Chat From 4 June 2015

3CDs OF INVALUABLE ZAPPA BROADCASTS. INCLUDES SETS FROM HIS 1973 TOUR, COMPILED BY THE MAN HIMSELF. This triple CD features three rare recordings, all originally broadcast on FM radio, and now available here in this superb fold out digipack set. Featuring performances made at; Central Park, New York in 1968, with the original Mothers Of Invention (and featuring numbers from both the early and late sets on the day in question); from the TV & simultaneous radio transmission from Udel in Holland in 1970 (the first live show by the second incarnation of the Mothers, and featuring Flo & Eddie in the ranks) and, on the third CD, a collection of live performances from Zappa s 1973 tour, from a tape put together by Frank himself and broadcast on New Year s Eve 1974. The tracks and shows represented on this set illustrate the spectrum of Zappa and his various groups live abilities across the first decade of the man s career, and in so doing reveal a quite fascinating trajectory of Frank Zappa's live work.

Oud virtuoso and composer Anouar Brahem returns to ECM with an inspired trio. In the company of pianist François Couturier and accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier, he emerges more as guiding wind than guiding light, forging a quietly original program that feels at once unprecedented and timeless. Brahem’s writing is especially intuitive on this outing, teetering from stream-of-consciousness currents to insightful themes in the steady arc of a summer fan.

The bowl in question in the title of Queen's 2004 release On Fire at the Bowl is the MK Bowl in Milton Keynes, England, a venue that Queen performed at on June 5, 1982. That concert is documented on this 25-track double-disc set, one of many double-live albums that Queen have released throughout and after their career…

Anybody who was a little dismayed by the pop inclinations of The Game would have been totally distressed by Queen's 1982 follow-up, Hot Space, an unabashed pop and dance album. The band that once proudly proclaimed not to use synthesizers on their albums has suddenly, dramatically reversed course, devoting the entire first side of the album to robotic, new wave dance-pop, all driven by drum machines and colored by keyboards, with Brian May's guitar coming in as flavor only on occasion…

Limited Edition. Renowned for his soaring melodies and dramatic style, Tchaikovsky was a master of many genres. This wide-ranging edition comprises his complete symphonies, orchestral suites and ballets, two celebrated operas, his great concertos, with significant excursions into his chamber and solo piano works, songs and sacred music - all interpreted by leading artists on Deutsche Grammophon and Decca.

In 1970, Ashton, Gardner & Dyke somehow ended up supplying the soundtrack music to an obscure Western starring football star Joe Namath. Also important to the soundtrack's composition and performance was Deep Purple's Jon Lord, who co-wrote the score with Tony Ashton and shared keyboard parts with Ashton as well. Like many soundtracks, it's a jumble of pieces that might have served adequately as background music to specific scenes, but doesn't sustain much interest for a record listener. The musicians tap into a wide variety of styles and moods, mostly instrumental with occasional vocals, from good-time laid-back bar band boogie and dramatic pseudo-spaghetti Western orchestrations to atonal keyboard patterns, tedious hard rock-funk, and Latin cocktail jazz with bizarre scatting. The individual tracks, though, are neither too good on their own, or too similar to each other, failing to create an inviting mood.

After Le Chat Bleu, this Mink DeVille record foretold the depth and dimension of Willy DeVille's talent and the lengths he would go to as a vocalist and songwriter to get the right mix of emotion, drama, and rock & roll attitude. Featuring the core band from Coup de Grace – Louis Cortelezzi on sax; Kenny Margolis on keyboards, including accordion; DeVille and Rick Borgia on guitars; and Tommy Price on drums – the seam in the album comes on the second track, "River of Tears," with its stunning soprano saxophone lines, marimbas, accordions, and howling, raw, Gato Barbieri-like tenor lines in the choruses. When DeVille sings, "Every night lonely, empty dreams/Here comes that tide washing over me/Not again/Oh no/Not again/I don't want to cry/But there's tears in my eyes/I don't want to cry/That river of tears," the horns and accordion swirl around him until the final 16 measures, when the guitars and marimbas envelop all his loss in their warmth. His voice is the grain of every rock & roll lothario's Waterloo. DeVille follows this with a scorching Cuban son called "Demisado Corazon," featuring full salsa horn and percussion sections.

It hasn't been hard to notice that Reba McEntire's usually reliable stream of number one hits has slowed lately. But So Good Together re-examines McEntire's artistry and puts fans back in touch with the Reba we know and love. No one sings emotion better than McEntire, and the relaxed warmth of her voice produces one of the finest vocal performances she's bestowed on listeners since before Starting Over. So Good Together's first release, the introspective "What Do You Say," has been making its way up the charts in glowing Reba style.

Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites is a project of French composer Julien Ash, leader and only permanent member, helped by various artists. NLC combines Neo-Classical music with electronics for a unique example of modern chamber music. Piano is joined by violin, acoustic guitar, and acoustic bass plus ambient electronics and processed voices (singing and speaking).