A sobered-up Mustaine returns with yet another lineup, this one featuring ex-Cacophony guitar virtuoso Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza, for what is easily Megadeth's strongest musical effort. As Metallica was then doing, Mustaine accentuates the progressive tendencies of his compositions, producing rhythmically complex, technically challenging thrash suites that he and Friedman burn through with impeccable execution and jaw-dropping skill. Thanks to Mustaine's focus on the music rather than his sometimes clumsy lyrics, Rust in Peace arguably holds up better than any other Megadeth release, even for listeners who think they've outgrown heavy metal. While the whole album is consistently impressive, the obvious highlight is the epic, Eastern-tinged "Hangar 18."

AC/DC, for most intents and purposes, fell apart after the release of Rock or Bust in 2014, so it's a relief to hear Power Up and discover that AC/DC still sound like AC/DC: thick, powerhouse chords and rhythms battle and groove with Brian Johnson, who shrieks for pleasure, not attention. That sense of relief never dissipates as Power Up offers song after song that firmly hit their target, adding up to an album that delivers reliable thrills. Considering how AC/DC have rarely strayed from the blueprints they scribbled back in the days of Bon Scott, this may not seem to be a newsworthy event, but considering how the group got mired in a spell of bad fortune in the mid-2010s, this amounts to a minor miracle.

Recorded on September 8, 1974, this set features Robert Wyatt (post-accident) with a slew of mates, including Ivor Cutler! Introduced by John Peel and recorded by the BBC - only a little over half the concert survives - this is a wild, freewheeling document featuring Wyatt, Cutler, and Julie Tippetts on vocals; Dave Stewart and Tippetts on keyboards; alternate drummers Nick Mason and Laurie Allan; Hugh Hopper on bass; Fred Frith on guitar, violin, and viola; the late Mongezi Feza on trumpet; the late great Gary Windo on reeds; and guitarist Mike Oldfield. It's quite a lineup and an awesomely inspiring performance. Wyatt is in excellent form here, and the bandmembers, who are a bit ragged in places, are nonetheless tight and full of fire…

'Reunion' is the third album from nu-disco star Tim Bernhardt, aka Satin Jackets. Released on Eskimo Recordings 'Reunion' is a stunning follow up to the German producer's first two critically acclaimed albums and features 14 stunning tracks of sun kissed disco, Balearic house, leftfield pop and guest vocals from the likes of Australian star Panama, Belgian singer Ivy Falls, US based vocalist Metaxas and up and coming British singer Tailor.
With Bernhardt’s 2nd album, 'Solar Nights', one of the most successful nu-disco records of recent times the following years should have made the Satin Jackets name a regular fixture on club and festival bills worldwide…

Beethoven's Seventh Symphony was first performed in December 1812, in Vienna, and was an immediate hit. The second movement "allegretto" was applauded so loudly that it had to be repeated on the spot. The symphony was later dubbed "Apotheosis of the Dance" by Richard Wagner, in recognition of the strong rhythmic character of all four movements. The allegretto itself is one of Beethoven's, and music's, most inspired moments and has an otherworldly quality that has rarely been equaled before or since. The other three movements are noted for their liveliness and driving force.

Telemann wrote funeral compositions for many persons. His setting of the Funeral Music for Emperor Charles VII – transmitted solely in the form of a sketch in the composer’s own hand with numerous corrections and writing simplifications and in part without a text – already points to typical features of his late vocal work: a treatment of the vocal parts that is melodically sometimes austere, mostly coloratura-poor, and systematic in its employment of verbal meter, a melodic design sharpened by succinct rhythms and suspensions, and a harmonic structure enriched by pointedly set interdominants. This funerary music is set in the context of the state compositions ordered by the Hamburg city council for the elections, coronations, weddings, and deaths of Holy Roman Emperors of the German Nation.

Spiritual Unity was the album that pushed Albert Ayler to the forefront of jazz's avant-garde, and the first jazz album ever released by Bernard Stollman's seminal ESP label. It was really the first available document of Ayler's music that matched him with a group of truly sympathetic musicians, and the results are a magnificently pure distillation of his aesthetic. Bassist Gary Peacock's full-toned, free-flowing ideas and drummer Sunny Murray's shifting, stream-of-consciousness rhythms (which rely heavily on shimmering cymbal work) are crucial in throwing the constraints off of Ayler's playing. Yet as liberated and ferociously primitive as Ayler sounds, the group isn't an unhinged mess - all the members listen to the subtler nuances in one another's playing, pushing and responding where appropriate…

With a genuine hit to his credit, Kenny Loggins decided to stretch himself a bit on Keep the Fire, hiring Tom Dowd and toughening his sound slightly, adding a more flamboyant production in the process. He also decided to look like Doug Henning on the cover, which may be a surer sign that success had started to go to his head. All this resulted in a self-consciously tougher record than either of its predecessors, with a punchy sound, detailed production, and shades of boogie. Relying more on original material, this winds up being more uneven than Nightwatch, but it boasts more character, even if that means something as silly as "Mr. Night." Also, the record, though clearly presented as a relative band effort, complete with a photo of the supporting band on the back cover, winds up not being as unified as its two predecessors, even if it's more "band-like"…

The Dresdner Philharmonie, Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden and conductor Daniel Oren present Verdi’s masterpiece La Traviata, together with a stellar cast including René Barbera as Alfredo, Lester Lynch as Germont, and world star soprano Lisette Oropesa as Violetta. Verdi’s opera from 1853 was revolutionary in the sense that it presented a subject of its own time, rather than the usual historically remote stories. Interestingly enough, this tragic story of a woman sacrificing her love to save the honour of her beloved’s family still feels as fresh and topical as ever before, explaining its unrelenting popularity. "La Traviata is an endless outpour of memorable melodies with a gripping dramatic pace, as well as a tale that is both heartrending and provocative.

The origins of this spanish (or more precisely catalan) band date from 1979 when 5 musicians from the towns of Tarragona and Reus in the spanish region of Catalunya joined to form a band, which they initially called Companyia Oliva Negra and later on renamed themselves as Metamorfosis.
Metamorfosis released only one album, in 1982, called Papallones i Elefants (catalan language for Butterflies and Elephants), completely instrumental. The music is a hybrid consisting mostly of jazz-rock / fusion but also quite some symphonic prog, all the musicianship is highly competent with special mention to the excellent keyboard work of Jaume Montcusi, and will surely appeal to fans of both fusion and symphonic.

Digitally remastered edition of this second album from the Soul/Funk act. 1981 would see the release of Delegation II, which created such hits as the single 'I Wantcha Back', a low tempo, funky bass line driven Disco single. ' In The Night' stepped up the heat, again driven by the incredible talents of Jon Plotel on bass and the Lynton Naiff arranged string section. 'Singing' losed out the single releases, a big production number with some great performances by Jon Plotel, Lynton Naiff, Robert J. Ahwai on guitar and Kofi Aivor on percussion and of course the incredible horn section that feature throughout the album.

Delegation was a British soul musical group with a lengthy career, and an amount of international success. They are generally viewed in the U.S. as a one-hit wonder, based on the crossover hit, "Oh Honey" (1978). Their biggest UK success came in 1977, with the Top 30 hit single, "Where Is The Love (We Used to Know)" This 12-track album featured the soul classics "You've Been Doing Me Wrong" and "Oh Honey" and the disco tunes "Back Door Love", "Soul Trippin'", "The Promise of Love", and "Where is the Love We Used to Know".

Telecommunication demonstrates Azymuth's ability to occasionally get into trouble when resorting to hi-tech gimmickry for its own sake, but also illustrates how rewarding the Brazilian trio can be. With its vocoder-ish hijinks, the funk-influenced "May I Have This Dance" is a dated and corny bit of silliness unworthy of Azymuth. But there's also much to admire on this CD, including the haunting "The House I Lived In," the sensuous "Country Road," and the sentimental "Last Summer in Rio." Though keyboardist/pianist José Roberto Bertrami and bassist/guitarist Alex Malheiros do not always stretch out enough, the results are quite appealing when they do.

Narada Michael Walden (born Michael Walden on April 23, 1952 in Kalamazoo, Michigan) is an American producer, drummer, singer, and songwriter. He was given the name Narada by guru Sri Chinmoy in the early 1970s and his musical career spans three decades, in which he was awarded several gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards. Walden has also owned and operated Tarpan Studios, a well-known recording studio in San Rafael, California, since the mid-1980s.