The Butcher's Rodeo Pater Autem

This exquisite late-Renaissance Portuguese polyphonic repertoire is as richly expressive as it is politically poised…This beautiful new album from The Marian Consort is surely one of the best one-to-a-part ensemble recordings of this repertoire. Throughout the programme they nurture a warm blend while drawing out long polyphonic threads to expressive ends.

Small Miracles is the eleventh studio album released by Canadian country rock band Blue Rodeo, released on September 25, 2007. Although Small Miracles did not produce any high charting singles, such as 1990's "Til I Am Myself Again" which reached number 19 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, critical reception was generally positive. Allmusic marveled that the album "sounds this consistently fresh and inspired coming 20 years after Blue Rodeo's debut." The first single, C'mon, peaked at number 68 on the Canadian Hot 100. Although the second single, 3 Hours Away, did not chart, the following single, This Town, did.

Friday Music proudly presents for the first time on 180 Gram Translucent Blue & Green Swirl Audiophile Vinyl, the 50th Anniversary Edition of The Byrds’ "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo." Impeccably mastered by Joe Reagoso at Friday Music Studios & Capitol Mastering.

The three Copland classics on this disc–Billy the Kid, Appalachian Spring and Rodeo–are all ballet scores, and from the very first bars of Billy, with its evocative depiction of the wide-open prairies, you are firmly in the territory of music that tells a story. But you don't need to follow all the ins and outs of each story to enjoy music which paints as vivid a picture of rural America as you could hope for. If the sprightly "Hoe Down" from Rodeo brings a splash of colour to concert programmes, the remarkable thing about so much of the music in these three pieces is how quietly sensitive it is. And while Michael Tilson Thomas does not hold back in wringing every last ounce of splashy razzmatazz, he is equally the master of introspective music which clearly demonstrates that you don't need to be loud to be a populist. The recordings were made in the San Francisco Symphony's home, Davies Symphony Hall. You couldn't hope for more authentic performances than this–more than 76 minutes of dyed-in-the-wool Americana.

Outskirts is a highly likeable debut featuring mid-tempo country rockers fleshed out by tasteful use of organ in the arrangements – a subtle touch that, along with the sheer quality of the material, distinguished Blue Rodeo from the hordes of other Gram Parsons devotees in the mid-'80s.

Hyperion’s record of the month for July celebrates the (probable) 500th anniversary of the birth of England’s first superstar composer, Thomas Tallis, and welcomes the signing to the label of The Cardinall’s Musick and Andrew Carwood. In a fifteen-year history The Cardinall’s Musick has progressively built an enviable reputation for excellence. Some twenty recordings on the ASV Gaudeamus label have seen accolades from around the world, including a Gramophone Award and a Diapason d’Or, while in the concert hall and workshop the group has consistently displayed innovation and a freshness of approach, whether tackling contemporary works (many of them commissions) or sharing the fruits of years of research into the music of the English Renaissance.

The 2011 box set called Original Album Classics contains mini-LP paper sleeve versions of the Byrds' second five albums: Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, Ballad of Easy Rider, Byrdmaniax, and Farther Along. The self-titled double LP may be missing but this is a good, affordable overview of the group's country-rock years and presented as mini-LPs.