Kim Thui

Acclaimed American composer Mark Abel’s sixth album for Delos extends his growing command of chamber writing while also delivering three major new vocal works. Celebrated sopranos Isabel Bayrakdarian (four times a Juno Award winner) and Hila Plitmann (a pair of Grammys and a longtime Abel collaborator) are joined by mezzo Kindra Scharich in presenting the song cycles Trois Femmes du Cinema and 1966, and debuting Two Scenes from “The Book of Esther,” a provocative excerpt from an opera in development. The album’s impressive array of instrumentalists includes pianist Carol Rosenberger (making the final recording of her epic career); fellow pianists Dominic Cheli, Sean Kennard and Jeffrey LaDeur; Alexander String Quartet violist David Samuel; Pacific Symphony concertmaster Dennis Kim and young cello star Jonah Kim.

Featuring no less than 72 remastered tracks and many rare and unreleased mixes, this collection serves to highlight the pioneering pop/house crossover sound created especially for Mel & Kim by songwriting and production powerhouse Stock Aitken Waterman and the PWL studio team. ‘Respectable’ became SAW’s first own composition to top the UK charts (they’d merely produced Dead or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round’ stomper) and while there are online debates about it, ‘Showing Out’ is widely considered the first ever British house record.

Artist, producer, writer, arranger, musician, and all-around first-class baloney-thrower Kim Fowley was the man on the scene in Hollywood, CA, during the mid- to late '60s. This collection compiles 20 tracks from Fowley's solo recordings, circa 1966-1969. The collection kicks off with the garage punker "Underground Lady" from 1966, which, Fowley is happy to point out, was released before the Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction" and the Music Machine's "Talk Talk." "The Trip" is a fascinating bit of drug-laced ephemera ("Summer's here kiddies/It's time to take a trip," Fowley leers in the intro) and one of the CD's highlights. "Fluffy Turkeys" was the A-side of one of Fowley's singles for the Original Sound label and surely must have creeped out label honcho Art Laboe, who bailed on releasing a planned full-length album after hearing this slice of madness…

Essential is a beautifully remastered 16-track overview of singer and songwriter Kim Carnes' eight years with EMI. Though she recorded two fine albums for A&M before, and a number of solid if underappreciated offerings for a number of labels after, Ms. Carnes is best known for the seven records she made for EMI between 1979 and 1986. Of course, her biggest hits are here: the ubiquitous pop classic "Bette Davis Eyes," "Cry Like a Baby," and "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer" (in duet with Kenny Rogers). But deeper than this are lesser-known but nonetheless excellent songs such as "I'd Lie to You for Your Love," "Abadabadango," "I Pretend," "Chain Letter," and the Faces-esque "It Hurts So Bad," all of them done in an nearly astonishing range of subgenres of rock and pop.