Best Of…1958-1980: Come and Get Me is a generous collection of Jackie DeShannon's biggest hits, important album cuts, and obscure non-LP singles. The keys to DeShannon's talent lie not only in her own songwriting and ability to handle non-originals as if they were her own compositions, but her versatility as a performer. DeShannon's arsenal of orchestrated pop, rockabilly, the Phil Spector-inspired girl group sound, soul, gospel, folk-rock, and country-pop is rivaled by few. She could also pull off sentimental ballads and was believable when in the singer/songwriter mode. There are many peaks in this anthology, including the proto folk-rock of "Needles and Pins" (written by Sonny Bono and Jack Nitzsche) and "When You Walk in the Room" (a sole composition from 1964 that sounds like a Byrds tune as carried out by the Ronettes), as well as the soulful rocker "It's Love Baby" (which features a hot guitar solo) and the initial recorded version of "Bette Davis Eyes" (co-written by DeShannon and later a number one hit for Kim Carnes). A 4,000-word essay by longtime fan Glenn A. Baker rounds out the package.

Admirers of the string quartets of Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel will be happy to discover the refined string quartets of Charles Koechlin, a contemporary of those composers who wrote in a rather similar vein. These attractive chamber works, like the rest of Koechlin's oeuvre, are quite obscure and had been unduly neglected until the Ardeo Quartet chose to record them for its debut CD on Ar Re-Se. The String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 51, is dated 1911-1913, though it appears to have gestated since 1902, and the String Quartet No. 2, Op. 57, was mostly composed between 1911 and 1916, though its sketches show some material going back to 1909; both works therefore partake of musical styles developed between fin de siècle Impressionism and the later innovations of Erik Satie and Les Six, but these works reveal a stronger emphasis on the former. The sweet, placid music that flows in both quartets is balanced by some jaunty, folk-like elements and occasional flirtations with changing time signatures and polytonality, but the calm atmosphere of these quartets is largely undisturbed by the encroachments of modernism.

No praise can be too great for the palpable dedication and sensitivity of these performances…

Engaging and cordial, these splendid performances of some of Bach's finest compositions breath to life through this recording with the assistance and inspiration of organist E. Power Biggs. Light, lush and radiant, these beautiful organ melodies take the listener on a journey to paradise, and to the top of the world's classical music heaven, feeling like one has met J. S. Bach personally. Such a definitive collection put together and sold on the market within the last three decades is quite rare, especially for such a classy label as Columbia.

The second release in Stile Antico’s ‘Golden Renaissance’ trilogy on the Decca Classics label commemorates 400 years since the death of the superb English composer William Byrd. Our programme focuses on the music of his final years, written for the clandestine Catholic services of his Essex patron, including his timeless Mass for Four Voices and his exuberant Propers for the Feast of the Assumption. We also perform several of his “sacred songs” in both English and Latin, and his mighty Tribue Domine, a homage to the music of an older generation of composers.

Scoring an unexpected novelty hit with the title track in 1956, Henry disappeared from the charts for four years before roaring back with two smashes in the early '60s, "(I Don't Know Why) But I Do" and "You Always Hurt the One You Love." Actually, Clarence recorded a fair number of singles for Chess' Argo subsidiary between 1956 and 1964 in the relaxed New Orleans R&B styles of his big hits. Ain't Got No Home includes 18 of these sides, most of which were previously unavailable on U.S. album. Henry developed slightly over the course of his career, adding beefier horn sections that occasionally reached back to the spirit of Dixieland. Crescent City legends like saxophonist Lee Allen and pianists Allen Toussaint and Paul Gayton crop up on these sessions; when Henry traveled to Memphis for a session, he was backed by the all-star band of Bill Justis (guitar), Boots Randolph (sax), and Floyd Cramer (piano). A bit more eccentric and unpredictable than Fats Domino, not as contemporary or inventive as, say, Lee Dorsey, Henry's vocals were consistently warm and humorous, his recordings always polished. That said, the hits remain the standouts on this collection. The rest is pleasant and fun, but don't vary much from the prototype or cause exceptional interest.

Louisiana journeyman swamp rocker Tab Benoit has been churning out an album a year since at least 2002, and between them he stays on the road playing every festival, club, and bar that'll have him. It would seem inevitable that the quality of these studio recordings would decline. But, at least as of 2007's Power of the Pontchartrain, that isn't the case. If anything, this might be the best of a very good lot, as Benoit again teams with Louisiana's Le Roux group (who once backed legend Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and helped on Benoit's previous release) for another 52-minute wade through muggy yet taut bayou blues. Part of the reason Benoit's recent albums are so strong is that he doesn't insist on playing original material, instead cherry-picking nuggets rearranged to suit his approach. This works particularly well here since he unearths terrific, often obscure material from writers such as Julie Miller (two tracks), David Egan (two others), and even Stephen Stills (a not entirely necessary "For What It's Worth").

La Main Harmonique was founded to promote mediaeval and Renaissance music. The term refers to a mnemonic device which takes its name from the early theoretician, Guido d'Arezzo. One starts by feeling encouraged that yet another small, independent, group is dedicated to furthering polyphonic and solo music from the period. It doesn't take very long for that encouragement to be justified. Theirs is singing of great poise, delicacy and precision as they work their way sensitively through small-scale works from the courts of the Château de Moulins and Duke of Bourbon during the reigns of Anne and Pierre II of Beaujeu in the later fifteenth century.

Bach Chorales & Sonatas features music arranged for and by the Palladian Ensemble. Many of the pieces on this recording were written in Bach's Leipzig days. The famous lutenist Sylvius Leopold Weiss performed at the Bachische Collegium Musicum at this time, so it not unrealistic that the sonatas may have been performed as arranged on this disc.

Renata Scotto shows an amazing flexibility and control. Her Caro nome is one to be heard many times. She reaches a high D and decrescendo's to an incredible ppp. I felt the aria drug a little in tempo, but the gorgeous sound more than made up for it. As Rigoletto, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau has the vocal power demanded by the score. Too often he sounded as if he was delivering a recital of Leider. A smooth velvet sound was his mark throughout. In his duets with Gilda, this payed off handsomely. Even in his dealings with the courtiers after Gilda's abduction he showed us a rarely seen Dietrich blustery side.