Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo from London, formed in 1999. The duo consists of Alison Goldfrapp (vocals, synthesiser) and Will Gregory (synthesiser). Collection includes: Felt Mountain (2000); Black Cherry (2003); Supernature (2005); Seventh Tree (2008); Head First (2010); Tales Of Us (2013); Silver Eye (2017).

Critically acclaimed Chicago band initially connected to the No Depression neo-country scene, later emerging as an experimental-pop powerhouse. Collection includes: 'A.M.' (1995); 'Being There' (1996); 'Mermaid Avenue, Vol. 1' (with Billy Bragg) (1998); 'Summerteeth' (1999); 'Mermaid Avenue, Vol. 2' (with Billy Bragg) (2000); 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' (2002); 'A Ghost Is Born' (2004); 'Kicking Television: Live in Chicago' (2005); 'Sky Blue Sky' (2007); 'Wilco' (2009); 'The Whole Love' (2011).

Ten Years After is the debut album by the English blues rock band Ten Years After. It features "Spoonful", a Howlin' Wolf song (written for him by Willie Dixon) that the British blues rock group Cream covered as well (on their albums Fresh Cream and Wheels of Fire). The album is also low on original material in comparison to the band's later works which were, in most cases, entirely composed of Alvin Lee's songs. It's one of the first blues rock albums released by the British artists.

The Jam's enduring, eternal popularity in the U.K. meant an ever-increasing number of archival releases that cropped up over the years, with Live Jam, a fine counterpart to the other official concert album, Dig the New Breed, turning up in 1993. Like that earlier effort, it draws together a slew of tracks from shows ranging from 1979 to 1982, including some cuts from the band's almost-farewell headlining bows at Wembley Arena. Quite happily, there's no track overlap at all with Dig the New Breed, making the two perfectly complementary recordings in ways. The real treat, thanks to the expanded space on CDs, is the inclusion of nine songs from two December 1979 shows in London, the best portrait of what an actual specific show must have been like.

AVID Jazz here presents four classic (and hard to find or expensive) Kenny Drew albums including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. 'Introducing Kenny Drew' (1953); 'This Is New' (1957); 'Talkin & Walkin' (1955) and 'Jazz Impressions of Rodgers & Hart - Pal Joey' (1957). Perhaps unfairly overlooked in a crowded field of great jazz pianists around during his time from Monk, Bud Powell, Horace Silver to Wynton Kelly, Kenny Drew finally got to record this his first album in 1953. Having established himself at last through playing with the likes of Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz and Lester Young he and his fine quartet were finally on their way and touring through 1952 and 1953. All four albums are plus have been digitally re-mastered. Some are also currently hard to find or expensive, so Avid are pleased to be able to make them available once again.

Dominique Visse and his group Ensemble Clément Janequin have been involved in many outstanding projects over the years, but this 2002 Harmonia Mundi recording has to be one of the most spectacular; the Missa "Et ecce terrae motus" (aka, "The Earthquake Mass") of Antoine Brumel. Brumel is one of many mid-renaissance composers whose reputations are so far overshadowed by Josquin Desprez that – like Rodney Dangerfield – they "just don't get no respect." In Brumel's own time, however, he was considered one of Josquin's equals and his death in 1512 was widely observed in a number of "déplorations." Although the mass itself survives in only a single manuscript copy, it bears the signatures of singers who revived the work in Munich in 1570 – probably close to a century after it was first given – and among them is a bass named Orlandus Lassus.

Collection includes 19 albums by British folk-rock legend Bert Jansch. One of the most important figures in contemporary British folk, Bert Jansch brought an unsurpassed combination of virtuosity and eclecticism to the acoustic guitar, both as a solo act and a key member of Pentangle.

This is an album that should not have worked. LaVern Baker (a fine R&B singer) was joined by all-stars from mainstream jazz (including trumpeter Buck Clayton, trombonist Vic Dickenson, tenor-saxophonist Paul Quinichette and pianist Nat Pierce) for twelve songs associated with the great '20s blues singer Bessie Smith. Despite the potentially conflicting styles, this project is quite successful and often exciting. The arrangements by Phil Moore, Nat Pierce, and Ernie Wilkins do not attempt to re-create the original recordings; Baker sings in her own style (rather than trying to emulate Bessie Smith), and the hot solos work well with her vocals.

Woman is the first solo album by British musician Mike McGear (spelled Michael on the cover), brother of former-Beatle Paul McCartney, who also co-wrote a song, but is credited as a "friend". Roger McGough produced and co-wrote some songs with McGear. The cover is a black-and-white photo of McGear/McCartney's mother.

This programme brings together the three great ballets which Stravinsky composed for Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev. These vibrantly atmospheric scores were all revised after their Parisian premières, and the 1945 version of the Firebird Suite was still brand new at the time of this recording. In what are widely considered to be the best of his commercial recordings of these works, Stravinsky the conductor brings out the expressive and vividly incisive rhythmic strengths of the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York.

Four of the 13 tracks on Island's The Best of Spooky Tooth come from 1969's Spooky Two album, while the remaining tracks represent the band's less celebrated material. Spooky Tooth's mellow, easy blues-rock sound is experienced from the first track, a slick rendition of John D. Loudermilk's "Tobacco Road." Most of the band's peak material is included here, like "Better by You, Better by Me" and "Evil Woman." The dreamy, psychedelic-tinged "It's All About a Roundabout" is one of the album's best songs, proving the band could be adventurous at will. Much in the same manner is "As Long as the World Keeps Changing," with its hippie-like hallucinatory feel. Versions of the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus" and the Band's "The Weight" are covered peculiarly, but not terribly, chock full of Spooky Tooth's own laid-back formula. Missed is the greyish "Hangman Hang My Shell on a Tree" from Spooky Two, which would have made a nice addition to the set. Nevertheless, this best-of does present listeners with Spooky Tooth's most worthwhile songs. The band's unconventional sound and eased style is prevalent on each of the tracks offered here.

This disc of Iberian and Latin American Renaissance music is a reissue cleverly disguised as a new release. It compiles music from several recordings by Catalonian visionary Jordi Savall, his luminous-voiced collaborator Montserrat Figueras, and his Hesperion XXI and Capella Reial de Catalunya ensembles, dressing them up with a new set of rather philosophical booklet notes on themes of change, of intercultural tolerance, and of the evolving nature of Christianity in the Iberian realm and in New Spain. Some might call this a cynical ploy, but actually Savall has always been moving in a circle, so to speak, spiraling inward toward a deeper musical understanding of the historical themes touched on here: the lingering effects of the legacy of medieval Iberia and its "mestissage" or mixture of cultures, the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Charles (Carlos) V (did you know that he was both the first monarch to be called "His Majesty" and the first to be honored with the claim that the "sun never set" on his empire?), and the relationships between cultivated and popular styles, both in Iberia and the New World.

The term "lost classic" is applied liberally and often erroneously to unreleased recordings that resurface years later in a maelstrom of hype. However, for the forgotten mod rock also-rans the Action, the term is not only justified, it is painfully bittersweet. On par with such classics of the era as The Who Sell Out or Ogden's Nut Gone Flake but more focused than either, the Action's Rolled Gold goes beyond "lost classic" – it is the influential masterpiece no one was ever allowed to hear. Despite being signed to Beatles producer George Martin's AIR label and benefiting from a strong club following, the Action never scored a chart hit. By the time they recorded these demo tracks in 1967, the band had grown weary of the musically limited mod scene, which was on its last legs. Guitarist Pete Watson had been replaced by Martin Stone, and the band had developed a more mature sound, one only hinted at on such previous cuts as "Twenty-Fourth Hour".

Although Debbie Harry's popularity had decreased by the late '80s, 1989 wasn't a bad year for her at all. That year, Blondie's former lead vocalist successfully portrayed a struggling singer on the brilliant but underrated CBS crime drama Wiseguy, and demonstrated that she could still have considerable fun in the studio. Under the direction of hit producer Mike Chapman – who had worked with Blondie, as well as with everyone from Sweet to Scandal – Harry delivers an eclectic CD that isn't in a class with a Blondie treasure like Parallel Lines but nonetheless has a lot going for it. Much of this new wave-ish pop/rock and European-flavored dance music is heartfelt, clever, and quite memorable. Everything from the charming "Brite Side" (which she performed on Wiseguy) to the addictive "Bike Boy" to the haunting "He Is So" makes it clear that Harry, at 43, was far from a has-been.

Nowadays, the Italian repertory of fifteenth-century secular music is better known through the reworkings of visiting foreigners like Isaac and Josquin than by the home-grown article. This recording introduces some of those native idioms and composers: the famous Scaramella tune made famous by Compere and Josquin (assuming that setting is his) appears in its original, monophonic guise; elsewhere, two songs by the frottolist Marchetto Cara set the tone. As with Italian music of later periods, polyphonic textures are deliberately played down to allow for the maximum projection and embellishment of the principal line. A number of non-vocal pieces attest to the preoccupation with instrumental virtuosity, represented by such figures as the lutenist Serafino. Sirinu have been active on the concert circuit for a number of years, but this disc marks their debut as recording artists. The programme is varied, the choice of instrumental combinations judicious and spirited, and the performers’ lightness of touch rests as easily on the ear as the music itself. Lightness is indeed the chief attribute of Sara Stowe’s singing, shown to best effect in pieces like Non e tempo d’aspectare, Scopri, lingua or the possibly scurrilous piece de resistance, Villana.