This collection of wonderful performances by the King of Rock'n'Roll showcases 30 of his #1 US and UK hits. Culled from his TV guest appearance, movies, concert films and television specials - from 1956, the year his star ascended, to the 1970s when he reached the pinnacle of his career - this is Elvis at his Best. "Elvis: #1 Hit Performances" - video version of compilation "Elvis: 30 #1 Hits", released in 2002 on CD.
Where to begin? The superbly remastered sound that transforms even the most familiar cut (and, let's face it, most of this stuff has been reissued so often, you'd need to be deaf not to know it backwards) into a whole new listening experience? The 33-song selection that revives the greatest hits alongside some of the greatest bits, to present a truly well-rounded examination of the full 10cc experience? The gleeful dip into both pre- and post-band history that places both "Neanderthal Man" and "Cry," and "Groovy Kind of Love" and "Bridge to Your Heart," into some kind of context? The two songs that premier Kevin Godley and Graham Gouldman's new project, GG06? A lone Gouldman four-song re-creation of his late-'60s Graham Gouldman Thing solo album? For anybody with even a passing fascination with the self-styled worst band in the world, Greatest Hits & More is such a treat that, no matter how many other "best-of" collections you already own, this is the only one you need…
Between Daylight and Dark is Mary Gauthier's (pronounced Go-Shay) sixth full-length offering, and a compelling step forward from 2005's Mercy Now. Produced by Joe Henry with most of the musicians who played on his Civilians album and Loudon Wainwright III's Strange Weirdos – Patrick Warren, Jay Bellerose, Greg Leisz, and David Piltch, with Wainwright and Van Dyke Parks making guest appearances – it possesses a deeply centered, almost organic sound; one that reverberates the intentions of the songwriter without trying to meet the sound head on. Henry is able to present songwriters as strong presences, as the still centers of a chaotic, frenetic world that whirls all around them, leaving them unaware of the presence of his voice ordering it without being swallowed in the process.
As compilations go, Universal's two-CD Greatest Hits and More might be the best sampling of Engelbert Humperdinck's work that has yet appeared. All of his best-loved hits are here (including "Release Me," "Les Bicyclettes de Belsize," "Quando Quando Quando," and "There Goes My Everything"), but there are also a few extra tidbits that should keep even longtime fans happy with the program – most notably, four brand new songs.
Russian pianist and composer Lera Auerbach is one of the most arresting and unique figures in classical music in the early twenty first century. It has been the custom, at least thus far, for Auerbach to perform her own keyboard music on recordings. However, in Profil's Flight and Fire, her Russian colleague Ksenia Nosikova, professor of piano at the University of Iowa, plays a program of five previously unrecorded Auerbach works.