Tokyo Rose

The definitive box set re-issue of The Barracudas’ cult classic debut album, ‘Drop Out With The Barracudas’, compiled by Barracudas songwriter / guitarist Robin Wills.

Ella Fitzgerald was the supreme jazz singer. Sarah Vaughan may have been more technically complex and Billie Holiday may have been more rawly emotional, but Ella approached the nearest to what a true jazz vocalist can be. Even at the age of 66, when this "Jazz at the Philharmonic" concert was filmed in Tokyo, she was still magnificent. Admittedly her voice had become a little quavery - especially when using vibrato - but her spirit and jazz feeling were undiminished. Time and again during this concert, one marvels at the adroitness of her voice and the inventiveness of her improvisations. She used her voice like a musician playing jazz on an instrument, and thus she epitomised jazz.

Stephane Grappelli may have given up standing during concerts late in life as a concession to his health, but at the age of 82, he still swung like mad with the best of them, as heard in this 1990 concert recorded in Tokyo. Accompanied by guitarist Marc Fosset and bassist Jean-Philippe Viret, with the addition of accordion player Marcel Azzola on a few selections, the violinist devotes a good part of his show to the expected standards from the 1930s and 1940s. Highlights include a swinging "Just One of Those Things," a delightful "Honeysuckle Rose" and a loping "Ol' Man River," the latter which adds ripples supplied by Azzola's accordion, until the dam breaks and the second half of the song comes on like a spring flood…

Tokyo Tapes is the first live album by German hard rock band Scorpions and their final album released by RCA Records…