Noa was an obscure Prog band from Japan, led by drummer Ichiro Takesako, a huge fan of Bill Bruford.The other members were Hirofumi Mitoma, who played electric- and synth guitar and bassist/singer Takao Ohzeki.They released one album for the unknown PAM label in 1987, titled ''Tri-logic'', recorded at the Studio Plus One in Setagaya in Feburary 1987…

Lee Ritenour's first solo album for his new i.e. music label is a good one, one of his best actually, whether staying in the strict jazz-lite format that marks a lot of his previous work or straying into the other idioms that pop up here. Whether emulating Wes Montgomery's octaves or curling around in single-string fashion, Ritenour's playing is irresistibly tasty and swinging, perhaps more so than ever, and the material has real melodic interest — more so than anything his former group Fourplay was performing around this time. Among the most interesting swerves off the track are the title tune, which mixes reggae with Montgomery in a very appealing way, and a surprisingly effective closing take on Faurй's "Pavanne."

On this album Rita Lee, in a very personal and inventive way, interprets 14 songs by the Beatles, her teenage idols. Five of the songs have been given new and quite fine Portuguese lyrics by Lee and all of the songs are performed in a very different way compared to the original recordings. The perhaps most impressive and surprising thing with this album is that Lee actually succeeds in making these old Beatles songs, some of which have been played almost to death over the years, sound fresh, interesting, and new. The Brazilian style that has been added to the songs (some more than others) doesn't at any point sound forced or out of place, and the arrangements and production by Roberto de Carvalho are both superb.

This 7CD set is the fruit of the love affair that developed in Paris between Leonard Bernstein and the Orchestre National de France in the 1970s. Beside long-admired studio recordings, featuring Mstislav Rostropovich and Alexis Weissenberg among the soloists, it presents live performances completely new to the catalogue: a 1975 programme to celebrate Ravel’s centenary – with Bernstein himself as soloist in the G major piano concerto – and orchestral suites taken from two of Bernstein’s most celebrated and brilliant works, both infused with jazz: the film score On the Waterfront and the landmark Broadway musical West Side Story. 25th August 2018 marks the centenary of the birth of American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990). He was one of the most celebrated and charismatic musicians of his time, an artist who transcended conventional boundaries between genres.

Mozart’s piano sonatas exemplify the economy and subtlety of the composer’s genius. Though simple at first glance, they are works in which each note is filled with musical and expressive purpose. Alexei Lubimov, a master of keyboard repertoire from the Baroque to the contemporary, plays the complete sonatas on three instruments modelled on 18th century originals. These interpretations, which explore the particular possibilities of the fortepiano, led Gramophone to praise Lubimov’s “uncommon sensibility” and “refinements of colouring, articulation and nuance” in playing that “is fluent and even, never mechanical in its brilliance.”

The German metal gods U.D.O. roll over us with a heavyweight made of steel and metal better than ever! On August 31st 2018 the new album "Steelfactory" will be released worldwide. With "Steelfactory" U.D.O return to their core competence, clearly influenced by their past shows with DIRKSCHNEIDER, the songs in their rousingly simple straightness have a hymn character, as it is only known from the past. "Steelfactory" has become a timeless metal album and thus the impressive statement of a master of his craft. With its earthy, punchy and handmade sound - with the participation of the Danish producer Jacob Hansen (among others Volbeat) - "Steelfactory" meets the nerve of the time, which may be triggered again since the successful DIRKSCHNEIDER tour worldwide.

Rick Astley was one of the more distinctive acts from the Stock, Aitken & Waterman stable of singers and groups from the late 1980s. While it was true that Kylie Minogue went on to have a consistent long lasting, almost unbroken series of hits, and artists like Bananarama, Donna Summer, and Cliff Richard were famous long before SAW got their production teeth into them, Rick Astley had seven Top Ten hits in the '80s and a brief comeback with a different image in 1991, and it was generally accepted that his voice would have made him a star, whatever the production background.