Live release from the British Pop/Soul vocalist containing live versions of songs from his covers album, Soul, and more. The DVD includes live acoustic tracks performed by Seal and producer David Foster, plus Seal classics 'Kiss From A Rose' and 'Crazy'. There is also an exclusive interview with Seal and Foster.

The 18 previously unreleased, solo acoustic performances on this collection were recorded between March 1965 and December 1966. These show Parsons not as a country singer, rock singer, or even folk-rock singer, but very much as a mid-'60s folkie, in the mold of so many artists to be heard in the Greenwich Village scene. There's no straight country music in his repertoire, comprised largely of covers of songs by then-contemporary writers such as Buffy Sainte-Marie ("Codine"), Tim Hardin, Tom Paxton, and Fred Neil, along with high-caliber compositions that would be popularized by rock groups (Billy Wheeler's "High Flyin' Bird" and Hamilton Camp's "Pride of Man"). There are also five Parsons originals, a few not available elsewhere, and others recorded at other points either by himself ("Brass Buttons" and "Zah's Blues") or different performers ("November Nights," placed on an obscure single by Peter Fonda). A bit of R&B pokes out in his covers of "Searchin'" and "Candy Man." This disc is definitely of historical interest, if only to demonstrate that Parsons' roots were certainly not country-soaked, but largely indebted to '60s folk as well. As music, it's very average (though certainly not bad) mid-'60s folk, of the kind you might hear by numerous coffeehouse support acts. He sings best on the jazzy "Zah's Blues," where he seems to reach further into himself than he does on most of the other material here.

From the notes: "Madame Darré's musical style changed over the years, as we can trace in this selection of her recordings made between the ages of 17 and 42.. In her last New York recitals in the early 1980's, she was no longer the fire-eating virtuoso, and molded cantilena with an exquisite soft legato, always charged with unexpected colors, turns of phrase, or important bass voice-leadings. Nevertheless, one of her trademarks, an infectious sense of rhythm, remained the same. … Her personal style was striking and colorful. She strode on stage like an athlete and the dancer she had been, resplendently gowned in extravagant hues that offset her hair. (At least once, she wore a slightly shocking formal miniskirt for an important New York recital!) Perhaps, if she considered it warm, she'd fling her jacket to the side of the stage before plunging without any fuss into the performance. Her audiences seemed to sense that she was an artist who loved to play" Notes by Gregor Benko

This 18-CD set offers a comprehensive overview of Messiaen’s work in recordings made between 1963 and 2000 by the Warner labels Erato and Teldec. The performers include the composer himself, his wife the pianist Yvonne Loriod, Pierre Boulez, Marie-Claire Alain and other champions of Messiaen’s work.
As a tantalising and unique bonus, a full CD is devoted to an extensive interview with Messiaen recorded in 1988 in which he speaks, in French, about bird-song, colour, travel, religious faith, opera and the avant-garde. The richly illustrated 149-page booklet includes a full English translation of the interview as well as the composer’s detailed commentary about most of the works included in the set – with booklet editor Fabian Watkinson supplying information about the remaining works.

If Unknown Pleasures was Joy Division at their most obsessively, carefully focused, ten songs yet of a piece, Closer was the sprawl, the chaotic explosion that went every direction at once. Who knows what the next path would have been had Ian Curtis not chosen his end? But steer away from the rereading of his every lyric after that date; treat Closer as what everyone else thought it was at first – simply the next album – and Joy Division's power just seems to have grown. Martin Hannett was still producing, but seems to have taken as many chances as the band itself throughout – differing mixes, differing atmospheres, new twists and turns define the entirety of Closer, songs suddenly returned in chopped-up, crumpled form, ending on hiss and random notes.