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– Everything To Everyone (2003/2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 50:47 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino – Warner Records

The 6th studio release by Canadian rockers Barenaked Ladies featured the singles “Another Postcard” and “Testing 1, 2, 3,” both which broke the Adult Top 40 Chart. In the band’s typical style, the music is an exhilarating blend of folk and funky rock colored with satirical lyrics and driven by the band’s unmistakable energetic delivery.
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– The Broadway Album (1985/2002)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 48:00 minutes | 513 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia

Barbra Streisand’s abandonment of Broadway was the worst thing that happened to the theater in the ’60s. Her retreat from theater music on record was less of a loss, if only because she had tended to focus on second-rank composers and obscure songs by first-rate ones, while practically ignoring, for example, Stephen Sondheim. When she returned to show songs in 1985, she reversed these failings. Now, the singer who had never done much with Rodgers & Hammerstein, Frank Loesser, George Gershwin, or Jerome Kern finally felt confident enough to take on “If I Loved You” from Carousel, “Adelaide’s Lament” from Guys and Dolls, “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man” from Showboat, and a medley from Porgy and Bess, and she did them well. Even better, on seven tracks with Sondheim’s name on them, she proved the perfect intepreter of the most contemporary and intellectual of Broadway’s writers, whether singing his lyrics over the music of Leonard Bernstein (another composer she’d largely neglected) from West Side Story or making the most of material drawn from shows like Company, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, and Sunday in the Park With George. Sondheim collaborated with Streisand, penning special lyrics for songs like “Putting It Together” and even his standard, “Send in the Clowns.” The result was an album that repositioned some of Broadway’s best in a pop context and showed that Streisand was still at her best when presenting the dramatically satisfying story songs of the theater. Apparently, many longtime fans agreed: At sales over three million, The Broadway Album was Streisand’s most commercially successful album in five years.
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– Man in the Long Black Coat (2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:03:57 minutes | 1,06 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Linn Records

Barb Jungr’s first album of Dylan has become a cult classic and this album celebrating Dylan’s 70th birthday is likely to become one too. Jungr’s superb interpretations of her musical hero combined with her unique vocal style and arrangements deliver a gorgeous performance on this compilation of Dylan songs.
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– Tarpits And Canyonlands (2009/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 45:28 minutes | 674 MB | Genre: Alternative Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Ramseur Records

Bombadil is a four-piece band from Durham, North Carolina with guitar, bass, piano, and drums as their primary instruments. Their music is best described as folk-pop. The band are known for their creative and heartfelt lyrics, quirky and diverse sound, and engaging live show.
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U2 – Achtung Baby (Deluxe Edition) (1991/2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:58:09 minutes | 1,33 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Universal-Island Records Ltd.

Deluxe two CD editon features the original album plus an additional 14 tracks including b-sides and remixes. Recorded at Hansa Studio in Berlin and Windmill Lane in Dublin, Achtung Baby was U2’s seventh studio album and went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance, becoming one of the most significant records of the 1990s.

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Juanjo Mena, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Karen Geoghegan – Weber: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2, Bassoon Concerto & Invitation to the Dance (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:09:11 minutes | 1,23 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chandos

This is the fourth release by the BBC Philharmonic under its Chief Conductor, Juanjo Mena, and the discography is going from strength to strength – their recording of orchestral works by Falla was ‘Recording on the Month’ in BBC Music. They are joined on this recording by the bassoonist Karen Geoghegan.

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Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev – Wagner: Das Rheingold (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:27:42 minutes | 2,61 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mariinsky

In September 2013 the Mariinsky label releases the highly anticipated second installment of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Valery Gergiev. Recorded in the sumptuous acoustic of the Mariinsky Concert Hall, Das Rheingold is led by René Pape in the role of Wotan. Pape is ably supported by an international Wagnerian cast, and ‘Gergiev’s absolute mastery of this orchestra,’ (Wagner News) is in evidence once again in a tremendously dramatic performance. Siegfried and Götterdämmerung will complete the cycle in 2014.

Der Ring des Nibelungen was the pinnacle of Richard Wagner’s long and turbulent career and without question one of the greatest achievements in opera. Wagner wanted to create the perfect synthesis of music and drama and assumed total creative control of the project which was to take him 26 years to complete, with frequent interruptions. He introduced numerous innovations, not least the sheer scale of the project – typically a complete performance will last in excess of 15 hours, spread over four evening. No other opera matches the scale or ambition of the Ring.

The Mariinsky Theatre has close connections with Wagner and his music. The composer conducted at the theatre and was even offered the post of Music Director. It is also believed to be the first place where any of the music from the Ring was performed. Since Valery Gergiev became Music Director of the Mariinsky, Wagner’s music has once again become a core part of the theatre’s repertoire, both in St Petersburg and on tour.

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– Oscar Peterson Plays The Jerome Kern Song Book (1959/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 34:25 minutes | 1,46 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Verve Reissues

Within a one-month period the Oscar Peterson Trio (with bassist Ray Brown and their new drummer Ed Thigpen) recorded nine different Songbook, 108 selections in all. Not too surprisingly, this music had a minimum of prior planning and few arranged passages, putting it on a lower level than the typical music played by Peterson’s prior trio with guitarist Herb Ellis. The 12 numbers performed for the Jerome Kern album are given melodic and consistently swinging treatments with such songs as ‘I Won’t Dance,’ ‘The Song Is You,’ and ‘Pick Yourself Up’ among the better selections heard on this pleasing program.
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– Coexist (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 54:01 minutes | 1,19 GB | Genre: Metal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Octavision

Octavision is a project of the guitarist and composer Hovak Alaverdyan formed in 2016 with the collaboration of top level artists from all over the world. The result is a supergroup that counts in its ranks musicians among the best of the Progressive scene such as Billy Sheehan, Jeff Scott Soto, Victor Wooten, Roman Lomtadze, Murzo and Avo Margaryan on blul. With this stellar line-up, on December 29, 2020 they release “Coexist” containing 7 tracks of medium-long duration mainly instrumental, except the 2 sung by Jeff Scott Soto, also author of the lyrics.

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Oasis – Definitely Maybe (1994/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 52:00 minutes | 633 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Big Brother Recordings, Ltd.

Definitely Maybe was originally released in August 1994 and was an immediate critical and commercial smash. The fastest selling debut album ever (at the time), it went seven-times platinum in the UK (over 2 million copies), and sold 5 million worldwide. Containing the classic debut single “Supersonic”, and subsequent singles “Shakermaker”, “Live Forever”, and “Cigarettes & Alcohol”, Definitely Maybe frequently appears on ‘best album of all time’ polls, including being listed as one of Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time and a No.1 placing in a 2008 Q Magazine/HMV poll of the ‘Greatest British Albums.’

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Xiomara Laugart – Xiomara (2006)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 45:20 minutes | 910 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chesky Records

Though she’s released six solo discs in her native land of Cuba, the woman affectionately called La Negra is best known stateside for recording with the New York-based group Yerba Buena. On her self-titled debut solo effort for Chesky, she fuses the essence of Cuba’s rhythmic folk songs to a sophisticated, contemporary sound.

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Xiomara Laugart – La Voz (2010)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 45:10 minutes | 818 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chesky Records

A brilliant Latin Jazz album from Cuban vocalist Xiomara Laugart and her spectacularly tight band of piano, 2 basses, percussion, Turkish Autoharp, and saxophone.

We should call Xiomara Laugart simply ‘La Voz’-the Voice. She is one of the few singers not just in Cuban music, but in any music, to pull off an a capella performance with all the depth and nuance of a full band.

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Xavier Plumas – Mayerling (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 38:49 minutes | 800 MB | Genre: French Pop, Chanson
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © La Lézarde

Le leader du Tue-Loup a donné à son 3e album solo le nom d’une montre qui appartenait à son grand-père, un de ces témoignages du passé à la valeur surtout sentimentale, qu’on garde précieusement. Un nouvel album nourri des aubes, des crépuscules et des éblouissements qu’offre la nature, et riche du verbe sans pareil du sarthois, pas maladroit non plus pour trouver des mélodies qui font leur chemin (comme sur Sœur, Ramier Perdu ou Contreforts). / The leader of le Tue-Loup gave his third solo album the name of a watch that belonged to his grandfather, one of those testimonials of the past with the value above all sentimental, that we keep carefully. A new album nourished by the awe, the twilight and the glare that nature offers, and rich of the unparalleled verb of the sarthois, not clumsy either to find melodies that make their way (as on Sister, Ramier Perdu or buttresses).

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– Snow Cougar (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 21:40 minutes | 247 MB | Genre: Hip-Hop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Universal Records

Draped in loud resort-wear shirts, Yung Gravy stands out in a crowded field of MCs. But what really sets him apart are the lewd and absurd rhymes that pour out of his mouth. It’s an equal mix of Lil Yachty’s showboating, Yellowman’s slackness, and Bloodhound Gang’s cheeky wit—all smoothly dressed with trap beats and classic samples. Two things are on Gravy’s mind on Snow Cougar: flossing hard and getting down with your mom. “1 Thot 2 Thot Red Thot Blue Thot” won’t win any political-correctness awards, but after one listen, you will hum it endlessly and hate yourself. His 2016 viral hit “Mr. Clean” is also here, complete with its Billy Mays reference and generous Chordettes “Mr. Sandman” samples. With Snow Cougar, Yung Gravy’s move from meme to rap sensation is complete.

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