Absolute Dance 2006

The 1970s were lost years for Irma Thomas in some respects. She was wholly out of the commercial mainstream and, sometimes, without a recording contract. Nor had she yet carved out her well-deserved niche as a torchbearer of the New Orleans vocal soul tradition. Instead, she was only able to grab some recording time and record releases here and there, usually on small labels. While this 19-song CD, A Woman's Viewpoint: The Essential 1970s Recordings, is probably about as good a compilation as can be assembled from this period, there's no getting around the realization that this is far from her best work on record.

Alessandro Scarlatti is generally considered one of the most important Italian composers of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. But his music, although it has received more attention in recent years, is still largely unknown. This is partly due to the large quantity of his output: in the genre of the chamber cantata alone at least six hundred compositions are with certainty attributable to him.

John Fahey - The Yellow Princess (1968) {Vanguard Records 79795-2 rel 2006}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 393 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 162 Mb
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© 1968, 2006 Vanguard Records | 79795-2
Finger-Picked Guitar / Contemporary Folk / Folk Jazz / Folk-Blues / Progressive Folk

This particular John Fahey side is a personal favorite of many of his devout fans for several reasons. And although such a judgment is tough, if one were looking to own only one album by this unique guitarist, The Yellow Princess could be the one. The recording sound is among the best of his many releases; at the proper volume, the effect is as if one had taken up residency inside the sound hole of a giant acoustic guitar. The program of pieces is marvelously emotional and varied, with many moments of precisely stated harmonies moving at courageously slow tempos. The second piece on the first side, "View (East from the Top of the Riggs Road/B&O Trestle)," is surely one of his masterpieces, on a par with Charles Ives for musical Americana.

ABBA - Arrival (1976) {2006, Remastered, Deluxe Edition, CD+DVD, Polar, 985836-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 442 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 133 Mb
DVD9 -> 5.19 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 4:3 | English (Dolby AC3, 2 ch) | ~ 97 m | ISO Image
Subs: English, Deutsch, Portugues, Japanese, Svenska, Espanol, Francais
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© 1976, 2006 Polar Music / Universal | 985836-2
Pop / Euro-Pop

ABBA Arrival (2006 issue Deluxe Edition 2-disc [CD/DVD] set comprising a 16-track CD album features the classic hits Dancing Queen, Knowing Me Knowing You & Money Money Money alongside 5 Bonus Recordings including Fernando and 3 Spanish Versions; plus Bonus DVD containing a collection of some of the rarest interviews and most sought-after vintage television performances [previously unreleased on DVD] including the legendary 1976 special ABBA-dabba-dooo!! a cartoon version of Happy Hawaii footage from the Dancing Queen recording session and much more.

Nile Rodgers Presents - The Chic Organization - Boxset Vol. 1 / "Savoir Faire" (2010) {4CD Warner 5249827895 rec 1977-1983}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.85 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 651 Mb
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© 1977-83, 2010 Atlantic / Wea / Warner / Rhino | 5249827895
Funk / Dance Pop / Soul / Post Disco

In 1976, Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards founded the legendary CHIC Organization Ltd. Together they wrote and produced many number one hits and very quickly became the biggest hit music factory since Motown. A few years after the dawn of Disco, Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards disbanded The Chic Organization Ltd., but they kept on playing & producing, with Nile Rodgers quickly becoming the biggest pop producer of the 80’s. In 1983, he produced David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” and in 1984, Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”. Many more artists also benefited from his incredible production skills and unique guitar style, including Mick Jagger, INXS, Duran Duran, Eric Clapton, Hall & Oates, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mariah Carey, Maroon 5, Michael Jackson, Grace Jones…to name but a few.

This 10-CD box set of British orchestral music brings together a mouth-watering selection from the enterprising series of discs that the English conductor Douglas Bostock has made with various orchestras for the Classico label.
Important British composers are certainly featured - there are CDs devoted to Elgar, Holst, Vaughan Williams, Bax and Arnold - but this imaginative collection also includes many surprises, just waiting to be discovered, such as symphonies by Frederic Cowen and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Alan Bush and Ruth Gipps, concertos for orchestra by Edward Gregson, Alun Hoddinott and John McCabe, plus a host of smaller works. The recordings here, many world premieres, date from 1998 to 2005.

Nikolai Lugansky has established an extraordinary reputation playing Chopin and Rachmaninov, actively performing works of both composers all over the world. This outstanding 9-CD boxed set includes many of Lugansky's most celebrated recordings, having garnered the Diapason d'Or for the complete Chopin Etudes in 2000, Rachmaninoff Preludes and Moments Musicaux in 2001 and Chopin Preludes in 2002, as well as his acclaimed first disc of Beethoven Sonatas that includes the "Moonlight" and "Appassionata".