The Longest Day in Chang'an

Universal will celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Verve‘s Urban Hymns in September with a reissue campaign that includes a 5CD+DVD super deluxe edition and a massive 6LP vinyl box set. All formats feature a remastered version of the album (the work of Chris Potter and Metropolis’ Tony Cousins) and the super deluxe edition box set adds four further CDs offering B-sides, remixes, session tracks, BBC Sessions and two discs of unreleased live performance from the era, including the May 1998 hometown show in front of around 35,000 fans at Haigh Hall, Wigan.

It is extremely difficult for a vocalist to hide his or her age while singing. Anita O'Day, 69 at the time of this recording, no longer sounded like she had in 1959, but this was actually her best all-around set in several years. O'Day still retained her highly appealing phrasing and most of her range; she still took chances (her version of "I Cried for You" is a good example), and she sounded happy to be alive, having beaten the odds. Gordon Brisker's creative arrangements for the backup group (which consists of his tenor and flute, pianist Pete Jolly, bassist Brian Bromberg, drummer Frank Capp, percussionist Dave Black, and on a few songs the harp of Corky Hale) allow room for plenty of concise solos. On "Anita's Blues," one can almost feel the years dropping away as O'Day hints at her recordings from the 1940s. This fine CD is definitive of Anita O'Day's later years and worth investigating.

Have you been a bad boy or girl this year? Worried that Santa's going to bring you a bag of coal? Maybe he'll bring you some dookie instead. Green Day's patented pop-punk is as timeless as any classic Christmas carol. These all-new holiday versions prove it. Instead of fast licks of guitar solos, you will be getting the jingle of bells and horns. From now on, you'll be singing about the Green Days of Christmas…

Purcell’s fourth birthday Ode for the Queen, Love’s goddess sure was blind, was the most intimate of the six, scored for just strings and a pair of recorders. The two-section Symphony is one of Purcell’s finest, especially richly scored. The noble, yet wistful, first part is dominated by a six-note falling scale and a ravishing melody (which comes only once in the violins, but three times in the viola), all wrapped in glorious harmony. The triple-time second section at first glance appears lighter in character, but (as with so much of Purcell’s music, which needs to be played to discover its true riches) in practice still has an underlying current of melancholy, heightened at the end as the opening mood returns.