In 1963, singer Sathima Bea Benjamin persuaded Duke Ellington to see her future husband, Abdullah Ibrahim (then known as Dollar Brand), play in a club in Europe. Ellington was impressed by both of the recent South African émigrés and arranged with Reprise to record them. While Brand's record came out within a year, Benjamin's debut was lost and not heard for decades, even by the singer. As it turned out, engineer Gerhard Lehner had made a second copy and kept it for all of these years, so the initial 1997 release of this important session was possible. Backed by pianist Ibrahim, bassist Johnny Gertze, drummer Makaya Ntshoko, and (on two songs apiece) Duke Ellington or Billy Strayhorn, and occasionally joined by violinist Svend Asmussen (who here plays exclusively pizzicato, as if he were using a high-pitched guitar), Benjamin's voice sounds quite beautiful…

Tago Mago (1971). With the band in full artistic flower and Damo Suzuki's sometimes moody, sometimes frenetic speak/sing/shrieking in full effect, Can released not merely one of the best Krautrock albums of all time, but one of the best albums ever, period. Tago Mago is that rarity of the early '70s, a double album without a wasted note, ranging from sweetly gentle float to full-on monster grooves. "Paperhouse" starts things brilliantly, beginning with a low-key chime and beat, before amping up into a rumbling roll in the midsection, then calming down again before one last blast. Both "Mushroom" and "Oh Yeah," the latter with Schmidt filling out the quicker pace with nicely spooky keyboards, continue the fine vibe. After that, though, come the huge highlights - three long examples of Can at its absolute best…

'Million Voices Whisper' is the third 'Fantasy' solo album ('Man in Motion' and 'Ashes & Dust') by the remarkable musician/songwriter Warren Haynes. Enlisting an All-Star core of support, New Orleans native Terence Higgins on drums, organist and keyboard wiz John Medeski, Mule bassist Kevin Scott, and genius guitarist Derek Trucks, Hayneshas been inspired to craft his best work, eleven original songs that establish a high bar in a genre that could easily be termed Modern Classic Rock. 'These Changes', (co-written with Trucks and TTB member Mike Mattison), and 'Real, Real Love' (co-written with Gregg Allman, his last work with Haynes before his untimely death in 2017) are absolute highlights. Jamey Johnson and Lukas Nelson join him 'Day of Reckoning' a song co-written with Lukas. All catchy, emotional thrillers brought to life by Warren's husky, soul drenched emoting. The album was produced by Warren Haynes. He brought in his Allman Brothers bandmate Derek Trucks to co-produce and play guitar on four of the songs on the album. Deluxe Edition features 4 bonus tracks. 2-CD Softpak.

CD reissue of this title from the innovative German Electronica outfit, one of the most influential instrumental outfits of the 20th century. Tangerine Dream has never produced anything calculated to make the masses jump off their chairs and start screaming Top 40 tunes, but they have managed to have an immense impact in the world of Electronic and soundtrack music. Their studio, live and soundtrack releases have their own driving hypnotic pieces that might differ from release to release, but they are all uniquely Tangerine Dream. Personnel: Edgar Froese, Jerome Froese (guitar, keyboards); Zlatko Perica (guitar); Linda Spa (saxophone, keyboards). Recording information: Scottsdale Mall Amphitheater (1992).

Johannes Brahms was not a composer who showed much confidence early on in his career, at least as far as large-scale orchestral forms were concerned. Take for instance what we know to be his Piano Concerto No. 1, which premiered in 1859. This work began as a sonata for two pianos, and then Brahms considered developing it into a symphony. But the shadow of Beethoven's nine essays in the symphonic form dogged Brahms so much that his First Symphony didn't appear for almost two decades. It finally emerged into this turbulent and elongated D Minor concerto and, despite receiving a fairly frigid reception at its premiere, it is a work that has come to be seen as Brahms' first true large-scale orchestral masterpiece.

As Bram van Sambeek writes in the liner notes to his new disc, bassoonists consider Mozart’s Concerto in B flat major the absolute pinnacle of their repertoire. A man of great contrasts himself, Mozart recognised the potential of the bassoon as a vehicle for expressing a wide range of moods and attitudes – from the joking and playful to the dreamily tuneful. Another composer who showed a special understanding for the instrument was Carl Maria von Weber, whose Concerto in F major doesn’t come far behind Mozart’s on the list of all-time bassoon hits.

For close to 300 years Bach’s Goldberg Variations have awed performers as well as listeners, through an unparalleled combination of a dazzling variety of expression and breath-taking virtuosity with stupendous polyphonic mastery. No wonder then that other musicians than harpsichordists have wanted to make it their own – pianists, first and foremost, but also accordion players and guitarists, flautists and harpists.

With the arrival of the 1980s, Nancy Reagan was picking out new White House china, MTV was taking its first baby steps, and Pat Benatar was surging forward as a new kind of female rock star. Brassy, eye-catching, and possessed of a four-and-a-half-octave voice, the small-framed, big-voiced New Yorker first caused a stir in 1979 with the hits "Heartbreaker" and "We Live for Love," the latter penned by lead guitarist and Benatar's future husband, Neil Gerardo. In the early '80s, Benatar scored repeatedly with snarling rockers that combined new-wave energy with Middle American grit: "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," "Invincible," "Love is a Battlefield," "Shadows of the Night," and "We Belong" all charted before she began to lose her luster mid-decade. This three-disc retrospective reflects Benatar's commercial descent with a disc marked by her hits, followed by two discs dominated by lesser-known rock tracks and experiments (which include an unremarkable foray into old-school R&B). Some unreleased numbers are scattered in for good measure. Casual fans would be well advised to leave this one to the devotees and opt for the more-to-the-point Best Shots. –Steven Stolder

This earlier incarnation of the so-called Landlocked sessions duplicates much of the Invasion Unlimited release, but has the good graces to also include several tracks taken from the other lost Brian Wilson album, Adult Child. The tracks from Landlocked include early/alternate versions of several songs which would later appear on Surf's Up, although many of these tracks wouldn't see the official light of day until the Good Vibrations box set (have I mentioned just how great the box set is?) More of a scattershot set than the Invasion Unlimited set, this set boasts better sound, and the inclusion of such dubious rarities as "Mony Mony" and "Ruby Baby", plus the compilers felt the need to hear early versions of the detestable "Hey Little Tomboy" and the laughable "H.E.L.P. Is On The Way."

The Beatles' 1994 Revolution bootleg album, released on the US label Vigotone (catalogue number VT-117), was notable for its unofficial compilation of rare and alternative versions of studio recordings made by the band in the late 1960s.

UK box-set compiles, for the first time, all the British vocalist's single (A & B-sides), rarities, CD debuts, & 19 previously unreleased tracks. The 64-page booklet is lavishly illustrated with photographs & memorabilia from Sandie's own archive. EMI. 2004. Nothing Comes Easy Review by Bruce Eder Four CDs and 101 songs may seem like more Sandie Shaw than most listeners would want to own, much less hear – that's what this reviewer thought, until he started going song by song through this set, and damned if there was not one song in this collection, covering her complete single A- and B-sides from 1964 through 1988, that wasn't worth hearing. Indeed, there are revelations throughout, starting with the superb sound and the use of proper first-generation masters on everything here, and the digital production to back it up with a warm, rich sound that's quietly intoxicating and seductive.

This extravagant six-CD set documents the astonishing life span of the first pop independent label in the U.K., Immediate Records. Founded in 1965, Immediate flipped, flopped, and staggered its own way, competing against unhip American labels like EMI and Decca until late 1969. The label, and the documentary CD set, showcases in particular the Small Faces, who enjoyed a brief U.K. number one hit, Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. More familiar to American listeners will no doubt be the three-chord sock-hop favorite "Hang on Sloopy" by the McCoys, and a number of covers of familiar American folk-rock hits are present as well. The esoteric collector will appreciate inclusions by such café balladeers as the Poets and Les Fleurs-de-Lis, also signed by Immediate before the advent of the swinging London sound, marked by the Rolling Stones revolution and other mod developers influencing the pants off the tiniest studio cover bands.

Celebrating 60 Years of Immediate Records. Features all six Top 40 UK pop hit singles released by Immediate, with A and B sides presented in chronological order. The SMALL FACES – dubbed ‘the most perfect English pop group’ – have continued to grow in popularity over the past sixty years despite a “small” original catalogue comprising three studio albums and a dozen singles. Their Mod styling and sixties sound resonate and influence today arguably more than at the time of recording. This new hits collection features the classic line-up of Steve Marriott, Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones and Ronnie Lane and perfectly captures the sound of Swinging London at a time when London was the centre of the world!

Time Takes Time is the tenth studio album by Ringo Starr. His first studio album since 1983's Old Wave, it followed a successful 1989 tour with his first All-Starr Band. Released in 1992, Time Takes Time was a critically-acclaimed comeback album, and featured several celebrity guests including Brian Wilson, Harry Nilsson and Electric Light Orchestra front-man Jeff Lynne.

This new album by the award-winning Latvian Radio Choir conducted by Sigvards Kļava – recently hailed by the New York Times as ‘astonishing’, ‘superlative’ by the BBC Music Magazine, and ‘perhaps the finest chorus singing today’ by NPR – is focused on the sacred choral works by one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era, Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847).