Legendary (2010)

The Legendary Pink Dots are an influential, staggeringly prolific group led by enigmatic frontman Edward Ka-Spel. Emerging from the early-'80s post-punk underground and sometimes categorized as industrial due to associations with bands like Skinny Puppy, the group's music is nearly impossible to pin down, drawing from Krautrock, ambient, folk, synth pop, and numerous other styles.

When the Muddy Waters band quit the master en masse in 1980, most of the sidemen stuck together and formed their own group. The Legendary Blues Band, as they were named, included Pinetop Perkins, Jerry Portnoy, Willie Smith, and Calvin Jones throughout its early years. Short-term member Louis Myers, another Muddy Waters alumnus, appeared as guitarist on the band's first album (Rounder, 1981). The band has since changed personnel with some regularity, and while its lineup has become progressively less "legendary" in name and/or historic associations, its music has remained solid and true to the mainstream Chicago style.

Digitally remastered two CD set from the Scottish Prog band, which encompasses all Clouds' known recorded works and includes their two UK albums (Scrapbook and Watercolour Days) plus singles and unreleased demos. Also included are the tracks from their US-only album, Up Above Our Heads. Clouds have maintained credibility over the years and this compilation will help enhance their reputation.
In their earlier incarnation as 1-2-3, they had a now-legendary residency at the Marquee club in early 1967, directly influencing many important bands such as Yes, The Nice, and King Crimson. They were managed by Brian Epstein and Nems, but this association ended shortly after Epstein’s death, and the band was signed by Terry Ellis to the fledgling Chrysalis empire…

Russia is vast, and so is this 25-disc tribute to the great piano school of Russia-from the long-famous icons to the more recent inheritors of this ineffably proud tradition. Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lazar Berman and many others display their subtly various approaches to phrasing and timbre as they perform the great works of the Russian canon and composers across Europe. Monumental works like the first piano concertos of both Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev sit alongside intimate salon pieces like Tchaikovsky's The Seasons and rarely heard works such as the preludes of Kabalevsky. Many of these rapturously beautiful performances are rare and have never been available on CD!