Richard Barrett Coaching

I think Karl Böhm's live performances of Strauss operas represent some of his best work; this is a companion piece to his live Daphne which has yet to be bettered despite being another elderly, live recording, albeit in narrow stereo. It is in comparatively restricted mono but one soon forgets that, given the quality of the performance.

Western Spaces is a collaborative album by the American ambient musicians Steve Roach, Kevin Braheny and Richard Burmer. This album is the first of Steve Roach’s many musical tributes to the Southwestern Desert. This recording conjures up the desert vistas and the vast stark beauty of the American southwest through a collection of pieces that play like a soundtrack to a road trip through the Mojave Desert, Death Valley and Joshua Tree, California. All of these locales were the inspiration for the musicians during the creation of the music.

For several years, the existence of "lost" material by Syd Barrett had been speculated about by the singer's vociferous cult, fueled by numerous patchy bootlegs of intriguing outtakes. The release of Opel lived up to, and perhaps exceeded, fans' expectations…

Barrett Strong was there for the very early days of Berry Gordy's Motown empire, but his sound bears no resemblance to the later smooth soul stylings that dominated the label's output. He was a R&B rocker all the way. His most famous song is Gordy's first smash hit, "Money (That's What I Want)" from 1960 on the Anna label. The rest of the disc contains some solid R&B ballads like "Oh Yes I Apologize" and "Do the Very Best You Can" and Strong's strong suit, raw rockers like "You Knows What to Do," "Yes No Maybe So," and "Let's Rock." The collection's highlights are a couple of songs, the bitter and tough lament "Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right" and the haunting Steve Mancha-penned "Misery." From the sound of these two songs, Strong had what it took to be a full-fledged Soul Man. Sadly, however, his career behind the mic stalled quickly and apart from "Money (That's What I Want)," he has been forgotten.

It has been a very creative couple of years for percussionist, composer, producer, and storyteller Barrett Martin. In 2017 he won a Latin Grammy for his album production work in Brazil; he released his first book, “The Singing Earth: Adventures From A World Of Music”, and he released his 6th solo album, “Transcendence.”