The Rippingtons' 20th studio album, 2014's Fountain of Youth, is an expansive, layered, and stylistically varied release conceptualized around the travels of early European explorers like Juan Ponce de León, whose search for an elusive magical fountain inspired the album's title. Once again showcasing guitarist and longtime bandleader Russ Freeman, the album finds the journeyman smooth jazz outfit exploring a wide array of sounds, from the cinematic, flamenco-infused "Rivers of Gold" to the percussion and flute-heavy "We Will Live Forever" and the funky, blues-infused "Soul Riders." This is an ambitious, colorful release.
This release from the London Symphony Orchestra's LSO Live series features a program that the orchestra must have played hundreds of times over its long history: Mendelssohn's well-loved Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 ("Scottish"), and Hebrides Overture, Op. 26, with the Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54, in between. There are substantial attractions, but they don't necessarily come where some think they might. What truly sets this recording apart is the extraordinarily graceful performance of the Schumann by Portuguese (and now Brazilian) pianist Maria João Pires, with the LSO keeping itself carefully subordinated to her unusually quiet performance.
Arriving ten years after The Dark Horse Years: 1976-1992, The Apple Years: 1968-75 offers the first act of George Harrison's solo career presented in a handsomely produced, impeccably remastered box set. The outside packaging mirrors The Dark Horse Years but the discs housed inside the box show a greater attention to detail than the previous set: each of the albums is presented as a paper-sleeve mini-LP replicating the original album art (Extra Texture does indeed have extra texture on its sleeve), while the brief hardcover book contains perhaps the glossiest paper to ever grace a rock music box set…
The ninth release in the “…By The Bayou” series brings you some hot rockers from South Louisiana and Southeast Texas, an area where Cajun culture has had a strong influence over its music – and never more so than in the heyday of real rock’n’roll, the 1950s. Rock’n’roll was a hybrid of C&W and R&B right across the USA, but in Cajun country the influences were more specific; the country music was from Texas, the R&B from New Orleans, and into this mix went rockabilly from Memphis via Shreveport and Cajun music. In this exciting compilation you will find all of those influences to varying degrees.
Canadian rock singer, guitarist and photographer, born November 5th, 1959, in Ontario. His recording debut was at the age of fifteen, with the glam rock band Sweeney Todd. After a third version of Roxy Roller and one album called IF WISHES WERE HORSES, he went solo - releasing one disco single before striking out on a pop career.
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: The Complete Epic Recordings Collection includes the group s original four studio albums, five electrifying live releases (including the commercial debut of A Legend In The Making Live At The El Mocambo, a rare Canadian radio promo album) and a double-disc set of killer studio outtakes from throughout Stevie Ray Vaughan s incredible career, including recordings from previous reissues, box sets and posthumous compilations.