Peter Rosendal relishes his own musical unpredictability. Difficult to pigeonhole, he doesn't object to being called unorthodox as a musician, composer or arranger. Or, in his own words: 'I like to pull the rug out from under the listener.' On Trickster, Rosendal juggles with 22 instrumentalists in an ensemble created for the occasion by pairing The Orchestra with folk group Trio Mio. Born in 1976, Peter Rosendal arranged all of the music heard here and composed most of it, creating a complex, whimsical and - true to the Rosendal spirit - humorous programme, drawing inspiration from the island of Fano off the west coast of southern Jutland in Denmark to Belo Horizonte in Brazil and beyond. Often labelled as a jazz pianist (which he is), Rosendal is much more than that. He is a member of award-winning folk trio ULC alongside Trio Mio and has written for Denmark's famed musical collective The Orchestra. The results on Trickster are constantly imaginative, striking and absorbing.

Cruel Summer is a 1998 album by Swedish pop group Ace of Base, released as the band's third album in North America on 14 July 1998 and in Japan on 25 August 1998 by Arista Records. Flowers was the group's third album worldwide, but Arista Records decided to release a different version of the album in North America, Japan, and Latin America, retitled Cruel Summer. This version of the album featured the new track "Everytime It Rains" and many new versions of songs that were first featured on Flowers. As executive producer, Clive Davis enlisted collaborators including production team Cutfather & Joe and songwriter Billy Steinberg. While primarily a pop album, Cruel Summer explores the genres of euro disco, Motown, and dance. Cruel Summer received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who complimented its production and viewed it as a superior version of Flowers.

Clearlight Symphony is a progressive rock album released in 1975 on Virgin Records in the UK. It is the first in a series of albums by a project led by pianist Cyrille Verdeaux with the participation of other musicians, including in this case three members of Gong on one side, and two other French musicians, Gilbert Artman (of Lard Free and later Urban Sax) and Christian Boulé (formerly with Verdeaux in the band Babylone, and a later Steve Hillage sideman) on the other. Primarily psychedelic, but also serving as a forerunner of new-age music, the album's musical style manages to blend seemingly contrary elements: the symphonic rock concept is flexible enough to permit extensive jamming in both rock and jazz fusion styles.

After a relatively quick turnaround, German metal masters Rammstein added another highlight to their discography with eighth album Zeit. Like many other artists around the world, a postponed tour during the COVID-19 pandemic forced the band back to the studio to funnel their creative juices into a new album, erasing any fears that it'd be another decade before hearing a follow-up to 2019's Untitled. Much like that catalog triumph, Zeit is yet another step forward in artistic growth and maturity; it might even be Rammstein's most thoughtful and poignant record to date. Yes, even with a song titled "Dicke Titten" ("Big Tits"). The title track is a towering accomplishment of power and restraint, an unexpected meditation on time and aging that finds hulking frontman Till Lindemann contemplating mortality against a swelling backdrop of angst and drama provided by guitarists Paul Landers and Richard Z. Kruspe, bassist Oliver Riedel, drummer Christoph Schneider, and keyboardist Flake Lorenz.

The Seer is the third studio album by the Scottish band Big Country, released in 1986. The album featured very traditional Scottish musical settings, reminiscent of the band's debut album The Crossing (1983). Kate Bush worked on the title song in a duet with lead singer and lyricist Stuart Adamson. The album's first single, "Look Away", was an Irish number one, and was also the group's biggest hit single in the UK, reaching #7. The album reached number 2 in the UK Albums Chart.

This attractive mixed programme of Telemann’s works featuring flute or recorder has been designed by Ashley Solomon to celebrate Florilegium’s 25th anniversary. The triple concerto for flute, oboe d’amore and viola d’amore in E major stands out as one of the composer’s most beguiling masterpieces: the limpid opening Andante sounds like a serene evocation of sunrise that anticipates the mature Haydn by several decades; the soloists Solomon, Alexandra Bellamy and Bojan Čičić play with elegant finesse, and also conjure up refined melancholy in an intimately conversational Siciliana. The double concerto for recorder and viola da gamba in A minor is a charming example of Telemann’s taste for synthesising French and Italian musical styles with elements of Polish folk music; Florilegium’s civilised elegance in the French-style Grave, gently Italianate sway in the Allegro, and Solomon’s duet with gambist Reiko Ichise in the Dolce has pastoral sensitivity. At the heart of the programme is Ihr Völker hört, a cantata for solo voice and obbligato instrument that was published in the first instalment of the series Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst. Clare Wilkinson’s softly convivial and articulate singing communicates the cheerful Epiphany text.

Alice is one of the first generation of groups to have done progressive rock in France, even if their sound often came close to the blues rock, they mixed in some heavy psychedelic ideas and threw in a couple pinches of prog purée in their music and achieved a very interesting album, recorded in London and released in early 70. Clearly the leader was multi-instrumentalist and singer JP Auffredo and his style on flute was reminiscent of Jethro Tull, Traffic but sometimes the Yardbirds as well.
This re-mastered version of Alice’s auspicious BYG debut provides an opportunity to reassess a band that deserves wider recognition.

The “Diamond Cuts” Collectors CD Box Set includes discs of the band’s classic studio albums: "Running Wild", "No Guts. No Glory", "Black Dog Barking", plus the brand new “Diamond Cuts - The B-Sides” CD featuring 2 previously unavailable tracks (“Money” & “Heavy Weight Lover”; a bonus DVD of the new band documentary “It’s All for Rock n’ Roll”, all encased in a slipcase box with original “Diamond Cuts” art.

Music for Modified Melodica was born out of two explorations: one of tuning (and subsequently degrading) the small reeds of a melodica, and the other to modify it playable with foot pumps, allowing for the sustained excitation of the reeds.

2015 collection Bettye Swann had one big hit 'Make Me Yours', another five respectable ones and four more that made the lower reaches of the charts. But the twenty-odd singles and three LPs issued were of such high quality that although her soul styles crossed from the Motown sound, to country and on to the Philly soul era, she is spoken of with much respect and some awe by all soul fans. Recording with Arthur Wright at Money, Wayne Shuler at Capitol, Rick Hall at Fame and Atlantic and later Tony Bell, Phil Hurtt and LeBaron Taylor at Atlantic gave her recordings the best credentials and in nearly all cases, sympathetic productions for Bettye's beautiful voice. Despite the brilliance of her released sides, it could be argued that Atlantic left the best number in the can: 'Either You Love Me Or Leave Me'. Also neglected was the superb mid-tempo beauty of 'I Want Sunday Back Again'. She has largely kept her own counsel since her final 45 issued in 1976, which has added to her mystique.

The Breakaways were the premier providers of female backing vocals for mid-'60s British pop, working closely with Tony Hatch backing his stable of singers as well as with most of the big names like Burt Bacharach, Dusty Springfield, Lulu, Jackie DeShannon, Joe Meek, Shel Talmy, and Andrew Loog Oldham. It might be easier to list who they didn't work with! They were the U.K. equivalent of the Blossoms or the Sweet Inspirations in the U.S. Like those bands, the Breakaways attempted to make it as artists in their own right but never made much of an impact. On this collection there are a handful of excellent singles released under the Breakaways name, but the majority of the disc features them as backup singers to artists like Jackie Trent, Petula Clark, Jimmy Justice, and Tony Jackson. The closest thing the group had to a hit was the stomping "That's How It Goes," which marries their brash unison vocals to a Wall of Sound production and a glorious hook.

As one of the godfathers of the Gothenburg sound, you just can’t deny the impact that Dark Tranquillity had on the face of metal music when bursting onto the scene back in 1989. Some 27 years of service, 10 albums, and many imitators later, and the Swedes are still going strong as they unleash album number 11.
Despite founding member and main songwriter Martin Henriksson departing the fold earlier this year, it’s pretty much business as usual for Dark Tranquillity here as thrashy opener Encircled kicks things off in fine style and the likes of the storming Neutrality and The Pitiless go on to whip up a melodeath storm…

Bristol outfit that popularized trip-hop with liberal doses of cool jazz and spy soundtracks, featuring the angelic vocals of Beth Gibbons. Collection includes all studio albums: 'Portishead' (Japan & US release), 'Dummy' (Japan & US release), 'Third' (US release), singles compilation 'Glory Times', live album 'Roseland NYC' and Beth Gibbons solo album 'Out Of Season' (US bonus track release).

Yasmin Evans, 19 May 1963, Shepherd’s Bush, London, England. Dance-pop singer who began her career in the music business as part of a quickly forgotten act, the Biz. After becoming a catwalk model and working as George Michael’s stylist, she laid plans for a return to recording work. When she did so, she found rewards immediately, joining with DJs Coldcut on the February 1988 Top 10 hit ‘Doctorin’ The House’. In its wake her revamped version of Otis Clay’s ‘The Only Way Is Up’ soared to the top of the UK charts in August, while ‘Stand Up For Your Love Rights’ reached the number 2 spot. Both of the latter were credited to Yazz And The Plastic Population. After three further Top 20 hits and tours Yazz took time out to have her first baby. She returned alongside Aswad in 1993 for ‘How Long’, but this failed to break the Top 30. A new solo single, ‘Have Mercy’ and the attendant One On One were further evidence of her attempts to re-establish herself via a contract with Polydor Records. Yazz recorded 1997’s The Natural Life at UB40 frontman Ali Campbell’s Kuff Studios. This pleasant reggae-inflected album proved to be her final release of the decade.

This goes beyond the usual "deluxe edition." You get the Femme's 1983 debut LP ( Blister in the Sun; Kiss Off; Please Do Not Go; Add It Up , etc.) plus demos of all of the above and more. That's disc one; disc two has unissued live recordings of Gone Daddy Gone; Promise; Country Death Song; To the Kill; Never Tell , and more by Milwaukee's indie-rock heroes!
Emerging, literally, from the streets of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they gained notoriety through busking, this strange trio led by guitarist-vocalist Gordon Gano became a cult favorite with their self-titled debut album in 1983. Influenced greatly by Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers, the Femmes' minimalist sound pitted Gano's low-volume electric guitar against Brian Ritchie's acoustic bass guitar and Victor De Lorenzo's ashcanlike homemade drum kit–all of which only served to make Gano's angst-ridden adolescent tirades more arresting. Highlights here are the rockabillyish "Gone Daddy Gone," the snotty "Kiss Off," and the emblematically nervous "Blister in the Sun." All in all, a fond reminder of the innocent days of alt-rock. Note: this deluxe, 20th anniversary version of the album includes an additional 26 demos and live tunes, 22 of them never before released.–Billy Altman