Michael Knodt

The best-selling album of all time is 25, and this birthday edition puts new jewels atop the crowning achievement of the King of Pop. Billie Jean; Beat It; Human Nature; P.Y.T.; The Girl Is Mine (with Paul McCartney) and the rest join eight bonus tracks (an unissued song from the Thriller sessions; a Billie Jean demo; remixes by Kanye West, Akon, will.i.am and more) plus a DVD of videos and Michael's famous moon-walkin' moment on the Motown 25 TV special.

Serving as both accomplished career overview and a live-in-the-studio effort that covers two and a half hours and over 40 years of work, Trainsong is a seemingly effortless release, such is the apparent delicacy and grace of Michael Chapman's performing throughout. As Charles Shaar Murray's combatively entertaining liner notes acknowledge, Chapman couldn't play at least one favored piece due to a recent injury. What is on offer, however, is the kind of reflective, elegant playing on both acoustic and electric guitar one would expect from any instrumentalist after decades of experience. From the start, the tender flow of notes on "The Last Polish Breakfast," almost a portrait of sunrise on sparkling water, Chapman seems to be both celebrating his past and claiming a space in the present.

Lemongrassmusic present the collaboration album of UK born and Mallorca Island-based Chillout music producer Michael E and Berlin-based Trumpet player and producer Tim Gelo (alias Velvet Dreamer). The idea for the album "Bring It Back" accrued when the two musicians became aware of the sheer number of beautiful collaboration tracks that they had been creating during the past few years. Michael has been loving Tim’s playing ever since he knew him and after they started their working partnership he felt that it always takes his music to another level. Tim is playing Trumpet, Muted Trumpet, Flugelhorn and Whisper Trumpet. The 11 tracks have a very relaxed and emotional feel and were created to make you enjoy the present moment and the place where you are.

Singer/songwriter Michael Bolton emerged in the mid-'80s as a major soft rock balladeer. Originally, he recorded under his real name, Michael Bolotin, turning up on RCA Records in the mid-'70s singing cover tunes and his own blue-eyed soul songs in a voice reminiscent of Joe Cocker. He then became the lead singer of Blackjack, a heavy metal band that made two albums for Polydor before splitting up in the early '80s. Looking to relaunch his career, he changed his name to Michael Bolton and signed to Columbia Records as a solo artist in 1983. Bolton's achievements include selling more than 75 million records, recording eight top 10 albums and two number-one singles on the Billboard charts, as well as winning multiple American Music Awards and Grammy Awards.

Narada Michael Walden (born Michael Walden on April 23, 1952 in Kalamazoo, Michigan) is an American producer, drummer, singer, and songwriter. He was given the name Narada by guru Sri Chinmoy in the early 1970s and his musical career spans three decades, in which he was awarded several gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards. Walden has also owned and operated Tarpan Studios, a well-known recording studio in San Rafael, California, since the mid-1980s.

Nowadays it seems that any music with the slightest hint of a synthesizer is labelled ‘electronic’. It is often a misnomer and cause for consternation amongst disciples of ‘full-fat’ electronic music. There is no doubt, however, that the work of Michael Shipway deserves this moniker. Mister Shipway composes bona fide electronic music and is one half of the much-admired duo, ‘VoLt’. Michael's trio of solo albums - ‘Into Battle’, followed by ‘Beneath Folly’ and then ‘Spirit Of Adventure’ - were released in the nineties to critical acclaim. They conjured-up melodies, rhythms and atmospheric sounds that helped define the zeitgeist of late-twentieth-century electronic music. All three thoroughly deserved their plaudits from the cognoscenti. They were going to be a hard act to follow, even a decade and a half on.