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The Swedish band Carptree are lifelong friends (Niclas Flinck and keyboardist Carl Westholm) who in 1997 decided 'to combine good, and sometimes catchy, melodies with more dramatic and progressive arrangements.' In 2001 they released their self-titled debut to some mixed reviews. Some felt that they were a talented band, but others felt they relied too heavily on programmed synths. Their follow-up of Superhero in 2003, however, was a bit more accessible and appealed to fans of Genesis and Fish-era Marillion alike, while flirting with spacier textures in the form of Porcupine Tree. In 2005, Carptree took on a much darker tone with Man Made Machine. It still had that neo touch, but dabbled on what some have described as art rock…

Seven CD box set with a full illustrated discography by renowned Fall expert Conway Paton. The discs have been remastered by Fall engineer Andy Pearce and come with a newly designed book in a box. The Fall is an English post-punk band, formed in Manchester in 1976…

First staged in Naples in 1819, Rossini’s opera La donna del lago is based on Walter Scott’s romantic poem The Lady of the Lake, setting a precedent for later composers, who also drew on Scott for their plots. Set in exotic 16th-century Scotland, the opera deals with the conflict between the Highland clansmen under Douglas and King James V, who generously forgives his enemy and allows the betrothal of his beloved Ellen, Douglas’s daughter, to his former enemy, Malcolm.

This recording is the first official release in any format of this once-in-a-lifetime concert performance featuring Dame Joan Sutherland and Fritz Wunderlich. In 1959 performances of Handel were just beginning to embrace the original instrument movement making this recording an invaluable historic record of performance practice. In addition to musicological interest, the CDs present Joan Sutherland at the beginning of her illustrious career in the full bloom of youth. She was flown in as a last minute replacement for the scheduled soprano and proceeded to give a virtuoso performance of the demanding title role. Full of Handel's gorgeous melodies and with vocal fireworks in bountiful supply, it is no wonder that Sutherland completely awed the German public. She is joined by Fritz Wunderlich, the acclaimed German tenor, in their one-and-only collaboration. He as well was a last minute replacement and rises to the exacting demands of Handel. His rich and pliant tone is perfectly suited to the technical and dramatic demands of the opera.

Farnace was apparently one of Vivaldi's favorite operas because he mounted numerous productions in various cities and wrote six versions of the score, more than of any of his other operas. The conventions of operatic vocal characterizations that came to be standard higher voices in the sympathetic roles and lower voices in villainous roles had not yet been established, and Farnace features a baritone and contralto in the heroic roles, with a soprano as the villain.

The opera is based on a libretto adapted by the poet Silvio Stampiglia for Giovanni Bononcini, whose setting was staged at Rome’s Teatro di Torre Nona in 1694. Handel completed his opera in 1738 in little more than a month. However, his typically swift pace and resourceful treatment of musical themes and models should not be misconstrued as complacency, carelessness, or low imaginative powers. The autograph manuscript reveals that Handel invested considerable skill in arias that are perfectly tailored to the dramatic storyline, many of which were meticulously crafted and then redrafted.

This 56 track box set contains the first four studio albums recorded by The Glitter Band during the heyday of Glam, 1974-76. Disc 1 is the Glam Rock masterpiece 'Hey!' which spent three months in the UK National Charts, eventually peaking at No.13. It features the hit singles 'Angel Face' (UK No.8, Germany No.8, Australia No.2) and 'Just For You' (UK No.10, Germany No.35) plus a bonus non LP B-side. The second CD is the 'Rock N Roll Dudes' LP which hit No.17 in the UK in May 1975. The hit singles 'Let's Get Together Again' (UK. No.8, Germany No.19) and 'Goodbye My Love' (UK.No.2, Germany No.32) are included alongside two non LP B-sides. 'Listen To The Band' is Disc 3 and it includes the hit singles 'The Tears I Cried' (UK. No.8, Germany No.35, Australia No.5), 'Love In The Sun' (UK No.15) and 'People Like You And People Like Me' (UK No.5, Germany No.14) as well as the USA Top 100 'Makes You Blind' and the non-charting 'Alone Again'. The final CD is 1976's 'Paris Match' album which includes the singles 'Look What You've Been Missing', 'Lay Your Love On Me' and 'She Was Alright'.

ZZ Top closed out their tenure with London Records in late 1977 with The Best of ZZ Top, a basic but terrific ten-song retrospective of highlights from their first five albums (well, four, actually, since the underwhelming Tejas is ignored). There are no surprises here, just album rock favorites, which means it does draw heavily on Tres Hombres (four songs, total), adds Fandango's "Tush," "Blue Jean Blues," and "Heard It on the X" for good measure, then rounds it out with two songs from Rio Grande Mud and a selection from the debut. Yeah, there are a couple good album tracks missing, but as a ten-song summary of their early years, this can't be beat.