They Died With Their Boots on

A highly fictionalized account of the life of George Armstrong Custer from his arrival at West Point in 1857 to his death at the battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876. He has little discipline at the academy but is prepared to stand up to the senior cadet, Ned Sharp, who makes his life miserable. While there he catches the eye of the commandant, Col. (later General) Phil Sheridan and also meets his future bride, Elizabeth Bacon. Graduating early due to the Civil War, it is only through a chance meeting with General Winfield Scott that he finally gets assigned to a cavalry regiment. He served with distinction during the war and when he is promoted to Brigadier General in error, he leads his troops in a decisive victory. He has little to do after the war turning down lucrative positions in private industry and it's his wife who arranges with Gen. Scott for him to be appointed a Lt. Colonel and given command of the 7th Cavalry. He is depicted as a friend of the Indians who will fight for…

Sony Classical announces another ten releases in its popular series of Classical Masters. This new batch of budget-priced sets contains major recording projects by some of the 20th centurys most celebrated musicians. It was the Warner Brothers 1946 Bette Davis starrer Deception in particular, its score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold that originally aroused a passion for film music in the American conductor and producer Charles Gerhardt. Beginning his career in 1950 as a technician for RCA, where he came into contact with Toscanini, he went on to become a producer for Westminster before returning to RCA as a conductor, moving to Europe and making his name in the 1970s with the monumental series of recordings collected here for the first time: twelve discs of classic film scores, many of them Oscar winners or nominees, from Hollywoods golden age with Gerhardt at the helm of Londons elite recording ensemble, the National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Now in its 2nd Season, the story of archaeology fascinates both laymen and professionals. In these installments we accompany Ernst Herzfeld on his last expedition to Persepolis in 1923; we travel to Mexico with the man who cracked the code of the Aztec calendar; we visit the greatest pre-industrial city on earth at Angkor; we join Isidoro Falchi as he discovers proof of the existence of the Etruscans; and we watch Alfred Merlin found the discipline of marine archaeology when he discovers shipwrecks in the Mediterranean..

Often credited as early architects of the San Francisco sound, the Beau Brummels found success right out of the gate with their 1964 debut single, "Laugh, Laugh." With its autumnal folk-pop jangle and moody melodic hooks, the song bore enough resemblance to the burgeoning British Invasion that many fans mistook these young Americans for invading Brits. Defined by the partnership of Sal Valentino (vocals, tambourine) and Ron Elliott (guitar, vocals, songwriter), the influential group went on to notch a small clutch of mid-'60s hits like "Just a Little" and "You Tell Me Why," while anticipating both the folk-rock and country-rock genres ahead of better-known bands, especially the Byrds. By the late '60s, the Brummels' mainstream popularity had all but died, and yet they went on to release their two best albums in 1967's enchanting Triangle and its 1968 follow-up, the eclectic, countrified Bradley's Barn. A pair of reunion albums were made in 1975 and 2013, but they failed to match the exceptional quality of the group's original 1960s run. That is the period covered here on the exhaustive eight-disc set Turn Around: Complete Recordings 1964-1970, from archival deep-divers Cherry Red Records. Generously padding their five Autumn/Warner Bros. records is an absolute banquet of singles, demos, alternate mixes, and assorted rarities that reveal every facet of the band, from their Baroque and psych-pop leanings to the tight beat-folk of their early days. As the label boasts, this truly is the last word on the Brummels. More often than not, the music is excellent and it's easy to see why the band is still held in such esteem after all these years. ~ Timothy Monger

Lucy Worsley, chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, explores how the physical and mental health of our past monarchs has shaped the history of the nation. From Henry VIII to Edward VIII's abdication in 1936, this three-part series re-introduces our past royals not just as powerful potentates, but as human beings, each with their own very personal problems of biology and psychology.