Tabu (1982) Júlio Bressane, Caetano Veloso, Colé Santana, José Lewgoy

Deutsche Grammophon is proud to present Franco Zeffirelli's iconic staging of La Bohème as recorded liveat the Metropolitan Opera on January 16, 1982, available once again on DVD. This timeless production continues to thrill audiences almost every season since it was first introduced in 1981, and this performance captures the production at the very beginning with the original cast. Teresa Stratas, renowned for her acting abilities, captures the essence of Mimì–her fragility, her resolve, her passion. Stratas is partnered by José Carreras as Rodolfo, the poet and love of her dreams. The cast is rounded out with a lively Renata Scotto (who was filmed as Mimì in an earlier MET production, also available on DVD from Deutsche Grammophon) and sonorous Richard Stilwell.

Right after the release of the first Clarke/Duke Project LP Stanley Clarke and George Duke both decided to take a musical break from each other and do a pair of solo albums without the participation of the other.Duke produced 'Dream On' while Clarke produced this album 'Let Me Know You',both in 1982. Both albums are very much funky pop/R&B vocal albums with some curious differences. 'Let Me Know You' is the slightly more jazz oriented of the two and as always, Clarke is not quite as experienced (or communicative) as Duke.The songwriting is extremely strong and three "Straight From The Heart","I Just Want To Be Your Brother","The Force Of Love" and the pounding "New York City" find Clarke moving away from hardcore jazz-rock fusion and into the world of tighter,more carefully crafted and arranged R&B, funk and pop.

The title track on José Feliciano’s latest album Behind This Guitar sums up, with uncanny accuracy, the still-unfolding career of this remarkable and singular figure in American musical culture of the last half-century. Puerto Rican by birth, a New Yorker (Spanish Harlem) from his childhood, José Feliciano has been a fact of American musical life since his breakthrough at the height of the Sixties – the golden age of American pop and rock music.

Telecommunication demonstrates Azymuth's ability to occasionally get into trouble when resorting to hi-tech gimmickry for its own sake, but also illustrates how rewarding the Brazilian trio can be. With its vocoder-ish hijinks, the funk-influenced "May I Have This Dance" is a dated and corny bit of silliness unworthy of Azymuth. But there's also much to admire on this CD, including the haunting "The House I Lived In," the sensuous "Country Road," and the sentimental "Last Summer in Rio." Though keyboardist/pianist José Roberto Bertrami and bassist/guitarist Alex Malheiros do not always stretch out enough, the results are quite appealing when they do.

Libra (Pound) is a Julio Iglesias album released in 1985. The album was his first to reach number-one on the Latin Pop Album charts. Around this time, Iglesias returned to his roots, singing in his native Spanish again, although it had one English-language track, his version of Cole Porter's legendary classic "I've Got You Under My Skin"…