The Action

Celebration of the mid-60s Swinging London scene at its brash, colourful zenith. A cornucopia of club-friendly mod R&B/soul, era-defining pop hits and cult TV/film themes as England swung like a pendulum do.

Joan Wasser's first Joan as Police Woman album, Real Life, mourned the loss of her lover, Jeff Buckley, while her second, To Survive, mourned the loss of her mother. The Deep Field, however, finds her alone but not lonely, still searching for something and finding beauty and even happiness, if not answers. Wasser reunited with producer Bryce Goggin for this set of songs, but the guests that popped up on her previous albums are notably absent, as is much of the sadness that made Real Life and To Survive as wrenching as they were compelling. Not that The Deep Field is entirely clear sailing: on “Nervous,” she’s shaken precisely because things are going so well with a new love, while on “Run for Love,” she cautions, “I don’t wanna talk on the future with you” even as she revels in togetherness. Here, her highs are as stratospheric as her lows were deep before; “The Action Man” starts as a spin around the dancefloor and ends with Wasser losing track of time and space. These unique twists she puts on happiness keep the album fresh, even when its second half ventures into the smoothest musical territory Wasser has yet explored.

Le Comte Ory tells the story of a libidinous and cunning nobleman who disguises himself first as a hermit and then as a nun ("Sister Colette") in order to gain access to the virtuous Countess Adele, whose brother is away at the Crusades. The 2011 Met production was directed by the Tony Award-winning Broadway director Bartlett Sher, who in recent years has also staged Il barbiere di Siviglia and Les Contes d'Hoffman for the Met. Sher presented the action as an opera within an opera, updated the action by a few centuries and giving the costume designer, Catherine Zuber, the opportunity to create some particularly extravagant headgear.

Diana Damrau’s reputation as the world’s leading coloratura soprano has been built on her extraordinary technical virtuosity, her sensitive musicianship and her acute psychological insight. In Katie Mitchell’s sometimes radical production of Lucia di Lammermoor from the Royal Opera House, she is, as the Financial Times wrote, 'brilliantly convincing'. Award winning director Katie Mitchell took a revisionist approach to the drama, updating the action to the mid-19th century and applying a feminist slant as she added new and unexpected elements. Mitchell also made extensive use of a ‘split screen’ effect on the stage, counterpointing two different pieces of action at key moments.

Only the most dedicated UFO fan could possibly keep track of all the live releases that have surfaced over the years. Many of these live recordings were not necessarily approved by the band, and as a result, some have been good, and some have been downright stinky. Finally, the UFO lads have taken steps to regain control of their concert recordings, by issuing a mammoth six-disc box set, 2009's Official Bootleg Box Set. UFO have always been one of those groups best experienced on the concert stage, as evidenced by 1979's Strangers in the Night, which is widely regarded as one of hard rock/heavy metal's all-time great live sets…

Curated by Acid Jazz Records and Modcast founder Eddie Piller, “British Mod Sounds of The 1960s Volume 2: The Freakbeat & Psych Years” is the follow up to the hugely successful “British Mod Sounds of The 1960s”, featuring 95 original tracks across a 4CD set - a deep dive into the post-Mod scene in '60s Britain. Featuring a selection of classic and rare tracks, tracing the scene from early '65 to the dawn of a new decade.