The Farewell 2019

Jean-Pierre Armengaud, Jean-François Rouchon, Alessandro Fagiuoli, Andrea Musto, Natalie Pérez, John Bernard, David Petrlik, Max Kim, Dania El Zein, Juliette Allen, Łukasz Romejko, Vincent Lièvre-Picard, Vincent Lièvre -Picard

Instrumental groups of the '50s and '60s used to regularly turn to movie and television themes for material, and Los Straitjackets have taken this great tradition into the year 2019. Channel Surfing is a four-song EP from everyone's favorite masked, reverb-obsessed, vocalist-free combo where they tackle tunes associated with popular TV shows, and the lead-off track, "Game of Thrones," was cut as the finale of the HBO series was the talk of the entertainment media.

La-La Land Records and Paramount Pictures proudly present NEVADA SMITH: THE PARAMOUNT WESTERNS COLLECTION, a deluxe 4-CD soundtrack collection of original film score recordings from Paramount Pictures’ big-screen westerns NEVADA SMITH (1966), EL DORADO (1967), THREE VIOLENT PEOPLE (1957), KID RODELO (1966), WALK LIKE A DRAGON (1960), WILL PENNY (1968), THE HANGMAN (1959), BRANDED (1950), THE FURIES (1950), COPPER CANYON (1950), and STREETS OF LAREDO (1949). Meticulously restored from Paramount Pictures’ vault elements, this exciting compilation features original score recordings from eleven of the studio’s western features spanning the course of two decades. Most of these recordings are making their world premiere here, and many contain material not heard in their respective films. It’s a sonic treasure chest, showcasing Hollywood’s top Golden Age maestros at the apex of their craft, working in a legendary genre. Composers Alfred Newman, Nelson Riddle, Walter Scharf, Johnny Douglas, Paul Dunlap, David Raksin, Harry Sukman, Roy Webb, Franz Waxman, Daniele Amfitheatrof and Victor Young are represented here, their music encompassing a breathtaking variety, from grand orchestral sweep to spare and intimate moments – and everything in-between.

The 1st Chopin Festival Hamburg offers a unique opportunity to experience the keyboards of the city’s Museum of Arts and Crafts, the first festival of its kind in Europe. The individual tonal qualities of these instruments can be appreciated during recitals of Classical, Romantic and Impressionist music, with a focus on Chopin, given by six leading specialists in the museum’s own rooms. Pleyel, Brodmann and Broadwood instruments of Chopin’s time are used, as is a modern Steinway, allowing the listener to contrast the fascinatingly divergent sounds of these important historical instruments.

With the Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 7, published by Artaria “for harpsichord and piano” in 1797, Beethoven expands the scope of keyboard technique and structural proportions. Indeed, some of the passagework in the outer movements must have been prohibitive to most amateur pianists; and the length of the sonata, at the time, made it the longest work for piano ever published, and the second longest sonata Beethoven composed (the record goes to the Sonata in B-flat Major, Op. 106 “Hammerklavier”).

BACK TO EARTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, REMASTERED TO STUNNING EFFECT AT ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS. In 1978, after having sold millions of records and become one of the biggest international artists of the 1970s, Cat Stevens decided to step out of the rock star spotlight and walk away.

The Searchers - still with stalwart members John McNally and Frank Allen in their line-up - recently announced they would retire at the end of March 2019, bringing to an end an astonishing unbroken run of around sixty years for one of the most influential and enduring groups in British pop history. One of the more introspective acts to emerge from the Merseybeat group wars of the early Sixties, The Searchers' high vocal harmonies, jingle-jangle guitars and tales of male vulnerability saw them notch a trio of UK No. 1 singles and several popular EPs and albums, with debut LP "Meet The Searchers" spending an incredible ten months in the listings. But although their chart statistics were impressive, The Searchers' place in the rock history books owes at least as much to their seismic level of influence, with the likes of 'Needles And Pins' and the peerless 'When You Walk In The Room' providing The Byrds - and, by extension, the likes of Tom Petty, REM and a whole host of skinny-tied power poppers - with their musical template. Although the group made some fine records throughout their prodigious career, their peak period in terms of sales, influence and musical excellence occurred during a dazzling four-year mid-Sixties spell with the Pye label. The first-ever complete anthology of one of British pop's most pivotal catalogues, the 6-CD set When You Walk In The Room assembles all of the group's Pye recordings, with mono and stereo versions of their albums joined by studio outtakes, foreign language recordings and, on the sixth disc, a treasure trove of non-LP singles and EP tracks. Housed in a clambox design that includes a 36 page booklet with a new 6000 word essay on the band, When You Walk In The Room is a sumptuous tribute to an act who, for a glorious year or two, were arguably the country's only serious rivals to The Beatles. The Searchers are currently on an extensive farewell tour throughout the UK and then they will be retiring! Catch 'em live for the final time if you can and then purchase this amazing career retrospective.

Dragon’s Domain Records, to be distributed through buysoundtrax.com presents the original motion picture soundtrack for A DOGGONE CHRISTMAS, featuring music composed by Chuck Cirino for the 2016 children’s adventure film directed by Jim Wynorski, written by J. Brad Wilke, Josh Holt and Jim Wynorski, starring Jaret Sacrey, Walker Mintz, Jayden Heddon, Jolie Ledford, Zachary Cirino, Steve Altman, Dominique Swain, Rib Hillis, Lauren Parkinson, Paul Logan, Amy Holt and Just Jesse The Jack as Murphy. A DOGGONE CHRISTMAS continues the longtime collaboration between filmmaker Jim Wynorski and composer Chuck Cirino, which includes films such as CHOPPING MALL, DEATHSTALKER II, NOT OF THIS EARTH, TRANSYLVANIA TWIST and RETURN OF SWAMP THING.