The rise in the number of titles in the children's music category around the turn of the century was accompanied by a shift in the approach to such recordings. As baby boomers, who remain loyal record buyers, have become parents, the artists who appeal to them have turned to children's music, but it often seems as though the records are still being made for the boomers, not their children. Though the recordings often concern the subjects of childhood and parenting, it is often hard to imagine a child actually enjoying the music. Such is the case with the Keb' Mo' children's album, Big Wide Grin, which is better regarded as a regular Keb' Mo' album on the theme of family rather than an album for children. The singer covers a number of pop evergreens from the late '60s and 1970s - the O'Jays' "Love Train," Bill Withers' "Grandma's Hands," the Winstons' "Color Him Father"…

A celestial journey is just what Sun Ra and his Arkestra have created with Space is the Place. Sun Ra’s opus is at its simplest, a trip through outer bound melodies! Planetary bodies, eras in time, crystals, space caravans… Allow yourself to envision or feel a world away! Featuring an album's worth of previously unissued recordings from the same soundtrack sessions! These newly discovered tracks are heavy on the prose of Sun Ra, as he and June Tyson bestow countless bits of information and inspiration onto the listener.

Italian Prog band Le Orme were one of the most important representatives of the genre in the early 1970s and recorded several classic albums, which are considered some of the best to come out of this country. The band shared the fate of most of the other Prog bands slowly disappearing from the scene by the end of the 1970s, when the popularity of Prog genre suffered a serious decline. They recorded and performed sporadically over the years, and by the mid 1990s, when Prog was back on the scene, the band formally reformed and recorded their comeback album "Il Fume" in 1996. But it took them another five years to come up with an album, which was a true reflection of their abilities and a formidable companion of their 1970s achievements - "Elementi". This beauty as a concept album, full of great melodies and excellent instrumental work, in the best tradition of the Italian Prog…

40 Success en Or is a French double-disc compilation of the best songs by French pop legend Dalida. The tracks for this compilation issued in 1997, ten years after the singer's passing, were personally selected by her brother Orlando and then remastered. It is believed to be one of the defining compilations of Dalida's work.

This series of the complete harpsichord concerti of C.P.E. Bach is one of the most important and monumental recording projects of the century so far… it is a whole planet of delights and amazing discoveries.

Le prestigieux Collegium Musicum créé par Telemann fut l'orchestre attitré de Bach lorsqu'il prit ses fonctions à Leipzig. Il put ainsi tester avec cette formation de nouvelles associations de timbres que l'on retrouve dans le Concerto pour clavecin BWV 1052, le Concerto pour piano forte en si bémol majeur et le Triple Concerto BWV 1044. Il s'agit parfois de transcriptions et d'adaptations, d'œuvres originellement pour violon, mais le résultat est étonnant de brio et de force expressive. Il faut écouter ce fameux Triple Concerto pour flûte, violon, clavecin et cordes porté par les couleurs de l'Akademie für Alte Musik : on y retrouve l'impulsion rythmique, la richesse de tempérament du Concerto Brandebourgeois n° 5, un esprit de danse et de fête qui privilégient sans conteste le clavier.

DJ Ravin takes the wheel behind Buddha Bar III, the namesake compilation from Paris's answer to Studio 54. Ravin forgoes the Dinner/Party division that Claude Challe opted for on previous installments of the series, and instead casts Dream versus Joy on this two-disc set. Dream, leaning on the traditional (syrupy Greek strings, Japanese bamboo flutes, Persian harmonists) and New Age Enigma/Deep Forest side of things (Oliver Shanti & Friends, Vangelis engineer Frederick Rousseau) is frankly too restless to be truly dreamy. The frenzied run through so many styles, seemingly solely for the sake of diversity alone, ultimately feels about as sincerely global as a mad dash through Disney's Epcot Center. The second CD in the set, Joy, pays a tad more attention to a general vibe, resulting in a much better overall effect…

The Dutch are way too hard on themselves. So far, Chandos has released three discs (including this one) in its ongoing Dutch composers series featuring the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague, and all three have been excellent. And yet, the writer of the booklet notes treats this music as if listening to it were some kind of penance. He should take a lesson from his English colleagues, who indiscriminately promote any piece of native trash as God’s gift to the world of music. Well, maybe he needn’t go quite that far.

Chart-topping rock band who blend shimmering electronic pop with Shirley Manson's emotive vocals. Collection includes: Garbage (1995); Version 2.0 (1998); Beautiful Garbage (2001); Bleed Like Me (2005).

Hungarian pianist Annie Fischer made her debut at the age of 10 and studied with Ernst von Dohnányi at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Her performance of the Liszt Sonata in B minor won Fischer first prize at the 1933 Liszt International Piano Competition, but her concert career was barely underway when war broke out; Fischer fled to Sweden. Afterwards Fischer returned to Hungary, and although she made her New York debut in 1961, she was only seldom seen in the United States and based her career in continental Europe.

This 8 CD box set of 128 tracks will blow your mind with a wide range of chill out music from various artists. It ranges from artists of the 70s such as Brian and Roger Eno, Mike Oldfield, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman, Genesis, to world music from artists like Shelia Chandra, Govinda, Joi, Baaba Maal, to classical themes by Ennio Morricone, Tasmin Little, Michael Nyman and Barrington Pheloung, to New Age and Celtic music from Enigma, Matt Molloy, Mae McKenna, David Byrne, Sacred Spirit, Adiemus, Douglas Spotted Eagle, Yulara, Clear Sound Project, Penquin Cafe Orchestra plus many many more varieties of artists and music. This box set will satisfy everyones taste and mood for chillout music.

The Blue Things Review by Richie Unterberger
This self-titled CD reissue is basically a reissue of their only album (from 1966), which has been known both as Listen & See and The Blue Things, bolstered by the significant addition of all six songs from their three non-LP 1966-1967 RCA singles. All of this material, except the final 1967 single (recorded after the departure of Val Stecklein), has been reissued in some form on other releases. This edition, however, has a big advantage over other reissues in that it was remastered from the RCA tapes, also adding extensive, excellent historical liner notes. As for the 1966 album that forms the backbone of this disc, it's still one of the finest overlooked folk-rock records of the 1960s, combining some of the best elements of the Byrds and Beau Brummels in its mid-tempo electric-acoustic arrangements. The 1966 psychedelic single tracks "Orange Rooftop of Your Mind," "One Hour Cleaners," and "You Can Live in Our Tree" are also fine cuts that show the band progressing at a furious rate, with psychologically complex lyrics and unusual fuzz and violin-ish distorted guitar textures. The final single ("Somebody Help Me"/"Yes, My Friend"), though, was a pretty lame offering considering the quality of the band's prior RCA efforts.

Felix Draeseke’s works immediately reveal that he was a glowing admirer of Liszt and Wagner and a remarkably gifted creator of expressive harmonic designs and far-ranging melodic lines. Here Draeseke accomplished the feat of combining these powerful expressive means with classical forms. MDG is now rereleasing Draeseke’s Sinfonia Tragica, Piano Concerto, and Symphony No. 1 in a special edition featuring performances by the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra in the historic Wuppertal Hall. The first release marked a discographic milestone.

The legendary blues singer indeed lives up to the silly cliché about being able to sing the phone book and make it sound rich, meaningful, and soulful. Still, it's always exciting to hear her tackle materials she's missed before. Here she shifts gears impressively into the intimate jazz club mode, performing beautifully arranged takes on a wide variety of standards (from "Come Rain or Come Shine" to "Cry Me a River") under the direction of producer John Snyder and arranger/pianist Cedar Walton. Those two gathered a handful of great jazz players and recorded the initial tracks without James, who had a touch of the flu. A few months later she had recovered and did the amazing vocal sessions which truly sound live and in synch with the music…

Though this eclectic compilation is a bit heavier on the space than it is on the jazz, it is a cohesive, mood-altering tribute to the psychedelic sounds of '60s jazz legends like the Headhunters and Sun Ra. In case you weren't familiar with Quango's trademark fusionary sound, Tosca's loungey atmospherics on "Chocolate Elvis" clue you in right away, with a trippy Rastafarian intro that gives way to smooth guitar melodies, echoing organs, and syncopated programmed rhythms. Pnu Riff's off-kilter "Comfy Club" could be a lost track from the Age of Aquarius, with its kitschy vocal harmonies and Vince Guiraldi-influenced piano, while Love TKO's "Lost in the Amazon" is an otherworldly trip that matches Herbie Mann-style flute with Pink Floyd-ian organs and sound effects.