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An early moment of genius from post-Beatles Paul McCartney – a solo set that's wonderfully diverse throughout – filled with the kinds of cool little twists and turns we loved in his late Beatles records, and in his 70s killers with Wings! There's a newly-emerging sweetness going on here – that great sound that started to emerge with the McCartney album – where Paul was a proud, put-together family guy – easily one of the most confident of his fab foursome, and able to bring an incredible amount of charm to just about any style he wanted to try! Some of the best cuts here are the mellower, more personal moments – still delivered with an amazing rock-solid sense of musicianship and production, too – and even the rockers, which might sound clunky in the hands of anyone else, manage to come off with a great deal of charm as well. Titles include the wonderfully playful "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" – plus "Too Many People", "Heart Of The Country", "Dear Boy", "Ram On", "The Back Seat Of My Car", and "Smile Away". 2CD version features some rare tracks and b-sides – including "Another Day", "Oh Woman Oh Why", "Little Woman Love", "Love For You", "Hey Diddle (Dixon Van Winkle mix)", "Great Cock & Seagull Race (Dixon Van Winkle mix)", "Rode All Night", and "Sunshine Sometime (earliest mix)".

The music of Paul McCartney – not only given a Brazilian twist, but a feminine one as well! The set features a host of fresh reworkings of Paul's best compositions – mostly Beatles' tunes, and really done in some compelling new versions – hardly covers at all, and more like completely new ideas that are formed from the original songwriting! Some tracks are vintage, and a lot more are more recent recordings – and all are pretty darn great – hardly what you'd expect at all on an album like this. Titles include "Eleanor Rigby" by Cassia Eller, "I Will" by Erika Martins, "And I Love Him" by Rita Lee, "My Love" by Leila Pinheiro, "Girlfriend" by Liah, "I Am Your Singer" by Hevelyn Costa, "Suicide" by Twiggy, "Here There & Everywhere" by Gal Costa, and "Ob La Di Ob La Da" by Pato Fu.

Sugar sweet pop rock from Paul McCartney & Wings – much more adventurously arranged than most of McCartney's post Beatles releases, Wing-ed or not – and to our ears (and many others), it's also his best post-Beatles album! There's plenty of rave up rock & roll leading into to the sugary, un-shakable choruses, no doubt the secret weapon, but the songs are pretty great! Titles include "Band On The Run". "Bluebird", "Jet", "Mrs Vanderbilt", "Let Me Roll It", "Mamunia", "No Words", and the sublime "Nineteen Hundred Eighty Five".

An early moment of genius from post-Beatles Paul McCartney – a solo set that's wonderfully diverse throughout – filled with the kinds of cool little twists and turns we loved in his late Beatles records, and in his 70s killers with Wings! There's a newly-emerging sweetness going on here – that great sound that started to emerge with the McCartney album – where Paul was a proud, put-together family guy – easily one of the most confident of his fab foursome, and able to bring an incredible amount of charm to just about any style he wanted to try! Some of the best cuts here are the mellower, more personal moments – still delivered with an amazing rock-solid sense of musicianship and production, too – and even the rockers, which might sound clunky in the hands of anyone else, manage to come off with a great deal of charm as well. Titles include the wonderfully playful "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" – plus "Too Many People", "Heart Of The Country", "Dear Boy", "Ram On", "The Back Seat Of My Car", and "Smile Away".

An incredibly lovely later album from Peggy Lee – her first album for Atlantic, and proof that she was still growing tremendously as an artist, well into the 70s! The record's title track was a tune written for Peggy by Paul McCartney, who also produced the number for the record – and it's got a wonderful "adult" feel – one that steps off even more from Peggy's last Capitol recordings. But in some way, the real star of the album is Dave Grusin – who co-produced the rest of the record along with Peggy, and who gives the session a warmly laidback jazz-based approach – one that's miles away from Peggy's 60s work, and handled in a maturely mellow groove that's totally great. The sound is tight, but never too slick – and Peggy's aging vocals sparkle beautifully amidst a host of modern tunes that include "He Is The One", "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter", "You Make Me Feel Brand New", "Sweet Lov'liness", "Sweet Talk", "Always", and the funky classic "Easy Evil".

Stevie Wonder's classic albums as guided though a musicians lens, rather than only the the prism of popular culture – put together by London based musician, columnist and author Steve Lodder – who has worked with Carla Bley, George Russell and Paul McCartney to name a few! The book focuses on 5 classic albums in particular: Music Of The Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Songs In The Key Of Life. Paperback, 240 pages.

The sounds of The Beatles – completely transformed – as a handful of tunes by John Lennon & Paul McCartney, and a few by George Harrison too, are taken up by the A&M Records crew of the 60s and 70s! We're huge fans of A&M, as the label's always had a way of taking already-great music, and making it even better – through inventive arrangements, cool studio production, and an ultra-stylish way of putting over a record – all of which really comes through here in the collection's transformative batch of tunes! Some of the singers are surprising choices, but really make the music come across wonderfully – and the overstuffed set features 26 tracks that include "Good Day Sunshine" by Claudine Longet, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by Punch, "All My Loving" by The Sandpipers, "Blackbird" by Punch, "Ob La Di Ob La Da" by Nick DeCaro, "Get Back" by Billy Preston, "Something" by Claudine Longet, "Don't Let Me Down" by Dillard & Clark, "For No One" by Liza Minelli, "Yesterday" by Chris Montez, "She's Leaving Home" by Julius Wechter & Baja Marimba Band, "Day Tripper" by Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66, "Golden Slumbers" by Claudine Longet, "Hey Jude" by Shango, and "Come Together" by Brothers Johnson.