Jon Cleary do Not Disturb

Memories…Do Not Open is the debut full-length album from Grammy Award winning artist/producer duo The Chainsmokers. Comprised of Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, The Chainsmokers have evolved into a dominating musical force with a diverse repertoire of songs that have led them to become today's hottest young artist/producer duo. With a signature sound that deftly reaches across indie, progressive and pop realms, their original tracks and remixes have topped the charts throughout the world. The album features the just certified Gold first single "Paris," a brand new single with Coldplay - "Something Just Like This," and 10 additional brand new, never before heard tracks from the hit-making duo. The Chainsmokers have dominated radio charts for the past two years, and along the way sold over 10 million singles.

Edsel continue their superb curation of Bananarama‘s back catalogue with what is probably the dream set for fans – a 33CD Singles box with a disc devoted to each 45 that includes “absolutely every B-side and remix originally issued around the world” along with many previously unavailable instrumentals and other rarities…

Halestorm is aptly named, as vowel-averse frontwoman Lzzy Hale has an F5 tornado for a voice, which she uses to great effect on her band's fourth studio long-player. The follow-up to 2015's Into the Wild Life, which was the group's highest-charting outing to date, Vicious doesn't deviate too much from the stock hedonism of its predecessor – the holy hard rock trinity of sex, drugs, and rock & roll is alive and well – but it connects on such a visceral and familiar level that listeners will likely be unable to resist the urge to turn things up to 11. In lesser hands, big-box hard rock songs like "Skulls," "Uncomfortable," and "Black Vultures" would blow in one ear and out the other, but Hale and company are as adept with hooks as they are with decibels, which makes the material sticky enough to leave some residue on its way out of your head.

In 1977, when New York’s Metropolitan Opera began its series of telecasts known originally as Live from the Met, there was, I remember, speculation that eventually the entire season’s operas would be telecast in a parallel to the radio broadcasts that had been a part of the Met’s history for so long. This prediction never came to fruition and probably was never the intention. But we were privileged to see usually three broadcasts per season, with many productions helping to introduce opera to a broader public than could be expected to see the operas in the theater. This 1978 telecast of Otello is one of the early triumphs of the series. Cast, conductor, orchestra, chorus, and set designer all combine for a riveting performance well worth acquiring.
FANFARE: Ron Salemi