Sir Karl Jenkins is one of the most performed living composers in the world. The release of Karl’s new album Miserere: Songs Of Mercy And Redemption, on 11 October, will be followed by his 75th birthday concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 13 October. His new choral masterpiece Miserere is dedicated to all who have suffered or perished during the conflicts in the Middle East over the last 70 years. Karl was motivated by the desperate situation for the millions of people displaced and impacted by the cruel effects of war and hoped the healing and uniting powers of music could be used to bring together people from different religions.
Del Shannon (born Charles Weedon Westover; December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990) was an American rock and roll singer-songwriter who is best known for his 1961 No. 1 hit "Runaway"
This 45-song, two-disc collection is subtitled "two decades of killer fretwork", and never was a set so aptly described. Chess Records was the home to seemingly every hot guitar player in the Chicago area, and many of them make their appearance here. Besides the usual label guitar hotshots (Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy, Lowell Fulson, Earl Hooker, Otis Rush, Robert Nighthawk, Little Milton), space is given to sideman work from legends like Hubert Sumlin and Robert Jr. Lockwood and great one-offs by lesser-known artists like Jody Williams, Danny Overbea, Eddie Burns, Joe Hill Louis, Morris Pejoe, Lafayette Thomas and others. It seems as if everyone recorded for Chess at one time or another, also explaining the inclusion of tracks by John Lee Hooker, Albert King, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Lonnie Brooks, Hound Dog Taylor and Elmore James. If electric blues guitar's your thing, then look no further than this fine two-disc compilation.
Keep an Eye on the Sky is a 4-CD, 98-song career retrospective box set from American rock group Big Star. It features 52 unreleased tracks: demos, alternate takes and live performances. As well as material from founder member Chris Bell's earlier bands Rock City and Icewater, it includes all titles (in many cases as alternate mixes or demos) from Big Star's first three studio albums, #1 Record, Radio City, and Third/Sister Lovers, and a recording of a 1973 Big Star concert.