Delusions S.u.s.p.e.c.t.s.

After 4 years Men From Spectre strike back with their new masterpiece album 'Claw'. This time Men From Spectre dive even deeper into the Mathmos of the late 1960s and early 1970s and deliver with the quality of a Swiss made clockwork the ultimate Retro-Dance-Party album. The sound and music of 'Claw' is so mind blowing authentic, that you feel immediate been taken on a trip by a time machine into the decade of Hippies and Flower Power. Hammond-sounds, 1960s Garage, Beat and Psychedelic Rock and a hard knocking rhythm section melt to a fire work of an absolute superlative!

American soul singer/songwriter, producer and arranger whose best-known compositions include "R.E.S.P.E.C.T." and "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay", born 9 September 1941 in Dawson, Georgia, USA, and died in a plane crash 10 December 1967 near Madison, Wisconsin, USA…

Recorded during Marc Bolan's U.S. visits during 1971 and 1972, Spaceball is the first full re-counting of four American radio sessions previously made partially available as a bonus LP within the Marc label's Till Dawn compilation in 1985. Eight songs, taped in L.A. in 1972, are reprised from that set; 11 more are collected here. The overall mood of the two CDs is sparse, but astonishingly dynamic, with the earliest session – taped for WBAI, New York, in June 1971 – especially remarkable. It opens with a pair of unaccompanied Bolan performances, previewing the as-yet-unreleased "Cosmic Dancer" and "Planet Queen." The guitar heavy "Elemental Child" follows, a surprising inclusion given the song's freak-out dynamics, but it's an effective piece, all the more so after bandmates Mickey Finn and bassist Steve Currie join in a few minutes into the song.

The Cleveland-based baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire, with their founder/ director Jeannette Sorrell, has made an indelible impression on the international music market since launching on Avie with recordings of Bach, Mozart and Monteverdi. Vivaldi and Friends is a presentation of concertos by the Red Priest with a twist: two authentic Vivaldi Concertos – one for four violins, the other for two cellos – are interspersed with J. S. Bach’s transcript ion of Vivaldi’s A minor concerto for four harpsichords, and Jeannette Sorrell’s own transcription of ‘Summer’ from the ever-popular Four Seasons. Sorrell’s arrangement mirrors the widespread baroque practice of transcribing violin works for keyboard. In her unique version, she performs the original violin parts on the harpsichord.

C.P.E. Bach eclipsed his legendary father s fame to become the mid-18th century s leading German composer. This wide-ranging collection of symphonies, concertos and vocal works by the great forerunner of Haydn and Mozart is performed by authoritative interpreters including Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert. The evident delight of the musicians in this music makes for rewarding listening … Impressive and fascinating.

Born in Weimar, Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714-88) was the fifth child and second surviving son of JS Bach and his first wife Maria Barbara. By his own account he had no other teacher for composition and keyboard except his father. Nevertheless, the majority of Emanuels earliest works owe more to the influence of Telemann and other exponents of the new galant style, while already suggesting his own progressive instinct. At the age of twenty-four, after seven years studying law, Emanuel decided to devote himself to music. In 1738 he accepted the position of keyboard player at the court of the Prussian crown prince the future Frederick the Great.

This recording is something of a throwback to earlier days of the original instrument movement. The Collegium Aureum was an early exponent of this, and the 1966 recording of the JS Bach shows how this movement has evolved. Wonderful trumpets, struggling with the tessitura and tuning, and the (probably) part-time early music oboists, point up the most obvious difference. Early music was a labor of love in the 1960's, not a full time job. Which make me wonder if today's "authentic" performances aren't too clean, and too polished. How much rehearsal time did the "old wig" get, anyway, especially with works that were being given their premiere performances? Charles Rosen said that a truly authentic performance is impossible, you're either too early or too late.