The Ideal Copy

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book (1959) {4CD Box Set Verve 539 759-2 rel 1998}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.40 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 604 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 325 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1959, 1998 Verve / PolyGram | 539 759-2 | Verve Master Edition | 20bit remaster
Jazz / Vocal Jazz / Standards

During the late '50s, Ella Fitzgerald continued her Song Book records with Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book, releasing a series of albums featuring 59 songs written by George and Ira Gershwin. Those songs, plus alternate takes, were combined on a four-disc box set, Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book, in 1998. These performances are easily among Fitzgerald's very best, and for any serious fan, this is the ideal place to acquire the recordings, since the sound and presentation are equally classy and impressive.

The expanded 3-CD follow up to the iconic now out of print 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t be Wrong compilation, now features songs right up to the groups last album.

Helmut Lotti is a Belgian tenor and singer-songwriter. Lotti performs in several styles and languages. Once an Elvis impersonator, he has sung African and Latino and Jewish music hit records, and he crossed over into classical music in the 1990s. The Golden Collection is a unique music monument. A deluxe box packaging with 34 discs full of audio and video music. Helmut Lotti's complete catalog available as one collection for the very first time. This makes “The Golden Collection” the ideal gift this year.

Syriana - The Road To Damascus (2010) {Real World CDRW176}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 377 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 146 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 20 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2010 Real World Recordings | CDRW176
World / Electronic / Folk

Conceived in London and recorded in Damascus, this fascinating CD collection is a true fusion on many levels, traversing space and time, reinventing and subverting stereotypes, consciously marrying ancient Middle Eastern sounds with Parisian cafe music…The vocals are both stunning and spooky, the swirling music at once mysterious and totally accessible.

Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XX - Henry Purcell - Fantasias for the Viols 1680 (2002) {Naive-Astree ES 9922 rec 1994}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 277 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 125 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 42 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1994, 2002 Astrée / Naïve | ES 9922
Classical / Baroque / Chamber Music / Viol

Intellectually concentrated, emotionally intense, technically difficult, and spiritually sublime, Henry Purcell's Fantasias for the Viols are exactly the sort of music that Jordi Savall was born to play and play superbly. And with his group Hesperion XX, they play them as superbly Savall does. The depth of tone of the instruments, the brilliance of the technique, the rigor of the interpretations, the soulfulness of the understanding, and the transcendence of compassion are nonpareil and the performances achieve a level unmatched by any other.

People are familiar with rai or some of the more traditional music to emerge from North Africa and the Middle East, but lately there's also been an undercurrent of more adventurous music – hip-hop and electronica. The roots still shout loud and proud, but the sounds (often made by artists who've moved to Europe or the U.S.) are as hard and modern as anything, anywhere – for example, the rap of Clotaire K or Mafia Maghrebine, the edgy, skittering rhythms of U-Cef, or the powerful trance of Gnawa Impulse. And this compilation makes the ideal introduction, from the pounding beats of "A Muey A Muey," which was a revelation and breakthrough when it first appeared, to the contemporary remix of Ali Slimani's "S'Habi." The full range of the music gets an airing here, and for anyone with an urge to explore the lesser-known (for now) areas of Maghrebi music, this is the starting point.

Few rock groups can claim to have broken so much new territory, and maintain such consistent brilliance on record, as the Velvet Underground during their brief lifespan…

Here's a welcome collating of the best performances from one of America's greatest hippie Christian band. While bands like Petra and Resurrection Band spent the '70s perfecting a heavy rock'n'roll, ASFB ploughed a blusier furrow with ace blues guitarist Glenn Schwartz exemplifying his renowned skills…