Auto Strassenverkehr From N 01 02 2017 From 14 Dezember 2016

Sometimes people assume progressive rock should be ever-changing, always experimental and constantly ground-breaking. But sometimes, when you’re lying in your bed with a book to read and a cup of tea, and when you’re not in the mood for listening to a 25-minute experimental avant-garde prog-jazz opus, you look for familiarity and simplicity. Berlin-based prog-folk outfit Favni, formerly known as “Fauns”, achieves exactly this intimacy with their newest album Windswept…

Composer Michael William Balfe composed 29 operas, and around 250 other pieces. He is best known for his opera The Bohemian Girl. Balfe’s opera Satanella was his 23rd opera, and was premiered at Covent Garden in 1858. The work is a hybrid of classical opera tradition and stand-alone songs. This release is performed by the John Powell Singers and the Victorian Opera Orchestra under the direction of Richard Bonynge.

A group of like-minded jazz musicians formed the original core of Piirpauke in 1974. Coming toward the end of the classic era of progressive music, the Finnish band established themselves almost immediately as a folk-inspired group with a free form, improvisational style and a tendency toward long, eclectic original arrangements. While the band would veer into more contemporary, pop and even classical compositions during the eighties and nineties, they would return to their jazz-folk roots in the new millennium. Despite an evolving membership the band has endured for nearly 46 years, releasing more than 20 studio albums as well as a wide range of live recordings and compilations.

Phil Collins certainly has enough hits to fill out a double-disc compilation – in the U.K. he had 25 Top 40 singles and he reached the Billboard Top 40 21 times in the U.S., with many of them overlapping – but the 2016 set The Singles doesn't march through these hits in chronological order. Opening with "Easy Lover," his 1985 duet with Earth, Wind & Fire's Philip Bailey, this 33-track compilation happily hopscotches through the years. Such non-chronological sequencing does mean certain hits are saved for the greatest emotional impact – naturally, "Take Me Home" closes out the proceedings – but it also focuses attention on songs that weren't blockbusters, whether it's such meditative turn-of-the-'90s adult contemporary hits as "That's Just the Way It Is" or the brooding early single "Thru These Walls."

Like Mick Jagger before him, Steven Tyler itched to launch a solo career, but where Mick struck while the iron was relatively hot – 20 years after "Satisfaction," true, yet the Rolling Stones still packed arenas – the Aerosmith singer took the better part of a decade to figure out what he wanted to do on his own. Stumbling through a starring gig on American Idol and an accompanying flop single that led to an awkward 2012 reunion with Aerosmith, Tyler finally resurfaced as a country singer – a surprise, because the closest he ever came to country was the Desmond Child co-write "What It Takes," a power ballad that provides a good touchstone for 2016's We're All Somebody from Somewhere.

John Holt - 4000 Volts Of Holt: The Classic Albums Collection (2016) {2 CD Set Trojan Records TJDCD547 rec 1974-1976}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 999 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 359 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 79 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1974-76, 2016 Trojan Records / BMG / Sanctuary Records | TJDCD547
Reggae / Reggae Pop / Smooth Reggae / Rocksteady

In 1972, one of Jamaica's most popular and successful singers, John Holt, teamed up with British-born record producer, Tony Ashfield to create a style of reggae aimed at appealing to music listeners of all ages and colours throughout the world. By combining Jamaican rhythms with sophisticated western arrangements, the pair succeeded in their aim, producing an album that exceeded all expectations. ‘The Further You Look’ set the standard for what later became widely known as ‘pop reggae’ and quickly became a must-have album for a broad spectrum of record buyers, selling in vast numbers amongst both black and white communities.

A new recording from violinist Rachel Podger is always worth attention. And before you even get to appreciating the first-class performances - faithful realizations of Bach’s Art of Fugue skillfully arranged for strings - you notice the immediate, vibrant presence of the instruments. The sound is stunning, reminiscent of the early days of digital recording, when listeners used to marvel at how realistic the sound was. Channel Classics has been doing this forever; we just may have forgotten how special it is when it’s done right.