Money From July 2015

Tom Waits has said: "I like a beautiful song that tells you terrible things. We all like bad news out of a pretty mouth." When it comes to the material on Blood Money, I don't know if I can call Waits' mouth pretty, but he certainly offers plenty of bad news in a very attractive, compelling way. Released simultaneously with Alice, a recording of songs written in 1990, Blood Money is a set of 13 songs written by Waits and Kathleen Brennan in collaboration with dramatist Robert Wilson. The project was a loose adaptation of the play Woyzeck, originally written by German poet Georg Buchner in 1837. The play was inspired by the true story of a German soldier who was driven mad by bizarre army medical experiments and infidelity, which led him to murder his lover - cheery stuff, to be sure…

French composer Hyacinthe Jadin was one of the first musicians to make his reputation, and a living, in post-revolutionary France. As fate would have it, it would not be a long career, and after his early death, Jadin slipped into obscurity so rapidly that not even a single portrait of him was saved. While we may not know what he looked like, the 30 or so works that survive from his pen speak eloquently both for Jadin and the turbulent era in which he lived. Although a number of players over the years have recorded selections from Jadin's surviving output of 16 piano sonatas, pianist Richard Fuller appears to be the first to approach them in a comprehensive way in his three-disc set for Palatine, Hyacinth Jadin: Complete Sonatas.

American Soul sees Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall handpick twelve of his personal favourites for a helping of classic American soul and an insight into the music that has inspired him throughout his career. Produced by Andy Wright, tracks include Etta James's "I’d Rather Go Blind", The Flamingos’ fireside burner "I Only Have Eyes For You" as well as "Hope There’s Someone" and "Baby What Do You Want Me To Do". The new deluxe edition of American Soul, featuring the full top ten selling CD plus a brand new live 16 track CD, recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in September 2012.

Russell Norman Morris is an Australian singer-songwriter who had five Australian Top 10 singles during the late 1960s and early 1970s. On 1 July 2008, the Australian Recording Industry Association recognised Morris' iconic status when he was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Sharkmouth is a studio album by Australian singer–songwriter Russell Morris. It was released on 12 October 2012 by Fanfare, Ambition Records. The album was presented to all the major labels who declined to release it. It peaked at No. 6 on the ARIA Albums Chart to become Morris' first top ten album and the highest selling album of his career. Sharkmouth based on stories from Australia's Depression years and some of their colourful characters, like boxer Les Darcy, gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s like Squizzy Taylor and, from the 1940s, Arthur Stace and horse Phar Lap.

Perhaps Tom Waits' most cohesive album, Bone Machine is a morbid, sinister nightmare, one that applied the quirks of his experimental '80s classics to stunningly evocative - and often harrowing - effect. In keeping with the title's grotesque image of the human body, Bone Machine is obsessed with decay and mortality, the ease with which earthly existence can be destroyed. The arrangements are accordingly stripped of all excess flesh; the very few, often non-traditional instruments float in distinct separation over the clanking junkyard percussion that dominates the record. It's a chilling, primal sound made all the more otherworldly (or, perhaps, underworldly) by Waits' raspy falsetto and often-distorted roars and growls. Matching that evocative power is Waits' songwriting, which is arguably the most consistently focused it's ever been…