The best collection yet devoted to Procol Harum's classic early period ties together the many facets of their sound and their early history, including numerous outtakes and all of the music on four albums from 1967 through 1970. The clarity of the sound makes the first album - which was roundly criticized, especially in England, for having been cut in mono in late 1967 - seem a lot more muscular and progressive here than it did in its original release form. The producers have tampered with the song order on A Salty Dog, moving that record's title track in amongst disc three's single sides for time considerations while still leaving "Whiter Shade of Pale" and "Homburg" off of the first CD (the original commercial flaw with the debut album in England was the absence of either of those songs, and the seven-month-plus delay in getting it out)…
Commemorating the 30th anniversary of Nirvana's seminal 1991 release, the Nevermind 2 CD Deluxe Edition contains the newly remastered album from the original analog tapes and selections from 4 concerts on the Nevermind Tour from Amsterdam, Melbourne, Tokyo, and Del Mar, California.
Rosanne Cash left Nashville in the early 90's. The first album she recorded in New York with John Leventhal, The Wheel, celebrates 30 years with an exclusive 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition that features a 2023 Remastered version of the original album and an additional 11 tracks from the 1993 Live from Austin City Limits and Live from The Columbia House Records Radio Hour sessions, making their digital debut. Rosanne says of the album, "It’s satisfying and sweet to re-introduce The Wheel in this thirtieth anniversary year. I can’t look back at that time and separate the music from Love. What was true then has become more true and more alive every day since. We listen to this record now, and wish we had mixed the vocal a little louder on this track, or had a different guitar sound on that track, but honestly, it’s perfect for its time and place. I have a friend who doesn’t believe that artists evolve, but that there are only different stages and expressions. I’m not sure about that, but in either case, I’m so grateful for The Wheel. It turns out I can’t orchestrate the movement of the stars. They do that all on their own."
The celebrate the 30th anniversary of his first stage appearance in 1961, Pavarotti invited many of today's leading operatic stars to the Teatro Valli in Reggio Emilia. This gala concert proved one of the most distinguished and memorable of its kind…
The Vienna Art Orchestra is a 15-member jazz orchestra that features the avant-garde arrangements and compositions of its leader, pianist Mathias Ruegg. This is a reissue of their 1980 debut, an important document in the post-modern jazz movement. The opening, title track is a joyous, folkish tango that's been cartoonishly toyed with, featuring three solo sections. The marimba section is also ornamented with vocalese from Lauren Newton, followed by an extremely playful horn lead that sounds like a toy instrument. The solo offering from violinist Rudi Berger has an electronically effected fusion sound. A tight, alto sax solo by Wolfgang Puschnig ties everything together neatly with a lengthy, unaccompanied performance.
This stalwart independent label, headquartered in San Francisco, began in a small Ann Arbor club and grew into one of the most important imprints in blues. Thirty-three tunes ricochet between the potent old-school Chicago stylings of Buddy Guy and Junior Wells's classic "Hoodoo Man Blues" and Big Walter Horton'ss swinging shuffle "Put the Kettle On" to the intriguing pop-folk hybrid of Roy Rogers and Norton Buffalo and the dashing retro-nuevo guitarisms of Nick Curran & the Niteflies to the brawny Texas-schooled sounds of Omar & the Howlers and Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King. The label's Delta blues side is underrepresented, although James Cotton and Elvin Bishop offer two great flavors of cottonland grind.
Released in April 1980, British Steel became Judas Priest s first RIAA platinum Top 40 album in the U.S. Now British Steel s 30th anniversary moment officially arrives, commemorating one of the most influential albums in heavy metal, a record that fellow musicians and disciples credit for unleashing metal from its blues origins…
Originally released in 1983, the debut album from Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, otherwise known as Tears For Fears, instantly blasted off one of the most stellar careers of the 1980s. Immaculately produced, stunningly sequenced and comprised of a sequence of timeless electronic pop classics, ‘The Hurting’ sympathetically explored themes of childhood angst, adolescent heartache and the struggles of the transition from boy to man. It also gave birth to four of the era’s essential singles – ‘Suffer The Children’, ‘Pale Shelter’, ‘Change’ and the landmark megahit ‘Mad World’. Compiled with the full involvement of Roland and Curt, ‘The Hurting – 30th Anniversary Edition’ brings together the original album remastered at Abbey Road studios, plus all of the relevant B-sides, edits and remixes from the period, many of them available for the first time.