Mitsuko Uchida is one of the finest interpreters of Mozart's piano music. She brings to this music a lightness and delicacy that fits it perfectly. Uchida plays with an incredible humility. Her performances are never overbearing - she offers subtlety and emotion rather than force. Both lyrical and expressive, she uses her brilliant technique to play the virtuoso parts of the sonatas, yet never seems to be showing off. Her nimble fingers give the most attractive ornaments to these pieces, yet, again, these ornaments are not gratuitous - they fit perfectly with the tone and colours of the works.

Not long after You're Gonna Get It, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' label, Shelter, was sold to MCA Records. Petty struggled to free himself from the major label, eventually sending himself into bankruptcy. He settled with MCA and set to work on his third album, digging out some old Mudcrutch numbers and quickly writing new songs. Amazingly, through all the frustration and anguish, Petty & the Heartbreakers delivered their breakthrough and arguably their masterpiece with Damn the Torpedoes. Musically, it follows through on the promise of their first two albums, offering a tough, streamlined fusion of the Stones and Byrds that, thanks to Jimmy Iovine's clean production, sounded utterly modern yet timeless. It helped that the Heartbreakers had turned into a tighter, muscular outfit, reminiscent of, well, the Stones in their prime - all of the parts combine into a powerful, distinctive sound capable of all sorts of subtle variations…

After recording one of their darkest albums, 1984's The Top, the Cure regrouped and shuffled their lineup, which changed their musical direction rather radically. While the band always had a pop element in their sound and even recorded one of the lightest songs of the '80s, "The Lovecats," The Head on the Door is where they become a hitmaking machine. The shiny, sleek production and laser-sharp melodies of "Inbetween Days" and "Close to Me" helped them become modern rock radio staples and the inspired videos had them in heavy rotation on MTV. The rest of the record didn't suffer for hooks and inventive arrangements either, making even the gloomiest songs like "Screw" and "Kyoto Song" sound radio-ready, and the inventive arrangements (the flamenco guitars and castanets of "The Blood," the lengthy and majestic intro to "Push," the swirling vocals on "The Baby Screams")…

One might easily switch the title of Eberhard Weber’s Chorus with that of Fluid Rustle and none would be the wiser. Where the latter brims with voices and color, this relatively monochromatic effort is more like a shift of clothing in the shadows. Until this point, Weber's ECM projects had been inclined toward epic statements. These ranged from overwhelmingly sun-drenched reveries (The Following Morning) to moonlit fields of introspection (Later That Evening). With the release of Chorus, however, Weber reached a new level of intimacy. Joined only by Jan Garbarek on soprano and tenor saxophones and Ralf Hübner (one of Germany’s most important jazz drummers), Weber pares his sonic brush for a new kind of script…

In January of 1969, British power blues quintet Fleetwood Mac came to Chess Records studios to jam with the likes of Willie Dixon, S.P. Leary, Honeyboy Edwards, and longtime Muddy Waters' pianist Otis Spann. The sessions were so rich and fruitful that three-fifths of the Mac (specifically bassist John McVie and guitarists Peter Green and Danny Kirwin) impressed Spann enough to cut a record with them at the same sessions. While the classic "Country Girl" and a seven-minute "Someday Soon Baby" (which features a lengthy intro from Green on which Spann can be heard barely off mic telling the rest of the band to "let him play on") ended up on the Mac's Blues Jam at Chess double set: remaining cuts included "Dig You" and "Walkin'" and are a near perfect match of Spann's exciting, emotive singing and the Mac's youthful muscle. The Biggest Thing Since Colossus was released on Mac manager/producer/strongman Mike Vernon's London-based Blue Horizon label.

SBB are architects of an irresistable cosmic prog sound, as long as you pick up the key albums from the '70s. 'Pamiec' is one of their best.
Even though SBB's music isn't extremely complicated or difficult doesn't make them any less captivating to even the most demanding ears. The dramatic qualities and the patience they exercise in building their songs are wonderful elements of their style. 'Pamiec' consists of three lengthy songs, each a fine representation of the band's style: jazzy, cosmic, synth-dominant, dramatic, it's all here, with occasional flurries of kinetic storms from drummer Jerzy Piotrowski and generally unpredictable dynamics…

With "Sequel", Rainbow Serpent have turned in another immaculately produced, widely varied and epic synthesizer set. Some of the tracks (as ever) are too close for comfort to the very recognisable styles of other artists, but there's much to enjoy here.

Woman of the World (The Best of 2007–2018) is a compilation album by Scottish singer-songwriter Amy Macdonald. The album was released on 23 November 2018 by Mercury Records. Macdonald announced a European tour in support of the album, which will take place between March and April 2019. The album includes all of her greatest hits including "Mr Rock & Roll" and "This Is the Life", plus a two new songs, "Woman of the World" and "Come Home", both songs are included on the film Patrick. Talking about the album Macdonald said, "I remember the week of the 30th July 2007 – I released my first ever album This Is The Life, and I wasn’t quite sure how I found myself in that position. My album was number 1 in countries I’d never even been to before and I was so busy that I did not have time to take it in at all. Fast forward to 2017 and I released my fourth album – it was crazy for me. 10 years later people were still interested. I just felt that after such an incredible journey it was time to look back and feel proud of everything that has happened. I hope you enjoy this collection of music."

Sapphire is a rock album by John Martyn, who by this stage in his career had almost entirely abandoned the acoustic guitar and folk approach in favour of a glossy pop/rock sound. Recorded at Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas and CaVa Sound Workshops, Glasgow, Scotland, the album was originally released on LP by Island, catalogue number ILPS 9779, with cover photography by Anton Corbijn and a cover illustration by Cathie Felstead. Robert Palmer assisted in the later stages of the recording.

You might think that Castro's first album recorded for mighty blues indie Alligator – and twelfth overall – would mark a departure for this longtime rocking soulman. Despite a fuller sound, fleshed out with Lenny Castro's percussion and boosted by an ever-present horn section led by longtime cohort Keith Crossan, this is another typically solid effort from the singer/guitarist. Perhaps it's unfair to expect that Castro would somehow break free of, expand, or alter the blue-collar persona he has cultivated over his solo career as he shifts to a higher-profile label affiliation.

Canterbury knights is a compilation album containing previously unreleased archive recordings by the band The Polite Force which was active on the Canterbury scene between 1976 and 1978. It was released by Voiceprint Records in 1997. Tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 12 were recorded in 1976 in Joe Gubay’s house. Tracks 1, 6, 7, 10 and 11 were recorded in 1977 in Vince Clarke’s basement studio in Downs Road in Canterbury with one re-mix and overdub at John Murphy’s place in Herne Bay. The album contains very few overdubs and was recorded as “live performances” to a Teac 4-track recorder. Engineer and producer on all tracks was Jeremy Darby. Executive producer was Rob Ayling.

An international affair from the get-go, Honest Truth, boasting a British rhythm section and a Dutch guitarist, lit up German stages in the late '60s before calling it a day. Drummer Stuart Fordham and bassist Ray Brown promptly returned to their island home, but were coaxed back across the North Sea in 1971 by guitarist Rob Terstall and his new musical companion, German keyboardist Jeff Beer. Dubbing themselves Odin, the group's ferocious shows quickly caught the attention of the Vertigo label, which released the band's sole album, this 1972 self-titled set. From the opening track, the quartet's breathtaking musical skills are on display, with Terstall and the teenaged Beer trying to one-up each other's consummate solos.

The repertoire we have chosen for this album consists mainly of pieces that have been with me since my childhood. With this recital, Johan Dalene, accompanied by Peter Friis Johansson, offers us a selection of popular violin pieces that have accompanied him since his early years. After hearing them in the family car on long journeys, he went on to learn them and then play them in competitions and in concerts. He now gives us (and himself) a treat and continues the tradition of great violinists such as Heifetz, Perlman and Vengerov, who have all made recordings of favourite encores and recital pieces.