One of the most dynamic, most on-fire blues albums recorded during the 60s by Delmark Records - a set that bursts right out of the Chicago clubs with the guitar of JB Hutto firmly in the lead! Hutto's a killer right from the start - singing and playing with a ferocity that easily matches, if not beats, the bigger 60s names on Chess Records - and his style of inflection leaves us wondering how often he must have to change the strings, or maybe even his entire guitar! The album's got some great help in the small combo too - with Sunnyland Slim on organ and piano, and the unlikely Maurice McIntyre on tenor sax - blowing very well in a bluesy mode, before rising to later avant territory as Kalaparusha.

John Surman is an artist with an amazing range and depth of style, from contemporary classical to jazz to electronic music. In few places is this more evident than on A Biography of the Rev. Absalom Dawe, on which Surman acts as a sort of one-man wind chamber ensemble, playing baritone saxophone (his signature instrument) as well as soprano sax, alto and bass clarinets, and keyboards. The electronic elements are few and unobtrusive, and the keyboard's bright tones are a good match for the fluid, breathy sounds of the wind instruments. The music itself is nearly always ethereal and atmospheric, without journeying into the territory of askeletal new age softness. Instead, the execution seems precise and intentional; each instrument was recorded separately and then mixed as individual units into the whole, giving Surman additional opportunities for crispness of sound…

Michael Jackson helped shape the sound and style of the 1970s and '80s and was one of the 20th century's defining stars, an artist and all-around entertainer who greatly informed pop culture on a global scale. The singer, songwriter, producer, and dancer rose to stardom at the dawn of the '70s as the prodigious focal point of the Jackson 5. Amid early success with the sibling Motown group, who would remain prominent for several years, Jackson branched out as a solo artist, and with "Ben" (1972) he topped the pop chart for the first of 13 times. A later starring role in The Wiz sparked a creative partnership with producer Quincy Jones. The first result was Off the Wall (1979), a dazzling disco-era album that announced Jackson as a mature talent with the number one hits "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You." Determined to appeal to R&B, rock, and pop audiences at once, he responded with Thriller (1982).

A group of like-minded jazz musicians formed the original core of Piirpauke in 1974. Coming toward the end of the classic era of progressive music, the Finnish band established themselves almost immediately as a folk-inspired group with a free form, improvisational style and a tendency toward long, eclectic original arrangements. While the band would veer into more contemporary, pop and even classical compositions during the eighties and nineties, they would return to their jazz-folk roots in the new millennium. Despite an evolving membership the band has endured for nearly 46 years, releasing more than 20 studio albums as well as a wide range of live recordings and compilations.

George Frideric Handel’s Duetti da camera from La Risonanza represent a welcome extension of the ensemble’s award-winning series of Handel solo cantatas on Glossa, and come with the luxurious vocal pairing of Roberta Invernizzi and Marina De Liso.

Alexei Lubimov is one of the most admired pianists of his generation, particularly for his exploration of rarely-played repertoire on period instruments. Together with his disciple, harpsichordist and pianist Olga Pashchenko, a rising star of the new generation, and accompanied by the musicians of the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, they embark on a voyage of discovery into the music of Czech composer Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760-1812), with world premiere recordings on period instruments of his Concerto for Two Pianos and Notturno concertant. A trailblazing early romantic composer, Dussek created an innovative piano music style marked by a harmonic richness and intense emotional expressivity.

After a long war, Turkish emperor Soliman and Persian sophi Tamasse decide to seal the peace between their two countries and, to this end, exchange hostages. The preliminary treaty stipulates that, in order to make this alliance solid, Tamasse will wed Zanaida, Soliman s daughter. Meanwhile, the sophi falls in love with Osira, a Persian hostage sent by the emperor. This is where the action of this opera begins, the plot skillfully mixing Tamasse s infidelity, Zanaida s magnanimity, and Osira s ambition. It is a particularly appealing opera by the fourth and last of Johann Sebastian s sons, whose life was atypical for a Bach, for he carried out his career not in Germany but in Italy and England.

Zach Bryan Indebted to the literary side of Red Dirt – he wrote a song saluting Evan Felker of the Turnpike Troubadours, one of the genre's leading lights of the 2010s – Zach Bryan is a plaintive country troubadour. He began carving out his career while still enlisted in the Navy, recording his 2019 debut album, DeAnn, during a break in his service. It, along with videos he posted online, helped him cultivate an audience that crested with the 2020 release of Elisabeth and its accompanying single "Heading South." Bryan capitalized on his burgeoning popularity with American Heartbreak, a sprawling 2022 triple album that marked his major-label debut and mainstream breakthrough: it debuted at number one on Billboard's Country Albums chart.

Thomas Fanger brings his exquisite sensibility to bear on Parlez-vous Electronique?, his first solo release. The contrasting tonalities and fascinating interplay of sequencer patterns prove a compelling foundation for his melodically pure lead lines and harmonic motifs. The works are enlivened by Mellotron themes, warm pads and shimmering cosmic effects as intertwining patterns of synth tones race with each other across a galactic ocean of emptiness. The complex and detailed electronic rhythms build and then unravel as a unique space surrounds the listener. This album resembles the classics as Fanger summons the spirit of electronic invention to realize nine tracks drawn from the influential foundation of German Spacemusic. Working to his strengths, on Parlez-vous Electronique? Fanger does not merely re-create, but rather re-imagines the originals, and his compositions gain their power through a fascinating combination of the old with the new.

Gino Vannelli (born June 16, 1952) is a Canadian virtuoso pop/rock vocalist, singer and songwriter who had several hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s. His best-known singles included "I Just Wanna Stop" (1978) and "Living Inside Myself" (1981). Collection includes: Powerful People (1974); Storm At Sunup (1975); The Gist Of The Gemini (1976); A Pauper In Paradise (1977); Brother To Brother (1978); Nightwalker (1981); Big Dreamers Never Sleep (1987).

Hair of the Dog is the sixth studio album by the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth, released in 1975. The album was recorded at Escape Studios, Kent, with additional recording and mixing at AIR Studios, London, and is the group’s best known and highest selling release, with over two million copies sold worldwide. After three albums with Deep Purple's Roger Glover producing, Manny Charlton stepped into that position, one he filled for several subsequent albums.

Time really flies! Twenty years can go by in the blink of an eye. They say you see the passing of time by looking at your children. And yes, children grow up so fast, I can say that when I look at my own children. Sometimes us artists say that our albums are like our babies. It’s a labour of love to make each album and then release them, let them grow and find their own path.

Nazareth's second album of 1974 finds the group tempering the four-on-the-floor hard rock attack they developed on Loud and Proud by working a surprising and effective Southern rock edge into the songs. The end result is an album that sounds like a crossbreeding of early AC/DC and Lynyrd Skynyrd at their hardest rocking. Some of the country-tinged highlights include "Glad When You're Gone," a funny kissoff to an unwanted lover that pairs hillbilly-styled singing with wah-wah-drenched guitar riffs, and "Jet Lag," a tongue-in-cheek look at life as a touring rock & roller that is driven by some.

After putting themselves on the hard rock map with Razamanaz, Nazareth took their new, forceful style even further the next year on Loud & Proud. With Roger Glover once again at the controls, the group added even higher levels of distortion and energy to create one of the hardest rocking items in their catalog: "Go Down Fighting" starts the album with a sonic boom thanks to its blend of furious riffing with a breathless tempo, and the group's cover of "Teenage Nervous Breakdown" transforms this Little Feat into a runaway locomotive of hard rock riffing. However, the album's definitive moment of heaviness is their extended reworking of Bob Dylan's "The Ballad of Hollis Brown," which drenches the tune in ungodly levels of feedback to create an ominous, horror movie-style feel.

The Bob Dylan Complete Album Collection Vol. One is a colossal box set encompassing the entire official discography of the American songwriter-performer who's revolutionized folk, pop and rock music over the past half century with a profoundly influential catalog of songs and sounds. Beginning with tracks recorded for his eponymous 1962 Columbia Records debut album, the Bob Dylan Complete Album Collection Vol. One follows Dylan's restless transformations across six decades as a singer, a songwriter, a concert performer and a studio artist who's continually finding fresh ways of expressing and exploring the varieties of human experience, worldly and other, with music. The Bob Dylan Complete Album Collection Vol. One also brings together for the first time, on two "Side Tracks" discs, a wealth of previously released non-album singles, tracks from Biograph and other compilations, songs from films and more. The collection contains 35 studio titles (including the first-ever North American release of 1973's Dylan album on CD), 6 live albums, the 2-CD "Side Tracks," and a hardcover book featuring extensive new album-by-album liner notes penned by Clinton Heylin and a new introduction written by Bill Flanagan. All 41 official albums, including 14 newly remastered titles Also includes a 2CD compilation of songs not included on the original albums All the original artwork reproduced Hardcover booklet with extensive liner notes and rare photos.