Walter Issaacson

No ordinary artist. No ordinary covers album. From the day he conceived the project to the moment he counted off the first song in the studio, Walter Trout had a bolder plan for Survivor Blues. "I'm riding in my car sometimes," says the US blues titan. "I've got a blues station on – and here's another band doing Got My Mojo Workin'. And there's a little voice in me that says, 'Does the world need another version of that song?' So I came up with an idea. I didn't want to do Stormy Monday or Messin' With The Kid. I didn't want to do the blues greatest hits. I wanted to do old, obscure songs that have hardly been covered. And that's how Survivor Blues started…"

New Jersey-born blues-rocker Walter Trout spent decades as an ace sideman, playing guitar behind the likes of John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, and Joe Tex. In 1981, he was also tapped to replace the late Bob Hite in Canned Heat, remaining with the venerable group through the middle of the decade. While filling in one night for an ailing John Mayall, Trout (also a Bluesbreaker for some five years) was spotted by a Danish concert promoter who agreed to finance a solo tour. Assembling his own backing band, he released his debut LP in 1990, Life in the Jungle, trailed a year later by Prisoner of a Dream. Albums including 1992's Live (No More Fish Jokes), 1994's Tellin' Stories, and 1997's Positively Beale Street followed.

It's not surprising that Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker's debut solo album sounds like a Steely Dan record. What is a little surprising, though, is that, in his lead singing debut, he sounds so much like his erstwhile partner, Donald Fagen. Not that you'd mistake the two (Fagen projects more and is slightly grittier), but they sing in the same register with the same sly phrasing and the same accent. Other differences from the Dan are equally subtle: Becker adopts a sparer musical approach, for one thing, the missing element being the prominence of Fagen's keyboards (although Fagen does play on the record and co-produced it). Nothing gets in the way of Becker's voice, and he proves to be a less ornate lyricist than Fagen, restricting himself largely to tales of romantic dislocation. On the whole, this album sounds like what you'd expect – one half of Steely Dan.

No ordinary artist. No ordinary covers album. From the day he conceived the project to the moment he counted off the first song in the studio, Walter Trout had a bolder plan for Survivor Blues. "I'm riding in my car sometimes," says the US blues titan. "I've got a blues station on – and here's another band doing Got My Mojo Workin'. And there's a little voice in me that says, 'Does the world need another version of that song?' So I came up with an idea. I didn't want to do Stormy Monday or Messin' With The Kid. I didn't want to do the blues greatest hits. I wanted to do old, obscure songs that have hardly been covered. And that's how Survivor Blues started…"

Big Walter's first album and with an all star cast - Buddy Guy (guitar), Jack Myers (bass), Willie Dixon (vocals), and Willie Smith (drums). Although not definitive, this album is worth seeking out for Horton fans. It features Walter in a variety of musical styles, including a good rendition of "Hard Hearted Woman" and a wild version of "La Cucaracha".

This set restores to circulation Bruno Walter's New York Philharmonic versions of the mature Mozart symphonies (35-41). These were recorded in decent mono during the early LP era (1953-1956). Listeners familiar with his stereo versions of these works with the Columbia Symphony (an ad hoc ensemble formed largely for the sake of Walter's Indian Summer recording projects) will note some marked interpretative differences in the earlier recordings. The NYPO provides leaner textures and more alert playing, and Walter's conducting conveys greater vitality, than in the plusher and sometimes too languid Columbia Symphony recordings.

This set restores to circulation Bruno Walter's New York Philharmonic versions of the mature Mozart symphonies (35-41). These were recorded in decent mono during the early LP era (1953-1956). Listeners familiar with his stereo versions of these works with the Columbia Symphony (an ad hoc ensemble formed largely for the sake of Walter's Indian Summer recording projects) will note some marked interpretative differences in the earlier recordings. The NYPO provides leaner textures and more alert playing, and Walter's conducting conveys greater vitality, than in the plusher and sometimes too languid Columbia Symphony recordings.

This set restores to circulation Bruno Walter's New York Philharmonic versions of the mature Mozart symphonies (35-41). These were recorded in decent mono during the early LP era (1953-1956). Listeners familiar with his stereo versions of these works with the Columbia Symphony (an ad hoc ensemble formed largely for the sake of Walter's Indian Summer recording projects) will note some marked interpretative differences in the earlier recordings. The NYPO provides leaner textures and more alert playing, and Walter's conducting conveys greater vitality, than in the plusher and sometimes too languid Columbia Symphony recordings.

Walter Gieseking’s Bach interpretations have long been celebrated and are still praised as being modern and contemporary. His legendary 1950 broadcasts, later released on the Heliodor label, included many of Bach’s important works such as The Well-Tempered Clavier, Partitas and Inventions. For the first time, Deutsche Grammophon presents all these recordings, newly remastered, in one original jackets collection. A 7-CD original-jackets collection, newly remastered presenting all of Walter Gieseking’s 1950 Bach broadcasts for Radio Saarbrücken.