Zankoku Hanten (2008) Aka Cruel Restaurant

Five of the Isley Brothers' albums released during the late '60s and early '70s are featured in this compact box set, consisting of standard jewel cases inside a simple cardboard sleeve: The Brothers: Isley (1969), Get Into Something (1970), Givin' It Back (1971), Brother, Brother, Brother (1972), and 3 + 3 (1973). The albums, which range from decent to excellent, contain several of the group's Top Ten R&B singles, such as "I Turned You On," "Love the One You're With," "Pop That Thang," and "What It Comes Down To." In 2008, when it was released, it sold for roughly the same amount as two full-price discs.

This four disc set from Erato opens with Gluck’s three act lyric tragedy Iphigénie en Aulide, his first original ‘French’ opera for the fashionable Paris Opéra. In 1773 Gluck had been persuaded that he could establish himself at the Paris Opéra (also known as L’Opéra) by François du Roullet, an attaché at the French Embassy in Vienna. Baille du Roullet provided Gluck with the libretto for Iphigénie en Aulide, based on the tragedy of Racine and founded on the play of Euripides. Initially the Director of L’Opéra hesitated in accepting Gluck’s score. Fortunately he had a influential ally in Marie-Antoinette, the Queen of France, to whom he had taught singing and harpsichord. The first staging of Iphigénie en Aulide was at the Paris Opéra in 1774.

Since the late 90s, Amorphous Androgynmous AKA The Future Sound Of London AKA Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans have been weaving together two-hour broadcasts of their favourite records that could be loosely classed as 'Cosmic Space Music'. After ten years of messing with our heads via the wireless, they now pick their choicest mind-melting moments on what promises to be a fine series of double CDs. It's a collection that perfectly runs the gauntlet from kitsch (Lord Sitar's I Am The Walrus) to uber cool (Miles Davis or Can). Donovan, Osibisa, Can, Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Hawkwind and many more.

The playing of many professional classical guitarists leaves me cold. Where they flawlessly execute a score, Bream has spaciously conceived the music using something it seems is in short supply- a disciplined imagination. Each note, instead of sounding like part of an automatic process, sounds conceived and executed deliberately. Bream attended conservatory, where he was told not to bring his "gypsy instrument".

Noc Na Zamku (2008). This seems to be a live recording (part of the Polish event "Olszty skie Lato Artystyczne 2007") although it overall sounds like a studio work. The album offers eight tracks of intense, fresh, versatile Berliner School, slightly Redshift-oriented sequencing and lush solo voices. The third piece "La Orkestra" accelerates into fourth gear, as the well rendered electronics, beats and rhythms venture into dance/trance territory as TD's "Kiew Mission" kindred vocal samples pass by through the sonic spectrum. Vocal phrases and breathing sounds mingled with holdback electronics slow things down again on "Ambient II". The following piece "Live" is made up of repetitive, mid-tempo paced hypnotic sequencer structures over which trance-like solo voices freely hover, as a dance beat shortly kicks in halfway…

This is the sixth set in this comprehensive and excellent Handel edition from Warner. This volume deals with an important oratorio in the shape of "Saul" as well as the "Utrecht Te Deum" and the famous "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day" and "Alexander's Feast", another splendid cantata. The recordings date from the early 1970's to 1990 and come from the prolific Teldec stable under the indefatigable Nikolaus Harnoncourt who conducts in his exemplary no nonsense fashion. "Saul' is a fine interpretation although I still feel that John Eliot Gardiner comes to the core of the work better. "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day' is also given a pomp and circumstance treatment whilst the Utrecht Te Deum is winningly done. The team of soloists is also very good and the recordings are fine and well balanced in proper Teldec tradition.