Released when Mercury Records was still located in Chicago, IL, back in 1973, the second album from Bachman-Turner Overdrive was the first to break through in a big way. First the hit single "Let It Ride" went Top 25 circa March of 1974, then the anthem "Taking Care of Business" went Top 15 the summer of that year. By October they would top the charts with "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" from the follow-up LP, 1974's Not Fragile, but their seven chart songs were all made possible by this album and these two songs, "Let It Ride" and "Takin' Care of Business," in particular. "Let It Ride" features one of C.F. Turner's best vocals; keeping that gargle-with-Draino diesel sound down to a minimum, the song has two major guitar riffs, one a strum, the other from Led Zeppelin's 1970 "Immigrant Song," an inverted mutation of Randy Bachman's own "American Woman" riff which also hit in 1970.

Giuseppe Verdi’s second opera Un giorno di regno is one of the composer’s least known works. The premiere in Milan in 1840 was a failure, which Verdi said was due to his own personal circumstances: During the creative process two of his children and his first wife died within two months. Despite the rather weak libretto, the stage work has its merits and captivates, for example, with fresh, catchy melodies that, although they can not deny the influence of Rossini and Donizetti, are by no means imitative.

MelodicRock Classics is pleased to announce a partnership with English singer, songwriter, composer and musician Andy Qunta to deliver a Deluxe Edition of his one and only solo album 'Legend In A Loungeroom', originally recorded in 1989.

Claudio Abbado and the Vienna Philharmonic the Vienna Philharmonic interpret these dances as passionately as necessary and as as necessary and as intelligently as possible what one may expect:tempera- ment, melting, rhythmic temperament,melodiousness,rhythmic bite,refinement But 'there' is more: a perfect balance between fire and sobriety between fire and sobriety,a tone of great warmth often,a very A tone of great warmth, often, a very lifelike feeling, far from the sentiments of a Barenboim or a of a Barenboim or (sometimes) of a Bernstein.

John Cage: Early Piano Music comes from Herbert Henck, an experienced hand with the work of Cage, having previously recorded Music for Piano, Music of Changes, and Sonatas and Interludes in addition to a mighty swath of first-tier twentieth-century literature for piano for various labels, most notably Wergo and ECM New Series. These are early works for standard, not prepared, piano, and some of these pieces will be as familiar to dyed-in-the-wool Cageans as "Happy Birthday." This puts the pressure on Henck to excel, and he does so spectacularly well here. The disc includes the two sets entitled Two Pieces for Piano, the piano version of The Seasons, Metamorphosis, In a Landscape, Ophelia, and the fragmentary Quest. The pieces date from 1935 to 1948, the same range covered by pianist Jeanne Kirstein in her pioneering 1967 survey of Cage's piano music for CBS Masterworks.

Ezra Collective’s new era, a venture in discovered maturity and raised stakes, will be defined by the anticipated second album. 'Where I’m Meant To Be' is a thumping celebration of life, an affirming elevation in the Ezra Collective’s winding hybrid sound and refined collective character. The songs marry cool confidence with bright energy. Full of call-and-response conversations between their ensemble parts, a natural product of years improvising together on-stage, the album - which also features Sampa The Great, Kojey Radical, Emile Sandé, Steve McQueen, and Nao - will light up sweaty dance floors and soundtrack dinner parties in equal measure.

US band Unified Past, at first known as Labyrinth, has been around in one shape or another for some 20 odd years by now. As Unified Past they made their debut as recording artists in 1999, but then a 10 year long pause followed before they resurfaced with their second production in 2009. The band appears to have entered a two year cycle of releasing albums since then. Following "Observations" from 2011, "Spots" from 2013 is their fourth studio effort, and was released through the US label Melodic Revolution Records. The band's fourth studio album "Spots" is a production that should see the band establishing a reach towards a fairly broad sized audience. Their blend of classic hard rock and progressive rock into what I'd describe as a pomp rock sound is often an interesting one, and fairly appealing at that.

Frontiers Music Srl is thrilled to announce the upcoming release of Perfect Plan's third studio album, "Brace For Impact". Over the course of their first two albums, "All Rise" and "Time For A Miracle", the Swedes have quickly established themselves as a new gold standard in not only the Scandinavian melodic rock genre, but the melodic rock genre as a whole. "Brace For Impact" does nothing to slow that momentum and fans should do exactly as the album's title says in preparation for their latest opus. Produced by the band, songwriting started in August 2021 for "Brace For Impact" and was wrapped up by the end of the year. The band then spent January of this year working on arrangements and pre-production work before starting the process of recording in the first week of February.

'The 94-year-old elder statesman of classical music' (The New York Times) joins forces with the Gewandhausorchester for a Schubert programme of Symphonies No. 8 ('Unfinished') and No. 9 ('The Great'), released just in time for his 95th birthday on 11th July 2022. The choice of repertoire for his late debut with Deutsche Grammophon was quickly made: Herbert Blomstedt, at 94 the world's 'longest-serving' conductor and still one of the most vital, chose Franz Schubert's last two symphonies, the 'Unfinished' in B minor and the 'Great' in C major. With the Gewandhaus Orchestra, which he presided over as Gewandhauskapellmeister from 1998 to 2005 and has since been closely associated with as honorary conductor, he had at his disposal an orchestra that is very familiar with Schubert's music.

Lest the momentum of Moroccan Roll and its relative chart success go to waste, Brand X released a stopgap solution with Livestock, featuring three recent live tracks and two stockpiled studio tracks that actually predate the Moroccan Roll sessions by two months. As might be expected, it's not their most enduring work, although the inclusion of three new originals and the clean recording obtained from the Hammersmith Odeon and Marquee Club performances produce respectable results. Two of the three live tracks feature drummer Kenwood Dennard, who lends his superlative skins to the smooth fusion of "Nightmare Patrol" and a frenzied reading of the popular "Malaga Virgen." (Genesis had finished their tour that same year, so you can't begrudge Phil Collins the holiday)…

The ambitious Swiss electronic duo Yello comprised vocalist/conceptualist Dieter Meier - a millionaire industrialist, professional gambler, and member of Switzerland's national golf team - and composer/arranger Boris Blank. The two began collaborating in 1979 and debuted with the single "I.T. Splash." After a steady ascent, their star rose significantly with the inclusion of their 1985 single "Oh Yeah" in John Hughes' Ferris Bueller's Day Off. They consolidated their subsequent international success with 1988's "The Race," a Top Ten hit in seven countries. Next came a move into film, while maintaining a six-album run of Top Ten placings on the Swiss charts that stretched into the late '90s. Although Yello's releases became less frequent in the new century, the duo became even more successful in their homeland…

The line between sincere appreciation and blind imitation is a thin one, and too often contemporary blues or country musicians cross it when covering classic songs. Roy Book Binder avoids the problem by refusing to become overwhelmed by idolatry, and instead enjoying himself while doing vintage material. That was evident on the 12 songs that comprised this session. While Book Binder's convivial vocals made his versions of Jesse Thomas' "Friend Like Me," Merle Haggard's "Nobody Knows I'm Hurtin," or Jimmie Rodgers' "Waiting for a Train" appealing, his guitar solos and band interaction gave the songs a vital, modern kick.