Two Miles High Music

(Book + CD set) Containing the best, and some of the rarest LP covers produced over the long history of the Prestige label, this deluxe 130 page coffee table book also features an insightful introduction by famed jazz documentarian Ira Gitler who wrote liner notes for many of Prestige's earliest and best known records. In addition, the book contains an exclusive 9 track bonus CD featuring music culled from several classic Prestige albums.

The 2008 movie Cadillac Records is the story of Chess Records. The Best of Chess is the original versions of the songs used in the Cadillac Records movie starring Beyonce, Mos Def, Solange, Jeffrey Wright, Raphael Saadiq and others. Cadillac Records chronicles the history of Chess Records, the pre-eminent blues label of the 1950s and 1960s co-founded by Leonard Chess and his brother Phil. Featured songs in Cadillac Records by Etta James (played by Beyonce Knowles), Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Little Walter (Columbus Short), Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer), Chuck Berry (Mos Def), Howlin' Wolf (Eamonn Walker) and more.

Superbly packaged and lovingly annotated, the five-disc Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Collection distills four decades of musical passion into six hours of highlights. The passion is that of Arhoolie founder Chris Strachwitz, a German immigrant and former California schoolteacher whose label reflects a devotion to American roots music at its most vital and varied. Southern bluesmen Mance Lipscomb and Fred McDowell, Louisiana zydeco kingpin Clifton Chenier, and Tex-Mex conjunto accordionist Flaco Jimenez are just a few of the regional mainstays to achieve national renown through Arhoolie, and all of them are represented here. The spirited diversity of the 105 selections (including 13 available on CD for the first time) finds the label extending its reach from string-band country (Hackberry Ramblers) to hard-driving jazz (Jerry Hahn Quintet) to New Orleans brass bands to more recent forays into "sacred steel," featuring gospel music with pedal-steel guitar. Where so many folk preservations might as well be embalming musical relics, Arhoolie champions "vernacular music": music that retains a strong, integral connection to its community and gets people clapping, stomping, and dancing. Throughout the set, the immediacy of the performances transcends trendiness or timeliness, showing how America sounds beyond the plasticity of popular culture. --Don McLeese

Another stellar 2 CD set, but this time with a twist! The first disc contains studio material from the label’s archives, while the second disc features all live tracks — including some previously unreleased barn-burners from Albert Collins, Little Charlie & The Nightcats, C.J. Chenier and Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials. As an extra bonus, the second disc also features a CD-ROM section containing almost four minutes of the only known live footage of the great Hound Dog Taylor. All at the special 2-for-1 price!!

Three decades ago Bruce Iglauer founded Alligator Records, selling his hero Hound Dog Taylor's records out of his car trunk. Since then, Alligator has become America's best-known and most prolific blues label, and many of the reasons for its success appear on this budget-priced, two-disc 30th anniversary collection. Much of the material, including Marcia Ball's "Louella" and Shemekia Copeland's "Turn the Heat Up," comes from relatively recent recordings, since the label also released anthologies honoring its 20th and 25th anniversaries. Those two collections are unreservedly recommended, with the 20th providing the best historical overview of the label's evolution. But the 30th holds its own, presenting guitar greats like Lonnie Mack ("Stop"), Johnny Winter ("My Time After Awhile"), and Lonnie Brooks ("Two-Headed Man"), as well as harmonica heroes James Cotton ("When It Rains It Pours"), Junior Wells ("Keep Your Hands Out of My Pockets"), and William Clarke ("Broke and Hungry"). Several outstanding duets, including a fine and funky tune by Henry Butler and Corey Harris and a classic from a Robert Cray and Albert Collins collaboration, provide variety. The second disc contains 13 live cuts, featuring some of the most exciting live blues acts ever, such as Albert Collins, backed by the Icebreakers; Luther Allison, who rips through his signature "Soul Fixin' Man"; and Son Seals, who gets help from Elvin Bishop. Dynastic zydeco great C.J. Chenier serves up "Jambalaya," and Delbert McClinton dishes out blue-eyed soul with "Maybe Someday Baby" to further flavor the live action. And to top it off, there's a bonus video track featuring Hound Dog Taylor to make the celebration complete. --Michael Point

Contents: Overture to The Marriage of Figaro K. 492; and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik K. 525 (Serenade No. 13 in G Major): Allegro, performed by Portuguese New Philharmonic, conducted by Alvaro Cassuto. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 "Elvira Madigan": Andante, with Svetlana Stanceva, piano; Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622: Adagio, with Joze Ostranc, clarinet; Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K. 385 "Haffner": Allegro Con Spirito; and Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-Flat Major, K. 495: Rondo: Allegro Vivace, with Josef Ducopil, horn; all performed by the Mozart Festival Orchestra, conducted by Albert Lizzio. Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550: Molto Allegro; German Dance No. 1 in D Major, K. 605 "Sleigh Ride"; both performed by the London Festival Orchestra, conducted by Alfred Scholz. Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Minor, K. 311: Rondo alla Turca, performed by Marian Pivka, piano. Divertimento in D Major, K. 334: Minuet, performed by the Salzburg Consort. Laudate Dominum (Praise to the Lord) from Vesperae de Dominica in A Major, K. 321, performed by Gabriele Fuchs, Soprano; Angelika Novak, Mezzo Soprano; Frans Sailer, Tenor; Hartmut Muller, Bass; Robert Kuppelwieser, Organ; Camerata Academica Salzburg, conducted by Ernst Hinreiner. Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major, K. 218: Rondo: Aandante Grazioso, performed by Iwan Popov, violin, with the Camerata Slavonica, conducted by Henry Adolph.

Linn Records' fourth volume in its popular sampler series features a mouth-watering selection of tracks from its catalogue of award-winning artists. 'The Super Audio Collection Volume 4' is a stunning new collection of Hi-Fi demonstration quality tracks chosen from the bestselling albums of 2008-09.