Saturn Return 87 The Secret Sisters

The Puppini Sisters' fifth studio album, The High Life, is the trio's first with Emma Smith joining original members Marcella Puppini and Kate Mullins. Aside from new membership, the vocal group stays the course, offering more of their close-knit, three-part harmonies on versions of big-band classics, a couple of original songs, and swing era-inspired rearrangements of more contemporary hits. The trio holds a few surprises in its selections of the latter, such as a medley of the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" and Sia's "Chandelier," and a fluid cover of Missy Elliott's "Work It." Their take on "Rapper's Delight" works especially well, riding the original's natural swing.

Great Britain's JSP label took a chance in 2006 by issuing a four-disc overview of rembetika (the "officially designated" Greek underground and criminal communities) called Rembetika: Greek Music from the Underground. It was official because at one point in the 20th century, the music was actually officially banned by the Metaxas government (in 1937) and didn't peep… More above ground for another 11 years. (Gangster rappers and metalheads take heart: you were not the first nor will you be the last.) That set, like this one, appropriately titledRembetika 1: Greek Music from the Underground, included four CDs, all of which were annotated with fine notes, and production masters cleaned up as much as possible – no easy feat since a lot of this music was originally released on either 78s or cylinders – but some survived, amazingly, on recording tape

In 1897, Rimsky-Korsakov composed the rough draft for a piano trio in C minor. He polished the middle movements to performance level, but it was left to the composer’s son-in-law, Maximilian Steinberg, to reconstruct its outer movements some 30 years after the composer’s death. While Rimsky disparaged the work in his autobiography, its wistful lyricism and operatic scope hold your attention beyond the sometimes stilted interplay between instruments. The Bekova Sisters turn in idiomatic, sensitively dovetailed work, although violinist Elvira’s oily vibrato seems excessively sweet in soft, sustained passages.

It’s that time of the year to make a list and check it twice to make sure you’ve added the brand new The Puppini Sisters Christmas EP: Dear Santa, I Can Explain… Featuring four never-before-released original Christmas songs that are bound to become classics played every year from now on! This fantastic quartet of songs are the perfect addition to Christmas with The Puppini Sisters, their all-time best-selling festive album, and to the classic single Jingle Bells, which Universal Music are re-releasing as a remastered track to coincide with Christmas 2021! Christmas At Home is a limited edition live album that the Puppini Sisters put out in December 2020. This was only available through their website and was made when ordered.