This is the strongest Carpenters collection available. All of the hits, including, FINALLY, the single version of "Solitaire" on a domestic collection! The album cuts are well chosen, with such old favorites as "Let Me Be The One" and "A Song For You" holding their own against the singles. There's also a few previously unreleased efforts, most notably "The Rainbow Connection." At 40 tracks, it easily surpasses their previous double-disker (released at different times under the names CLASSICS and YESTERDAY ONCE MORE) which only contained 27 songs.

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Amazon.com wrote: Two disc collection featuring 41 tracks by this British rock and roll band who once featured Steve Winwood amongst it's ranks! Guitarist Davis leads his motley gang of musicians through some of his most endearing tracks including 'Gimme Some Lovin', 'I'm A Man' and more. Double slimline jewel case.

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I happened upon this album years ago in a Salvation Army thrift store bin, on vinyl, of course. Let's just say that upon first listen I was completely BLOWN AWAY. The Adventures won a place in my short list of favorite, yet largely underrated and appreciated, bands. Their slick stylings strike the perfect balance of being gorgeous sounds, yet without that characteristically "overproduced" sound of the 80s. I have an extreme affection for New Wave music, but I must say The Adventures totally transcend that genre label often assigned to them. Those first sounds I heard literally jumped off the vinyl, and into my heart. The songs remain stuck in my mental jukebox to this day, and often I reach for my disc containing this gem. This Irish band still remains widely unheard-of, and I must say what a shame that really is. Take a listen for yourself, after reading these sources of information I compiled (and finding information on The Adventures is NO easy task, mind you!) A rare-as-hen's teeth gem, and more than worthy of the 5-star-rating I gave this stunning debut album!

Sufjan Stevens is proud to present The BQE, a cinematic suite inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Hula-Hoop. Commissioned by Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), The BQE was originally performed in the Howard Gilman Opera House in celebration of the 25th anniversary Next Wave Festival in October of 2007. The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is an incidental 12.7 miles of urban roadway built over the course of several decades (1939-1964), spear-headed by the master architect Robert Moses to accommodate for the increase of commercial and commuter traffic in New York City's outer boroughs. The roadway was a painstaking piecemeal project, poorly planned, badly built, and relentlessly encumbered by the obvious obstacles of the era: red tape, neighborhood protests, World War II, and a congested borough whose sequestering layout proved ill-fitting for the automobile. The resulting expressway-a pockmarked, serpentine, congested BQE-has become one of Brooklyn's most notable icons of urban blight. And, for Sufjan Stevens, an object of unmitigated inspiration.

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Jim Brenholts, All Music Guide wrote: Jonn Serrie is a well-rounded e-music long-timer. His gentle sound design has elements of classic new age and hypnotic space music. Tingri is one of his most popular and accessible CDs. The melodic atmospheres surround exotic synth washes as energetic rhythms carry them around and through the soundscapes. Each composition has its own integrity and structure. This disc will appeal to fans of John Flomer, Patrick O'Hearn, and Kevin Braheny.

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This is a wonderful historic concert performed by the band during the time that a lot of people think that they were at the peak of their career. It is so good to see archive performances from this period finally becoming available.

The Moody Blues are always surprising; when one thinks they're dead, they re-appear in a great mood! They should change their name to The Moody Phoenix or something like it. Well, that's the case with "Keys Of The Kingdom", a nice extra temporal work, not really progressive but honestly agreeable and tasteful.

With Summertime Dream, Gordon Lightfoot produced one of his finest albums, and wrapped up a six-year period of popularity that he would not recapture. Propelled by his second biggest hit, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," Summertime Dream summed up the sound that had served Lightfoot so well in his post-"If You Could Read My Mind" days. This distinctive sound featured Lightfoot's strummed six- or 12-string guitar complemented by Terry Clements' electric guitar lines and Pee Wee Charles' pedal steel guitar accents. The material here is excellent, and the singer's voice is at its strongest. Mixing upbeat songs like "Race Among the Ruins," "I'd Do It Again," and the title track with beautiful ballads such as "I'm Not Supposed to Care" and "Spanish Moss," Lightfoot and his band deliver a tasty smorgasbord of intelligent, grown-up music. As for "Edmund Fitzgerald," its continued popularity more than 20 years after its release attests to the power of a well-told tale and a tasty guitar lick.

Better than most "New Age" offerings, thanks to the overall choices and imagery the music conjures up. Well worth buying when you need a beautiful, lilting symphonic head-journey-or when you just need/want to hear musicians other than U.S./British-born artists.

The 'Blue Dawn' is a collaboration between an old chap of Edgar, Ralf Wadephul (he accompanied TD on their US tour in 1988) and Edgar Froese himself. The material of this album was composed during Tangerine Dream's North American tour back in August/September 1988. weeks after weeks in tour buses, planes, hotels and various locations gave the two guys here the opportunity to get musically into something different off stage. The plan was to release the stuff as an on and off the road album later in the year. The road feeling as well as the summertime in the states had been a strong influence for these compositions. The album was completed while hanging out after the tour at a friend's place in LA. Because of various reasons the album had a delay for over about seventeen years before it now will be presented to the public.

Ray Lynch is a classically trained guitarist and lutenist. In the early days of his musical career, Lynch was an unknown classically trained guitarist and lutenist who began writing instrumental recordings that blended classical and electronic components into melodic soundscapes.

Sit Down Young Stranger is Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot's 6th original album and also his best-selling original album. It was released in 1970 on the Reprise Records Label. The album was renamed If You Could Read My Mind shortly after release due to the song reaching number #5 on the chart. The album itself reached #12 on the pop chart. The album marked a turning point in Lightfoot's musical career. It was Lightfoot's first recording for his new label, Reprise Records. He had left United Artists because he believed they did not promote his albums well enough. There is a lot of Gordon Lightfoot in this album, as well as some of the best material Lightfoot has ever done, and, with songs like "Cobwebs and Dust" and "Me and Bobby McGee," some of the nicest folk music on record anywhere.

I posted this album over a year ago, only to realize recently that the previous rip is not legit. I stumbled across this UDCD at the public library, of all places, and noticed that the cover looked a bit different. Upon further inspection, I saw the booklet rear was a completely different picture also. When I brought it home and ripped it, there were different peak levels. The conclusion then came that the version I had from before was not real. It was CDDA, for sure, but not the MFSL, someone just wanted to pass it off as such. So here is the REAL DEAL. Unfortunately there are library stickers on the front cover and inside the ring of the CD, but I still scanned everything including the underside of the CD (the gold part).

Halcyon Days, Bruce Hornsby's ninth full-length album and first for Columbia Records, evoke hopes for the future and memories of the past while appreciating, according to the artist, "Great days, beautiful peaceful days when they happen in these times." Hornsby, a three-time Grammy winner who's sold more than 10 million records since his multi-platinum debut in 1986, draws from a wide array of influences--among them jazz, pop, classical, bluegrass, rock, vaudeville and sounds both swinging and downright uncategorizable--to create his most sublime and elegant collection to-date, all the while bringing his patented blend of playful lyrical whimsy and formidably refined musicality to the table. "There's a variety of musical materials," he admits before adding, "there's some funny words in there too."

Recorded and released in 1969, this Moody Blues album captures the band in all of their glorious excess. With intellectualized lyrics, overblown arrangements, and rampant experimentation, the Moody Blues manage to create an evocative, psychedelic musical experience.