A fine mid-'70s album on which Isaac Hayes adapted to the disco era. His productions were already ideal for dance floors, and he now updated his charts to include some stomping segments with horns and layered beats, while maintaining his soulful vocals on both up-tempo tunes and ballads. This album got two Top 20 hits for Hayes and was his last really big hit album in the '70s.

For the past 40 years, the Bay Area thrash pioneers Heathen have abided by their never-say-die attitude. The Heathen brand of intelligent yet aggressive Thrash appealed not only to the genre’s core demographic but also to metal fans looking for brains behind the brawn.
Today, Heathen releases their latest offering Bleed The World: Live. The album features songs from each of the band's albums, including recent tracks such as "Sun in My Hand" and "The Blight" as well as classics such as "Hypnotized" and "Goblin’s Blade," mirroring the band's crushing live setlist.

With the return of Gary Duncan and the recording debut of founder Dino Valenti, Just for Love, Quicksilver's fourth album, marked their debut as the band they were intended to be. The ironic thing about that is that, led by singer/songwriter Valenti, they were a much more pop-oriented band than their fans had come to expect. On Just for Love, Quicksilver finally was Valenti's backup group (he wrote all but one of the songs), and while this gave them greater coherence and accessibility, as well as their only Top 50 single in "Fresh Air," it also made them less the boogie band they had been. And it meant the band's days were numbered.

The French harpsichordist Céline Frisch has an extensive discography, including many award-winning recordings devoted to Bach. Now she presents the Partitas, the famous and abundant collection of six suites that Bach composed from 1726 onwards - at the rate of one new partita per year - which he published as his Opus 1: As Céline Frisch points out, “Bach explores the possibilities of each dance in order to extend its limits deploying an intense expressive palette that ranges from the most disarming tenderness through to the most poignant distress and unbridled joy”.

How did Mozart hear his own music at home in Salzburg? This recording provides the answer, as it was made not only in the house in which he lived but also with the clavichord that he used to compose Die Zauberflöte, La clemenza di Tito and the Requiem. While its keyboard has the same five-octave range as the fortepianos that Mozart used for concerts, the clavichord's weaker sound limited it to domestic use, to be heard by family members who happened to be present or collaborators. Baritone Georg Nigl and early keyboard specialist Alexander Gergelyfi have devised an intimate programme of arias, overtures, cantatas, Lieder, fantasias, rondos and even the poignant Lacrimosa from the Requiem. This unique album lets us enter Mozart’s own house in Salzburg, where we can sit next to an instrument he himself played and listen to two exceptional performers, both of whom are irrevocably smitten with the genius loci.

One of jazz music’s most heralded traditions is breathing new life into older material. Reimagining standards and well-known songs provides impetus and backbone for ensemble connection and creative improvisation. Saxophonist Michael Zilber and drummer Mike Clark utilize their understanding and mastery of the jazz canon and popular songs on their new recording, Standard Deviation, a recording seemingly familiar yet new.

The Sorcerers' latest long player lands in perfect time for the summer, offering a further progression into their unique take on Ethio-inspired jazz.

Sorcerer, the third album by the second Miles Davis Quintet, is in a sense a transitional album, a quiet, subdued affair that rarely blows hot, choosing to explore cerebral tonal colorings. Even when the tempo picks up, as it does on the title track, there's little of the dense, manic energy on Miles Smiles – this is about subtle shadings, even when the compositions are as memorable as Tony Williams' "Pee Wee" or Herbie Hancock's "Sorcerer." As such, it's a little elusive, since it represents the deepening of the band's music as they choose to explore different territory. The emphasis is as much on complex, interweaving chords and a coolly relaxed sound as it is on sheer improvisation, though each member tears off thoroughly compelling solos. Still, the individual flights aren't placed at the forefront the way they were on the two predecessors – it all merges together, pointing toward the dense soundscapes of Miles' later '60s work.