Sunday Music is a curated compilation series from bigHelium records, available at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, with music selected on a simple thought: whatever our race or belief system, we all seem to have a different soundtrack to Sundays.

An ongoing collection of soundscapes for the quieter end of the week - comprised of thoughtful popular music with an emotional core - Sunday Music spans genres from Alternative to Folk, Motown to Classical, Instrumental to A cappella performed by established icons alongside striking newcomers, plus countless Grammy® winners and nominees from around the globe. On each volume you can find exclusive remixes or alternative versions, plus rare material by superstars as well as familiar classics by unknowns.

Featured artists include Marvin Gaye, Jeff Buckley, Iron & Wine, Norah Jones, Hilary Hahn, Chris Martin, Angelique Kidjo, Kings of Convenience, Feist, Imogen Heap, Peter Gabriel, Melody Gardot, The Swell Season, Otis Redding, Sara Bareilles, Beirut, Sonos, Sting, Ray Charles, the bird and the bee, Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny, Aretha Franklin and scores of others.  In short, music to suit a month of Sundays.

01. Stevie Wonder - For Once in My Life
02. Marvin Gaye - Yesterday
03. Aretha Franklin - The Tracks of My Tears
04. The Spinners - It’s a Shame
05. The Commodores - Easy
06. Al Green - I Can’t Get Next To You
07. Sonos - I Want You Back (Exclusive)
08. Jimmy Ruffin - What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
09. Diana Ross - Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)
10. The Temptations - Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone
11. Otis Redding - My Girl
12. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles — Ooo Baby Baby
13. Marvin Gaye - Groovin’
14. Gladys Knight & The Pips - I Heard It Through The Grapevine (A Cappella Mix - Previously Unreleased)

The impact of Motown on pop culture worldwide is immeasurable. For this kid, raised in comfortable but ‘uptight’ 60’s Britain - where ‘out of sight’ was where we lived, mostly hunched over a stack of 45s - the songs emanating from Berry Gordy’s Detroit hit factory sounded an undeniable call to freedom, self-expression and joy from that promised land across the pond, America.  Motown conjured unknown worlds, from romance (and whatever Great Mysteries lay beyond)… to church, and what it might feel like to have a meaningful faith… to social and political issues, of which I knew nothing yet could still sense the power, pain and desire for change beneath these exquisite harmonies.  It was, and 50 years on still is, electrifying.  In this collection, featuring eight of Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Singers of All Time,” we celebrate the quieter side of the label in a soulful Sunday soundtrack. Classics by artists who only ever required a first name — Marvin, Stevie, Diana, Smokey — are interwoven with remarkable readings of Motown standards by their legendary friends — Aretha, Otis & Al.  The full range and possibilities of the songbook are heard in two exclusive a cappella tracks:  a stunning new trip-hop update of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” by Sonos, and Gladys Knight & The Pips’ breathtaking call-and-response on “Grapevine.”  Happy Birthday, Motown. And thank you.

Track List (Click below for specific track info)

01. the bird and the bee - Carol of the Bells
02. Ingrid Michaelson - Snowfall (Previously Unreleased)
03. Ray Charles - Little Drummer Boy
04. Imogen Heap - Just For Now
05. Norah Jones - Peace
06. Sufjan Stevens - Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
07. Ashton Allen - Until Christmas (Previously Unreleased)
08. Sonos - White Winter Hymnal (Exclusive)
09. eastmountainsouth - Ave Maria (Exclusive)
10. KT Tunstall (Feat. Ed Harcourt) - Fairytale of New York
11. Celtic Woman - Panis Angelicus
12. Over The Rhine - All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue
13. Lou Rawls - Merry Christmas, Baby
14. O Holy Night (Previously Unreleased) from "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"

'The Holiday Compilation' is a strange beast, indeed. One can never please all the people, even part of the time -- so we've simply tried to take the listener on a musical journey that delights and surprises, with the spirit of the holidays as our road map. If this eclectic collection of genre-spanning Holiday gifts is as enjoyable to listen to as it was to curate, then we will have succeeded. There are five previously unreleased gems, which may well become standards of the season. Some out-and-out classics. And some wonderful twists on established tunes that may raise a glass (or an eye-brow)! We hope this proves to be a merry Holiday soundtrack for you all and send our very best wishes for the season to Sunday Music fans, old and new.

Track List (Click below for specific track info)

01. Magdalena Kozená - Handel: Lascia ch’io pianga (from Rinaldo)
02. Wilhelm Kempff [Piano] - Schubert: Impromptu Op.90, No.4 in A flat major
03. Pepe Romero/Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Marriner - Rodrigo: Villano y Ricercare
04. Lisa Gerrard & Pieter Bourke - The Unfolding
05. Hilary Hahn - Bach: Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C Minor: Allegro
06. Sting & Edin Karamazov - Johnson: Have You Seen The Bright Lily Grow
07. Michael Brook & Djivan Gasparyan - Adagio In G Minor
08. Handel & Haydn Society Chorus - Whitacre: Lux aurumque
09. Los Angeles Philharmonic - Bernstein: Somewhere (from West Side Story Symphonic Dances)
10. David Darling - Darkwood VII - New Morning
11. Anna Netrebko - Dvorák: O Silver Moon (from Rusalka)
12. Craig Armstrong - Be Still, My Soul

Welcome to the first Classical volume in the Sunday Music Series. Putting together this compilation has been an educational and immensely enjoyable experience — if at times overwhelming, with the odd moment of total paralysis! Our goal was to feature a diversity of extraordinary artists; to celebrate centuries of brilliant composition; to introduce a spectrum of recordings from the conventional to the unexpected; and to weave them together into a cohesive, moving and unique Sunday Classical soundtrack.
I hope we have succeeded, we’d love to hear your thoughts…

Track List (Click below for specific track info)

01. Kings of Convenience Feat. Feist - Know-How
02. Goldfrapp - Happiness
03. Stephanie Dosen - This Joy
04. Iron & Wine - Boy With A Coin
05. Angelique Kidjo - Summertime
06. Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny - Cinema Paradiso (Main Theme)
07. The Swell Season - When Your Mind’s Made Up (Exclusive)
08. Lila Downs - I Would Never (Sunday Music Exclusive Mix)
09. Katie Herzig - Wish You Well
10. Landon Pigg - Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop
11. Viktor Krauss - Hop
12. Sia - Day Too Soon
13. Newton Faulkner - I Need Something
14. Cassandra Wilson - Closer To You
15. Beirut - A Sunday Smile

The third volume of SUNDAY MUSIC captures a distinctive mood, through voices both familiar and brand-new. The collection offers the languorous majesty of Cassandra Wilson on “Closer to You” and the hard-earned renewal of Katie Herzig’s “Wish You Well.” The raw yearning in “When Your Mind’s Made Up,“ by the Oscar®-winning duo (from “Once”) The Swell Season, follows the achingly lovely “Cinema Paradiso Main Theme,” as interpreted by jazz giants Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny.

Track List (Click below for specific track info)

01. Jacob Golden - On A Saturday
02. Rosie Thomas - Much Farther To Go
03. Shrift - As Far As I Can See
04. Badly Drawn Boy - Silent Sigh
05. Richard Thompson & Teddy Thompson - Persuasion
06. Mindy Smith - You Just Forgot (Sunday Music Exclusive Mix)
07. Peter Bradley Adams - Chant
08. Melody Gardot - Worrisome Heart
09. Faultline (Vocals by Chris Martin) - Where Is My Boy
10. Carmen Rizzo Feat. Jem - Easy Way Out
11. Winona (Craig Armstrong & Scott Fraser) - The White Room
12. Imogen Heap - Hide And Seek
13. Paul Duncan - Red Eagle
14. Jeff Buckley - Corpus Christi Carol
15. Michael Brook - Lightstar III (Sunday Music Exclusive Mix)

This edition features new, rare tracks or just plain classics from artists such as folk icon Richard Thompson, singing with his son Teddy; songbird Rosie Thomas (duetting with an uncredited Sufjan Stevens); Fautline featuring the unmistakable voice of Coldplay’s Chris Martin; the late, extraordinary Jeff Buckley singing Benjamin Britten; rising star Jem guesting with Carmen Rizzo; the unique Imogen Heap; and Sunday Music Exclusives from “Into the Wild” composer-artist Michael Brook and Nashville’s Mindy Smith.

Track List (Click below for specific track info)

01. Charlie Hunter Featuring Norah Jones - More Than This
02. Joseph Arthur - Even Tho
03. Renee Stahl - You Didn’t Know
04. Sidestepper - Deja (Mary)
05. Patty Griffin - Burgundy Shoes
06. Rufus Wainwright - Across The Universe
07. Loney, Dear - Hold Me (Previously Unreleased)
08. Sara Bareilles & Sonos - Gravity (Exclusive)
09. Nickel Creek - Jealous Of The Moon
10. She’s Spanish, I’m American - These Long Summer Days
11. Peter Gabriel - Cloudless
12. Susanna And The Magical Orchestra - Condition Of The Heart
13. David Condos - I Should Be Lost Without You
14. Sara Tavares - Balancê
15. Elbow - Great Expectations

Sunday is a day when your personal soundtrack takes a more reflective turn. With that in mind, we present this collection of down-tempo eclectica that rewards the ready ear and the quiet mind. Sunday Music 1 travels from the exotic sounds of Cape Verde’s Sarah Tavares to the lived-in comfort of Norah Jones & Charlie Hunter’s take on “More Than This.” In between comes acoustic music from newgrass phenoms Nickel Creek, a swooning Beatles cover from Rufus Wainwright, and many other delights. Each collection also contains new and rare tracks, plus exclusive remixes.