50+ Vol. 7, 2016

Generally acclaimed as fusion's greatest drummer, Billy Cobham's explosive technique powered some of the genre's most important early recordings – including groundbreaking efforts by Miles Davis and the Mahavishnu Orchestra – before he became an accomplished bandleader in his own right. At his best, Cobham harnessed his amazing dexterity into thundering, high-octane hybrids of jazz complexity and rock & roll aggression.

Blank & Jones hit double figures with their long running SoEighties series, with the announcement of so80s 10, another three-disc compilation of extended versions of from the best decade in pop, the 1980s. The tenth edition in this series contains over 30 remixes including the near 12-minute long version of the Sisters Of Mercy This Corrosion, Pat Benatar’s Love Is A Battlefield, and Laura Branigan’s Self Control. Sade make a rare outing on a remix compilation with the extended version of Sweetest Taboo, and the Pet Shop Boys‘ Love Comes Quickly, which somehow peaked at a lowly number 19 in the UK back in the day, is included in full-length Shep Pettibone Mastermix guise.

2016 four CD set. This box contains the first four releases from Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, the good-time 10-piece band that Bill Wyman put together after leaving the Rolling Stones in 1992…

A massive collection with faszinating mystic sounds from Africa, Asia and Orient. "Buddha Deluxe Lounge" with his 50 trax slides you in a faszinating mystic mood. Exotic instruments, mystic vocals phrases, a mystical journey into another world. Enjoy "Buddha Deluxe Lounge Vol.12" …50 mystic bar sounds!
Includes continuous mix by DJ Maretimo.

Masaaki Suzuki was an organist before he was a conductor, and his recordings of Bach's organ works have made a delightful coda to his magisterial survey of Bach cantatas with his Bach Collegium Japan. This selection, the second in a series appearing on the BIS label, gives a good idea of the gems available. You get a good mix of pieces, including a pair of Bach's Vivaldi transcriptions. Fans of Suzuki's cantata series will be pleased to note the similarities in his style between his conducting and his organ playing: there's a certain precise yet deliberate and lush quality common to both. And he has a real co-star here: the organ of the Kobe Shoin Women's University Chapel, built in 1983 by French maker Marc Garnier. The realizations of Bach's transcriptions of Vivaldi concertos fare especially well here, with a panoply of subtle colors in the organ. Sample the first movement of the Concerto in D minor, BWV 596, with its mellow yet transcendently mysterious tones in the string ripieni. BIS backs Suzuki up with marvelously clear engineering in the small Japanese chapel, and all in all, this is a Bach organ recording that stands out from the crowd. Highly recommended.

UK five CD box set. The Original Album Series contains a quintet of albums packaged in mini-LP sleeves and housed in a slip case. This set includes the following albums by the British folk/prog legends: Under Wraps, Crest Of A Knave, Rock Island, Catfish Rising and Roots To Branches.

VOLUME TWO : 5CD set, in card LP replica sleeves. Collects "Greasy Truckers Party : Live" (1972), "Live At The Padget Rooms, Penarth" (1972), "Back Into The Future" (1973), "Christmas At The Patti : Live" (1973) and "Maximum Darkness : Live" (1975)…

A pioneer of the electric violin in the 1970’s, and an inspired manipulator of sequencers and synthesisers in the 1980’s, Jean-Luc Ponty is the undisputed master of his instrument in this area. Experimenting with electronics and synthesis, he liberated the violin’s image and capabilities from classical or folk settings. After cutting several albums for the World Pacific label in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, In 1974, fresh from a tour with the Mahavishnu Orchestra until he signed a solo deal with Atlantic Records. Throughout the next decade, he was to record a dozen visionary albums, 5 of which are included here.