Glorious Recordings

Dutch band Alquin released four studio albums in the early to mid-'70s, initially playing prog rock influenced by Pink Floyd and Roxy Music. However, by 1975's Nobody Can Wait Forever (the only Alquin album released in the U.S.), the band turned to a more varied style encompassing blues and hard rock. The original group comprised guitarist/vocalist Ferdinand Bakker, vocalist Job Tarenskeen, bassist Hein Mars, drummer Paul Weststrate, and horn player Ronald Ottenhoff; Michel Van Dyke joined the band as lead vocalist in 1975. A live album appeared in 1976, and the best-of Crash! was released a year later. Bakker and Tarenskeen played in the new wave outfit the Meteors in the late '70s and early '80s.

Trettioåriga Kriget is a Swedish progressive rock band that was formed in Saltsjöbaden outside Stockholm in 1970. They released their s/t debut album in 1974. They have earned critical acclaim from critics and fellow musicians, developed a cult following, and became an influence for a new generation of Swedish and Scandinavian progressive rock bands.
Considering that this pre-debut album actually saw the light of day as a result of using a 2-track tape recorder to document the collective thoughts and ideas of these aspiring lads, one cannot really complain about the obviously inferior sound quality.
The sound is often slightly dissonant and unnerving; given the prehistoric age of the original recordings but enables the band to pull off a pretty convincing attempt at emulating what Pink Floyd so admirably did in their prime…

Rosa Ponselle - The Columbia Acoustic Recordings (1992) {2CD Set Pearl GEMM CDS 9964 rec 1918-1923}
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© 1918-23, 1992 Pearl / Pavilion Records | GEMM CDS 9964
Classical / Vocal / Opera / Historical

Those early Ponselle records have unique qualities. She was at the age of the characters she was portraying, in her impulsiveness (incredibly controlled by technique and taste) singing every note and emotion with the freshness of youth in life's spring. This with the most glorious voice that ever came from any woman's throat in the Italian repertory, with a precocious sense of line, style, and emotional honesty…

Rosa Ponselle - The Victor Recordings 1923-1925 (1994) {2CD Set Romophone 81006-2}
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© 1923-25, 1994 Victor / Romophone | 81006-2
Classical / Vocal / Historical

For Romophone, 'complete' means just that. The Ponselle has every playable 'take' made in that period, issued or not, seventeen of them, all fascinating, many never available before and none so precisely pitched…. Ponselle's Romophone CD is self-recommending. What a voice! True, the recordings are, for the most part, primitive in comparison to what we have today. Even so, this glorious and honest voice, so free of artsy affectation, reveals a beauty and artistry that has its roots in the simple perfection of classical Greece and Rome.

Riccardo Chailly - Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - Live - The Radio Recordings (2004) {13CD Box Set Q Disc 97033}
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© 2004 Q Disc | 97033
Classical / Orchestral

In June this year (2004), Riccardo Chailly stepped down as music director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, to be succeeded by Mariss Jansons. Chailly's last appearances in Amsterdam exemplified his range as a conductor - there was a new production of Verdi's Don Carlo for Netherlands Opera, running in parallel with performances of Mahler's Ninth Symphony in the orchestra's home at the Concertgebouw itself.

Eduard van Beinum - Concertgebouw Orchestra - Live - The Radio Recordings (2000) {11CD Box Set Q Disc 97015 rec 1935-1958}
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© 2000 Q Disc | 97015
Classical / Orchestral

Finally Dutch conductor Eduard van Beinum is receiving attention he so richly deserves with many of his superb performances appearing on CD. Philips has issued most of his commercial recordings for that label, available mostly in Holland. Dutton Laboratories, LYS and Japanese Decca also have issued a number of recordings (with many yet unissued—see our Features article on Van Beinum). Now we have this set of live concert performances dating from 1935 through 1958. The earliest are from 78 rpm acetates some of which were not in very good condition. Some, not all, have surface disturbances even the most precise digital processing cannot eliminate. However, for the collector this is relatively insignificant considering these remarkable performances.

Frank Sinatra - The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings (1995) {20CD Box Set, Reprise 46013-2 rec 1960-1988}
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© 1960-88, 1995 Reprise Records / Warner | 46013-2
Jazz / Vocal Jazz / Standards / Traditional Pop

Frank sinatra The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings (1995 US limited edition 20-CD set containing a total of 452 songs [over 24 hours sequenced in chronological order] recorded between 1960 & 1988, with 70 songs previously unavailable on CD & a further 18 previously unreleased titles, presented in embossed deluxe leather and brass bound 'trunk' carry case with individually numbered brass plaque, complete with 96-page hard back book with extensive liner notes and insightful essays by respected Sinatra scholars like Will Friedwald, interviews and photographs.)

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes were one of the very first groups to achieve global success for Philadelphia International Records within its first year as a CBS-distributed label. The 1972 release of two consecutive ‘tell-it-like-it-is’ ballads – ‘I Miss You’ and ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now’ – marked the start of a four-year association that yielded some of the most enduring recordings in contemporary soul music, in the process creating – with label founders Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff and a burgeoning coterie of talented songwriters, arrangers and musicians – a handful of timeless dance music classics including ‘The Love I Lost’, ‘Bad Luck’ and ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’.