In January 1956, veteran tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins recorded a dozen songs, eight with a string orchestra and four accompanied by a big band, all arranged by Billy Byers. Hawkins is the main soloist throughout, and he was still very much in his prime 33 years after he first joined Fletcher Henderson's orchestra; in fact, the upcoming year of 1957 would be one of his finest. However, Byers' arrangements are more functional than inspired, and some of these selections are more easy listening than they are swinging. Still, there are some strong moments (particularly on "The Bean Stalks Again" and "His Very Own Blues") and, although not classic, this is a pleasing release.

Lennie Wright from Web and Samurai produced Brainchild's first and only album, so it's no surprise that "Healing of the Lunatic Owl" is in a similar style to both "I Spider" and Samurai's self-titled album. That means early 70's progressive rock dominated by horns and organ. Brainchild is a septet that recorded their sole album Healing Of The Lunatic Owl in western London in 1970 on the A&M label. The album contains sizzling brass rock, which must rank among the best of the genre, but also with the much more obscure and even more brilliant Warm Dust and Galliard. Brainchild's line-up was basically your standard prog quartet, plus a three-man wind instrument section, including flute, sax, trumpet and trombone.

By the time Electronic's long-delayed second album appeared in 1996, the zeitgeist in Britain had completely shifted from its members' parent bands to a new generation of groups, with Oasis, who shared management with Sumner and Marr's project, standing forth out of a horde of newer Brit-pop acts. Electronic itself chose not to try and compete, following its own low-key path while working with a variety of guest musicians, including returning singer Denise Johnson. The intriguing surprise came courtesy of an additional keyboardist - none other than Kraftwerk veteran Karl Bartos, who also co-wrote nearly half the release with Sumner and Marr. In the same way that the group's debut promised more than it delivered, though, Raise the Pressure - theoretically a dream collaboration between key members of three groundbreaking bands - ends up being more pleasant than necessary…

Cellist Marko Ylönen has recorded a beautiful double album containing Bach’s six suites for solo cello. On the album, Ylönen wants to emphasize the way in which the different series work together in a dialogue. That is why he does not play them in their numerical order, but creates an experience that takes the listener from the world of passion in the fifth series to the joyful tones of the last sixth series. The clear musical structure and the affect of the musical characters and gestures combine in Ylönen’s performance. His interpretation of the Bach suites tells the listener something invaluable, touching and timeless.

The Cistercian order was born at the end of the 11th century around the new monastery of Cîteaux and developed by Bernard of Clairvaux in the following years. Their aim was to return to the basics of the austere Benedictine rule, as opposed to the less stricter developments that had taken place around Cluny. These ideas quickly spread around Europe, producing great architecture and great liturgical music, devoid of embellishments and flourishments then considered unnecessary. Sabine Lutzenberger and her Ensemble PER-SONAT presents the sounds of Cistercian monasteries all around Europe.

Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen wrote his first three string quartets in 1959 and his 14th and last in 2013, three years before he died. This first volume in a new cycle comes from an ensemble coached by Tim Frederiksen (he who gave us the Nightingale Quartet) at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. The Nordic Quartet gave their graduation performance at the Academy last autumn.

Abandoned at the age of two months and taken in by the Ospedale della Pietà, Chiara (or Chiaretta) rose – within that enclosed charitable institution in Venice – to become one of the leading European violinists of the middle of the 18th century. No stranger to such acclaim himself from two and a half centuries later, Fabio Biondi, on his first release for Glossa, has devised a programme drawing on the personal diary of this remarkable musician – taught by Antonio Vivaldi, and later a virtuoso soloist on the violin as well as the viola d’amore – of concertos and sinfonias by composers who, like the prete rosso, taught at the Pietà: Porta, Porpora, Martinelli, Latilla, Perotti and Bernasconi are all musicians whose compositions charm and delight as much today as they will have done in the time of Chiara.

Queen played three sold-out shows at the legendary Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, North London, in 1974. The first was in March, the crowning glory of the Queen II tour; the band then returned for two more nights in November as part of the Sheer Heart Attack tour. 1974 was a year of high achievement for Freddie, Brian, Roger and John; as well as releasing two albums, from which came their first two hit singles, “Seven Seas Of Rhye” and “Killer Queen,” the latter charting all around the world, they completed major tours across the UK, America and Europe. Queen dazzled their audience with an unforgettable show delivered with a skill and confidence which belied their youth. The tape machines were rolling, capturing the highly energetic performances. To mark the 4oth anniversary of these legendary shows, here, finally, is Queen at the Rainbow; lovingly restored, mixed and digitally mastered, and including material never previously available.

A stunningly sophisticated leap into modern musical textures, I'm Your Man re-establishes Leonard Cohen's mastery. Against a backdrop of keyboards and propulsive rhythms, Cohen surveys the global landscape with a precise, unflinching eye: the opening "First We Take Manhattan" is an ominous fantasy of commercial success bundled in crypto-fascist imagery, while the remarkable "Everybody Knows" is a cynical catalog of the land mines littering the surface of love in the age of AIDS.

Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1967 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music. The group's core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, and featured Stone's brother and singer/guitarist Freddie Stone, sister and singer/keyboardist Rose Stone, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, drummer Gregg Errico, saxophonist Jerry Martini, and bassist Larry Graham. Formed in 1967, the group's music synthesized a variety of disparate musical genres to help pioneer the emerging "psychedelic soul" sound. The work of Sly and the Family Stone greatly influenced the sound of subsequent American pop, soul, R&B, funk, and hip hop music.