Ivory II

David Essex OBE (born David Albert Cook on 23 July 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK (including two numbers ones), and sixteen Top 40 albums. He has also had an extensive career as an actor performing on stage and screen…

Pianist Daniel Ericourt (1903-88) boasted an impressive artistic resume, including working relationships with Isadora Duncan, Nadia Boulanger, Aaron Copland (Ericourt premiered his Passacaglia), and Georges Enescu. In his teens Ericourt got to know Claude Debussy and his family, collaborated with the composer in a benefit concert, and turned pages at the premiere of his Cello Sonata. Following decades of international touring, Ericourt joined the Peabody Conservatory faculty and later became Artist-in Residence at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In the early 1960s Ericourt recorded the complete cycle of Debussy's solo piano works for the Kapp label, and despite generally excellent reviews they shortly disappeared from the catalog. The collection now appears on CD for the first time–and merits serious consideration.

Like 1970's McCartney, 1980's McCartney II functioned as a way for Paul McCartney to clear the decks: to experiment and recalibrate in the aftermath of his band falling apart. This means 1982's Tug of War is, in many ways, the very first Paul McCartney solo album, a record recorded not at home but in a studio, a record made without Wings and not co-credited to Linda, who nevertheless is present as a backing vocalist…