Paul Riquer

It speaks well for the continued viability of their catalog (probably second only to Bob Dylan's among '60s folk artists) that this is only the sixth compilation ever done on Peter, Paul & Mary's music in four decades of musical activity - and since one of the others was a Readers' Digest mail-order release and two of the others were done for special markets outside of the United States, that low number is downright astonishing. This release effectively supplants the perennially popular Ten Years Together: The Best of Peter, Paul & Mary, from 1970, and also outdoes the 2003 WEA International Very Best Of, with more songs drawn from a much wider chunk of their history as well. The material at hand covers not only most of the key singles and a handful of important album tracks by the trio from the 1960s, but also acknowledges their less widely heard solo material from the 1970s and their much more directly provocative work from the 1980s…

This reissue box collects the entire cycle of Mozart keyboard sonatas, plus single-movement works, recorded by Austrian pianist Paul Badura-Skoda on a 1790 Schantz fortepiano that he himself owns. The six CDs included were originally recorded between 1978 and 1990 for a group of related French labels; the budget-price reissue on Naïve is a bit atypical for that label, which has specialized in innovative and lavishly designed full-priced releases. Online retail presentations may not make clear that they are fortepiano recordings, recordings made on a keyboard instrument probably very much like one Mozart would have played himself.

Wake Up the Nation is the tenth studio album from Paul Weller and was released on 19 April 2010. It was nominated for the 2010 Mercury Music Prize. The albums was dedicated to “absent friends – John Weller, Pat Foxton and Robert Kirby”. It is the first of Weller’s albums since 1982 to feature contributions from Bruce Foxton, formerly of The Jam. Weller told Mojo magazine: “We’d both lost loved ones and without getting too spiritual that was the spur of it. I spoke to him this time last year when his wife Pat was ill and that broke the ice, then I invited him down to Black Barn (studio). There was no big plan, it was easy, a laugh, and nice to see him and work together again. We just slipped back into it.” The album has been remixed for the 10th anniversary.

Weller releases the audio from his live performance with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jules Buckley with special guests, Celeste, Boy George and James Morrison. An Orchestrated Songbook spans Paul’s career and includes ‘You Do Something to Me’, ‘English Rose’ and ‘Wild Wood’ alongside tracks from his latest two number 1 albums On Sunset and Fat Pop.

Take the title of Sonik Kicks as literally as that of its predecessor, the galvanizing 2010 Wake Up the Nation. Sonik Kicks delivers upon its titular promise immediately, coming to life with the stuttering electronic pulse of "Green," which immediately sweeps into a brightly colored psychedelic chorus, one of many dense collages and sudden shifts Paul Weller offers on his 11th solo album. Some of this contains echoes of the sprawling, picturesque double-album 22 Dreams, the 2008 record that began his latter-day renaissance, but Weller is determined not to repeat himself on Sonik Kicks.

Paul McCartney’s tenth solo album, 1997’s Flaming Pie, will become the 13th instalment in his Grammy-winning Archive Collection on 31 July. The acclaimed set, which featured such favourites as ‘Young Boy,’ ‘Calico Skies’ and ‘Beautiful Night,’ will be released in multiple formats with a treasure trove of unheard home recordings, demos and other rarities.

It speaks well for the continued viability of their catalog (probably second only to Bob Dylan's among '60s folk artists) that this is only the sixth compilation ever done on Peter, Paul & Mary's music in four decades of musical activity - and since one of the others was a Readers' Digest mail-order release and two of the others were done for special markets outside of the United States, that low number is downright astonishing. This release effectively supplants the perennially popular Ten Years Together: The Best of Peter, Paul & Mary, from 1970, and also outdoes the 2003 WEA International Very Best Of, with more songs drawn from a much wider chunk of their history as well. The material at hand covers not only most of the key singles and a handful of important album tracks by the trio from the 1960s, but also acknowledges their less widely heard solo material from the 1970s and their much more directly provocative work from the 1980s…