Esoteric Recordings are proud to release the debut album by Jackie Mcauley on CD in the UK for the first time. A former member of legendary band Them, Jackie teamed up with original Fairport Convention singer Judy Dyble in the acclaimed duo Trader Horne. In 1970 he recorded this stunning debut album for Pye Records Progressive imprint, Dawn. An acclaimed work, it failed to sell in large quantities but has since become a much sought-after album. This Esoteric reissue has been re-mastered from the original master tapes and adds both sides of his 1970 single as bonus tracks.

Charting Island’s rise from its very origins in to the modern age, War Ina Babylon not only provides a fascinating insight into the changing sound of Jamaican music over the past 40 years, but also brings together some of the greatest ska, rock steady and reggae recordings of all time.

Midnights is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on October 21, 2022, via Republic Records. Announced at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, the album marks Swift's first body of new work since her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore. Midnights is a concept album about nocturnal contemplation, written and produced by Swift with Jack Antonoff as the main collaborator. The album was inspired by "thirteen sleepless nights" throughout Swift's life. She adopted a glamorous visual aesthetic for the album, drawing from the 1970s fashion and art. Eschewing the alternative folk sound of Folklore and Evermore, Swift experimented with electronica, synth-pop, dream pop and chill-out music styles in Midnights, employing subtle grooves, vintage synthesizers, drum machine and hip hop rhythms.

Maybe you can't hold on to a dream, but dreams can trigger strong emotional cross-currents. And so it was for singer Malia on her popular, long-lived Echoes of Dreams .Released in 2004, the songs on that album form the basis for her new recording, Ripples . It is not a remake in the normal sense; rather, these emotive ebbs and flows are direct links to this British-African artist's highly emotional acknowledgement of her roots. Accompanied by pianist Alexandre Saada's sensitive play and his arrangements for the string trio, Malia has radically stripped down her original work, moving from the playful pop-jazz style of her earlier career towards a raw, blues and soul-drenched sound that, more than ever, relies on the strength and passion of her voice.

When Tomasz Stanko first started working with a trio of Polish teenagers in 1994 - Marcin Wasilewski, piano; Slawomir Kurkiewicz, bass; Michal Miskiewicz, drums - on film projects and live gigs inside his native land, he might have glimpsed, but surely never fully conceived of, the sound that the quartet's relationship would offer a decade later. Suspended Night, on ECM, follows the hugely successful Soul of Things on the same label. It is only the second international offering from this group, but the flowering and maturation of this creative relationship are nothing if not utterly stunning. This ensemble has developed its own bravely compelling yet tonally accessible voice in articulating Stanko's unique compositional language; it is one that opens up the jazz tradition from the inside in startling and wonderful new directions…

Efendi's Garden was - despite of their exotic musical sound - a band from Hannover. Founder Wolfgang Krantz formerly played with the bands called Jane and Harlis, then he took a year off, to make a terrific return in 1979 with Efendi's Garden. Activated by the former bandmember of Jane, Klaus Hess, as well as bassplayer Frank Meier, drummer Wolfgang Schreiner, Saxophone player Heinz Alberding and the uncommon singer Thomas Stender, Krantz presented a collective which had to search one's own kind in former musical aera of West Germany. Arabian singing, amplified by a megaphone, between shrill and hypnotic but always very intensive joining the slick arranged music. Partly like a soft ballade then again hardrock sound á la best Jane-tradition - even disco elements (it was the big disco fever at that time) are to be heard and are integrated into the musical concept…

Crimson Gold presents Michael Bolton 'Gold', the only Michael Bolton compilation you'll ever need. Michael Bolton is a multiple Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter who has sold over 65 million records internationally and continues to perform to audiences across the globe. This definitive 3CD career spanning set features 45 tracks including a remarkable 17 UK Top 40 singles. Highlights include the top ten singles 'How Am I Supposed To Live Without You', 'When A Man Loves A Woman' and 'Can I Touch You…There?'

Alexx Antaeus is an award-winning composer/recording artist/producer with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Industry. He is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the governing party for the Grammy awards. Antaeus has been involved in recording, remixing, or producing for a diverse selection of artists such as Young M.C., Falco, Lonnie Gordon, Malcolm McLaren, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, The Rolling Stones, The Boys, Herbert Gronemeyer, and Earth, Wind & Fire. For his work, he has earned several gold and platinum plaques.
"Byzantine Meditation" (1999) is a chill-out soundscape fusing voices, traditional instruments, electronica, hip-hop, and drum 'n' bass. The title track received significant airplay on Smooth Jazz and eclectic stations and was used in Jacob's Coffee TV commercials…

Things had changed for Be Bop Deluxe by the time of the group's fourth album. The band that turned up in glam rock regalia on its 1974 debut, Axe Victim, was in suit and tie on the cover of Modern Music in 1976. Inside, the band's transformation into a sophisticated pop group seemed complete. Arrangements were still ornate, but the songs were dominated by their highly imagistic lyrics, and as often as not, Nelson was borrowing ideas from the Beatles. It didn't quite work, despite pleasant numbers such as "Orphans of Babylon" and "Kiss of Light," perhaps because a true pop sensibility requires a gift for simplicity that Nelson has never exhibited. The album charted high in England and made the Top 100 in the U.S., but it was Be Bop's peak, not its breakthrough.

Gold Dust: Live at the Royalty captures Sandy Denny's final concert. The show (performed on Sunday, November 27, 1977) was intended to be the first date of an 11-city tour, but it turned out to be her last show ever. It certainly wasn't the way anyone wanted Denny to leave the stage, but it remains an affecting, surprising farewell. There are familiar items, to be sure, but the concert also finds her breaking new ground and moving away from traditional folk-rock to an edgier sound. These are subtle distinctions that only hardcore fans will notice, but those fans will find Gold Dust a minor treasure.