 releases. A few well-chosen covers are additionally played, including a rocking version of Treat Me Nice (from the pens of messrs. Leiber and Stoller) and a nice Ballad Of A Teenage Queen - made famous by Johnny Cash but composed by Prine s friend Jack Clement. The line up for the evenings proceedings includes some fine backing by the group he had already assembled for Pink Cadillac, (John Burns - acoustic and electric guitars, Howard Levy - piano, harmonica, mandolin, Tom Piekarske - bass, Angelo Varias - drums) and it s interesting to hear some of his oldies performed with full band, although he does go back to just acoustic guitar for the likes of Hello In There.

Piano virtuoso Aldo Ciccolini passed away at the age of 89 in his home in Paris, France, in February 2015. Born in Naples in 1925, he entered the Naples Conservatory at the age of 9, where he studied piano and composition, debuted with Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 at the age of 17, and at the age of 22 became the youngest professor at his alma mater. After that, at the age of 24, he won the Long-Thibaud International Competition and moved to Paris, eventually becoming a French citizen and active for many years as a renowned pianist representing the French music world. After becoming a professor at the Paris Conservatory at the age of 46, his activities became more international, and he visited Japan many times.Ciccolini was an interpreter and advocate of "modern French music," and also devoted himself to mentoring the next generation of musicians. This album not only contains that music, but also 115 tracks of piano masterpieces from a wide range of repertoire, including Chopin, Bach, Brahms, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff, totaling 6 hours and 25 minutes.

Norwegian rock history contains many hidden gems with releases that not many people know about, or remember. In the 80s and the beginning of the following decade, there were many young promising talents who were given the opportunity to release their music on seven inches (and a few on CD singles). In many cases it was only with this one release, and it is high time to dust these off. Rock Of Norway and C+C Records/Norwegian album classics hereby present a collection of rare singles within the genres AOR and melodious hard rock, the vast majority on CD for the first time. We have selected 18 singles which will be found on a double CD. The collection's title reflects a desire to follow up with further such releases if the concept were to be a success, as there is more material to take off.

Repress of the 2014 200 gram vinyl but this version is only 180 grams. Recorded December 19, 1950. Remastered at Sterling Sound from the original analog tapes. Recorded on an Ampex 200, using 3M-111 magnetic tape running at 15 inches per second. Gatefold old-school "tip-on" jacket by Stoughton Printing. Plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings.

This compilation brings together the first albums of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. Released in 1960 and 1962 respectively and titled by their respective names, they were the first recorded statements by a pair of artists who were spokespeople for the folk and protest movement that had grown up in the late Fifties and was aligning itself with the US Civil Rights Campaign.

Esoteric Recordings is proud to announce the release of a newly remastered deluxe 5CD boxed set anthology by legendary guitarist, composer and instrumentalist ANTHONY PHILLIPS. Anthony was a founding member of Genesis alongside Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks with whom he recorded the albums From Genesis To Revelation and Trespass. After leaving the group in 1970, Anthony studied orchestration and harmony externally at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. After passing his LGSM exams, he taught music at Reeds School and Peper Harrow whilst continuing to compose and record in his home studio.

Hollies Sing Dylan is a 1969 cover album where the Hollies sing Bob Dylan songs. This album was recorded and released following Graham Nash's departure from the band to join David Crosby and Stephen Stills in December 1968 after early sessions for a follow-up to the psychedelic concept album, Butterfly broke down. There have been claims that the album was hated by fans and critics alike. However it peaked at no. 3 in the UK, their third highest showing for any LP and second-highest charting for one with newly recorded material. Nevertheless, the group's next album was titled Hollies Sing Hollies in an apparent move to placate critics. This is the first album with new member Terry Sylvester, who replaced Nash.

Iggy Pop's Post Pop Depression album, a collaboration with co-writer and producer Joshua Homme from Queens Of The Stone Age, is his most critically acclaimed and commercially successful album for many years. On May 13, 2016, Iggy Pop brought his Post Pop Depression live show to London's revered Royal Albert Hall and almost tore the roof off! With a backing band including Joshua Homme and Dean Fertita from Queens Of The Stone Age and Matt Helders from the Arctic Monkeys, Iggy delivered a set focused almost entirely on the new album plus his two classic David Bowie collaboration albums from 1977, The Idiot and Lust For Life. Fans and critics alike raved about the performance and this will definitely be remembered as one of Iggy Pop's finest concerts.

For all the charges of unacceptable schematicism levelled at Vivaldi and his kind, Monica Huggett, as supremely imaginative as well as technically and stylistically accomplished an exponent of the baroque violin as any, demonstrates clearly that this music benefits from the guiding hand of a charismatic interpreter: her delivery of Vivaldi’s exuberant, even manic, inspiration is never less than involving and, in the slow movements, never less than touching.

Us and Us Only picks up where Tellin' Stories left off and twists that album's virtues around. Where that record was essentially a stripped-down, straight-ahead collection, Us and Us Only dresses up the band's continually impressive songcraft in a moody atmosphere, borrowed in equal parts from Blonde on Blonde, Beggars Banquet, and the Chemical Brothers. The album unfolds in a haze of keyboards and subdued beats, and this murky veil never really lifts throughout the record, even as harmonics and acoustic guitars break through the mist every once and a while. Consequently, the album can initially seem a little amorphous, albeit intriguingly amorphous, filled with deep grooves and tantalizing sonic textures. Repeated plays reveal that Us and Us Only is merely a step below their previous high point of Tellin' Stories. If nothing is as immediately grabbing as "North Country Boy" or "One to Another," that's not a problem, since nearly every song works its charms with subtle grace and considerable muscle. "Forever" soon reveals itself as a minor masterpiece of swirling menace and swagger, while the Dylan inflections of "A House Is Not a Home" and "My Beautiful Friend" seem natural instead of grandstanding.

An indispensable and definitive collection showcasing the passionate genius of the late rapper. The album's nonchronological sequence highlights the contradictory impulses that made Tupac's music so commanding; the 21 well-loved "hits," some slightly reedited for legal reasons, are accompanied by four previously unheard songs.

After hooking up with the Concord label in 1977, Rosemary Clooney had a renaissance. On this enjoyable set, she interprets ten of Irving Berlin's songs (including a couple of obscurities) with fine backup from a swinging septet that includes tenorman Scott Hamilton, cornetist Warren Vache, both Chris Flory and Ed Bickert on guitars and pianist John Oddo. Highlights include "Be Careful, It's My Heart," "Cheek to Cheek," "The Best Thing for You Would Be Me" and "What'll I Do."

Sutherland's singing here is brighter and fresher than her earlier recording, with the lovely aria 'Qui la voce' no longer a wordless melisma…The recording is vivid and atmospheric and one marvels at Bellini's gorgeous melodies…with Sutherland, Bonynge and all on electrifying form.

It is perhaps the songs of Hugo Wolf that most closely define Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s subtle art as a recitalist. At the Salzburg Festival in 1953 she marked the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death in a memorable collaboration with Wilhelm Furtwängler, who – having conducted her frequently in opera and oratorio – here became her accompanist. As the producer Walter Legge wrote: “We must be grateful that this extraordinary occasion was recorded not only for us but also for posterity.”

Pure delight: two of Britain’s most exciting singers together with one of the most vibrant of the English period bands, in a collection of wonderful duets from Händel’s English oratorios and odes. Both Carolyn Sampson and Robin Blaze collaborate with Masaaki Suzuki in his recordings of Bach Cantatas, for which they are receiving high praise. ‘Sampson's rounded, lyrical, glowing tone is just what I want to hear in the warm-hearted soprano cantata O holder Tag’ said the critic in International Record Review about BIS-CD-1411, whereas The Times, UK, has described Robin Blaze as being ‘blessed with a most alluring countertenor – creamy in tone, naturally expressive, exquisitely controlled…’.