A limited guitar player at best, and with a voice that hardly spans a couple of octaves, Leonard Cohen has nonetheless fashioned a legacy of gorgeously realized songs that reach deep into the heart of lust, ill- and well-fated romance, hope, and redemption, and if he doesn't sing like an angel, he could certainly mesmerize one with the melody, lilt, and power of his songs…

One of 1980's most promising R&B debuts came from the S.O.S. Band, whose debut album is a classic. This sleek yet gritty album went gold in the U.S. (which isn't counting sales in Europe), and the infectious "Take Your Time (Do It Right)" soared to number one on Billboard's R&B singles chart. It isn't hard to see why the S.O.S. Band's first album was a hit; all of the tracks are excellent. That is true of up-tempo funk-dance gems like "Take Your Time (Do It Right)," "S.O.S. (Dit Dit Dit Dat Dat Dat Dit Dit Dit)," "Love Won't Wait for Love," and "Take Love Where You Find It," as well as the melancholy soul ballad "What's Wrong With Our Love Affair?"

After 8 solo albums for Island Records culminating in the huge commercial success of 'Riptide', Robert Palmer found a new recoring home with EMI in 1988 with the release of 'Heavy Nova', but what hadn't changed was his very diverse range of material and styles, from self-penned rockers and ballads to covers of heavy funk and Tin Pan Alley. Heavy Nova includes the enduring smash hit single 'She Makes My Day'. 'Don't Explain' followed in 1990 and was also typically multi-faceted, presented in two parts: the first a rocking guitar-led set of songs, and the second half a soundtrack to an ambitious planned musical. 'Don't Explain' includes the hits 'Mercy Mercy Me/I Want You' and the collaboration with UB40, 'I'll Be Your Baby Tonight'. The ten bonus tracks include remixes and non-album single tracks.

“Catfish are synonymous with the Mississippi Delta, this is where the roots of what I play began…the Blues. The Church considered it Devil’s music, it was rebel in the making and spawned the greatest and most influential rebel Bluesman – Robert Johnson…he paid for it with his life…and his soul… This album is a combination of essential “Catfish”, lifelong influences, rebellion, humour, love, social conscience, baked slowly over the last 40 years. It’s not a Blues album by purist’s standards, but you will feel where it came from…“

“Drama Queen” brings together the most dramatic studio recordings ever made by Maria Callas during the course of her career. Or, to express it more accurately, this compilation brings together some of the most dramatic operatic scenes and arias ever recorded. Even four decades after her death in Paris in 1977, what the director Franco Zeffirelli said about her still holds true today: there is a “BC” and “AC” era – “before Callas” and “after Callas”.

Antony Kalugin's KARFAGEN release their new album Birds Of Passage which follows 2019's Echoes Within Dragon Island. Two progressive art rock suites with melodic excellence demonstrates the skills of Kalugin, and the two bonus tracks on this limited issue fit in perfectly. The album is a symphonic art rock suite based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's and William Blake's poetry.

Arvo Pärt - Triodion and Other Choral Works - Polyphony & Stephen Layton (2003) {Hyperion SACD Hybrid SACDA67375}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 266 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 187 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 22 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2003 Hyperion | SACD Hybrid | SACDA67375
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Choral

A new release from Polyphony, with Stephen Layton at the helm, always brings with it an assurance of singing of the highest possible calibre. Bring together a choir of such quality and the composer responsible for some of the most beautiful, transcendent music ever written, and the resultant disc is surely what must be one of, if not the most spectacular releases of the year. New works from Arvo Pärt are invariably cherished, and this disc contains no fewer than five world premiere recordings—Dopo la vittoria, Nunc dimittis, Littlemore Tractus, My heart's in the Highlands and Salve regina. It was recorded in the presence of the enraptured composer earlier this year at the Temple Church, London. This is a disc of achingly lovely music at its most mesmeric—prepare to be stunned.

This album was a huge leap for Prism. It is the first album to really define their style. There are no weak tracks on this album, it's simply perfect. Shake your Head starts the album powerfully and promising…

John Lewis - The John Lewis Piano (1957) {2012 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series WPCR-27089}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 185 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 90 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 26 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit remaster | Mono
© 1957, 2012 Atlantic / Rhino / Warner Japan / WEA | WPCR-27089
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Piano

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. One of the strongest sessions recorded by pianist John Lewis in the 50s – a date that shows depths of his talents that run even greater than his work with the Modern Jazz Quartet, quite possibly because is work on piano is at the forefront of the record throughout! There's a sense of darkness here that really fits the image on the cover – a style that's stated clearly on piano lines that are often as spacious as they are gentle, but which also have a moodier undercurrent below, thanks to Lewis' careful choice of keys and notes.

Don Pullen & The African Brazilian Connection - Live…Again: Live at Montreux (1995) {Blue Note CDP 724383027125 rec 1993}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 471 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 175 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 22 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1995 Blue Note / Capitol | CDP 7243 8 30271 2 5
Jazz / Post Bop / Brazilian Jazz / Piano

I was unfamiliar with the music of Don Pullen before the summer of '93, when I had the opportunity to play a couple of jazz festivals in Europe with my high school jazz band. The first was at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, where I first encountered Pullen and the African-Brazilian Connection. I was so enthralled by them that when I heard they were also playing the Montreaux Jazz Festival, some of my friends and I made sure to be there. We were very glad that we made the effort to see them again, because their performance was awe-inspiring.

With metal anthems like 'Heavy Metal Breakdown', GRAVE DIGGER are one of the most influential and pioneering bands of the German heavy metal scene since the early 80s, and 2020 will celebrate the 40th anniversary of these Teutonic metal masters! The ethos of the band has not changed, and yet GRAVE DIGGER sound modern and timeless like never before. On their 20th studio album, the band around frontman Chris Boltendahl continues their epic Highlands story. Fields of Blood is the logic consequence of a legendary trilogy and an auditory battle of unique traditional metal! Drifting riff masterpieces such as the stoic “All For The Kingdom”, or the epic anthem “Lions Of The Sea”, promise earworm and neck muscle training, while Fields Of Blood takes us into the vastness of Scotland on a journey through explosive sound landscapes.

The “Pirate Metal Drinking Crew” is back to show all the filthy landlubbers what they’re made of. ALESTORM’s sixth long-player, Curse Of The Crystal Coconut, will be released on May 29, 2020, via Napalm Records! Eleven tracks presented in ALESTORM’s typical unadulterated, chaotic fashion will pull the rug out from under your feet. Adding to that are guest performances from musical greats like Ally Storch of Subway to Sally (violin on the entire album) and Captain Yarrface of Rumahoy! A must-have, riff-laden anthem at any party, “Treasure Chest Party Quest” takes the listener onto a journey into the depths of Tortugas darkest taverns and Christopher Bowes’ unique sense of humor. For the extra-adventurous pirates amongst you, ALESTORM will release a 2-CD Mediabook with ground-breaking 16th century interpretations of the songs. Be sure to get yours.

Parisian pop genius Sébastien Tellier took one of his famous leaps into the unknown with the release of his recent single A Ballet. Sonically it was full of the character you’d hope for him to deliver - dreamy French electronica, classic pop songwriting and yacht rock-style sax. Thematically, however, it played with the unlikely parallels between music and the never-ending routine of domestic life. As he questions, “Maybe the key to happiness is there, hidden under a dirty laundry basket?” It’s a topic that Tellier delves further into with his sixth studio album Domesticated.