A Soldiers Plaything (1930) Michael Curtiz, Ben Lyon, Harry Langdon, Lotti Loder

The four composers we have selected for this recording span some 65 years of French musical history. Each composer has a unique style, with especially Franck, Fauré, and Ravel all representing a revival of French music in their own time.

This six CD box - the first serious, multi-disc reappraisal of Chapin's work - presents the nine albums he issued from 1972 to 1978: Heads And Tales, Sniper And Other Love Songs, Short Stories, Verities And Balderdash, Portrait Gallery, Greatest Stories Live, On The Road To Kingdom Come, Dance Band On The Titanic, and Living Room Suite. After Elektra, Chapin signed with Boardwalk for a final album before dying tragically and prematurely in a car accident in 1981. With 4000-word notes, placing Chapin's career in context, and arguing for his elevation in the cultural hierarchy, by Record Collector contributor, Charles Donovan. Acoustic guitarist and singer/songwriter, Harry Chapin, who was born in New York, was a pioneer of the elaborate story-song, a style whose roots lay in folk and country music.

Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five: Motow's Greatest hits 1969-1975. 1992, import on Polydor records Japan (POCT-1005). 20 tracks in total. Out of print.

Like the Beatles and Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson is one of the handful of artists that can release an album of their number one singles. "Number Ones" includes his solo chart toppers in the UK and abroad from the period beginning with his Off the Wall album right up to the new song "One More Chance", a collaboration with R Kelly. The remaining 17 songs on the album are all classics drawn from the disco-soul Off the Wall, the funky Thriller, the good Bad, the safe Dangerous, the semi-best-of History and the weak Invincible. Regardless of whether the bulk of Number Ones has appeared on other greatest hits albums, this is still an incredible selection of Michael Jackson's best music.

Film told in flashbacks of an older man's obsession for a woman who can belong to no-one but can frustrate everyone. The backdrop is SternbergÍs surreal and fantastic Carnaval in Spain. In a café the older man details his encounters with the heart breaker that his younger friend has only just met at the parade. Forewarned, the young man swears he will avoid the fate of his friend, but rushes all the same to his evening rendezvous. A dreamlike story of frustrated, lost romance, spoken in the past tense, never really resolved.

This six CD box - the first serious, multi-disc reappraisal of Chapin's work - presents the nine albums he issued from 1972 to 1978: Heads And Tales, Sniper And Other Love Songs, Short Stories, Verities And Balderdash, Portrait Gallery, Greatest Stories Live, On The Road To Kingdom Come, Dance Band On The Titanic, and Living Room Suite. After Elektra, Chapin signed with Boardwalk for a final album before dying tragically and prematurely in a car accident in 1981. With 4000-word notes, placing Chapin's career in context, and arguing for his elevation in the cultural hierarchy, by Record Collector contributor, Charles Donovan. Acoustic guitarist and singer/songwriter, Harry Chapin, who was born in New York, was a pioneer of the elaborate story-song, a style whose roots lay in folk and country music.

2009 three CD collection containing all of Michael's solo releases recorded for the Motown label, 1971-75. Includes the full complete albums Got To Be There, Ben, Music & Me and Forever, Michael plus non album recordings and cuts released after he had left the label. 'Michael Jackson could make you forget he was so young'. So writes Suzee Ikeda, a Motown artist and A&R assistant who was a creative confidante of a teenaged Michael, in her introductory essay to Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection.

Julie Lyon is an extraordinary jazz singer. Classically trained and reared on pop, rock and blues, the draw of the vocal jazz greats, Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and others, opened the door to a world in which Ms. Lyon is now at the top of her game. On "Julie", whether it’s the robust swing of Dr. Lonnie Smith’s “Too Damn Hot” (lyrics by Julie Lyon), the deeply felt “Every Time We Say Goodbye” or the Parisian cafe as speakeasy atmosphere of Tom Wait’s “Temptation”, Julie’s voice is glorious and the band is in full flight.

Harry Chapin didn't spend his entire career on Elektra Records, but the years during which he found his most significant commercial success were most definitely during the Elektra era, starting with his 1971 debut album, Head & Tales. This effort is, as you'd expect from its title, one of the eight albums contained within The Elektra Collection (1971-1978). The others, in case you don't know his catalog backwards and forwards - heck, you may not know anything at all beyond “Cat's in the Cradle” - are Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972), Short Stories (1973), Verities & Balderdash (1974), Portrait Gallery (1975), On the Road to Kingdom Come (1976), Dance Band on the Titanic (1977), and Living Room Suite (1978). Chapin was one of the great singer-songwriters of the '70s, and people should know him for far more than just his signature song. Now's your chance to dive in and educate yourself.