Prince No artist of the rock & roll era compares to singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Prince. He was the rare combination of a visionary pop conceptualist and master musician who could capture the sounds he imagined. This quality fueled his remarkable success throughout the 1980s, a decade in which he authored a string of nine gold, platinum, or multi-platinum albums that included 1999 (1982), Purple Rain (1984), and Sign 'o' the Times (1987). Ideas came to Prince so quickly that they couldn't be contained on his own records.

After having revisited Dante's "Divine Comedy" ala Progressive rock, Finnish fanzine Colossus and French label Musea dig deeper into Italian literature of the Renaissance with another classic: Giovanni Boccaccio's "Decameron". Many bands (Nexus, Phideaux, Daal, The Samurai of Prog, Jukka Kulju, Senogul and others) worked hard on that beutiful four-CDs album, worth listening.

Leaked Soundboard recording from the first stop on Prince's 2015 Hit and Run tour.Recorded 4/9/15 @ the Detroit Fox Theater

French synthesizer guru Jean-Michel Jarre brought progressive electronic music to the mainstream, releasing several best-selling albums that helped pave the way for synth pop, new age, and trance, in addition to performing extravagant, record-breaking concerts. He became a household name following the release of 1976's Oxygène, a home-recorded synth odyssey that eventually sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. Following its success, he began staging large-scale outdoor concerts featuring laser displays and fireworks, breaking the world record for concert attendance three times. He became the first Western artist to perform in China, and the events were documented on the 1982 release The Concerts in China…

Van Halen Built at every stage around Eddie Van Halen's prodigious talent and wildly inventive guitar technique, Van Halen rewrote the rules for hard rock. They did this first in the early '80s with a celebratory, party-ready pop metal sound perfected by lead vocalist David Lee Roth's over-the-top performance style, and pivoted slowly to a milder, more accessible (and subsequently more commercially viable) approach, especially when Roth left the band shortly after the release of their era-defining hit album 1984 and was replaced by Sammy Hagar.

The Who One of the major bands of the rock & roll era, the Who straddle the gap separating art-pop and hard-rock, creating kinetic, exploratory music that helped expand the genre's lexicon. Arriving during the second wave of the British Invasion, the Who came out of the R&B-besotted Mod scene and married that groove to the crunching power chords pioneered by the Kinks. After their debut single "I Can't Explain" cracked the U.K. Top Ten in 1965, the band quickly gained a reputation for their volcanic live performances, which could escalate into Pete Townshend violently shattering his guitar while Keith Moon destroyed his drum kit with glee.

Adam Silverman's choral work Elegy for the Earth, sets biting texts by Susan Gubernat on pertinent social issues ranging from migration, the donor class, species extinction, and unsustainable energy practices. The world is a clarion call to action and awareness, given a powerful performance by The Jenesais Choir, conducted by Mitos Andaya Hart.

This is the japanese version of Kraftwerk - Concert Classics. Various versions seem to exist. With transparent and with black jewelcases. On the back and front of the case a blue sticker is attached. Therefore transparent jewelcase have another cover with the Autobahn logo in blue on black. When the CD was released in 1998 a Japanese press release is said to state that the concert was recorded in Dallas Broncos Bowl on 1/5/1975. However latest investigations to a series of recordings from Denver clearly indicate this recording coming from a 20/05/1975 gig in Denver.

Cellist Matt Haimovitz, together with the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Dennis Russell Davies, continues to spotlight rarely heard and powerful cello concerti, brought to life through dynamic recordings. Following the acclaimed release of Thomas de Hartmann’s Cello Concerto, the series now presents a landmark work of 20th-century music—Alfred Schnittke’s Cello Concerto No. 1, a deeply personal and transformative work born from the composer’s near-death experience.

When it comes to younger generation musicians dedicated to preserving and advancing the fine art of mainstream jazz guitar culture, Pasquale Grasso has become part of the upper echelon of living practitioners. Through his precision-geared, clean-toned and tradition-steeped legacy in progress, the virtuosic Italian-born and NYC-based guitarist has gained due respect in the guitar scene–including high praises from Pat Metheny–and beyond. After establishing himself through work with celebrated vocalist Samara Joy and a series of recordings dedicated to such jazz icons as Bud Powell (one of his heroes), Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and 2022’s genre tribute Be-Bop, Grasso comes out swinging in a more varietal way on his bold new trio album Fervency, available now on Sony Music Masterworks.

“Helmut Nieberle’s compositions constantly surprise and delight me, always full of memorable melodies and subtle twists (and I find myself singing them in my mind, the mark of great tunes). After many happy years of collaboration with Helmut, I’m always amazed by his unique jazz guitar voice that combines the best of tradition, his many personal influences and an in-the-moment sensitivity and spontaneity!”

This release contains some of the best recordings made by Billie Holiday in the later period of her career. All of the tracks included here are studio recordings with excellent sound quality, and showcase Billie shining among such star jazzmen as Harry “Sweets” Edison, Ben Webster, Benny Carter, Charlie Shavers, Oscar Peterson, and Barney Kessel, among others. The six complete albums compiled on this set are: Music for Torching with Billie Holiday (Clef MGC- 669), Velvet Mood (Clef MGC-713), Lady Sings the Blues (Clef Records MG C-721), Solitude (Clef LP MG C-690), Songs for Distingué Lovers (Verve V6-8257), and Body and Soul (Verve V6-8197).

The World Arbiter label presents 1941 recordings of the Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai – masters of the shamisen. An extensive anthology of traditional Japanese music was created sometime around 1941-1942 by the Kokusai Bunka Shinkôkai (KBS), International Organization for the Promotion of Culture. KBS was established under the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1934 for cultural exchange between Japan and foreign countries, representing genres such as gagaku (court music), shômyô (Buddhist chants), nô (Noh medieval theater play), heikyoku (biwa-lute narratives of battles), shakuhachi (bamboo flute music), koto (long zither music), shamisen (three-stringed lute music), sairei bayashi (instrumental music for folk festivals), komori-uta (cradle songs, lullabies), warabe-uta (children songs), and riyou (min'you) (folk songs). Considering that 1941-1942 was a most daunting time for Japan's economy and international relationships with Asian and Western countries, it is remarkable that this excellent anthology of Japanese music was ever completed and published, as it contains judiciously selected pieces from various genres performed by top-level artists at that time.

One of the biggest teen idols of the late 1950s and early '60s, Paul Anka moved to the adult sphere several years later and became a successful performer, songwriter, music businessman, and recording artist, remaining so well into the new millennium. He had his first hit song with 1957's "Diana," which went to number two on the U.S. Hot 100 and all the way to the top of singles chart in the U.K. Following a string of subsequent hits, he finally topped the U.S. singles chart with 1959's "Lonely Boy" before just missing the top spot with "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" the same year. Anka remained a presence on the singles chart with songs like "Puppy Love" and "Dance On Little Girl" until around the time of the British Invasion – his last Top 40 hit of the '60s was 1963's "Remember Diana."

Lee Konitz is one of the great and genuine improvisers, a musician who can be counted on to take risks, striving to invent in the moment. In these live recordings from Los Angeles's Jazz Bakery, he's heard exploring familiar standards that have long been part of his repertoire, but every phrase seems newly minted by Konitz's dry sound and his slightly hesitant, always searching, line. Tunes that often receive pat performances, like "Cherokee" and "Round Midnight," appear here as unknown terrains. Veteran bassist Charlie Haden displays the intense listening skills that distinguish his playing, shadowing Konitz's invention and anchoring the harmony. Pianist Brad Mehldau, a rising star, extends his musical reach here, accepting Konitz's terms and playing jazz in its most naked and challenging form. –Stuart Broomer