Justified Affair

Celebrate 40 years of huge hits with NOW That’s What I Call 40 Years – 100 tracks across 5 CDs - honouring the legacy with a selection of the best from 40 years of NOW. Take the journey from the first edition back in 1983, right up to the present day – making at least one stop at every year in between.

The classic Riot logo, the face of Johnny on the cover artwork and a four years long wait since 2002's Through the Storm came out. Yet, not much has changed in the Riot headquarters. That's because 2006's Army of One was recorded in 2003. So hold your horses when the straight up power metal of "Army of One" opens the album, or you might be disappointed soon after…

Increasingly, and especially in a day and age where music is so widely and readily available thanks to advanced technologies, when a company or act wants to make a good box set, it had better deliver. To its credit, Beggars Banquet did just that with Rare Cult, an astoundingly comprehensive and entertaining collection that packs in 90 tracks over the course of six discs…

When Julia Hülsmann was little, there was a memorable concert on the television. A man was sitting alone at the piano singing wonderful things with a uniquely appalling voice. Julia Hülsmann found it particularly appealing… And she was especially delighted that, by coincidence, her parents had bought this very man’s sheet music. This encouraged her to sit down at the piano at home and practise for the first time her classical studies. They were of course the songs of Randy Newman. It was the beginning of a long love affair.
Julia Hülsmann has herself in the mean time become a well-known pianist. In 2003 she made the recording "Scattering Poems" with her own trio and Norwegian singer Rebekka Bakken. The release was a special success with public and critics alike…