The Great Wall (2016)

Right from the start Chesky Records had a sound. David Chesky set out to make “aural photographs” of each session, capturing as much of the sound of being there as the technology allowed, continually pushing it forward. Every note of every session was recorded “live,” there were no overdubs, no fixing it in the mix.

Right from the start Chesky Records had a sound. David Chesky set out to make “aural photographs” of each session, capturing as much of the sound of being there as the technology allowed, continually pushing it forward. Every note of every session was recorded “live,” there were no overdubs, no fixing it in the mix.

1979's The Great Train Robbery has long been one of Jerry Goldsmith's most unusual projects, both in terms of his overall output and in particular as one of his collaborations with filmmaker Michael Crichton. With the exception of The Great Train Robbery and The Thirteenth Warrior, all of the Goldsmith/Crichton collaborations (Pursuit, Coma, Runaway, Congo and Timeline) have fallen into the techno-thriller genre, and stylistically, the buoyant comic energy of The Great Train Robbery lies far afield of the darker-edged work that in general defined Goldsmith's career. For the film, Crichton adapted his own historical novel and cast Sean Connery as dashing Victorian criminal Edward Pierce. Goldsmith's score establishes the movie as a lighthearted romp from its opening downbeat and thereafter cheerfully varies between churning, steam locomotive drive and breezy elegance; the jaunty main title tune is unpredictable and boasts one of the best bridges Goldsmith ever wrote.

Soon after his return from America, at the height of the war in 1943, Britten wrote incidental music for a radio play by Edward Sackville-West on the Homeric subject of Odysseus’s return to Penelope. Drawn from the complete score with barely any amendment of the original, and compressed into a 36-minute cantata, with Chris de Souza tailoring the text and Colin Matthews, Britten’s last amanuensis, most tactfully editing the music, the result is extraordinarily powerful. The most important role is that of the narrator, here masterfully taken by Dame Janet Baker who brings the story vividly to life despite the stylized classical language (e.g. “Odysseus, Lord of sea-girt Ithaca” or “His fair wife, white-armed Penelope”). Rather confusingly Athene also appears as a soprano, with the radiant Alison Hagley sounding totally unlike Dame Janet. She is one of a godly quartet of singers who contribute Greek-style commentaries – vocal passages which regularly add to the atmospheric beauty of the piece.

Metal For The Masses has a collection of modern metal masterpieces. It's a great mix of Swedish/European bands as well as many great American bands. This album is definitely a must for metal newbies. It gives you a great selection of the various bands going on. Arch Enemy, Lacuna Coil, Strapping Young Lad, Soilwork, Shadows Fall… and many others. If you like metal, this is an excellent choice to add to your collection. Two disc set includes 20 tracks on disc 1 and 160 mp3 tracks on disc 2.

The Later Years 1987-2019 is an explicit sequel to The Early Years 1965-1972, the 2016 box set that rounded up nearly all the loose ends and detours from the first era of Pink Floyd, the fearless period when they were figuring out what the band could do. The Later Years covers a different time, when their most pressing challenge was demonstrating that they could thrive artistically and commercially without the presence of Roger Waters, the bassist/songwriter who charted Floyd's direction between 1973's Dark Side of the Moon and 1983's The Final Cut…