Maclean's From 1 September 2014

Average White Band are widely and rightly regarded as one of the best ever soul and funk bands. Although probably best known for their global hit, the US #1 single ‘Pick Up The Pieces’, this extensive anthology delves back into their musical history, from the early sessions in 1971, right up to the most recent studio album released this millennium. ‘All The Pieces…’ features the band’s entire catalogue of recorded material on a 19CD box set, which includes all of the original studio albums (and ‘spoilers’ ‘Put It Where You Want It’ and ‘Volume VIII’) in mini-vinyl replica wallets, alternate versions and selected mixes, in this 172-track collection…

The Fray is an American rock band from Denver, Colorado. Formed in 2002 by schoolmates Isaac Slade and Joe King, they achieved success with the release of their debut album, How to Save a Life in 2005, which was certified double platinum by the RIAA and platinum in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. A collection includes all the studio albums by The Fray at the moment, also 1 Live, 1 EP and 3 singles.

On their third disc for Delphian, Ludus Baroque and five stellar soloists bring to life Handel's rarely-heard final oratorio The Triumph of Time and Truth - a remarkable Protestant re-casting of a work written fifty years earlier to a text by the young composer's Roman patron Cardinal Pamphilj. The work, neglected by centuries of scholarship on account of its hybrid origins, here proves an extraordinary feast of riches, and the ideal vehicle for Richard Neville-Towle's carefully assembled cast of exceptional soloists, vigorous, intelligent chorus and an orchestra made up from some of the UK's leading period instrumentalists.

Motown’s legendary songwriting/production team, Holland-Dozier-Holland, left the fold in 1967, to establish their own Invictus/Hot Wax group of labels. They had worldwide hits with their flagship act, Chairmen Of The Board, debuted the first album by Parliament, as well as scoring a UK #1 with Freda Payne’s ‘Band of Gold…

With this 2014 Chandos box set of the symphonies of Jean Sibelius, John Storgårds joins the relatively small company of modern conductors who have recorded the full cycle, and his set as a whole is persuasive, despite some unusual choices. As a Finnish conductor with a strong incentive to interpret these works faithfully, Storgårds is quite true to Sibelius' intentions, even though the sound of the BBC Philharmonic is not as lush or as homogenous as might be expected.

John Coltrane - Offering: Live At Temple University (2014) {2CD Set Impulse!-Resonance Records B0019632-02 rec 1966}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 469 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 218 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 126 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1966, 2014 Impulse! / Resonance Records / Verve | B0019632-02
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Jazz / Post Bop

Recorded eight months before his death from liver cancer, the concert album Offering: Live at Temple University features legendary jazz saxophonist John Coltrane performing with his quintet in his hometown of Philadelphia on November 11, 1966. Although it's been available in various incomplete bootleg forms over the years, Resonance's Offering is the first official, complete, and fully mastered version to be released. Produced from a set of long-lost master tapes rediscovered by Coltrane's son, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, Offering showcases the late jazz innovator's final ensemble featuring his wife, keyboardist Alice Coltrane, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, bassist Sonny Johnson (sitting in for Jimmy Garrison), drummer Rashied Ali, and a coterie of local guest musicians.