Thirteen songs, and all the artists who contributed to the three previous works, now gathered in a single album. Embellished with the unmistakable sounds of Steve Hackett's electric guitars, the narrating voice of his wife, Jo Lehmann and the magical flute of his brother, John Hackett. The pianistic romanticism of the first keyboardist of the Hackett Band, Nick Magnus, the unmistakable narration of the late Francesco di Giacomo (Banco), the more than unique fretless bass by Richard Sinclair (Caravan, Camel, Hatfield and the North), the phantasmagoric winds of David Jackson (Van Der Graaf Generator), the bass "a la Squire" and more by Billy Sherwood (Yes, Circa), the fantastic electric violin by David Cross (King Crimson), plus another excellent presence: Bernardo Lanzetti (P.F.M.) introducing first vocal track ever on a TRP album.
Tenesha the Wordsmith, who came to the fore on On The Corner Records' 2018 release Black Noise 2084, has delivered a hard-cutting, gut-wrenching, and extremely moving spoken-word album produced by Khalab that brings together different lines of black music – folkloric, jazz, and electronic dance – into an Afro-futurist narrative with thunderous results. Peacocks & Other Savage Beasts lays bare difficult truths and projects the stories of hidden voices, with a warm and heartfelt delivery that envelops the soul.
CPO follows its stellar releases of Conradi's Ariadne and Lully's Thésée by the Boston Early Music Festival with an equally extraordinary performance of Lully's Psyché. These are works that have had limited exposure and are known far better by reputation than by performances or recordings.
First performed at the Paris Opéra in 1802, Sémiramis by Charles-Simon Catel is an example of the revival at that time of the tragédie lyrique inherited from Gluck. A work with a touch of exoticism (Babylon), expressing the pathos of isolation, but also with pomp in its ambitious finales, the work bade farewell to the ‘Louis-XVI style’ and announced, in a neo-Classical style, the grand opéra of the Romantic period. But it came at a time of polemics between supporters and detractors of the new Paris Conservatoire, where Catel, at that time professor of harmony there, had made so many enemies that the audience pit at the Opera was bristling with vengeful hostility when the curtain rose on the first act…
The band's debut album, recorded sometime in 2007/2008 prior to the band's extended hiatus and originally released in a limited run of fifty handmade, screen-printed copies. Features the original Myrrors lineup of Nik Rayne, Grant Beyschau, and bassist Claira Safi, who also designed the now somewhat iconic sleeve. These are quite literally the first recordings made by the band, cut at Nik's house, quick and loose and on the fly. That original self-released edition sold out long ago, but the album has since been reissued internationally multiple times on CD, cassette, and LP by labels like Fuzz Club Records, Cardinal Fuzz, and Rewolfed Gloom.
Collecting the Cars' first five albums into one set, this collection features many of the band's essential songs, including "Just What I Needed," "Moving in Stereo," "You're All I've Got Tonight," and "Drive." For anyone interested in purchasing the bulk of the band's output in one fell swoop, this set offers an easy option.
This 2014 Hyperion collection of 22 hymns sung by the Choir of Westminster Abbey is a straightforward presentation of familiar versions for choir and organ. For the most part, the arrangements are conventional four-part settings, with occasional interpolations of seldom-heard harmonizations and descants, and the performances by the men and boys are appropriately reverent and joyous. The majority of selections are hymns of praise, including Praise, my soul, the king of heaven; Thine be the glory; and Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, though Drop, drop slow tears; I bind unto myself today; and Let all mortal flesh keep silence bring a more somber and penitential mood to the program. The recordings were made in late 2012 and early 2013 in Westminster Abbey, so the sound of the album is typically resonant and spacious, and the choir has a well-blended tone, though the trade-off for the glorious acoustics is a loss of clarity in some of the words.