When his record sales began to sag in 1959, Ricky Nelson turned away from the rockabilly sound of his early recordings to a more middle-of-the-road style on his fifth album, 1960s More Songs by Ricky. But that didn't help, and in early 1961, the artist returned to a modified rock sound, bringing in new writers like Jerry Fuller and Gene Pitney, and coming up with a streamlined pop/rock approach. The result was a comeback when the single "Travelin' Man"/"Hello Mary Lou" took off, the A-side hitting number one and the B-side the Top Ten, for the singer's eighth gold record. He had already recorded all of Rick Is 21 before that happened, though, and the album fulfills the promise of the single.

Smokey Robinson took back the production reins from George Tobin and reinstated his producing/arranging partnership with Sonny Burke for Touch The Sky. The two took a more rhythmic approach, with Burke contributing drums and synthesizers. R&B listeners responded, notably on the title track (#68 R&B) and "I've Made Love To You A Thousand Times" (#8 R&B), but Robinson was shut out of the Hot 100, and as a result Touch The Sky continued his slide in LP sales, peaking at only #50 on the Pop chart, although it hit #8 R&B.

Al Wilson gets unfairly tagged as a "one hit wonder" due to his huge hit, the brilliant "Show and Tell." But as this "Best Of" compilation demonstrates, he had a bag full of other good songs too, all of which mined a delicious soulful groove. Of course this set includes "Show and Tell" but it also has "La La Peace Song" which was actually a minor hit the same year. Other highlights include "Willoughby Brook Road," "Magic of Your Mind" and some interesting interprations of classics like "I Won't Last a Day Without You" and "Born on the Bayou." One reviewer complained that this was not a true "best of" Al Wilson collection because it doesn't contain his acclaimed late 60s and early 70s material.

American soul music veteran singer Al Wilson had his first big hit in 1968 with "The Snake" and remained strong on the charts throughout the late 1960's and into the early 70's. Today he is best known for his 1973 platinum selling album "Show And Tell," which was considered a certified soul masterpiece. Al's endearing style captured fans on both sides of the Atlantic and he continued to make great soul music throughout the decade. Presented here is the original 1979 hit album "Count The Days," featuring fan favorites "Earthquake," "You Got It" and other soul gems.

Let me immediately draw attention to the lovely instruments used for this recording, an Italian style harpsichord (2012) and a virginal made in 2009 after a 1626 Italian original now in the Leipzig instrument museum. They are not elaborate instruments, but this means that their clear voices throw emphasis on to the content of the music. And in the case of Frescobaldi (rather more admired than played, I suspect) this is no bad thing. Most of the programme is drawn from Il primo libro di Toccate, including the substantial (to say the least) Folia, Romanesca and Passacagli variations. In addition, there are two pieces from Ricercari et Canzoni franzese and one toccata from the second book.

Both Ligeti and Heppener belong to the generation born in the 1920s which formed the basis for the post-war avant-garde. 'Lux Aeterna', used by Stanley Kubrick in his film '2001: A Space Odyssey', marked the installation of a new musical language. The later 'Sonata for solo viola' simultaneously evokes the polyphony of the 14th century and certain varieties of ethnic music. 'Im Gestein', a cycle of lieder to poems by Paul Celan which won Heppener the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize in 1993, was here recorded for the first time in 2008.

The first-ever soundboard recordings to surface from the ‘77 tour offer a trove significant performances from this under-documented transitional era, including early prototypes of “Something In The Night,” “Rendezvous” and “The Promise”; the unreleased original “Action In The Streets” featuring the Miami Horns; and a mesmerizing expanded version of “Backstreets.”

On the eve of his centenary in 2018, Sony Classical releases the most important collection, Leonard Bernstein’s classic American Columbia recordings, remastered from their original 2- and multi-track analogue tapes. This has allowed for the creation of a natural balance (for example, between the orchestra and solo instruments) that brings the quality of these half-century-old recordings, excellent for their time, up to the standards of today’s audiophiles. In addition, there has been a meticulous restoration of some earlier masterings in which LP surface noise was too rigorously eliminated at the expense of the original brilliance.

Roll Call is the 1961 album by Hank Mobley. This pressing is a Digital Audio Disc (DAD), also known as a DVD-Audio (DVD-A) disc released in 1998 by Classic Records in 24bit/96kHz, presented in the ISO format. This is to burn on a DVD-R and play on your device.