Cheap Thrills, the major-label debut of Janis Joplin, was one of the most eagerly anticipated, and one of the most successful, albums of 1968. Joplin and her band Big Brother & the Holding Company had earned extensive press notice ever since they played the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, but for a year after that their only recorded work was a poorly produced, self-titled album that they'd done early in their history for Mainstream Records; and it took the band and the best legal minds at Columbia Records seven months to extricate them from their Mainstream contract, so that they could sign with Columbia. All the while, demand continued to build, and they still faced the problem of actually delivering something worthy of the press they'd been getting…

The potential for a collaboration between B.B. King and Eric Clapton is enormous, of course, and the real questions concern how it is organized and executed. This first recorded pairing between the 74-year-old King and the 55-year-old Clapton was put together in the most obvious way: Clapton arranged the session using many of his regular musicians, picked the songs, and co-produced with his partner Simon Climie. That ought to mean that King would be a virtual guest star rather than earning a co-billing, but because of Clapton's respect for his elder, it nearly works the other way around. The set list includes lots of King specialties - "Ten Long Years," "Three O'Clock Blues," "Days of Old," "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer" - as well as standards like "Hold on I'm Coming" and "Come Rain or Come Shine," with some specially written and appropriate recent material thrown in, so King has reason to be comfortable without being complacent…

Swingin' Easy is one of Sarah Vaughan's lesser known albums for Emarcy, combining two separate trio sessions from 1954 and 1957. The earlier date includes pianist John Malachi (who also worked with singers like Dinah Washington, Billy Eckstine, and Al Hibbler, plus bassist Joe Benjamin and drummer Roy Haynes. Vaughan's lush ballad technique is in full force in "Lover Man," "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," and "Body and Soul," while she scats in a midtempo setting of "If I Knew Then (What I Knew Now)" and her own "Shulie a Bop." The second trio include pianist Jimmy Jones, bassist Richard Davis, and Haynes. Aside from a brisk, miniature treatment of "Linger Awhile" and a playful setting of "I Cried for You," the session is highlighted by a breezy "All of Me." Vaughan is in terrific form throughout both dates, with the songs mostly running around the three-minute mark.

Recorded on September 8, 1974, this set features Robert Wyatt (post-accident) with a slew of mates, including Ivor Cutler! Introduced by John Peel and recorded by the BBC - only a little over half the concert survives - this is a wild, freewheeling document featuring Wyatt, Cutler, and Julie Tippetts on vocals; Dave Stewart and Tippetts on keyboards; alternate drummers Nick Mason and Laurie Allan; Hugh Hopper on bass; Fred Frith on guitar, violin, and viola; the late Mongezi Feza on trumpet; the late great Gary Windo on reeds; and guitarist Mike Oldfield. It's quite a lineup and an awesomely inspiring performance. Wyatt is in excellent form here, and the bandmembers, who are a bit ragged in places, are nonetheless tight and full of fire…

Piet Blank and Jaspa Jones - the producers known worldwide. For two they have let out already many albums and tens magnificent singles, reliably having fixed in world history of dancing music. Their hits more than once appeared at tops of charts, and each new album stably got to number 50 of the best to Germany. The first release which has left in 2003 of an album "Relax: Edition One" to a descent has occupied 22 place in charts of Germany, and a chill-miss the version of track Pet Shop Boys "Love Comes Quickly" from this album became the present hit. Celebrating 10 years of Relax compilations, Blank & Jones compile the best remixed tracks from the last decade on Disc One. The second disc features an exclusive mix by Blank & Jones themselves of the best of Relax!

Festival 2005 is a live DVD by English rock band The Cure released in late 2006. It was shot during the band's headlining shows at 9 European music festivals in the summer of 2005. The video features a variety of angles "captured by a mix of fans, crew and 'on-the-night-big-screen cameras'." It was the first physical (non-digital download) release by the band since guitarist Porl Thompson returned to the line-up. An extended play containing three of the tracks from the DVD was also made available.

A distinctive collection of Scotland's best know melodies and traditional tunes.

Roger Waters is Pink Floyd's grand conceptualist, the driving force behind such albums as Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall. In the wake of Syd Barrett's departure, Waters emerged as a formidable songwriter, but it's this stretch of '70s albums – each one nearly symphonic in its reach – that established him as a distinctive, idiosyncratic voice within rock and, following his departure from Floyd in 1985, he continued to create new works in this vein (notably, 1992's Amused to Death) and capitalized on the enduring popularity of his old band by staging live revivals of Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall in their entireties.

The latest album from Venezuelan-born male soprano opera singer Samuel Mariño. Featuring premiere recordings of arias sung by a male voice, Samuel's own arrangements of the traditional Last Rose of Summer and "Baïlèro" from Joseph Canteloube’s folk song collection Chants d'Auvergne. Recorded alongside Ben Palmer & Covent Garden Sinfonia as well as pianist Jonathan Ware.

About ‘Deus Arrakis‘ Klaus Schulze says: „On the one hand this album was created as spontaniously as all my albums before, on the other hand it has a special history: when I produced my eleventh album ‘Dune‘ in 1979 I already knew the ‘Dune‘ triology by Frank Herbert inside out like other people knew their ‘Lord of the Rings‘. I was totally fascinated by this monumental story of the desert planet und I read the books over and over again. I asked Arthur (Brown) and Wolfgang (Tiepold) to come to my studio and started creating my own musical ‘Dune‘…“

Blue Note Records has announced an April 26 release of Sonny Rollins A Night at the Village Vanguard: The Complete Masters, a special Tone Poet Vinyl Edition of the legendary saxophonist’s tour-de-force live trio album. The expanded 3-LP set, which can be ordered now on the Blue Note Store, marks the first time Rollins’ complete recorded performances at the Village Vanguard on November 3, 1957 will be made available in a single vinyl package. The collection is also available as a 2-CD set and on all digital formats.

2019 release. 15-track jazz tribute to Radiohead featuring covers by Jamie Cullum, Geoff Gascoyne and Sebastian de Krom, Magnetic Ear, Richard Cheese, Terni Jazz Orchestra, Noordpool Orchestra and others.

Sarah Menescal, dubbed "The Queen of Bossa'N," is the world's most influential and most-streamed Bossa Nova singer, having accumulated over 330 million plays. Born in Chile, she relocated to Rio de Janeiro where, inspired by local artists and the rebellious energy of Rita Lee, she developed her signature Bossa'N style. Her nearly two-decade-long career gained momentum after her talent was discovered by a producer from Music Brokers. Key achievements include the 2008 recording of Don’t Speak (Jazz ’n 90s Vol. II), which has over 71 million streams, and the release of her 2014 debut album “The Voice of the New Bossa Nova,” which helped shape the modern Bossa’N movement. Menescal continues to redefine the genre's boundaries by blending Bossa Nova's traditional softness with elements of rock, pop, jazz, and reggae. With over 1.5 million monthly listeners, she bridges the past and present with her emotive yet elegant voice while staying true to the genre's essence.

Music costs money and takes time, and the worlds of film, television, radio, and advertising need lots of music and they need it quickly. So, in the mid-20th century, "library music" emerged, allowing producers to license pre-recorded tracks, saving both hours and expenses. In Britain, the system flourished thanks to major publishers like De Wolfe, Chappell, KPM, and Bruton, each of which shaped the industry with a distinct approach. De Wolfe, often cited as the world's first library label (established in 1909), built a formidable reputation with orchestral recordings and, later, cutting-edge electronic scores. Chappell, launched in the 1940s, became synonymous with big-band energy and lush orchestral themes, releasing classic LPs in the 1960s and '70s by figures such as Keith Mansfield and Alan Hawkshaw. KPM, with its iconic green-sleeve LPs, offered a blend of polished jazz, funk, and pop cues that proved particularly adaptable for television themes and sports programming. Bruton, arriving in 1977, pushed the sound in a slicker, more contemporary direction, leaning heavily into disco, electronic textures, and commercial polish.

Since the turn of this century, perhaps no other modern composition has had a more resonant healing effect than The Disintegration Loops. Composer William Basinski’s deteriorating analog tape loops evolved from melodic symphonies to melancholic silence over a span of time that uncannily turned passing minutes into pensive lifetimes. In her foreword for the new box set reissue of The Disintegration Loops, the pioneering multimedia storyteller, Laurie Anderson, describes the impact of this transformation in poetic detail: “These dissolving sounds, this emptying space, has gained my complete confidence. They are taking me somewhere. I am willingly following these sounds, becoming more and more transparent.” The Disintegration Loops – Arcadia Archive Edition is an expansive new box set that includes the entire 5-hour suite of iconic work. Newly remastered from the original recordings by Josh Bonati, the hefty package includes eight vinyl records (or four CDs for the less analog-inclined) in sturdy full-color jackets featuring the restored original artwork, and a new 1000-word foreword by Laurie Anderson – all housed in a striking heavyweight, case-wrapped box. It is the ideal encapsulation of one of the 21st Century’s most truly transcendent works. As Anderson concludes in her foreword, “this music has created another world, a world to be carried away in.”