Two CD set. The Misunderstood must rank as one of the greatest cult bands of the '60 psychedelia era. The band began forging their innovative sound in Riverside, California, where they were discovered by DJ John Peel (then working in the US as John Ravenscroft). Having cut a few recordings locally, the band relocated to the UK on Peel's recommendation. In London, The Misunderstood signed to Fontana Records to cut what are considered six landmark tracks. Issued that December, 'I Can Take You To The Sun' remains a high watermark of the original psychedelia era and was backed by an explosive version of Bo Diddley's 'Who Do You Love', but the band broke up soon afterwards when singer Rick Brown was drafted. A second single, the blistering psych rock of 'Children Of The Sun' (backed by the anti-war gem 'I Unseen') was belatedly issued in February 1969 when a new line-up of the band re-signed to the label. In 1982, Cherry Red released the landmark compilation LP, Before The Dream Faded, which not only unveiled two further Fontana recordings, the high octane 'Find The Hidden Door' and 'My Mind' but also collated seven archive tracks from the band's Riverside days. Since then, additional recordings have surfaced on various retrospectives. Children Of The Sun finally assembles The Misunderstood's entire known output from 1965-1966 onto one package, suitably re-mastered by Alec Palao. With incisive sleeve-notes from Mike Stax (Ugly Things) and involvement with various original band members, and a handsome design from Andy Morten (Shindig!), this is truly the definitive document of a legendary underground band, assembled by those who love their music.

Esoteric Recordings is pleased to announce the release of a 4CD clamshell boxed set by Climax Blues Band, “The Albums 1973-1976”. This release is the second collection of Climax Blues Band albums and features their work issued between 1973 and 1976, a period of commercial and concert success for the group which saw the release of the albums FM Live, Sense Of Direction, Stamp Album and Gold Plated.
Formed in Stafford in 1968 by Colin Cooper, the band (originally known as the Climax Chicago Blues Band) recorded their first live album, FM Live, in New York City at the Academy of Music. The album was originally released as a single LP in the UK by Polydor Records, but issued as an entire performance by Sire Records in the USA. The version in this set is the original US double album running order (with the full version of Goin’ to New York)…

First-ever issue of unknown Summer-of-1967 album by cult UK psychedelic pop group Living Daylights. Mono and stereo mixes of the album are joined by their brace of highly collectable singles, including their near- hit recording of 'Let's Live For Today Led by Garth Watt-Roy and his younger brother (future Blockhead) Norman, five-piece Harlow band Living Daylights signed with Beatles publisher Dick James in 1967. Paired with a studio production team that included Caleb Quaye, the band were given a song that James published, 'Let's Live For Today', as their debut single. Released in April 1967, it entered Radio London's Fab Forty after being championed by the pirate station's DJ John Peel. Also issued in America, the song showed significant sales potential, and Dick James decided the band should record an album that would be rushed out if the single became a success. Unfortunately, 'Let's Live For Today' lost out to a cover version by American band The Grass Roots, who scored a US Top Ten hit.

The Embermen Five was a garage rock band formed in the 1960s in Minot, North Dakota. Their album "The Complete Recordings" was released on October 18, 2024, under the Super Oldies label. The collection features 27 tracks recorded throughout the band's career.

Nilüfer Yanya formally announces her new album My Method Actor, out September 13th on Ninja Tune. The news arrives alongside the release of her new single, the near-title track “Method Actor,” and follows her recent single “Like I Say (I runaway),” which the New York Times described as, “reveling in contrasting textures” and The FADER called, “a jolting return.”
As a whole, Nilüfer Yanya’s third album asks questions with no easy answers. It is a supple, expansive body of work that peers into the crevices of life, exploring them with comforting strings, skittering beats, soul-tinged melodies and swooning harmonies. It asks, who are we? Why do we follow the paths we follow? What is at the heart of it all?

The legacy of the Krautrock primeval rock, which is still active as one of the oldest German bands. On the occasion of the 50th birthday of the German cult herb rock band Bröselmaschine, MIG-Music put together a sensational box with five CDs and two DVDs that fully documents the history of this unique group from 1968 to 2017.
The anthology contains the four studio albums from 1971, 1976, 1978 and 1984 as well as a concert recording of the Burg Herzberg Festival in 2006. The concert and a performance at the Rockpalast (2005) can be found on the two DVDs. An impressive 48-page booklet with detailed liner notes and many photos make this carefully remastered compilation a special gem. It is exciting and entertaining to accompany this extraordinary band over the decades in different formations.

Parrott's decision to perform this selection of Vivaldi's sacred music with sopranos and altos shows how the all-female forces of La Pietà might have coped with tenor and bass lines. Delectable performances in superior sound.

The Big Latin Band of Henry Mancini (1968). A great little album of Latiny tunes from Henry Mancini - played by a very hip lineup of west coast jazzmen! The rhythms have a great mix of Latin influences and Mancini magic - the kind of grooves you'd hear on his 60s soundtracks at the time, played by a lineup that includes Bud Shank and Tom Scott on reeds, Buddy Childers and Pete Candoli on trumpets, Ray Brown on acoustic bass, Max Bennett on fender bass, Larry Bunker on percussion, and Shelly Manne on drums. The vibe is nice and relaxed - a bit more upbeat than bossa, but not as all-out as other RCA Latin sessions - thanks to Mancini's nice sense of warmth and space in the arrangements…

Willie James Lyons plays just a few bars and if you dig the blues you immediately realize that he is one of the greatest blues-guitarists. Yet, this album is the first he has recorded! He is a very personal musician, an exceptional creator with inventive ideas, with phrases full of lyrism and feelings. His very beautiful, warm and pure tone allows one to identify him from the very first notes. Along with Willie Kent the singer of the band, you'll get a taste of an every night bluessession on Chicago's West Side. Hot, pure, intence and full of deep emotion of the blues.

The Eton Choirbook is a richly illuminated manuscript collection of English sacred music composed during the late fifteenth century. The Huelgas Ensemble, known for their splendid interpretations, selected five astonishing works which were never recorded before. Founded by Paul Van Nevel in 1970, the Huelgas Ensemble soon specialized in the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, drawing closely on primary sources and making a vital contribution to the study of early music through its published research. The Ensemble's performances are informed by a profound understanding of medieval and Renaissance vocal techniques and practices.

This album from Major Records and re-flexion is the continuation of the Elektrisch! series. As the previous one, Volume 2 is also packed with exclusive and rare club remixesfrom well known bands and artists as well as hot newcomes from the electronic music scene.
Alphaville, Camouflage, Erasure, Unheilig, Boytronic and many more.

“Indisputably the most consummate artist in the history of the classical trumpet,” was how Gramophone described Maurice André, a musician characterised by both brilliance and refinement. These six CDs, which give pride of place to music from the 18th and 20th centuries, complement some of the most popular concertos ever written for trumpet with an enticing and fascinating selection of rarely-heard works.

Like many other composers of his time, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) reused and rewrote much of his earlier material, often transcribing entire works for new instruments. So it probably would not have surprised him that musicians today are doing the same things with his music. Theorobist Hopkinson Smith follows up his successful album of Bach's Cello Suites 4, 5 & 6 transcribed for lute with the present disc of Nos. 1, 2 & 3, saying he transcribed the latter for theorbo because he finds the instrument more ideally suited in sound and aesthetic to the first three suites.

Philippe Pierlot and the Ricercar Consort's 2006 recording of Bach's Magnificat brings back the glory days of historically informed performances, those halcyon days in the 1980s when musicians, empowered by scholarship and energized by virtuosity, were recording the Baroque repertoire with the zeal of the newly converted. Though Pierlot and his musicians are of a younger generation, they bring a missionary fervor to the music, a program of Bach's Magnificat, BWV 243, and Missa Brevis, BWV 235, interspersed with two well-chosen organ works, the Fuga sopra il Magnificat, BWV 733, and the Präludium und Fuga, BWV 541. Pierlot's textures are clean, his rhythms buoyant, his colors bright, and tempos brisk, but not rushed in the fast movements, and contemplative but not moribund in the slow movements.

Six CD set. Long acknowledged as one of the greatest and most influential acoustic guitarists to emerge from the British folk scene, the late John Renbourn is best known to the wider world for his membership of Pentangle, the genre-busting band that he was instrumental in bringing together in 1967. Pentangle's recordings are widely available, most recently with Cherry Red's 2017 highly-acclaimed box set Pentangle: The Albums. However, Renbourn recorded extensively both before and during the band's early genesis, with a trio of solo albums joined by two vital collaborations with American-born folk singer Dorris Henderson as well as Bert And John, his joint album with Bert Jansch in 1966. Housed in a clamshell box that boasts replica album sleeves, some very rare photos and a new essay on the man, Unpentangled anthologises that essential but often overlooked body of early work.