There had been so many compilations of the Animals' hits by 2000, between England and America and the various labels that had owned the rights to their catalog, that this single-CD, 20-song collection mostly passed listeners by without much notice. But it is worth owning, and not just for the generally good sound – there are lots of excellent-sounding CDs on the Animals' work out there. The appeal lies in the programming, which is confined primarily to the group's Mickie Most-produced EMI catalog – the only exceptions are the Tom Wilson-produced "Don't Bring Me Down" and "Inside-Looking Out" that close the CD). But included here, apparently for the first time on a hits compilation, is the seven-minute uncut "Talkin' 'Bout You," an epic performance that rates alongside he band's best released work of the '60s, which first surfaced on the 1990 double-CD Complete Animals. Its presence elevates this collection above most of the competing hits assemblies devoted to this band.

Then Play On is the third studio album by the British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 19 September 1969. It was the first of their original albums to feature Danny Kirwan (although two tracks recorded with him were included on the compilation album The Pious Bird of Good Omen released earlier in 1969) and the last with Peter Green. Although still an official band member at the time, Jeremy Spencer did not feature on the album apart from "a couple of piano things" (according to Mick Fleetwood in Q magazine in 1990). The album offered a broader stylistic range than the straightforward electric blues of the group's first two albums, displaying elements of folk rock, hard rock, art rock and psychedelia. The album reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the band's fourth Top 20 LP in a row, as well as their third album to reach the Top 10.

Suitable for Framing is the second studio album by American rock band Three Dog Night. The album was released on the Dunhill record label on June 11, 1969 and was the first of two albums released by the band that year. The album contains the top 20 hit singles "Easy to Be Hard", "Eli's Coming", and "Celebrate"; the latter of which (along with the album's opening track "Feelin' Alright") featured the Chicago horn section. It is also notable for being the first album by Three Dog Night to include songs written by band members, and for its inclusion of the Elton John / Bernie Taupin song "Lady Samantha," as the duo of John/Taupin would not become widely known in the United States for another year. The album reached the top 10 on charts in both The United States and Canada and became certified gold at the end of the year.

Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is the only studio album by Anglo-American blues rock band Derek and the Dominos. Released in November 1970, the double album is best known for its title track, "Layla", and is often regarded as Eric Clapton's greatest musical achievement. The other band members were Bobby Whitlock on keyboards and vocals, Jim Gordon on drums, Carl Radle on bass, and special guest performer Duane Allman on lead and slide guitar on 11 of the 14 songs. In 2000, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2003, television network VH1 named Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs the 89th-greatest album of all time, and Rolling Stone ranked it number 117 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Critic Robert Christgau ranked Layla the third greatest album of the 1970s.

Following the huge acclaim of Matt Berry’s 2021 album The Blue Elephant (“A sonic odyssey” – Uncut) – as well as last year’s one-off album of library music collaboration with the KPM label (“another string to Berry’s impressive bow” – Prog magazine) – we present Heard Noises, Matt’s eighth studio album with Acid Jazz, out 24 January. We’re hugely excited to offer a beautiful label-exclusive gatefold edition on Psychedelic Swirl colour vinyl, alongside the standard version Sky Blue LP, as well as corresponding soft-pack CD and retro Cassette. Out now, lead single ‘I Gotta Limit’ finds Matt trading lines with Kitty Liv (Kitty, Daisy and Lewis) as a man after a second chance with a woman impatient with his pleading. With a song structure inspired by Sly Stone, in a little over three minutes ‘I Gotta Limit’ crams in a plethora of musical ideas on an instantly catchy song which is part Northern Soul, part psych.

The arrival of a new Mogwai album – their eleventh – is cause for great celebration. The album’s title, The Bad Fire, is a working-class Glaswegian term for Hell. It reflects the difficult time that members of the band were going through. New to the studio was American producer John Congleton, known for his work with Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Rós, John Grant and pretty much everyone in between. Congleton’s work can be heard on the album’s three singles. The album opener “God Gets You Back” sounds like Daft Punk being hunted by My Bloody Valentine, while “Fanzine Made Of Flesh” sounds like a victory parade for a baby yeti; and “Lion Rumpus” does actually sound like a lion rumpus. The music of Mogwai is a difficult thing to describe, but an easy thing to experience. At punishing volume, it can annihilate your body, leaving you as little more than a head which should by rights fall helplessly to the ground. Yet the music contains an updraft, a sense of beauty encased in the onslaught. This holds you up, suspended and empowered, reminding you that paradise is your birthright. This is especially true of The Bad Fire. It may have been created in dark conditions, but all that is transcended by the act of four musicians working together here, now, in the moment – the only place where Mogwai exist.

Gillan is the first album by British rock band Gillan, released in September 1978. It was only released in Japan, Australia and New Zealand, but the album sold well in the UK as an import, aided by positive press reviews. In 1993 an album combining tracks from the Japan/Australia/New Zealand version of the Gillan and the Mr. Universe was released in CD format by the RPM record label under the title "Gillan – The Japanese Album".

ontroversial at the time, delayed because of fights with the record company over lyrical content and the original title (Volunteers of America), Volunteers was a powerful release that neatly closed out and wrapped up the '60s. Here, the Jefferson Airplane presents itself in full revolutionary rhetoric, issuing a call to "tear down the walls" and "get it on together." "We Can Be Together" and "Volunteers" bookend the album, offering musical variations on the same chord progression and lyrical variations on the same theme.

Heat, Dust And Dreams is a studio album by South African artist Johnny Clegg and his band Savuka, released in 1993, produced by Hilton Rosenthal, co-produced by Bobby Summerfield. The album received a 1993 Grammy Award nomination for Best World Music Album. The album would be the final work of the band Savuka. It was made in honor of member Dudu Zulu, who had been assassinated in the last years of the apartheid. Most songs of album are heavily influenced by the end of this dark period of South African history. "These Days", "When the System has Fallen", "In My African Dream" and "Your Time Will Come" all express hope for the future, while songs like "The Promise" and "Foreign Nights" talk of the problems people still have to face. "Emotional Allegiance" turns the attention to the Indian influence featuring Ashish Joshi on Tablas. It is the only Savuka album to receive the same degree of critical acclaim as the Juluka albums such as Universal Men, African Litany, Work for All and Scatterlings.

Après son premier disque solo « E il violoncello suonò », Hanna Salzenstein poursuit dans ce deuxième opus le récit de l’émergence du violoncelle soliste au début du XVIIIème siècle en Italie, en mettant en exergue le répertoire concertant pour violoncelle solo et orchestre à une période située peu après la naissance du concerto en lui-même. Le concerto est ici le genre le plus emblématique de l’émancipation d’un instrument. Il est le lieu de la démonstration, tant d’une virtuosité que d’une profondeur expressive propre au violoncelle. Elle est accompagnée par l’Orchestre de l’ensemble Le Consort.

The 2010 issue of Mississippi Blues by Sonny Landreth on the Fuel 2000 imprint is not a new album, nor is it a representative compilation of his oeuvre. In fact, the set is a complete repackage of the album entitled The Crazy Cajun Recordings originally issued on CD by Great Britain’s Edsel in 1999. The material dates from 1973 and 1977, recorded with the famed Huey P. Meaux (aka the Crazy Cajun) when he wasn’t touring with Clifton Chenier as part of his Red Hot Louisiana Band. These 20 tracks range from Landreth’s Lafayette, LA-styled take on the acoustic Delta blues solo and with a band that included a mandolin player, an electric bassist, and a drummer to his early electric experiments playing a meld of Cajun-flavored soul, rock, and R&B. The electric slide guitar fury evidenced on his own records from the 1980s onward is all but absent here, but the acoustic slide work is particularly plentiful – check his reading of “I Know You Rider,” “Lazy Boy,” and the stomping “Prodigal Son”.

Les Traversées Baroques continues its exploration of the great repertory of sacred music from northern Europe. After Marcin Mielczewski, the ensemble has decided to turn to Mikołaj Zieleński for its new recording, thus rehabilitating this Polish Baroque composer whose biography is no more than a long series of question marks, but whose magnificent music amply compensates for the gaps in our knowledge.

From the opening track, "Champagne Charlie," to the dazzling finale, "T.B. Blues," Leon Redbone presents an introspective collection of blues and big band melodies in timeless fashion, a rare feat because of its release date in 1978. The record was highly acclaimed and regarded as the purest of jazz and classic blues by a remarkable legend and icon in this musical form. Most of the record, like the amiable "Sweet Sue (Just You)" and memorable "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)," is filled with the best that blues and ragtime has to offer. The music itself is quite light and jolly during the more uplifting moments, with others such as "I Hate a Man Like You" very depressing and sorrowful. The band backing up Redbone is delightful, filled with jubilant horns, oboes, and trumpets. "T.B. Blues" closes out this record as a charming look back into the world of blues via pioneer Jimmie Rodgers. Two melodies written and composed by giant Jelly Roll Morton are featured here, with fresh and stunning new arrangements by Leon Redbone and company, "If Someone Would Only Love Me" and "I Hate a Man Like You".

Talking Heads At the start of their career, Talking Heads were all nervous energy, detached emotion, and subdued minimalism. When they released their last album about 12 years later, the band had recorded everything from art-funk to polyrhythmic worldbeat explorations and simple, melodic guitar pop. Between their first album in 1977 and their last in 1988, Talking Heads became one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the '80s, while managing to earn several pop hits. While some of their music can seem too self-consciously experimental, clever, and intellectual for its own good, at their best Talking Heads represent everything good about art-school punks. And they were literally art-school punks. Guitarist/vocalist David Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz, and bassist Tina Weymouth met at the Rhode Island School of Design in the early '70s; they decided to move to New York in 1974 to concentrate on making music.

Bob Dylan & Mark Knopfler / The Jokermen / 3CD Foldup Papercase / Scorpio Slow Train Coming sessions, Muscle Shoals, AL April 30 – May 11, 1979 This is a totally unique collection of a lot of songs performed by Bob Dylan and Mark Knopfler together. This collection is spanning from the early sessions for Slow train coming, the Infidels sessions, the concert in 1986 when Dylan joined Dire Straits to perform four of his own songs and also the concert a couple of days before that when Mark Knopfler joined Bob Dylan at a concert, backed by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Two B-sides from vinyl singles and some songs which are not too much different than the album versions but different mixes or some instrument fewer or something like that. The sound quality has been improved a lot because all songs have been remastered. If you are looking for a complete collection of all songs with Dylan and Knopfler, please check this recording: The complete Infidels sessions. This is not 100% of all Dylan & Knopfler sessions though. You need to get the official releases of Infidels and Slow train coming aswell! Nothing from these two records is to be found in this collection. This is the material that didn't find it's way to these two records. Taken from the silver pressed bootleg "The Jokermen".