Roy Montgomery - Audiotherapy - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Roy Montgomery, a pioneer of the NZ underground, believes there is always new sonic terrain to investigate. His latest series of albums for Grapefruit marks forty years of rigorous exploration in which he's managed to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres, always at the forefront of experimental independent music. To commemorate, Grapefruit will be releasing four new Montgomery albums in 2021. The first installment, Island Of Lost Souls, arrived to great acclaim in January. The second and latest album, His Best Forgotten Work, features Montgomery's rare, brooding vocals across nine gorgeous tracks recorded from his home in Christchurch, New Zealand.His Best Forgotten Work follows the intense, all-instrumental Island Of Lost Souls. It departs in spirit with darkly buoyant variations on popular songs, including two highly anticipated covers of legendary songs by The Carpenters (InchSuperstarInch) and Tim Buckley (InchSong To The SirenInch). Montgomery shows the listener that these influences aren't such strange bedfellows after all; one need only listen closely.Where some might be inclined to relax and lean into their legacy at this stage in a sprawling career, Montgomery's new music continues to seek and challenge. His compositions are beautiful as well as disconcerting, and often speak to precarity and dread. His Best Forgotten Work is a title with tongue planted firmly in cheek, alluding to the artist's position of enjoying a peculiar bit of fame in relative obscurity. But listening to his dry wit and rich voice, one will find it isn't easily forgotten.

This is the Schubert Ensemble's second disc devoted to works by George Enescu, a composer who has been somewhat neglected over the years but who's true talents are more and more appreciated during a recent surge in interest in his music. Included on this disc is the Schubert Ensemble's own edition of the Piano Trio, arrived at after close study of the composer's heavily annotated manuscript.

Cathy Carr - Ivory Tower The Singles & Albums Collection 1953-62 Cathy Carr, born Angelina Cordovano in the Bronx in 1936, was a child star on TV and performed in WWII with the USO, and later sang with the bands of Sammy Kaye and Johnny Dee. She got her first recording contract in 1953 when she was 17, and between 1956 and 1962 she had a run of half a dozen US hits, of which the biggest was her No. 2 chart debut in 1956 with InchIvory TowerInch. She was very much a singer of the pre-rock 'n' roll era, who adapted to the new music by retaining her teen focus, and not moving on to more sophisticated styles until long after her chart career ended. This 58-track 2-CD collection comprises most of her A & B sides on the Coral, Fraternity, Roulette, Smash and Laurie labels from this era, along with almost all the titles from her albums InchIvory TowerInch on Fraternity and InchShyInch on Roulette. It features all her career hits, including the No. 2 InchIvory TowerInch, along with InchHeart HideawayInch, First AnniversaryInch, I'm Gonna Change HimInch, InchLittle SisterInch and InchSailor BoyInch. It has performances with some notable orchestras of the day, including Don Costa, Dan Belloc, Lew Douglas, Hugo Peretti, Joe Reisman, Henry Glover and Billy Mure. It's a substantial and enjoyable showcase for an artist we don't hear too much about, but who was a stylish and distinctive performer.