Sketch Drawer

Seasonally Affective comes along to save Piano Magic fans from collector scum hell, and now the light no longer shines out of the 200 behinds that own the Amongst the Books an Angel 7". The boring details: This double-disc-priced-as-a-single-disc set chronologically anthologizes the group's non-album releases that hit specialty record emporiums (and likely went home with the savvy clerks before they hit the shelves) between 1996 and 2000. It includes seven singles in their entirety from labels like Che, Wurlitzer Jukebox, Piao!, Bad Jazz, Acetone, and Rocket Girl. Their split single contributions with Icebreaker and Matmos – from the Debut and Lissy's labels, respectively – are contained, as are four tracks that originated on various-artist compilations. The hopefully not-boring details: This works for dedicated ears and curious ears alike.

This, one of Tippett's earliest acknowledged works, is one of his most popular. The music relates the true story of a young German Jew who, terrified and enraged at the treatment of his mother, kills a Nazi officer and touches off a violent pogrom. Tippett adopts the structure of Bach's Passions, in which arias alternate with choruses and Lutheran hymns (chorales), although in place of the chorales Tippett substitutes magnificently moving Negro spirituals. "A Child of our Time" offers music of rage, poignancy, and deep compassion. As the title itself implies, it is both specific to a certain time and place, and universal as well. No lover of classical music can afford to ignore it.