Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce a newly remastered and expanded edition of the classic album by Progressive Rock trio Spontaneous Combustion. Formed in 1971, the band was originally known as Transient Sand and was managed by local promoter John House, a friend of Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Through this association Lake offered to produce the band, now known as Spontaneous Combustion. With Lake’s interest confirmed a recording contract was arranged with Harvest in the closing months of 1971. "Triad” was the band’s second album, released in October 1972 and over the coming years has become a sought after Prog Rock classic. This Esoteric Recordings reissue includes three bonus tracks from the band’s singles of the period, two of which are previously unreleased on CD…

The Heart of Chicago 1967–1998 Volume II is the sixth greatest hits album, and twenty-fourth album overall, by American rock band Chicago, released in 1998. As the sequel to 1997's The Heart of Chicago 1967–1997, this edition also features a mixture of songs from Chicago's entire thirty-year career to date. As with the first edition, The Heart of Chicago 1967-1998 Volume II is noted for containing two exclusive new songs. "All Roads Lead to You" and "Show Me a Sign" were both produced by Roy Bittan of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

I Saw The World's End - Hangman's Hymn MMXXV is a fully re-recorded version of their 2007 album Hangman's Hymn. Described as a modernized and improved rendition, it features new members and a dynamic production, capturing Sigh's full symphonic black metal vision.
Over nearly four decades and twelve albums, Sigh have been an unparalleled force, pushing the envelope in the avant-garde and black metal genres. The Japanese outfit have continually redefined themselves and confounded expectations throughout their career, beginning with the extreme black metal of 1993’s Scorn Defeat through to the more progressive work of the past few years. Amidst their discography, Hangman’s Hymn (2007) stands out - a tour de force of thrash metal loaded with classical influences and instrumentation…

The Heart of Chicago 1967-1997 is a greatest hits album by American rock band Chicago and was released in 1997. It was compiled to commemorate the group's 30th anniversary of their formation. The idea was to bridge their two eras - the James William Guercio/Columbia Records period of the 1970s and the David Foster/Warner Bros. Records period of the 1980s - on one CD. In addition, the band added two new songs, "The Only One" produced by Lenny Kravitz - a big fan of Chicago, and another, "Here In My Heart" by James Newton Howard. Both of these new tracks were successful in the adult contemporary market; "Here In My Heart" topped the AC charts, and "The Only One" was a top 20 AC hit.

The debut Jefferson Airplane album was dominated by singer Marty Balin, who wrote or co-wrote all the original material and sang most of the lead vocals in his heartbreaking tenor with Paul Kantner and Signe Anderson providing harmonies and backup. (Anderson's lead vocal on "Chauffeur Blues" indicated she was at least the equal of her successor, Grace Slick, as a belter.) The music consisted mostly of folk-rock love songs, the most memorable of which were "It's No Secret" and "Come up the Years." (There was also a striking version of Dino Valente's "Get Together" recorded years before the Youngbloods' hit version.) Jorma Kaukonen already displayed a talent for mixing country, folk, and blues riffs in a rock context, and Jack Casady already had a distinctive bass sound…

The Book of Secrets, the follow-up to 1994's The Mask and Mirror – there was a Christmas EP, A Winter Garden, released in 1995) – finds Loreena McKennitt in the same musical vein, mixing Celtic, Spanish, Italian, and new age to create her own distinct sound. The only problem is that she did not seem to progress much during the time between releases. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since she still knows how to write incredible melodies and layer instruments to produce peaceful images. "Night Ride Across the Caucasus" and "Dante's Prayer" are just two prime examples of this. And she continues her practice of setting classic poetry to music (Alfred Noyes' "The Highwayman").

Gerry Mulligan's 1959 studio date with Johnny Hodges is one of the most satisfying sessions of his various meetings with different saxophonists for Verve. With a hand-picked rhythm section consisting of pianist Claude Williamson, bassist Buddy Clark, and drummer Mel Lewis, and three originals contributed by each of the two leaders, everything gels nicely, though several tracks took more than three takes (in spite of liner note writer Nat Hentoff's assertions) to reach their final form. Mulligan contributed the gorgeous ballad "What's the Rush" (where he sat back to enjoy Hodges' solo and never plays his own horn), the easygoing swinger "Bunny," and the brisk cooker "18 Carrots (For Rabbit)," the latter which its composer would revisit with his Concert Jazz Band. The veteran alto saxophonist contributed the low-key ballad "Shady Side," the sassy blues "Back Beat" and "What It's All About," another potent blues…

La Monte Young was born in Bern, Idaho in 1935. He began his music studies in Los Angeles and later Berkeley, California before relocating to New York City in 1960, where he became a primary influence on Minimalism, the Fluxus movement and performance art through his legendary compositions of extended time durations and the development of just intonation and rational number based tuning systems. With wife and collaborator, artist Marian Zazeela, they would formulate the composite sound environments of the Dream House, which continues to this day.

Just when you think you’ve been through an archive with a fine-tooth comb and there’s nothing left that hasn’t seen the light of day, there’s always the attic – the long-forgotten tapes and acetates owned by the creators, and their most ardent collectors – especially when we’re talking about a legendary musical act such as The Seekers, the iconic Australian harmony group who have been together on and off for almost 60 years.

When Ultra was declared the best Depeche Mode album since Violator, those who said so must have forgotten about Songs of Faith and Devotion. When Exciter was declared the best Depeche Mode album since Violator, those who said so must have also forgotten about Songs of Faith and Devotion, in addition to having found a roundabout way of saying that it was merely better than Ultra. There's no doubt this time: Playing the Angel is both the band's best album since Violator and, more significantly, an album that is near Violator in stature. The biggest clue dropped by the band prior to its release was a quote from Dave Gahan, who said that being in Depeche Mode is better than it has been in 15 years. Some quick math reveals that Gahan was hinting at the Violator era, a time when the band's creativity and popularity peaked synchronously…