The purpose of this compilation was to gather all the sessions Pink Floyd made for the BBC radio. As the 1974 Wembley show was left aside, the whole thing fits in a 4-CD boxset (which is enough), including 7 sessions on the BBC Radio between 1967 and 1971, and a bonus of all the BBC TV sessions. The tracks are here in the best quality available now, many come from BBC master reels. They didn’t suffer any processing, only STC 11-68 was normalized because the sound was way too low; a few sessions have been edited for track splitting. The shows are presented by John Peel (except Dec. 2, 1968 and May 12, 1969)

Rare early singles recorded before signing to Columbia, both as a duo and solo, under various names such as Tom & Jerry. Includes 29 remastered studio tracks from Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel’s early years, consisting of a variety of seminal songs and hard-to-find sides they made for different labels (like Big, Bell, Madison, Octavia, Amy and even MGM) between 1957 and 1962. In addition to their initial project as Tom and Jerry, Garfunkel released some single records under the name Artie Garr. Simon also began writing songs independently and recording under such stagenames as True Taylor, Tico & The Triumphs, and Jerry Landis.

The Who's 2002 'Encore Series' concert CD's were available at themusic.com and proceeds donated to charity. According to themusic.com: "Recorded and mixed live from the sound board, these CDs will be as close as you will get, and as quick as you will get, to reliving the experience. By this process you will be provided with good recordings at a reasonable price".

By the end of 1963, the Beatles had probably gone as far as they had dared to dream in establishing the widest possible audience for their music in Britain. When America beckoned, at the dawn of 1964, they were ready and primed to embrace stardom on an unseen scale. Capitol scheduled I Want To Hold Your Hand for US release on 26 December 1963, backed by a $30,000 national marketing campaign - $250,000 in today’s money. Five million fliers and windscreen stickers proclaiming “The Beatles Are Coming!” above a Capitol logo adorned with a Beatle wig, were pasted anywhere they might be seen. Point-of-sale displays were placed in record stores. A four-page Capitol promo pamphlet sent to the trade focused on the Beatles as a cultural phenomenon, placing inordinate emphasis on their haircuts. If anything sold the Beatles to America, even before their music had been widely heard, it was their hair, an identifying motif that became the talk of the nation. Capitol spent $30,000 publicising a haircut!, but their investment paid off, when on 4 April, Billboard’s Hot 100 showed the Beatles at #1 (with She Loves You), 2, 3, 4, 5, 31, 41, 46, 58, 65, 68 and 79, setting the seal on a full-blown cultural phenomenon.

Leonardo García Alarcón's 2011 recording of Michelangelo Falvetti's 1682 oratorio Il Diluvio Universale is a reminder, if one were needed, that there are untold treasures of Baroque repertoire waiting to be discovered. The story of The Flood is told economically, but with enough peculiar diversions from the Biblical story to keep listeners on their toes about what's going to happen next. There are personifications of Divine Justice, Human Nature, Water, Fire, Land, and Death (a smugly self-satisfied character who sings a triumphant, gleeful little gigue once humanity has been wiped out).

Gaetano Latilla (1711-88) is pretty much a footnote, but after its premiere in 1738, this opera, La finta cameriera, was performed at one time or another throughout Europe for the next 20 years. It consists of 44 arias and acres of recitative (indeed, the Parisians objected to all the chatter in 1752). I normally hate these 18th century “intermezzo” operas about people disguised as either the lower classes or their own brothers, particularly because in between the acres of recitative there usually are simple-to-sing, “flavorful” arias. This work, however, is different: many of the arias are very showy and difficult, and require true virtuoso singing.

Repin's withdrawn tone in moments of meditation and his fondness for the gentlest pianissimos are as remarkable as his purity and sharpness of focus in bravura. He brings many moments of magic, such as the gentle lead-in to the second subject and the whispered statement of the main theme in the central Canzonetta, enhanced by the natural balance of the soloist in refined and well-detailed Erato recording, making this a highly recommendable alternative to Chung Tchaikovsky/Sibelius: Violin Concertos in this favourite coupling.

Two CD set. First-ever complete anthology of wild mid-'60s UK garage R&B band The Betterdays who briefly reformed in the early '90s. The West Country's leading exponents of British Garage R&B, The Betterdays' thrillingly raw sound and unkempt, long-haired appearance initially saw them banned by local promoters in their native Plymouth. The national success of The Rolling Stones turned the tide in their favor, and by mid-1964 they boasted a thriving local fan club and were provoking riots among audiences. Having acquired local hero status, they opted not to relocate to London, although they did cut a handful of demos at venues like RG Jones (Morden) Ltd and even released a single via Polydor in September 1965. By that juncture the R&B scene was fading, and The Betterdays duly disbanded - although they did reform in the early '90s with the original five-man line-up, promptly recording the album they'd been denied in their mid-'60s heyday. The first-ever complete anthology of their work, Hush Your Mouth brings together their small but valuable cache of mid-Sixties acetates, their feverishly-pursued Polydor single, a clutch of August 1964 live cuts (including three tracks now being heard for the first time) and those early '90s recordings - which initially gained a partial release as No Concessions before an expanded version appeared in 2017 as Backlash. Featuring a 24-page booklet with numerous rare photos and a new essay on the band, 'Hush Your Mouth' is the final word on this legendary mid-'60s British R&B band.

In 2015, pianist Jonathan Biss initiated the Beethoven/5 commissioning project with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and more than fifteen other orchestras, resulting in a groundbreaking collaboration over nine years. The project yielded five extraordinary new piano works by some of today's most significant composers, responding to Beethoven's own concerti. Volume Two sees "City Stanzas," written by British composer Sally Beamish to pair with Beethoven's first piano concerto, marking a thematic departure from Beamish's earlier works often inspired by nature.

The Concertos for two transverse flutes without bass make up part of a thread begun in 1709 with the Suites de Pièces à deux flûtes traversières (Suites of Pieces for two transverse flutes) by Michel da La Barre, who was both a composer and the first great French flute player. Particularly popular in France during the first half of the 18th century, this genre inspired many composers.

First-ever complete career anthology of one of British pop’s most enduring backroom figures John Carter 4CD set containing his biggest hits and some fascinating misses Also includes a clutch of late ‘60s songwriting demos, several of which now receive their first physical release. First coming to prominence with his songwriting and vocal partner Ken Lewis, John Carter was a fixture on the mid-‘60s British pop scene, penning hits for the likes of Brenda Lee and Herman’s Hermits, singing backing vocals for The Who and finding success with his own group, vocal trio The Ivy League. Frustrated with the rigours of life on the road, Carter quit touring in mid-1966 to concentrate on studio work (a decision also being made around the same time by Brian Wilson and The Beatles).

For the final volume in Fabio Bonizzoni’s survey of cantatas written by Handel during his stay in Italy, the background scenery moves – like a reflection of the Grand Tour – from Rome to Naples; probably the troubled times in a Rome besieged by Imperial troops during the War of the Spanish Succession may have encouraged the young, itinerant Saxon musician to consider that heading down south was safer and more conducive for his overall career prospects.

Three CD set. 2024 instalment of Grapefruit's acclaimed year-by-year overview of the British rock and pop scenes of the 70s. A compendium of hit singles, intriguing misses, cult classics and key album tracks from 1975. While received wisdom among pop pundits is that 1975 was merely the calm before the following year's punk-instigated storm, there was plenty of vibrant, vital music being made in Britain and Ireland during that largely overlooked 12-month period. Roxy Music, 10cc and ELO were still firing on all cylinders, Thin Lizzy and post-Free act Bad Company were emerging as prime contenders for stardom, Hawkwind remained linchpins of the still-thriving free festival circuit, and cult live performers The Sensational Alex Harvey Band unexpectedly achieved Top Ten singles success after covering a melodramatic Tom Jones' ballad. The London-based pub rock scene housed the likes of Ace, Brinsley Schwartz, The Kursaal Flyers and the game-changing Dr. Feelgood, successful glam-era bands like Slade and Sweet were still producing the goods, while a handful of 60s stalwarts - Manfred Mann, The Pretty Things, The Kinks - were updating their sound to appeal to a new generation of record-buyers. All these and more are documented in 'Lazy Days', a four-hour, 3CD boxed set that, like every other release in the series, includes a 48-page booklet with photos, cuttings and the story behind each song.

Blossoming at the nexus of tradition and innovation, where soul and technique feed into one another in pursuit of an ecstatic oneness, the music of Debashish Bhattacharya has astonished and moved listeners since he first unveiled his unprecedented concept of Hindustani slide guitar in the late 1970s. As a young man, Bhattacharya fused his love of Hawaiian steel guitar with his family’s deep roots in traditional Indian music, discovering that slide guitar techniques are ideally suited to the microtonal inflections and disarmingly vocal-like melodic cadences of Hindustani forms. In the process, he created an entirely new instrumental tradition – leading the way with such virtuosity, sensitivity, and imagination that global music pioneer John McLaughlin proclaimed that “Debashish is the master of the slide guitar. He has no equal.”

One of the finest saxophonists on the planet teams up with an all-star heavy-weight band at the storied New York venue in a set of covers. This is some of the most classic and exciting live music from a modern, small band ensemble that you’ll hear today.