Though he has shown a mastery and affinity for both electric and acoustic axes, Tommy Emmanuel's Higher Octave debut, Midnight Drive, finds him focusing almost exclusively on warm yet frequently aggressive acoustic melodies, complemented here and there by the raw, plugged-in energy of Robben Ford and Larry Carlton. The overall mix is the kind that smooth jazz lovers find easy to swallow, but offers more bite and adventure than most like-minded releases in the genre. Smooth jazz radio may find an easy mark with a laid-back take of Sting's "Fields of Gold," but Emmanuel's other tracks dig deeper, showing off a stylistic chameleon drawing from the many phases of his career. His soft pop side comes out on power ballads "No More Goodbyes" and "Stay Close to Me," the latter reminding us why guest saxman Warren Hill's biggest hit to date was called "The Passion Theme." Emmanuel's more aggressive blues-rock side (honed no doubt by a few years in the progressive mid-'80s ensemble Dragon) emerges with Carlton's help on "Can't Get Enough." The striking contrast between the pastoral, folksy roads of "Drivetime" and the disc's best track, "Villa de Martin" best reflects the gamut of Emmanuel's approaches.

EMI Music presents RMX (Curated by Blank & Jones) - Superstars remixed by Superstars!
Pet Shop Boys, Robbie Williams, Moby, Depeche Mode, Katy Perry, David Guetta, Lenny Kravitz, Kylie Minogue, Blank & Jones and others.

You might think that Handel's Water Music, HWV 348-350, arguably the most familiar piece of Baroque music (the Four Seasons of Vivaldi can give it a run for its money, but its popularity is more recent), has received every possible interpretation. And you would be wrong, as the musicians of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin have shown in this Harmonia Mundi release, precisely recorded in Berlin's Teldex studio. You get a steady parade of innovations here, marked overall by, but not in the least restricted to, blisteringly fast tempos that turn the horn-dominated movements into tests of virtuosity. Unexpected dynamic contrasts and the unusual rhythmic treatment of the "Overture" to the Suite No. 1 (sample track one) are other novelties, but this veteran group is not out for shock value. The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin operate without a conductor, and their coordination in these crisp prestos is worth the price of admission in itself. Their ability to act as one in really unusual shapings of each individual movement is remarkable, and the treacherous horn parts are near perfection in the hands of Erwin Wieringa and Miroslav Rovenský.

Charlie Musselwhite continues his prolific four-decade career jumping over to Telarc for his first album of the millennium after spending the '90s recording for Alligator and Virgin. A recap of his formative Memphis roots, Musselwhite receives substantial assistance from guests Robben Ford on guitar (Musselwhite provided Ford with his first gigs when the guitarist was in his late teens), Texas vocalist Kelly Willis, and guitarist/mandolin player Marty Stuart; the last two bring a rootsy, laid back country feel to the album that effectively fuses the swampy C&W, R&B, and blues of Memphis into a cohesive statement. Musselwhite blows unamplified harp on every track, but it's his weathered, understated vocals that infuse these songs with down-home charm. Covers from Jimmy Reed, Los Lobos (the album takes its title from their "One Time One Night"), Ivory Joe Hunter, and Kieran Kane flow beautifully into each other as the artist masterfully blurs the lines between genres.

Head Hunters is the twelfth studio album by the American pianist and composer Herbie Hancock, released October 13, 1973, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during evening at Wally Heider Studios and Different Fur Trading Co. in San Francisco, California. Head Hunters is a key release in Hancock's career and a defining moment in the genre of jazz. In 2003, the album was ranked number 498 in the book version of Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2007, the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry, which collects "culturally, historically or aesthetically important" sound recordings from the 20th century.

Since it's founding in Freiburg in 1958, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi has been one of the most important and ambitious labels for period performances. Over decades, globally-acclaimed recordings were created with outstanding musicians. The limited edition "Deutsche Harmonia Mundi: 100 Great Recordings" contains 100 outstanding DHM recordings with some of the most important and best artists in their field: Nuria Rial, Dorothee Mields, Al Ayre Espanol, Hille Perl, Concentus Musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Freiburger Barockorchester, Skip Sempé, Capriccio Stravagante, La Petite Bande, Gustav Leonhardt, Andrew Lawrence-King, Frieder Bernius, the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor, Thomas Hengelbrock and many others.

Agricola is not a regional soft drink from the Corn Belt, but a composer whose works were considered almost the equal of Josquin's by chroniclers of the sixteenth century. Born around 1446, he was a near contemporary of Josquin's great predecessor, Jacob Obrecht, and like his Flemish contemporaries he went south to seek fame and fortune through employment with Italy's powerful nobles. Recordings of his works have been few and far between, so any addition to the discography is welcome, and the pair of masses included here are both historically important works.

With this new recording, La Reverdie explores the well-known collection of medieval songbooks known as Carmina Burana. The manuscript features a series of texts, mostly in Latin, compiled between the 12th and early 13th century at the request of an anonymous abbot of Kloster Neustift in the southern Tyrol. Already the object of many recordings, these refined songs are presented here in an absolutely new approach. This recording focuses on the amorous and, above all, moralizing poems, partly because of the topicality of their messages. Performed in universities and ecclesiastical circles throughout all of Europe, they are a sort of highly refined ‘clerical entertainment’, lacking neither irony nor tender nostalgia.

Legendary artist Alicia Keys has just announced she will be releasing a deluxe edition of her latest album “Keys” called “Keys II”. The updated version of the album will release on August 12th and will include two new songs featuring Brent Faiyaz and Lucky Daye respectively. The deluxe edition will also feature two remixes of the superstar’s hit song “In Common” which has never appeared on an album previously.

Despite its title, Definitive Collection by Meat Loaf contains tracks drawn from only the first three of the six studio albums he had released by 1995: Bat Out of Hell (1977), Dead Ringer (1981), and Midnight at the Lost and Found (1983), all recorded for the Cleveland International imprint of Epic Records. The 75-minute disc includes five of the seven tracks from Bat Out of Hell, among them the hits "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad," "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth," and "Bat Out of Hell"; six of the eight tracks from Dead Ringer, among them the hits "I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of Us" and "Dead Ringer for Love"; and four of the ten tracks from Midnight at the Lost and Found, among them the hits "If You Really Want To" and "Midnight at the Lost and Found." The disc concludes with "I Love You So I Told You a Lie," a track from Ted Nugent's 1976 album Free-for-All on which Meat Loaf sings lead vocals. In addition, the package includes an extra 35-minute CD that contains the four Bat Out of Hell songs contained on Meat Loaf's 1987 concert recording Live (aka Live at Wembley). Thus, all of the singer's 1977-1983 U.S. and U.K. hits are included, along with some key album tracks. But given how much more popular Bat Out of Hell was than its successors, it might have made more sense to include that album in total and reduce the number of selections from the others. And with Meat Loaf also enjoying hits on Arista/RCA in the mid-'80s, plus his 1993 comeback with Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, this collection hardly seems definitive.

On September 17, 2008, the legendary Levon Helm took his beloved Midnight Ramble on the road to one of America’s treasured venues, Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium. Accompanied by such luminaries as Buddy Miller, John Hiatt, Sheryl Crow, George Receli, Sam Bush and Billy Bob Thornton, the Levon Helm Band created an unforgettable night of stage magic. Ramble At The Ryman – Live CD & DVD (each sold separately) captures the joy, essence and reverence of Helm’s live shows. This collection features the Levon Helm Band in a veritable tour through the American songbook, performing classics from Helm’s tenure with The Band, as well as song’s from his Grammy winning release Dirt Farmer and selections from artists such as Chuck Berry, the Carter Family and more. Ramble at the Ryman came on the heels of Dirt Farmer’s stunning debut which won a Grammy in 2008 for Best Traditional Folk Album and landed Helm a spot in Rolling Stone’s The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

The Encore Series consists of Official “Bootleg” style recordings from Peter Gabriel shows, recorded directly from the soundboard (with added ambient microphones) by Ben Findlay (Real World staff engineer) and released as a professionally mastered and manufactured 2 CD set (no CD-R's). They come in a gatefold package with artwork designed for the Encore Series by Real World and are unique for each concert and city.

I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! is the debut solo and third studio album overall by American singer-songwriter Janis Joplin, released on September 11, 1969. It was the first album which Joplin recorded after leaving her former band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the only solo album released during her lifetime. Recording began on June 16, 1969 in New York City and ceased on June 26. For the album, Joplin recruited guitarist Sam Andrew of the Holding Company to take part in development, along with the Kozmic Blues Band. Joplin installed a brass and horn section into the tracks, a feature her previous band would not allow. It was a total contrast to Joplin's previous psychedelic rock as the compositions chosen were more soul and blues driven. All but two tracks were cover versions that producer Gabriel Mekler and Joplin chose.

Few singers have possessed a baritone as rich and comforting as that of Bill Withers. Even smaller in number are the songwriters who have shared the West Virginian's natural ability to articulate a comprehensive range of emotions and perspectives – jubilation and gratitude, jealousy, and spite – with maximal levels of conviction and concision. Late to arrive, the everyman R&B paragon had just turned 33 when "Ain't No Sunshine," the unfading ballad off Just as I Am (1971), made him a sudden and unlikely success story, within one year an aircraft mechanic-turned-million-selling, Grammy-winning artist. Through the next ten years, Withers continued to meld soul, gospel, folk, and funk with rare finesse. He collected more gold singles with "Lean on Me" and "Use Me," both off the similarly successful Still Bill (1972), reached the same height with Menagerie (1977), led by "Lovely Day," and was handed a second Grammy for "Just the Two of Us" (1981), his collaboration with Grover Washington, Jr. Early to leave, Withers made his last statement with Watching You Watching Me (1985), closing a songbook that has served as a bountiful resource for artists from a multitude of stylistic persuasions. Given his flowers before his death at the age of 81, Withers was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Sibling Rivalry is the twelfth studio album by The Doobie Brothers, released in 2000. The album was the band's first studio recording since Brotherhood in 1991. It was also the only album to feature lead vocal contributions from drummer Keith Knudsen and multi-instrumentalist John McFee both of whom had rejoined the group in 1993 after an eleven year absence. The group photograph in the inner booklet featured touring sidesmen Guy Allison (keyboards, backing vocals), Marc Russo (saxophone) and Skylark (bass, backing vocals). Allison and Russo also featured on the album, the former co-writing three tracks while occasional touring bassist John Cowan also featured and contributed the song Can't Stand to Lose written with Poco's Rusty Young.