While most serious listeners already have their favorite sets of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and the Orchestral Suites, newcomers searching for respectable recordings at a reasonable price would do well to start with this triple-CD set by Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. These recordings were made in 1984 and 1985, and still offer fine sound for early digital recording and exceptional musical value. Marriner's performances may not be as exacting and scrupulous about Baroque performance practice as those of Gustav Leonhardt or Trevor Pinnock, but they are informed by serious scholarship and have sufficient appeal to make the finer points debatable.

Throughout a long and extremely productive career, Georg Philipp Telemann harboured a great affection for the overture-suite, consisting of a French overture followed by a number of dances and character movements. Tempering the rigid model inherited from the French tradition with his own rich powers of invention and playfulness, he remained true to the form long after it had gone out of fashion.

On disait de Johann Schobert dans les années 1760 à Paris, qu’il était le claveciniste le plus à la mode, recherché dans les salons pour son caractère brillant, virtuose et étrange. Ses œuvres sont faites d’un style tout neuf, qui paraît étrange, à la fois profond et brillant. Il excellait dans l’évocation d’atmosphères poétiques rares, tantôt sombres, tantôt viriles et décidées, souvent rêveuses et nostalgiques.

Alanis Morissette Delivers the Equivalent of a Spiritual Awakening on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie: Introspective Themes and Compassionate Emotions on Eastern-Tinged Album Have Grown More Relevant. 1998 Smash Plays with Enhanced Detail, Rich Textures, and Sharp Focus on Mobile Fidelity’s Numbered-Edition Hybrid SACD: Collector’s Edition Strictly Limited to 3,000 Numbered Copies. Alanis Morissette refuses to adhere to convention on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. While most artists follow-up their breakthrough with an album that closely parallels the approaches that helped make them famous, the maverick singer-songwriter stayed true to herself and drew inspiration from travel to India before she began the recording sessions. As much as the preceding Jagged Little Pill put her on the global radar, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie confirmed her role as a vital generational voice — and proved her blockbuster success was no fluke. Having set a mark for most sales of an LP in its debut week by a female artist, the 1998 smash remains a pop-rock staple.

In the summer of 1956, the famed Harlem congressman Adam Clayton Powell arranged for Dizzy Gillespie to embark on a worldwide goodwill-ambassador tour sponsored by the State Department. Gillespie and an all-star big band featuring trumpeter Quincy Jones, the late trombonist Melba Liston, alto saxophonist Phil Woods, and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson performed in Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil to frenzied, beret-wearing fans. Recordings were made but they weren't commercially available and were played only for a select group of musicians before Gillespie's death in 1993. Now the sides have been released, showcasing Dizzy at his bebopping best.

Compiled by Bob Stanley to document the acid folk scene, “Gather In The Mushrooms” was first issued in 2004 on Sanctuary as a CD-only release; it proved popular enough for a sequel entitled “Early Morning Hush” two years later. This new edition of “Gather In The Mushrooms” contains the cream of both long-deleted compilations with a few additions – COB, Roy Harper, Fotheringay – that weren’t available to Sanctuary at the time. Though they aren’t traditional, these songs have an authenticity of their own, an autumnal atmosphere and a naivety which proved influential in the 00s neo-folk boom (Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Alasdair Roberts, Tunng et al) but impossible to replicate. For many of these acts at the end of the 60s, folk music and the hippy world that surrounded them was a way of life, a way of opting out from the Vietnam war, Angry Brigade and three-day-week early 70s. Anne Briggs lived in a caravan in Suffolk, Shelagh McDonald lived in a tent, Vashti Bunyan eschewed electricity; they weren’t part-timers. Listening to “Gather In The Mushrooms”, we are transported to a time when no one used the term post-modernist.

This soundtrack to the movie features an astonishing array of blues artists from three generations. Recorded during one long night at NYC's Radio City Music Hall on Feb. 7, 2003, the electricity is in the air and on stage. While it may not have been the finest blues show in history, the collection of founding fathers such as David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Buddy Guy, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Larry Johnson, Hubert Sumlin, Solomon Burke, and the ubiquitous B.B. King along with their spiritual offspring (Gregg Allman, John Fogerty, and Steven Tyler) and some usual suspects like Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, and Keb' Mo', makes it arguably the most significant blues session ever captured on film. Beginning acoustic, the double disc builds momentum and volume as we hear the blues mutate to electric and finally hip-hop with Chuck D. exploding on a rap version of John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom".

In aid of the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Center and the BRIT School for Performing Arts, 120,000 fans gather for a historic event featuring a legendary combination of British rock artists: Tears for Fears, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Genesis, Dire Straits, Status Quo, Cliff Richard & the Shadows, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Elton John.

A sweeping celebration of Mercury’s golden era in jazz, this 1995 double CD compilation showcases the label’s rich legacy from the late 1940s to the 1970s.

Outstanding!!! Massive and comprehensive overview of Australian underground music originally released as tapes/cassettes or vinyl between the late '70s and early to mid '80s. The first two LPs, called Edge City Broadcasts are Andrew Lonsdale's (Browning Mummery) selection of rare and essential tracks representing the great variety and diversity of sounds inside the Australian underground music scene of the period. LP3 is dedicated to one side each of label recordings from the Lymph Products catalogue (The Horse He's Sick, Cerebral Haemorrhage, Kurt Volentine, Cut With The Kitchen Knife); and the home label of Browning Mummery–Boxmusik Tapes. LP4 is compiled by Garry Bradbury (former member of Severed Heads) with focus on bands, projects and collaborations that released on the famous Terse Tapes label such as Wet Taxis, Rhino Rhino, and Pissy Relay Switches. LP5 contains the split LP of Hiroshima Chair and a selection of M-Squared-Label related bands such as Systematics, Scattered Order, Ya Ya Choral, and The Makers of the Dead Travel Fast. LP6 and LP7 are fully dedicated to the earliest recordings by Tom Ellard's Severed Heads, containing the highly collectable LPs "Clean," "Ear Bitten" and the "Side 2" tape.

Back cover says 'Recorded Live In The USA 1990'. This set, better known as Westwood One Superstar Concert Series, was recorded live in Europe at various locations in December 1989.

Probably the most influential pianist in jazz, Bill Evans has left his mark on the likes of Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea and Brad Mehldau. The pianist on Miles Davis’ quintessential 1959 album "Kind of Blue" and a key figure in the development of jazz piano, Bill Evans was a pioneer in multi-track jazz recording, a key player in the rise of modal jazz, and a multiple Grammy Award winner. Covering the later part of his life, from the Warner Bros and Elektra studio and live recordings, here are five gems in one pack.

What do two Faces do when their lead singer (bon vivant Rod Stewart) doesn’t show up for the Ooh La La recording sessions? They work on a soundtrack for an obscure film by actor and friend Alexis Kanner (most famous for his guest roles on the late-‘60s TV series The Prisoner), and draft the uppermost rank of British rock royalty to play on it! Indeed, given the pedigree of the personnel on this project, it is rather stunning how obscure this 1976 album from Faces members Ron Wood and Ronnie Lane remains, having only been issued on CD abroad and for a brief time at that (and never reissued on LP); one suspects it has much to do with the flop of the film (which appears to have only been screened at the Canadian Film Festival), and the fact that the original LP was released four years after it was recorded in 1972.

First launched by EMI UK in 1988, The Classic Experience took the Britain by storm, riding high in the UK charts alongside the top rock and pop albums of the day. The recently launched CD format was just beginning to take-off and there was a new hunger for discovery of great classical music amongst the mass market. Three more volumes appeared over the following years making it one of the most successful classical compilation series of all time. The album covers were a particular point of interest, featuring specially commissioned artworks which includes visual references from the music featured on the discs. Listeners would spend hours searching the cover artwork looking to recognise the smallest of details! To mark the 25th anniversary of the launch of this series, all four volumes are brought together into one attractive 8CD clamshell box set.

In 1999, a year after recording the splendid reunion album Not Two, Not One, Paul Bley’s highly innovative trio with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian took to the road with concerts on both sides of the Atlantic. When Will The Blues Leave documents a terrific performance at the Aula Magna di Trevano in Switzerland. Included here, alongside the angular freebop Ornette Coleman title track, are Paul Bley’s “Mazatlan”, brimming over with energy, Gary Peacock’s evergreen “Moor”, Gershwin’s tender “I Loves You Porgy” and much more. All played with the subtlety of master improvisers, recasting the music in every moment.