Amongst a pantheon of great Czech composers it is Bedrich Smetana who is revered as the musical personification of his country’s national spirit and the founder of its modern musical character. Composed after the onset of Smetana’s incurable deafness, Má vlast (My Fatherland) is an unprecedented cycle of six related symphonic poems that evoke ancient Czech legends and celebrate the majestic beauty of the country’s landscapes. Acclaimed with ‘unending storms of applause’ at its 1882 premiere, Má vlast reflects the unique characteristics that form the living heart and soul of the Czech nation.

Recorded on 25 and 26 April 1991 at the Teatro Bulevar Casa de Cultura in Torrelones (Madrid) and originally released in October 1991, it was a respectful flamenco vision of Spanish classical music in a flamenco style. In it, Paco de Lucía performs with the Cadaqués Orchestra, conducted by Edmon Colomer, the concerto for guitar and orchestra that Joaquín Rodrigo wrote under the title Concierto de Aranjuez. To complete the album, he recorded with Juan Manuel Cañizares and Jose María Bandera three pieces, arranged by Juan Manuel Cañizares, from Isaac Albéniz's Suite Iberia. The result was absolutely devastating and is one of the best known and recognised versions of Maestro Rodrigo's masterful work.

Warner Classics brings you the for the first time for streaming, a remastered recording of Paavo Berglund with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and composer & pianist John Ogden. Ogden was a fierce promoter of the works of Richard Yardumian (1917-1985) who was an Armenian-American composer, and whose post-Romantic music was popularized by his close partnership with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Ogden had a particularly close connection with the Passacaglia, Recitative and Fugue featured in this album, this piece is still very rarely put on record, it's rich yet easily accessible. This recording also features Glazunov's Piano Concerto No. 1.

The BBC transcription disc I know very well and it was transcribed to digital in mint condition. It is, however, incomplete & is missing the tracks "Bombers" (should be inbetween "Queen Bitch" & "The Supermen") and "Almost Grown" (between "Looking For A Friend" & "Kooks") plus their Peel intros. "Almost Grown" feaatures Geoffrey Alexander on Lead Vocals. It is a shame they are omitted here although the show can be found in full on the 8CD "Ultimate BBC Radio Recording Sessions" box set.

Formed in early 1970 by former Deep Purple bassist Nick Simper, the band began life as backing band for singer Marsha Hunt. The group also initially featured Rick Wakeman, but he departed the band in April 1970 to join Strawbs. Signing a licensing contract with Vertigo Records, the band’s self-titled debut album was released in November 1970. The release was followed by touring, but the band’s line-up evolved further before the recording of their second album, ‘Red Sea’, issued in June 1972.
Soon after this, drummer Mac Poole departed join Gong and was replaced by Barney James. Warhorse would continue until 1974, but vocalist Ashley Holt and Barney James would depart to join Rick Wakeman in his band The English Rock Ensemble.
The two albums recorded by Warhirse are fine examples of Progressive Hard Rock of the era. They are both featured in this collection, along with eleven further bonus tracks comprising demos and live recordings.

When it comes to the Delta blues, all roads lead to its father figure Charley Patton, an immensely gifted performer, Patton served as a major influence on other legendary bluesmen who followed including Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf

Less of an intentionally confusing title than might be thought, Reilly for all intents and purposes is Durutti no matter the changes through the years – Vini Reilly does signal another new phase of the band's work, moving into a full embrace of technological possibilities via an Akai sampler. With Reilly and Mitchell joined by a slew of guests – Swing Out Sister keyboardist Andy Connell; singers Pol, Rob Gray, and Liu Sola; and even former member John Metcalfe on the epic surge "Finding the Sea" – Durutti this time around pursued the organic/machine combination to even more successful conclusions than on The Guitar. Reilly's singing has often come in for criticism (unwarranted, really, considering how his soft approach effortlessly suits the general atmosphere of Durutti's work), so the slew of sampled and borrowed snippets from other vocalists and musicians that pepper the album makes for an intriguing change. "Love No More," the album opener, shows how the approach can work, with acoustic guitar to the fore and echoed, truly haunting snippets of what sound like soul and opera singers wafting through the mix.

b. Eddy Conrad, 1959, Gary, Indiana, USA. Conrad grew up in Indiana obsessed by the sound of Isaac Hayes’ ‘Theme From Shaft’. The first record he ever purchased, Conrad would spend his pocket money continually attending reruns of the film at local cinemas. ‘As a kid you always have heroes but with John Shaft [the film’s protagonist] it was serious. He had that certain macho feeling that every kid wishes he had too.’ In 1985 he fulfilled a long-held ambition by re-recording the track, which became a number 13 UK chart hit. It might well have charted higher had another version of ‘Theme From Shaft’ by Van Twist not been released at the same time. Afterwards, however, Conrad and his band disappeared from view completely.

In January of 1973 Little Richard went to Muscle Shoals to record an album’s worth of material on the heels of his successful releases for Reprise Records. Unfortunately, the material was only ever released in the US in 1973 on United Records and then again in France in 1975 on Musidisc. The album hasn’t been reissued properly on its own since, making this special pressing, available first on Record Store Day, the first appearance of this material since the ‘70s! Included among the tracks are Little Richard’s covers of “Chain Of Fools” and “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay,” plus fresh takes on songs he cut during his tenure at Reprise, “Greenwood, Mississippi” (from 1970’s The Rill Thing) and “In The Name” (from 1971’s King Of Rock And Roll and 2020’s Southern Child).

#1 Record is the debut album by the American rock band Big Star. It was released on April 24, 1972, by Memphis-based Ardent Records.Many critics praised the album's vocal harmonies and songcraft but #1 Record suffered from poor distribution and sold fewer than 10,000 copies upon its initial release. However, #1 Record gained wider attention in the late 1970s in the UK when EMI reissued it with Radio City as a double LP package due to increasing demand. The same combination was used when the album was released on CD in 1992. It is now widely-regarded as a seminal work in pop rock and power pop. In 2020 it was ranked number 474 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Rolling Stone also ranked the song "Thirteen" as number 406 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was voted number 188 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000)

Radio City is the second studio album by the American rock group Big Star. Released February 20, 1974, Radio City was recorded during 1973 at Memphis' Ardent Studios. Though not a commercial success at the time, it is now recognized as a milestone album in the history of power pop music. Critically acclaimed upon its release, the record sold poorly, partly due to a lack of promotion and the distribution problems of the band's struggling record label, Ardent Records. The album included "September Gurls" and "Back of a Car", which remain among the most famous Big Star songs; both the Searchers and the Bangles have covered "September Gurls".

5 CD set. Includes his albums, Nilsson Schmilsson, a Little Touch of Schmilsson, in the Night, Aerial and Ballet Harry Son of Schmilsson.

Groovy was the third album to be released by acclaimed jazz pianist Red Garland. Originally released on Prestige Records in 1957 this energetic jazz album was performed by a trio made up of Garland alongside Paul Chambers (bass) and Art Taylor (drums). This new edition is released as part of the Original Jazz Classics Series and features remastered audio from the original master tapes. Available on 192/24 hi res digital.

The legend of Bill Evans really begins with this album, his second. The pianist had just spent most of 1958 as part of one of the major units in jazz history: the Miles Davis Sextet that also featured John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley. His fellow musicians already knew his worth (the album title was almost literally accurate, and the four endorsements on the cover, which embarrassed Bill, could easily have been greatly multiplied); with this record, the jazz public began to follow their lead. Aided by Sam Jones and Philly Joe Jones, Evans set down some of his most swinging trio sides, but the session would be memorable if it had only yielded the remarkable and haunting solo improvisation called "Peace Piece."

Blue Note Records has announced an April 26 release of Sonny Rollins A Night at the Village Vanguard: The Complete Masters, a special Tone Poet Vinyl Edition of the legendary saxophonist’s tour-de-force live trio album. The expanded 3-LP set, which can be ordered now on the Blue Note Store, marks the first time Rollins’ complete recorded performances at the Village Vanguard on November 3, 1957 will be made available in a single vinyl package. The collection is also available as a 2-CD set and on all digital formats.