Sony Classical presents legendary soprano Kathleen Battle in nine of her foremost studio recordings in her ‘Complete Sony Recordings’. In the course of a remarkable career, launched in 1973 by mentor James Levine in their shared hometown of Cincinnati, Kathleen Battle has captivated international audiences. She has taken home numerous awards – among them five Grammys and London’s Olivier Award for her 1985 Covent Garden debut as Zerbinetta in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, the first American singer to win that prestigious prize – and become one of classical music’s best-selling artists.
The Chick Corea Elektric Band (1986). Nine years after the breakup of the final version of Return to Forever, Chick Corea ended a long period of freelance projects by forming his Elektrik Band. This set, the group's initial release, finds Corea meeting up for the first time with the great bassist John Patitucci and drummer Dave Weckl; half of the selections also have either Carlos Rios or Scott Henderson on guitar. Due to the high musicianship, the personalities of the players, and Corea's colorful compositions, the Elektrik Band quickly became one of the top fusion groups of the late '80s…
Rising German power metal force ORDEN OGAN follows up on the success of their latest studio album „Ravenhead“ (which became an international chart success in 2015) with their first ever DVD release. But “The Book Of Ogan” is so much more than that… The package consists of 2 DVDs (running time 6 hours – incl. 2 full Live concerts, extensive band documentary, all music videos & numerous specials) and 2 CDs (“Best Of 2008 - 2015” and the self-released/demo “Testimonium a.d.” from 2004).
Taking the notion of self-titled albums standing as a statement of identity to an extreme, Weezer puts out a self-titled record whenever they're ready to enter a new phase of their career. Designed to be dubbed The White Album – a nice cheeky nod to the classic 1968 double album from the Beatles – the 2016 installment of Weezer isn't nearly as messy as the group's last color-coded eponymous record. With that 2008 Red Album, Weezer embarked on a confused and chaotic middle age, an era that the tight, focused White Album effectively brings to an end. Much of this precision is due to Jake Sinclair, a producer who revived Fall Out Boy's commercial prospects with his savvy work on 2015's American Beauty/American Psycho, who gives this Weezer a modern sheen that skillfully avoids desperation, but he not only understands what teens like, he understands why teens love this group.
This double album is an invitation to explore the forces of nature, so vividly depicted by the composers at the turn of the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries. With this stunning (and first) recording of Jean-Fery Rebel’s Les Elements, Jordi Savall displays his unmatched vision of the baroque orchestral repertoire, proving that authenticity and timbral beauty aren’t mutually exclusive. New recordings of works by Locke, Vivaldi, Marais, Telemann and Rameau - a splendidly varied and expressively wide-ranging selection - is a welcome addition to the existing landmark recordings made by Savall in this repertoire.
“The werewolf’s coming,” Paul Simon cautions at the start of his 13th solo outing, Stranger To Stranger. That’s a menacing lyric coming from a guy who, at 74, undoubtably has a first-class window seat on the pop music gravy train. He helped ease fans through the tumult of the ’60s alongside Art Garfunkel…