One of the most important and revered bands of the post-punk and alternative rock scenes, the Jesus and Mary Chain's artistic impact is incalculable. Heavily influenced not only by the dangerous sounds of bands like the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, but also by the sonic grandeur and pop savvy of the '60s-era girl group sound and the Beach Boys, the band was able to find the beauty in noise, while both celebrating pop conventions and thoroughly subverting them. Their landmark 1985 album, Psychocandy, basically invented noise pop, while Darklands stripped away the scuzz to reveal pristine melodies. From there the group explored many aspects of rock, from beat-heavy electro punk to dusty heartbreak ballads - hitting big with "Sometime Always" in 1994 - before going their separate ways in a cloud of bad feelings…

A popular saxophonist and singer with a mellow, R&B-influenced style, Walter Beasley has led a successful contemporary and smooth jazz career. Following his emergence in the late '80s, he balanced his teaching career at Boston's Berklee College of Music with issuing a steady stream of lyrical, groove-oriented albums like 1997's Tonight We Love, 2002's Rendezvous, and 2007's Ready for Love, the latter of which spawned three number one Billboard smooth jazz songs, including "I'm Back" and "Steady as She Goes." He runs his own Affable Music label on which he issued 2019's Going Home.

Arena, a band who knows what it means to satisfy their fans. Arena has a fanatic fanclub: The Cage. Arena makes regular CD's just to be had for their members. "Unlocking the Cage" is the third one in this tradition. This disc gives a good view of the evolution of Arena over the five years.
The album opens with “Enter”, an instrumental atmospheric piece written by Clive to be used as the intro for “Moviedrome”, the track with which Arena would start it’s show. Deadcertain to be asked back on stage the band rehearsed “Encore medley” which contains loads of big immortal riffs. The nice thing about this release is the fact that it contains tracks from well over five years thus also from a period in time where very few people knew about their existence…

This, along with Realms of Light, is one of Iasos' most celestial album and combines the richness of traditional symphonic music with the creative freedom of electronic music, to produce these 6 pieces of electronic symphonic heavenly music. This album is entitled "Elixir" because it is a powerful flood of only positive uplifting emotions. It is offered as a vibrational gateway, through sound, to the celestial realms of Light.

The popularity of California rock bands with both female and male vocals was simply immense in the wake of the Mamas & the Papas and Jefferson Airplane. Morning Glory pay significant tribute to both bands on their obscure and only LP, though you can certainly hear some Byrds in some of the guitar licks, as well as traces of Bay Area psychedelic groups like Moby Grape in some of the arrangements. It's well-sung (with the sole woman in the group, Gini Graybeal, handling most of the lead vocals) and tightly played, with Abe "Voco" Kesh, most famous for his work with Blue Cheer, handling the production. The problems are a little predictable for bands heavily influenced by California heavyweight groups of the era, but they're present nonetheless: a lack of top-flight songwriting in particular, and an absence of overwhelming personality in general…

Dr. John finally struck paydirt here and was certainly In the Right Place. With the hit single "Right Place Wrong Time" bounding up the charts, this fine collection saw many unaware listeners being initiated into New Orleans-style rock. Also including Allen Toussaint's "Life," and a funky little number entitled "Traveling Mood," which shows off the good doctor's fine piano styling, and with able help from the Meters as backup group, In the Right Place is still a fine collection to own.

For what would be his final of over 20 Blue Note albums, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley uses a sextet that also includes trumpeter Woody Shaw, the obscure guitarist Eddie Diehl, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Mickey Bass, and drummer Leroy Williams for a typically challenging set of advanced hard bop music. For the first and only time in his career, Mobley recorded a "Suite" (consisting of "Thinking of Home," "The Flight," and "Home at Last"); the remainder of the set has three of his other attractive originals plus Mickey Bass' "Gayle's Groove." This music was not released for the first time until 1980. It is only fitting that Hank Mobley would record one of the last worthwhile Blue Note albums before its artistic collapse (it would not be revived until the 1980s) for his consistent output helped define the label's sound in the 1960s. Mobley's excellent playing and the adventurous solos of Woody Shaw make this LP (his last as a leader) one to hunt for.

Another lost gem for lovers of Japanese psych and hard rock, this time from the inspirational ‘70s prog outfit, Strawberry Path. From its extremely cool front cover to the last track, this is an album that will appeal to garage fans, psych heads, mondo music lovers and acid freaks alike, merging as it does a variety of Western influences, ranging from Jimi Hendrix (check out Shigeru Narumo’s hard psych guitar) to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Originally relased in 1971, Strawberry Path were the forerunners of Japanese Flied Egg, one of the most influential Japanese prog bands to emerge in the ‘70s.

Originally released in 1974 this album was in a limited pressing of about fifty copies and sold at art shows in Germany - much like other titles that were reissued on CD through the Psi-Fi label - like Cosmic Corridors, Golem, Pyramid, Nazgul and Temple. It recalls the colder side of early Tangerine Dream for the most part, but manages to get a few melodic licks in between the lines and features a masterful command of alien atmosphere. Three lengthy tracks to allow you to be totally taken in - "Lunarscape" proves to be quite trippy, mysterious and out-there, as "Ethereal Jazz" features plenty of bubbling synthesizer and jazzy percussion and "Venus Rising" has a brain-damaging atmospheric vibe.

Born in Forlì (Italy) in 1951, Riccardo Zappa is widely recognized as the greatest Italian acoustic guitarist. For five consecutive years he was voted the best in the poll promoted by the famous monthly magazine "Guitar Club". After that, he was declared to be no longer eligible for nomination. His music is in fact quite unique in the whole Italian prog scene; not can many other comparisons be found outside Italy, except perhaps Mike Oldfield, for his long, acoustic-based instrumental compositions.
His unmistakable trademark is the "Ovation" guitar, an instrument with a striking nasal sound, very suited to being handled with special effects. His first work, "Auhlela & Zappa" was recorded in 1974 as a duo, with lyrics and vocals by Klaus Auhlela and music by Riccardo Zappa himself…

For all intents and purposes, Frank Tovey was best known as the man behind Fad Gadget, one of the most significant cult acts of the post-punk boom. As Fad Gadget, Tovey and his revolving door of conspirators released several singles and four full-length albums that stretched the boundaries of pop music during the late '70s and early '80s. And after Tovey started making records under his own name in the mid-'80s, he continued to remain as unpredictable as ever, working within the realms of Cajun, blues, and folk, in addition to furthering his journey into experimental electronics.
Frank Tovey's best and most cohesive album, including his work with Fad Gadget, and his last electronic album before making a hard left turn into protest-folk…

It was never supposed to be like this: "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" was supposed to mark a beginning of a new phase in Otis Redding's career, not an ending. Producer/guitarist Steve Cropper had a difficult task to perform in pulling together this album, the first of several posthumous releases issued by Stax/Volt in the wake of Otis Redding's death. What could have been a cash-in effort or a grim memorial album instead became a vivid, exciting presentation of some key aspects of the talent that was lost when Redding died. Dock of the Bay is, indeed, a mixed bag of singles and B-sides going back to July of 1965, one hit duet with Carla Thomas, and a pair of previously unissued tracks from 1966 and 1967, respectively…

The last album recorded by the Pretty Things before Phil May left; within months of this recording, the band split for a few years. Even more than Silk Torpedo, Savage Eye seemed to have been cannily devised with an eye toward picking up FM airplay in the U.S. There were hard rock, glam rock, and AOR rock influences from David Bowie, Queen, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney to be heard at various points, and while this album wasn't explicitly derivative of any of them, it didn't have much of a personality of its own, either. It certainly didn't sound like the Pretty Things, for gosh sakes. And although it went to number 163 on the charts and was one of only two records by the band to chart in the States, it was one of their least memorable.

While he's best known as guitarist Brownie McGhee's longtime partner, harmonica ace and vocalist Sonny Terry made many excellent recordings as a solo act, and also recorded with Blind Boy Fuller and others. The 17 songs on this anthology include Terry playing with McGhee's brother Sticks, Pete Seeger, and others, as well as several featuring Terry's biting harmonica and wry leads relating stories of failure, triumph, and resiliency, backed by McGhee's flickering but always audible guitar. The title is a bit misleading, since the earliest date for any session is 1946 (one number), and most are done between 1955 and 1959.

In 1959, sultry vocalist Julie London was really coming into her own as a singer. Her worldwide hit "Cry Me a River" was four years behind her, and while she would never attain that level of fame as a recording artist for the rest of her career, her ability to interpret a song was at its strongest in the late '50s and early '60s. Liberty Records' Julie…At Home finds the vocalist comfortably in front of a small jazz combo highlighted by vibraphonist Emil Richards and guitarist Al Viola. The sessions seem relaxed and casual, often with the lyrics slyly slipping from London's lips, at once sophisticated and sensual. The remarkable thing about Julie…At Home is that it was in fact recorded in her own living room, which proved to be the ideal surroundings for these warm and romantic standards.