Music Then And Now

A rare gift,” is how the Daily Telegraph describes the artistry that Gwilym Simcock brings to playing solo piano. “I have always enjoyed the challenge to make sure that a piece of music has a nice arc to it,” says Simcock. “It should take you on a journey whether it is composed or improvised.” The outstanding individuality of his playing is what led to him to become a member of the great Pat Metheny’s quartet and to tour extensively with it. It is no coincidence that "Near and Now" seems so close up and personal: “Many albums are written at home and then recorded out ‘on the road’, but I decided to do it the other way round,” explains Simcock. And so he creates music that is current, fresh, and brings a sense of real intimacy.

Bringing together over 50 of Jamaica's greatest session musicians, whose work spans from the birth of reggae in the late 1960s until today, Roots Architects is the largest gathering of Jamaican musical talent on one all-instrumental album. Never before have so many veterans, who helped create the immortal rhythms that made reggae internationally successful, been assembled to play on new material without vocals. This album aims to celebrate and pay tribute to the unsung heroes of reggae music: the rhythm builders or Roots Architects.

The power pop world lost a legend in March when it was announced that Eric Carmen - the Raspberries frontman turned soft-rock hitmaker of the '70s and '80s - passed away at the age of 74. Now - on the eve of what would have been his 75th birthday and a special tribute to his life and career from the city that raised him - Legacy Recordings today issues a trove of rare and unreleased recordings from his beloved solo career. And Now, Eric Carmen: The Arista Archive collects 25 demos, single versions, live tracks and studio outtakes (including three heard here for the first time) to offer an alternate look at Carmen's career as he launched radio hits like "All by Myself," "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again," "She Did It" and "Change of Heart" in the '70s; then, after a long period of quiet after a one-off album for Geffen in 1984, a last burst of hits in the thunderous Top 5s "Hungry Eyes" (from the bestselling soundtrack to 1987's Dirty Dancing) and "Make Me Lose Control," co-written with songwriter Dean Pitchford, with whom he'd penned the hit "Almost Paradise" for Loverboy's Mike Reno and Heart's Ann Wilson to take into the Top 10 from 1984's Footloose soundtrack.

Three Music Courses in One: Comprehensive Music Theory and Music Skills Development. Music theory you can use.

Musically, Franz Liszt (1811–1886) is one of the most written about but least understood composers of the 19th century. As for his life—Felix Mendelssohn observed that Liszt's character was "a continual alternation between scandal and apotheosis." "Scandal and apotheosis"? What could that possibly mean? Join music professor Robert Greenberg for these lectures, and go on a fascinating journey in search of the truth about both. "Franz Liszt, Both Sides Now," you might call it.

To celebrate 250 parties, Eamon Harkin and Justin Carter, the residents at and organisers of Mister Saturday Night, have put together this wonderful compilation. It starts with the offbeat folk of Menelik Wossenatchu's "Tezeta" and the glorious, soulful disco of Soul Bros Inc's "Pyramid".

"…this beautiful two-disc set, which is really as much or more an intimate photo album as it is a collection of recordings, just underscores the obvious – Martin was cool then and he's cool now. Yeah, he could sing. His voice was a distinctive, warm and relaxed croon that was instantly recognizable, and he certainly could have had a career as a singer alone, but Martin was more than that: he was an icon, and he did comedy, acted in movies, hosted TV shows, and in general coasted through his public life as himself, that cool guy having fun and going with the flow – even if he was in a tuxedo – with a drink in one hand and, more often than not, a cigarette in the other.

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