You might think that Castro's first album recorded for mighty blues indie Alligator – and twelfth overall – would mark a departure for this longtime rocking soulman. Despite a fuller sound, fleshed out with Lenny Castro's percussion and boosted by an ever-present horn section led by longtime cohort Keith Crossan, this is another typically solid effort from the singer/guitarist. Perhaps it's unfair to expect that Castro would somehow break free of, expand, or alter the blue-collar persona he has cultivated over his solo career as he shifts to a higher-profile label affiliation.

Canterbury knights is a compilation album containing previously unreleased archive recordings by the band The Polite Force which was active on the Canterbury scene between 1976 and 1978. It was released by Voiceprint Records in 1997. Tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 12 were recorded in 1976 in Joe Gubay’s house. Tracks 1, 6, 7, 10 and 11 were recorded in 1977 in Vince Clarke’s basement studio in Downs Road in Canterbury with one re-mix and overdub at John Murphy’s place in Herne Bay. The album contains very few overdubs and was recorded as “live performances” to a Teac 4-track recorder. Engineer and producer on all tracks was Jeremy Darby. Executive producer was Rob Ayling.

An international affair from the get-go, Honest Truth, boasting a British rhythm section and a Dutch guitarist, lit up German stages in the late '60s before calling it a day. Drummer Stuart Fordham and bassist Ray Brown promptly returned to their island home, but were coaxed back across the North Sea in 1971 by guitarist Rob Terstall and his new musical companion, German keyboardist Jeff Beer. Dubbing themselves Odin, the group's ferocious shows quickly caught the attention of the Vertigo label, which released the band's sole album, this 1972 self-titled set. From the opening track, the quartet's breathtaking musical skills are on display, with Terstall and the teenaged Beer trying to one-up each other's consummate solos.

The repertoire we have chosen for this album consists mainly of pieces that have been with me since my childhood. With this recital, Johan Dalene, accompanied by Peter Friis Johansson, offers us a selection of popular violin pieces that have accompanied him since his early years. After hearing them in the family car on long journeys, he went on to learn them and then play them in competitions and in concerts. He now gives us (and himself) a treat and continues the tradition of great violinists such as Heifetz, Perlman and Vengerov, who have all made recordings of favourite encores and recital pieces.

Best-selling Arcana title, a reference recording of a milestone of baroque violin literature.Recorded in the beautiful acoustics of the parish church of Hallstatt (Austria), where Gunar Letzbor was born, this personal and dramatic interpretation of Biber's most popular work, usually referred to today as the Mistery or Rosary sonatas, comes back after years of absence.Gunar Letzbor makes his journey through the mysteries or events in the life of the Virgin Mary using two different violins and accompanied by no fewer than six musicians playing kaleidoscopic combinations of harpsichord, organ, lute, archlute, two bass viols and double bass a big continuo group which enhances and intensifies the changing moods of the cycle.

Whether it was singing with Big Brother And The Holding Company or with her Full Tilt Boogie Band, Janis Joplin had one of the most identifiable, most emotional and most soulful voices ever recorded. Coming to San Francisco from Texas in 1966, Janis soon had the music world’s total attention, simply blowing the audience away at Monterey in 1967 while fronting Big Brother and gaining a record deal with Columbia Records in the process. After that, it was hit after hit with songs like her signature Piece Of My Heart, Cry Baby, and her Number One take of Kris Kristofferson’s present day standard Me And Bobby McGee, all included here. Through it all, Janis Joplin established herself as one of the very best and one of the most important singers and song interpreters ever to hit the music scene.

Darkness And Light is the fifth studio album from acclaimed, multi-platinum selling, Oscar, Golden Globe and 10x Grammy Award winning American singer/songwriter John Legend. It was released on December 2nd via Columbia Records as follow-up to 2013’s “Love In the Future.“ This new 12 song collection is produced by Blake Mills (Alabama Shakes), and features multiple guest collaborations including Chance the Rapper, Alabama Shakes' Brittany Howard, and Miguel. The lead single and video from Darkness And Light, is the anthemic track, "Love Me Now," written and produced by John Legend with Blake Mills and John Ryan (One Direction).

Crack all the jokes you want about Mike Oldfield and his Tubular Bells becoming the hit theme song for The Exorcist. While Oldfield is an amazing guitarist who could play with the best of them, with a lithe synth touch that became a trademark, the bottom line is that the man is a serious composer. All the proof one needs apart from his own records like Incantations and Hergest Ridge is this killer movie score. While Oldfield used a purely Western and neo-classical formal approach to write the music for Roland Joffé's dramatization of true events, his musical mates were among the best in the business at helping him to bring it off: David Bedford wrote arrangements and directed the choir, while Eberhard Schoener helped to conduct and direct another choir (!) and master percussionist Morris Pert lent his talents to the mix as well…

An outstanding UK band with PENDRAGON/GENESIS influences and occasional flourishes of Pink Floyd. The Long Goodbye is a debut album released in 1996. The band has a dramatic vocal style, HACKETTesque guitars. The flute on the album, played by Martin Orford, adds a bit of variation. Fans of symphonic progressive rock should appreciate Moria Falls. Band members include Miff (vocals), David White (keyboards), Patrick Darlington (bass, acoustic guitar), Richard Jordan (drums, 12 string & nylon string guitars) and Glen Sandeman (electric guitars).

This early ECM New Series offering chronicles the music of Walter Frye, a 15th-century English composer whose biographical details are as elusive as his music is captivating. He is survived by a significant handful of vocal works, of which the Hilliard Ensemble gives us a thoughtful cross section. Of these, the Ave regina is the most well known, though the Missa Flos regalis forms the backbone of this altogether revelatory album. The mass itself - which, in true Hilliard fashion is divided among a selection of motets - is a brooding flow of delicate harmonies, seamless “hand-offs,” and intimate exchanges. Its inward-looking tone invites the listener into a prayerful space in which worldly cares are both the source of one’s burdens and the key to absolving them. Frye’s motets are also indicative of a great craftsman at work…

"Okinawa" was the first LP recorded by the Baltimore group OHO. It was a private release in 1974. OHO started in late 1973 in Baltimore on the ashes of the band Little Hans. They played experimental progressive rock influenced by Frank Zappa, as well as British prog bands of the first echelon, such as King Crimson and Yes. "Okinawa" is astonishingly full of weirdness that falls somewhere in Syd Barret-era Floydland: some psychedelia, some art noise, some bizarre theatrics - but all around inventive and well-crafted.
The band name was an acronym of its core members' surnames (O'Sullivan, Heck and O'Connor). After two proper albums, Okinawa and Vitamin Oho, the band disbanded, with Jay Graboski and Mark O'Connor moving on to form the more new-wave influenced Food for Worms…