Having made several changes in their business and musical efforts in 1972, Grand Funk Railroad made even more extensive ones in 1973, beginning with their name, which was officially truncated to "Grand Funk." And keyboardist Craig Frost, credited as a sideman on Phoenix, the previous album, was now a full-fledged bandmember, filling out the musical arrangements. The most notable change, however, came with the hiring of Todd Rundgren to produce the band's eighth album. Rundgren, a pop/rock artist in his own right, was also known for his producing abilities, and he gave Grand Funk exactly what they were looking for: We're an American Band sounded nothing like its muddy, plodding predecessors. Sonically, the record was sharp and detailed and the band's playing was far tighter and more accomplished…

An ECM New Series debut for a Danish composer of great originality. "Sørensen’s music is dreamscapes without boundaries," Nordic Sounds has written. "Down to the last detail of its structure it wishes to accommodate itself to the lyrical leaps and irregular rhythms of consciousness." On "Birds and Bells" Sørensen plays continually with spatial depth in the music, inviting the listener to experience it from unusual and changing perspectives as glissandi sweep through the ensemble sound and composed "echoes" reverberate. The music is well served by an exceptional pan-Scandinavian cast under the direction of Christian Eggen.

Building on her well-represented holiday catalog, Christmas with Judy Collins is essentially a reissue of the folk artist's 2000 release All on a Wintry Night, padded with two additional songs. All 14 tracks from Wintry Night are featured here in their original sequence with the addition of a new single, the western-tinged "Angels in the Snow" leading off the album, and a stirring, largely a cappella version of "Amazing Grace" closing it out. Fans of Collins' rich, warm voice will enjoy some of the more stripped-down arrangements, which feature her singing to a simple piano accompaniment on lesser-known carols like "In the Bleak Midwinter" and "Cherry Tree Carol." On the other hand, the dated synthesizer sounds on tracks like "Come Rejoice" and "Good King Wenceslas" sound rather homogenous and the spoken intro over the faux-strings of "Away in a Manger" is far too heavy-handed to take seriously. Fortunately, the bulk of the album's 16 tracks favor the more minimalist arrangements keeping Collins' lovely voice at the forefront without much distraction.

This Grammy-nominated disc heralds the origins of the highly acclaimed acoustic duo of Jerry Garcia (guitar/vocals) and David "Dawg" Grisman (mandolin). They had been chums for years by the time they began their direct partnership in earnest on December 7, 1990, with a nine-song set at the Sweetwater in Mill Valley, CA. Over half of that material would be reworked the following spring – for inclusion on this disc – at Grisman's newly appointed, plush, and well-lit Dawg Studios. Along with David Grisman Quintet members Jim Kerwin (bass) and Joe Craven (percussion/fiddle), Garcia and Grisman revive a few familiar tunes covering every dimension of popular music, ranging from the blues ("The Thrill Is Gone") to folk-rock ("Friend of the Devil"), as well as pop music standards such as Irving Berlin's "Russian Lullaby" – which Garcia had previously covered on his 1974 Garcia (Compliments) album – and Hoagy Carmichael's "Rockin' Chair." They also examined the origins of authentic traditional folk ("Walkin' Boss"/"Two Soldiers").

A selection of works which shows the courage to try the unusual: Ligeti’s Lux aeterna and Boyd’s As I crossed a bridge of dreams share a flowing of harmonic fields into one another as if in slow motion. On the other hand, Ligeti’s use of the technique of dividing an apparently endless flow of sound, with its related intervallic structures, into comprehensible periods, shows similarities to Scarlattis method of employing motives whose intervallic structure are interrelated. For Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen Gottwald transferred Ligeti’s technique of vocal writing to his arrangement of the Mahler Lied.

Il Marito Disperato was a very popular opera in the late 18th century, premiered in 1785 and revised for more performances in 1798. The fact that it has such a long and illustrious performance history and has since fallen into oblivion explains why the San Carlo Theatre thought it worthy of revival. The score is exceedingly lively and clever, based on a libretto that is clever as well as hilarious, so much so that even Mozart, in his Don Giovanni, saw it fit to ‘borrow’ from Il Marito Disperato (the statute scene)./quote]

Hyperion is delighted to present the debut recording of the wonderful young harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani. He was the first harpsichordist to be named a BBC New Generation Artist or to be awarded a fellowship prize by the Borletti- Buitoni Trust. Here Mahan Esfahani has recorded CPE Bach's six 'Württemberg' sonatas, which were written in 1742 and published in 1744, and his thrillingly intense performances make the best possible case for this dramatic, beautifully written, endlessly imaginative but for some reason under-performed music.

This CD traces Jelly Roll Morton's period in New York, starting with his second record date in the Big Apple. A few of the sessions have Morton joined by an excess of musicians, with the results certainly being spirited, if bordering on getting out of control. "Tank Town Bump" and "Red Hot Pepper Stomp" are the best of these numbers. In addition, Morton is heard on four excellent piano solos (including "Seattle Hunch" and "Freakish"), leading a nucleus taken from the Luis Russell Orchestra on four other songs, and playing as a sideman with vaudevillian clarinetist Wilton Crawley's pickup band, sometimes to hilarious effect. One of the true jazz giants, every recording by Jelly Roll Morton is well worth acquiring in one form or another.

Recorded by Norman Dayron live on the street (you can actually hear cars driving by!) in 1964 with just Robert Whitehead on drums and Johnny Young on rhythm guitar, Robert Nighthawk's slide playing (and single-string soloing, for that matter) are nothing short of elegant and explosive. Highlights include "The Maxwell Street Medley," which combines his two big hits "Anna Lee" and "Sweet Black Angel"; a mind-altering 12-bar solo on "The Time Have Come," which proves that Nighthawk's lead playing was just as well developed as his slide work; and a couple of wild instrumentals with Carey Bell sitting in on harmonica. Nighthawk sounds cool as a cucumber, presiding over everything with an almost genial charm while laying the toughest sounds imaginable…

Eye in the Sky provided the Alan Parsons Project with their first Top Ten hit since 1977's I Robot, and it's hard not to feel that crossover success was one of the driving forces behind this album. The Project never shied away from hooks, whether it was on the tense white funk of "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" or the gleaming pop hooks of "Games People Play," but Eye in the Sky was soft and smooth, so smooth that it was easy to ignore that the narrator of the title track was an ominous omniscient who spied either on his lover or his populace, depending on how deeply you wanted to delve into the concepts of this album. And, unlike I Robot or The Turn of a Friendly Card, it is possible to listen to Eye in the Sky and not dwell on the larger themes, since they're used as a foundation, not pushed to center stage…

THIS MONTH’S COVERMOUNT CD explores the chamber pop legacy of Hunky Dory, with tracks by Plush, Cardinal, Richard Swift, John Grant, St Vincent, Father John Misty, Mike Garson and more!

Pål Thowsen is a Norwegian drummer, mainly in jazz. He is known for his collaboration with a number of Norwegian and international jazz musicians, and has also released several solo albums and received two Spellemann awards. He started his career in the early 1970s as a musician in Arild Andersen's quartet, which experienced international success throughout the decade. At the same time, he was also a member of the jazz rock band Moose Loose. In 1973, he collaborated for the first time with the jazz guitarist Jon Eberson, a collaboration that has lasted throughout his career in various constellations. Has otherwise played with musicians such as Radka Toneff, Terje Rypdal, Palle Mikkelborg, Odd Riisnæs and Dag Arnesen and was a member of the Jazzpunk ensemble, the Net, Halle/Eberson/Thowsen/Kjellemyr and Metropolitan. Thowsen has released several albums under his own name and Sympathy is his third. Here he had help from i.a. Bendik Hofseth, Freddy Dahl, Sveinung Hovensjø,. Iver Kleive, Jon Eberson and Håkon Graf - and the then #1 brass line Jens Wendelboe/Fred Nøddelund/Petter Kateraas. Pål was nominated for artist of the year at the Spellemannprisen this year, but lost to The Monroes.