Classic Song

Following his landmark Natty Dread album in 1974 and his hugely successful concert album Live! the following year, Bob Marley and his band the Wailers continued to produce vibrant, meaningful albums throughout the rest of the '70s, right up until the singer's untimely death in 1981. This Island's 5 Classic Albums box set focuses on the latter half of iconic reggae singer Bob Marley's recording career, featuring his final studio albums: Rastaman Vibration (1976), Exodus (1977), Kaya (1978), Survival (1979), and Uprising (1980).

Sony Classical announces another ten releases in its popular series of Classical Masters. This new batch of budget-priced sets contains major recording projects by some of the 20th centurys most celebrated musicians. It was the Warner Brothers 1946 Bette Davis starrer Deception in particular, its score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold that originally aroused a passion for film music in the American conductor and producer Charles Gerhardt. Beginning his career in 1950 as a technician for RCA, where he came into contact with Toscanini, he went on to become a producer for Westminster before returning to RCA as a conductor, moving to Europe and making his name in the 1970s with the monumental series of recordings collected here for the first time: twelve discs of classic film scores, many of them Oscar winners or nominees, from Hollywoods golden age with Gerhardt at the helm of Londons elite recording ensemble, the National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Led Zeppelin is an english rock band from the 1970's. Their 2nd album, Led Zeppelin 2, 1970, is the one which launched them into the limelight and led to several mainstream hits, such as "Whole Lotta Love", "What is and What Should Never Be", "Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid", and, of course, "Ramble On". Their fusion of hard rock, blues, and outright innovation [or black blues thievery depending on who you ask] made this album essentially a hit list of songs that would receive heavy radio airplay for years to come. Unfortunatly, heavy distortion, though to be a result of recording or mastering at too high a volume [running the transients into the red] has resulted in many of the more intense moments, particularly Bonham's ballistic drum runs, sounding flabby and unpleasant. I must mention that despite Classic records best efforts, this distortion, which is now known to be part of the actual master tape [though apparently the multi's do not suffer from this], is still present. Classic Records co., who mastered this release, is a record mastering company specializing in audiophile Vinyl pressings [like this 200gram 33rpm example] , using a custom all tube cutting and mastering process from the original master tapes. They [CR] seek to perfectly replicate the original vinyl pressings in both sound and asthetics [cover art, liner notes, even paper texture, down to a creepy level of detail usually], while eliminating surface noise and gaining new clarity and quality of acoustics compared to standard releases. Very similar to MFSL in almost every meaningful regard, vinyl only obviously.

Blake s new album A Classic Christmas is a collection of classic festive songs with Hollywood style backing and Blake's famous vocal harmonies. This is an album with a vintage festive party feel & silver screen glamour, bringing back memories of many Christmas pasts and likely to be enjoyed for many years to come. Teaming up with Brit-Award winning harmony trio Blake, Dame Shirley Bassey has recorded her first ever Christmas song and has revealed she would love a Christmas number 1. Blake-and-Bassey have recorded The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) and the song will be the soundtrack for the upcoming festive season with soaring strings, swoonsome harmonies and, of course, Dame Shirley s distinctive voice.

Volumes 3 and 4 of the The Encyclopedia of More Great Popular Song Recordings provides the stories behind approximately 1,700 more of the greatest song recordings in the history of the music industry, from 1890 to today. In this masterful survey, all genres of popular music are covered, from pop, rock, soul, and country to jazz, blues, classic vocals, hip-hop, folk, gospel, and ethnic/world music.

In the '50s, pianist Martin Denny was playing a residency at an open-air nightclub in Hawaii when he and his band (including Arthur Lyman on vibraphone, Augie Colón on percussion, and John Kramer on bass) began incorporating the sounds of nature into their songs (Colón had a knack for emulating bird calls), as well as embracing melodies and arrangements influenced by the sounds of the Pacific and the Far East. Denny and his combo landed a record deal for their unique music, and the song "Quiet Village" became a major pop hit in 1958, kicking off a new style of music that was dubbed "exotica" for its use of unconventional sounds and moods. Denny was a common presence on the sales charts for the next several years, and this box set features eight albums by Denny on four CDs (two albums on each disc) chronicling his most popular and productive period. Eight Classic Albums includes the albums Exotica (1958), Exotica 2 (1958), Forbidden Island (1958), Primitiva (1958), Exotica 3 (1959), The Enchanted Sea (1960), Exotic Percussion (1960), and Romantica (1961).