Jaco Pastorius (self-titled)

"Jaco Pastorius may well have been the last jazz musician of the 20th Century to have made a major impact on the musical world at large. Everywhere you go, sometimes it seems like a dozen times a day, in the most unlikely places you hear Jaco's sound; from the latest tv commercial to bass players of all stripes copping his licks on recordings of all styles, from news broadcasts to famous rock and roll bands, from hip hop samples to personal tribute records, you hear the echoes of that unmistakable sound everywhere. (It may even be more imitated at this point than the previously most pervasive jazz sound to escape into the broader culture beyond the local borders of jazz -- the moody harmon mute stylings of Miles Davis.[)] For all the caterwauling that has gone on about new musicians that have shown up in recent years, being to[u]ted as the 'next Miles,' or the 'Duke Ellington of their generation,' or whatever, Jaco outranks all of them and all of that" (CD notes by Pat Metheny).
View catalog record here!

Radiohead: OK Computer

"I first heard Radiohead at the Hammerstein Ballroom in 1997, during their OK Computer tour. The second song on the setlist was 'Just,' with its octatonic scale spiraling gigantically upward; I was converted. I wrote at the time: 'OK Computer has fewer stately airs than The Bends, but it adds layer upon layer of weird beauty. The sound is somehow tall: ideas unwind in every register. "Paranoid Android" is a symphony in six minutes, moving from a shuffling introduction to a hardcore scherzo, then from a slow chorale on the words "From a great height" to a hammering coda. Throughout the album, contrasts of mood and style are extreme: a couple of the songs could almost have been sung by Sinatra (or so it's fun to imagine), while a couple of others, rescored for bass clarinets, might win appreciative shrugs from new-music cognoscenti at the Knitting Factory. This band has pulled off one of the great art-pop balancing acts in the history of rock'" (Alex Ross, "Radiohead in New York," The Rest Is Noise, 9/25/11).
View catalog record here!

Steve Reich: Double Sextet; 2x5

"New York-based composer Steve Reich has won the Pulitzer Prize for music with his piece Double Sextet. Reich composed the work for two identical sextets of instruments, each made up of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, vibraphone and piano. 'I'm very glad that this particular piece got it, because I do think it's one of the better pieces I've done in the past few years,' Reich tells NPR's Tom Cole, who broke the news to the composer over the phone at his home in New York. 'The piece can be played in two ways,' Reich says. 'Either with 12 musicians or with six playing against a recording of themselves.' That's exactly how the Double Sextet was premiered, in May 2008, by the ensemble eighth blackbird. The concept of musicians playing against taped recordings of themselves is not a new idea for Reich. He used it in his 'Counterpoint' series and Different Trains in the 1980s, and as far back as 1967's Violin Phase. 'It's the idea of writing basically unison canons,' Reich says" (Tom Huizenga, "Steve Reich Wins Music Pulitzer," NPR, 4/20/09).
View catalog record here!

Gillian Welch: The Harrow and the Harvest

"Here are some sample raves ... The Independent (UK), [rating] 100: 'On this, Gillian Welch's fifth album, the familiar blending of traditional sounds and moods with modern sensibilities is effortlessly sustained through songs like the mordant "The Way It Goes" ("Betsy Johnson bought the farm, stuck a needle in her arm, that's the way that it goes").' The Telegraph (UK), 100: 'There cannot be another musical duet around at the moment who are able to make two acoustic guitars and two voices produce a sound that is so subtle and yet powerful.' ... The American-based Paste liked it too, 90: 'While it's true that Gillian Welch isn't the first artist to use the rugged quality of early American folk music -- with its rich iconography and imagery -- as inspiration, what separates her from other artists who have done so is the deftness with which she employs familiar themes from archaic songs and adapts them to reflect the concerns of a person living in the 21st century" (Art Levine, "Songs for the New Depression," Huffington Post, 8/3/11).
View catalog record here!

Historic Gershwin Recordings

"The American Repertory Theatre's new Porgy and Bess, with its claims that Gershwin's is a crippled opera that needs fixing, is controversially in the news. I read that 'Gershwin purists' are expected to thunder their objections. ... I would like to know what a Gershwin purist looks like or might have to say. ... I cannot think of another composer so inherently subject to a range of interpretive possibilities. ... The first recordings of Porgy and Bess were made in 1935 by white opera singers: Helen Jepson and Lawrence Tibbett - and Tibbett's 'Oh Bess, Where is My Bess?' [included here] is the most searing version I know. ... In his indispensable handbook on Rhapsody in Blue (1972), David Schiff ... opines ... : 'The Rhapsody cannot be played as written. Performers either have to reconstruct an evanescent "authentic" style of performance, or have the courage to image a new one.' Gershwin's own recordings [2 are included here] irresistibly apply his bright, quick piano style" (Joe Horowitz, "Gershwin Impurities," The Unanswered Question, 11/7/11).
View catalog record here!

The Who: Who's Next?

"I was on the phone with my hero, Peter Townshend, guitarist of The Who. 
Having no idea what to say, having no real reason for calling, and feeling like I was floating in ether, I blurted out... 'Hi, Pete, I was wondering if I could drop by before tonight's show...' ... 90 minutes later, I was standing in the impossibly posh hall of an upper floor at the Hotel Pierre (yeah, that's Peter in French), knocking on Pete's suite door. ... I spent the next hour flip-flopping back and forth between talking freely to a really friendly cool guy who I sorta knew and/or being just agog. We talked about 'Tommy' and how sick of it I was. 'God, we are too, Binky.' ... We discussed Gretsch guitars. Pete had used an old Gretsch 6120 that Joe Walsh of The Eagles had given him to record all the electric guitar tracks on 'Who's Next' back in 1971. Listen to the tone of that guitar. Unique! At the time, even now to a certain extent, Gretsch was a very outre brand of guitars" (Binky Philips, "I Have a Chat with Pete Townshend in His Hotel Suite, 1974," Huffington Post, 9/16/11).
View catalog record here!

Bach: 5 Keyboard Concertos; Ramin Bahrami, pianist

"[Riccardo] Chailly’s approach to this repertory is typically vigorous, with reduced scale but no effort to tamp down the sound. ... But he does side with early-musickers in favoring mobility over monumentality, with brisk tempos and clear textures. The concertos here are the first five in the conventional numbering: those in D minor, E, D , A and F minor (BWV 1052-56). The ... pianist, the Iranian-born Ramin Bahrami ... says that he devotes his 'whole life as a performer' to Bach. Elsewhere Mr. Bahrami has said that Bach’s music saved him from suicide after his father had been killed by 'Islamic fascists.' On the evidence here, Mr. Bahrami is returning the favor in fine style. His playing is everywhere strong and fluent. He embellishes lines freely ... and with seeming spontaneity. The [Leipzig Gewandhaus] orchestra ... seems to be thriving under Mr. Chailly. It plays with freshness, commitment and vitality. ... [T]his disc is eminently recommendable" (James R. Oestreich, "Classical Recordings," New York Times, 10/2/11).
View catalog record here!

Mates of State: Mountaintops

"After recording their fifth album on a deadline dictated by the arrival of their second child, husband-wife duo Mates of State opted for a more relaxed pace on 'Mountaintops,' their latest. 'Sometimes you work well under pressure, and this time we just wanted to give ourselves a chance to breathe,' singer and keyboardist Kori Gardner says. Released today on Barsuk, the Stratford couple play with a broader palette of sounds on their new effort, as Gardner and drummer/singer Jason Hammel augment their keyboards-and-drums foundation with horns and guitar on songs that push beyond the bright, hooky pop sound the duo has honed on five previous albums of original material. 'We definitely want to expand and never kind of do what we've already done,' Hammel says" (Eric R. Danton, "Mates of State Strike New Balance on 'Mountaintops,'" Sound Check, 9/13/11).
View catalog record here!

Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 5; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis

"In 1967 he succeeded Malcolm Sargent as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony. And in 1971 he followed Georg Solti as music director at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. ... When he left in 1986, his going wasn’t universally lamented. And amid a barrage of unkind press commentary, he disappeared — or so it seemed — to lick his wounds abroad, pursuing relationships with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Dresden Staatskapelle. In fact he never really left Britain. ... He turned down several job offers in the United States. And he appeared from time to time in London concerts, but invariably as a distant eminence with a dubious past until, in 1992, he was engaged by the London Symphony to conduct a Sibelius cycle at the Barbican. Sibelius, whose Second Symphony and Violin Concerto Mr. Davis will conduct at Avery Fisher Hall on Wednesday, has always been a cause for him: he has recorded the symphonies three times" (Michael White, "A Maestro Reflects, and Knits," New York Times, 10/14/11).
View catalog record here!

The Smithereens: 2011

"Dennis Diken is the drummer and a founding member of New Jersey's rock'n'roll band The Smithereens. I met him through my musical hero, Don Dixon. Diken is one of the first drummers I ever played with. He is a mensch, a fountain of knowledge, a supreme musician, and a great story teller. The Smithereens are currently celebrating their 31st anniversary with the release of 2011, their first all-original studio album since 1999 and critics and fans are abuzz. ... RG: Tell me about your hometown. DD: Carteret, NJ, about 25 minutes southwest of New York City. Very blue-collar, with a strong sense of community. I was blessed with great friends, a wonderful group of bright, creative kids (which included Jimmy Babjak and Mike Mesaros of The Smithereens). We fed off each others' talents, passions and immense sense of 'play.' And we were extremely fortunate to have some very special teachers ..." (Ruth Gerson, "Dennis Diken: The Roots of Jersey Rock," Huffington Post, 8/5/11).
View catalog record here!

Works by Rodrigo and Latin Romances; Sharon Isbin, guitar

"Giving rise to a rich literature from the sixteenth century onwards, the guitar experienced a new golden age in Spain at the end of the nineteenth century with the development of modern technique, whose pioneers included Francesco Tárrega, known as the 'Paganini of the guitar' and the author of the moorish-style Capricho arabe included here. Later it fell to Andres Segovia to amplify Tárrega's researches, thus encouraging many other composers. Among these was Joaquín Rodrigo, a representative of a cultivated style of neo-classicism, whose fame is owed in great part to his Concierto [de] Aranjuez, a limpid, luminous work of considerable difficulty, composed in Paris in 1938-39. In the Fantasía para un gentilhombre, a tribute to the guitarist Gaspar Sanz (who died in 1710) and dedicated to Segovia, Rodrigo oscillates between a pre-classical style and quite bold harmonic writing, whilst his Invocación y Danza is full of life and passion" (CD notes by Adélaïde de Place).
View catalog record here!

Stone Temple Pilots: Tiny Music

"Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop is the third album by American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released on March 26, 1996 on Atlantic Records. Tiny Music displays a drastic change in the band's sound, featuring music strongly influenced by 60s rock and bands such as The Beatles. After a brief hiatus in 1995, STP regrouped to record Tiny Music, living and recording the album together in a mansion in Santa Barbara, California. The album had three singles reach #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, including 'Big Bang Baby,' 'Lady Picture Show,' and 'Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart.' ... In 1995, lead singer Scott Weiland was caught and convicted of buying crack cocaine. He was sentenced to one year's probation. Issues with drug use did not clear up after his sentence, and STP was forced to cancel most of their 1996-1997 tour for Tiny Music. Because of the tour cancellation, Tiny Music did not receive as much exposure as initially intended" (Wikipedia).
View catalog record here!

John Hiatt: Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns

"MR: ... Your new album Dirty Jeans And Mudslide Hymns kicks off with a pretty universally themed song, 'Damn This Town.' It's true, no matter what town you grow up in, every kid can't wait to get out of it. JH: Yeah, of course, the character in this song is particularly twisted, but I thought it was something that everybody could probably relate to. At some point, we all think 'If I can just get out of here, I know things will be better.' (laughs) But of course, everywhere you go...there you are. MR: And another one that speaks to the basics is ''Til I Get My Lovin' Back.' I think you're saying, in a very sweet way, I can't get my life back on track until I'm done with my love for you. Man, it doesn't get truer than that. JH: Yeah, I thought it was looking at a love story from a little different angle, you know? Sometimes, we don't get into relationships, we take hostages, so it's looking at love from that angle" (Mike Ragogna, "A Conversation with John Hiatt," Huffington Post, 8/3/11).
View catalog record here!

Bruce Springsteen: Human Touch

"Human Touch is the ninth studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1992 (see 1992 in music). This album was co-released on the same day as Lucky Town. It was the more popular of the two, peaking at #2 on the Billboard 200 and single release 'Human Touch' (paired with Lucky Town's 'Better Days') peaked at #1 on the Album Rock Tracks chart and #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. All songs by Bruce Springsteen; except where noted: 'Human Touch' – 6:31; 'Soul Driver' – 4:39; '57 Channels (And Nothin' On)' – 2:28; 'Cross My Heart' (Springsteen, Sonny Boy Williamson) – 3:51; 'Gloria's Eyes' – 3:46; 'With Every Wish' – 4:39; 'Roll of the Dice' (Springsteen, Roy Bittan) – 4:17; 'Real World' (Springsteen, Roy Bittan) – 5:26; 'All or Nothin' at All' – 3:23; 'Man's Job' – 4:37; 'I Wish I Were Blind' – 4:48; 'The Long Goodbye' – 3:30; 'Real Man' – 4:33; 'Pony Boy' (Traditional) – 2:14" (Wikipedia).
View catalog record here!

Nirvana: Nevermind

"Nirvana's 'Nevermind' is approaching its 20th birthday this fall, bringing about more and more tributes to the band and Kurt Cobain. Now, Cobain's hometown of Aberdeen, Wa., is mulling whether to honor the late singer by naming a famous bridge after him, the AP reports. The Young Street Bridge, located above the Wishkah River just a few blocks from the home Cobain shared with his mother, might become the Kurt Cobain Bridge if the city's residents approve it. A nearby park could also be renamed Cobain Landing. The bridge has become something of a shrine to Cobain fans, with graffiti and memorabilia being left on the mud-ridden banks underneath it. Some people claim that the grunge icon slept there in his teens after he dropped out of high school, though it's unclear if that's true. Cobain also allegedly wrote the 'Nevermind' track 'Something in the Way' about the time he spent there in his youth" (Dan Reilly, "Kurt Cobain May Be Honored with Bridge Dedication in His Hometown," Spinner, 7/14/11).
View catalog record here!

Britney Spears: Femme Fatale

"Despite a slew of hit singles and eye-popping sales figures, Britney Spears bas never released an album as coherent from start to finish as her latest, 'Femme Fatale' (Jive). Lack of cohesion clearly hasn't held her back; Spears' records have sold nearly 75 million copies worldwide since her 1999 debut. But the patchwork nature of her previous six albums gave the impression that she was continually casting around for the right sound. She's found it. 'Femme Fatale' -- featuring engineering from Glastonbury native Emily Wright on eight songs, vocal production on five and a co-writing credit on one -- skips the stabs at R&B and sex-kitten pop in favor of booming dance tracks that suit Spears more than anything she's recorded since 'Toxic' on her 2003 release, 'In the Zone.' ... 'Femme Fatale' is heavy on studio wizardry ... courtesy of executive producers Dr. Luke and Max Martin, but they keep sight of the songs beneath thumping beats" (Eric R. Danton, "Britney Spears' 'Femme Fatale' Is Her Best Yet," Sound Check, 3/28/11).
View catalog record here!

No Doubt: Tragic Kingdom

"Tragic Kingdom is the third studio album by the American third wave ska band No Doubt. It was released on October 10, 1995, on Trauma Records, a division of Interscope Records. The album was produced by Matthew Wilder, mixed by Paul Palmer, and recorded in 11 studios in the Greater Los Angeles Area between March 1993 and October 1995. Between 1995 and 1998, seven singles were released from it, including 'Just a Girl', which charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart; and "Don't Speak", which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay and peaked in the top five of many international charts. The album received mostly positive reviews from music critics. At the 39th Grammy Awards, No Doubt earned nominations for Best New Artist and Best Rock Album. The album has sold over 20 million copies worldwide; and was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States and Canada [and] platinum in the United Kingdom" (Wikipedia).
View catalog record here!