Sixty Plus And Fit Again

One of the greatest stars of the rock & roll era, Elton John exploded like a supernova in the early 1970s and sustained a career that kept him at the top of the charts for the next five decades. He had a Billboard Top 40 hit single every year between 1970 and 1996, a sign that he knew how to both change with the times and mold the times to fit him. John's earliest records were part of the moody, introspective post-'60s singer/songwriter movement, but once he had a hit with "Your Song," the pianist revealed he could also craft Beatles-like pop and pound out rockers with equal aplomb. As "Rocket Man," "Crocodile Rock," "Daniel," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," and "Bennie and the Jets" – songs John wrote with his lifelong collaborator Bernie Taupin – climbed into the Top Ten on either side of the Atlantic, John was inescapable during the first half of the '70s. His versatility, combined with his effortless melodic skills, and flamboyant stage shows, became his calling cards, sustaining him through shifts in fame and fortune. Eventually, John reached outside of pop music, writing songs for Disney's The Lion King and collaborating with Tim Rice on Aida, yet he never abandoned the form: during the 2010s and 2020s, he balanced fashionable collaborations with emerging stars with albums that hearkened back to his moody records of the early '70s. In 2024, he joined the elite group of EGOT winners after earning an Emmy Award for his concert special Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium.

Neil Young is rightly regarded as one of the most influential singer-songwriters, ranking with Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney in influence and prolificacy. And much like the other two, he has amassed an extensive archive of unpublished and unreleased songs which he’s begun to touch with his massive Archive series of box sets. Road Of Plenty is perhaps the most ambitious unofficial Neil Young release in recent memory. It is a comprehensive six disc collection of songs which have never been released (and probably never will). A majority are sourced from excellent live audience recordings (since that is the only source we have for them), but there are other excellent quality studio outtakes included as well.

European release for Record Store Day 2023. This digipak double CD contains no fewer than Sixty titles. This set is a unique compilation that has never been produced before. It is exceptional as a tribute to all the fabulous songwriters who contributed to make the records of Elvis an incomparable body of work that is not only flamboyant, but eternal.

Ra to the Rescue is one of the rarer albums in the Sun Ra canon. There's a reason, and it has nothing to do with quality content (or lack thereof). When Ra and his business partner Alton Abraham launched their pioneering independent Saturn label in Chicago in the late 1950s, and on thru the 1960s—by which time Ra had moved to New York—each new album was carefully curated, titled, packaged with a printed, illustrated sleeve, and promoted in ads and catalogs.

Ra to the Rescue is one of the rarer albums in the Sun Ra canon. There's a reason, and it has nothing to do with quality content (or lack thereof). When Ra and his business partner Alton Abraham launched their pioneering independent Saturn label in Chicago in the late 1950s, and on thru the 1960s—by which time Ra had moved to New York—each new album was carefully curated, titled, packaged with a printed, illustrated sleeve, and promoted in ads and catalogs.

Yello-Album is a sounding journey into the blue. We know where the journey begins, but we have no idea where it will end. That's always been the case, and it's no different with the latest litter, called "Point"

Dieter Meier and Boris Blank - a songwriter duo as it could have been invented by Hergé (Tim & Struppi). One of them, Blank, is in a dream, the melodies come to him, which plunge the other, Meier, into a frenzy that makes him hammer wild Dada stories into the typewriter. One, Blank, is most comfortable in the den of his studio. The other one, Meier, travels the world in seven-league boots. They've been making music together for forty years. There's not a trace of wisdom in their old age

This one-and-only recorded collaboration between jazz greats Geri Allen and Kurt Rosenwinkel took place live at the famed Philharmonie de Paris in 2012—the two play as if with one mind. Geri often spoke of her desire to do a studio recording to document the ‘flow and freedom” she experienced playing with Kurt that night in Paris. Unfortunately, we lost her before that date never materialized, and fortunately, that concert was recorded. The acoustics in this hall are magnificent, This album, produced by Kurt Rosenwinkel and Motéma's Jana Herzen is dedicated to Geri's memory and is truly a 'lovesome thing' for fans of Geri, of Kurt, and of piano and guitar jazz.