The Classics volume on Anita O'Day covering 1945 through 1950 takes her through the first five years of her solo career - after her breakout with Gene Krupa (and "Let Me Off Uptown"), but before the immense success of her Verve years. The only hit present is the bright novelty "Hi Ho Trailus Boot Whip," but fortunately O'Day didn't record many castoffs then; instead, par for the course during the late '40s was her bluesy romp version of "What Is This Thing Called Love?," another Cole Porter tune recorded at the same session. Her sweetly swinging versions of "Them There Eyes" and "I Told Ya I Love You, Now Get Out" are excellent, and the backing includes high-caliber musicians Benny Carter, Dave Barbour, and pianist/arranger Ralph Burns.

Opal Fire (2002). Son of a UN diplomat and classically trained, exciting young pianist Akram grew up digesting musical influences from around the world. These exotic flavors are brilliantly woven together in melodies that take flight and soar with expansive orchestrations and passionate rhythms and in more soothing moments, evoke an emotional response in a beautifully serene way.
Free As A Bird (2004). Free As a Bird is the much-anticipated follow-up to Omar's 2002 release, Opal Fire. Exotic, sensual, and brimming with life, it was worth the wait! Richly arranged and orchestrated by David Dial and Gregg Karukas, real instruments replace some of the keyboards from the earlier release, and the interaction of great musicians…

The field of performances competing for your CD purchase dollar has grown crowded in the case of Henrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Mystery Sonatas (or Rosary Sonatas), a set of 16 pieces for solo violin and continuo programatically linked to the Passion story. This performance by violinst Alice Piérot and Les veilleurs de Nuit is part of a remarkable series from France's Alpha label, pairing mostly Baroque works with paintings of the era. The package for this disc shows an image of Mary awaiting the Annunciation, painted around 1475 by the Neapolitan Antonello da Messina.

Chick Corea's long, varied career resists a definitive summary on any one disc, so inevitably this Rarum volume is going to be limited by definition. Indeed, Corea compresses his choices further to only three of his many ensembles: the first Brazilian-charged edition of Return to Forever, his duets with vibraphonist Gary Burton, and the superb reunited 1980s trio with bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Roy Haynes (in any case, ECM promises a second Rarum volume of Corea chamber music in 2003). The present volume starts with a truncated version of the Return to Forever band's "Sometime Ago/La Fiesta" medley, the moody seven-minute intro lopped off perhaps to accommodate the limits of a CD that was pushing 80 minutes.

Shamans is the seventh album released by Azeri jazz artist Aziza Mustafa Zadeh. It was released in 2002. In the liner notes, Aziza left a comment about each song. The artwork also contains a number of paintings by Aziza. Around 2.000.000 copies of this album were sold worldwide.

“My time with ECM is a lifetime by now,” Terje Rypdal notes, as he embarks upon his fourth decade with the label that has documented his far-reaching achievements as both improviser and composer. For this anthology, Rypdal chose to focus on his groundbreaking electric guitar artistry, heard in settings ranging from symphony orchestra to the enlightened hard rock of the Chasers. “Music must have colours and freedom”, Rypdal once said, and his selection here lacks neither.

This release was originally part of a two-disc album of vocal and instrumental pieces by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre issued in 1986. The music by this gifted contemporary of François Couperin is enjoying a renaissance, and justifiably, for it is inventive and affecting. Sopranos Isabelle Poulenard and Sophie Boulin are fluent in the somewhat rarefied idiom of the 'cantate française' and the result is delicately pleasing. Four of the cantatas on the disc are taken from Jacquet's first collection of Cantates françaises sur des sujets tirés de l'écriture, published in 1708, and dedicated to Louis XIV. The fifth work, Jephté, comes from a second collection issued in 1711 and is distinct from the other cantatas on the disc in being written for two voices rather than one.

On Sentir, the globetrotting, Cuban-born pianist Omar Sosa is joined not by a full band, but rather by a host of percussionists and vocalists. Sosa remains focused on communicating a kind of ecstatic, multicultural religiosity – most of these tracks are dominated by fervent chanting in one of several languages, underscored by rolling percussion grooves. Sosa's piano is the only Western instrument on the scene, a fact that somehow gives it added power. Like his previous album, Prietos, this one also has a hip-hop element, with Terence Nicholson (aka Sub-Z) contributing rap poetry on five of the tracks.

Imprint is the second collaboration between Mike Griffin, founder and owner of Hypnos Recordings, and Dave Fulton of Dweller at the Threshold. It is difficult to imagine two more divergent styles of e-music and even more difficult to imagine them working in tandem, but they do. Griffin is solidly and firmly entrenched in the dark ambient and minimalist arena, while Fulton is one of the U.S.A.'s leading Berlin-schoolers. It is most easily depicted by describing the images of their October 2002 concert in Philadelphia. Griffin sat calmly and stoically at his MacIntosh Powerbook and re-created his atmospheres. Fulton was lost among his huge banks of analog synths; his rig resembled the bridge of the Starship Enterprise…

REFORMATION isn't merely a hits collection (the single-disc GOLD: THE BEST OF SPANDAU BALLET had already done a fine job on that score). It contains enough rarities to make the hearts of Spandau maniacs leap with delight.
The early New Romantic scene was focused on clubbing and dancing, and Spandau's extended 12" mixes were an important element of the band's sound; a wealth of those are captured here, exhibiting the band in all its synth-riffing, bass-popping, white-funk glory. Demo versions of early singles "To Cut a Long Story Short" and "The Freeze" help illuminate how the band's sound first came together. Live version of later, more commercial material ("I'll Fly for You," "Highly Strung") show the degree to which Spandau Ballet eventually became arena-friendly pop stars, but there's more than enough choice early material on REFORMATION to keep the most uncompromising of Spandau fans extremely satisfied.

The Cancionero de Medinaceli or Cancionero Musical de Medinaceli (CMM) is a manuscript containing Spanish music of the Renaissance. It was copied during the second half of the 16th century and kept at the library of the Duke of Medinaceli's house, hence its name. Is it probably the most important compilation of Spanish secular polyphony of the Renaissance after the Cancionero de Palacio.

This fine recording shows the many types of keyboard music that CPE Bach wrote, and presents it on two instruments that truly give the music the tone it needs. Marcia Hadjimarkos is an excellent performer and her choice of works is very judicious.

To call this compilation Best of Southern Rock is a bit of a misnomer, because it really isn't. The performances selected here aren't exactly the highest of quality, to say nothing of the heinous omission of the Allman Brothers from this elite group of Southern rockers. Recorded live over a five-year span from 1996-2001, it features some of the most respected and iconic figures of Southern rock performing some of their greatest songs. Appropriately starting off with Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic "Sweet Home Alabama," the compilation wastes no time in getting down to business, taking cuts from .38 Special, Van Zant, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and the always hard rockin' gurus Molly Hatchet. While the inclusion of some songs over others may leave die-hard fans scratching their heads and inquiring where the big hits are, this economically sensible compilation is a nice showcase of the genre's finest bands, and serves as a nice stepping stone into a style of rock sorely undervalued in the rock & roll catalog.

A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 21 November 1975 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Queen, it was reportedly the most expensive album ever recorded at the time of its release. Upon release, A Night at the Opera topped the UK Albums Chart for four non-consecutive weeks. It peaked at number four on the US Billboard 200 and became the band's first platinum-certified album in the US. At the 19th Grammy Awards, it received Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus and Best Arrangement for Voices. Retrospective reviews have hailed it as Queen's best album, and one of the greatest albums in rock music history. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it at number 128 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2018, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. This is the second edition of A Night At The Opera on DVD-A with, released a few months after the first edition, with slightly different artwork and 5.1 mix, under the guidance of Brian May who wasn't happy with the original 5.1 mix by Elliot Scheiner.

Full Title - Rock Island Line - The Singles Anthology 1955-1967. The first comprehensive singles anthology for the UK musical pioneer. 86 tracks across three CDs (slimline) in a slipcase box, many appearing on CD for the first time. All Lonnie's A & B-sides between 1955-67, including his very first hit 'Rock Island Line'. The first time his Decca & Pye recordings have been compiled in the same package. More than 30 UK hits, including three UK #1s. Castle. 2002.