In the Land of Grey and Pink is considered by many to be a pinnacle release from Caravan. The album contains an undeniable and decidedly European sense of humor and charm. In addition, this would mark the end of the band's premiere lineup. Co-founder David Sinclair would leave Caravan to form Matching Mole with Soft Machine drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt in August of 1971. As a group effort, In the Land of Grey and Pink displays all the ethereal brilliance Caravan created on their previous pair of 12" outings. Their blending of jazz and folk instrumentation and improvisational styles hints at Traffic and Family, as displayed on "Winter Wine," as well as the organ and sax driven instrumental introduction to "Nine Feet Underground." These contrast the decidedly aggressive sounds concurrent with albums from King Crimson or Soft Machine…

Rock & roll had grown louder and wilder by leaps and bounds during the '60s, but when Blue Cheer emerged from San Francisco onto the national rock scene in 1968 with their debut album, Vincebus Eruptum, they crossed a line which most musicians and fans hadn't even thought to draw yet. Vincebus Eruptum sounds monolithically loud and primal today, but it must have seemed like some sort of frontal assault upon first release; Blue Cheer are often cited as the first genuine heavy metal band, but that in itself doesn't quite sum up the true impact of this music, which even at a low volume sounds crushingly forceful…

Trombonist J.J. Johnson's 1960 sextet is featured on this Columbia CD. Most notable among the sidemen is a rather young trumpeter named Freddie Hubbard on one of his first sessions; also helping out are tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Arthur Harper and drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath. Seven of the compositions (which are joined by Dizzy Gillespie's "Blue 'N' Boogie") are Johnson's and, although none caught on, "Mohawk," "In Walked Horace" and "Fatback" (which is heard in two versions) are all fairly memorable. The six songs on the original LP are joined by three others from the same dates.

Free Hand is perhaps Gentle Giant's most realized effort. After the excellent In a Glass House, the group further developed its Renaissance-medieval approach, producing one of the most creative and complex recordings in progressive rock history…

Kai Hansen formed Helloween in 1984, playing guitar and singing on the speed metal band's first four albums. He left in early 1989, however, and founded Gamma Ray with vocalist Ralf Scheepers (formerly with Tyran Pace). The duo intended to record a one-off project that Hansen originated while in Helloween, so they recruited bassist Uwe Wessel, drummer Matthias Burchardt, and several other musicians…

Evidence's 1996 reissue of the 1984 Johnny "Big Moose" Walker album Blue Love is adorned with five bonus tracks, all added to the beginning of the album. Fortunately, this does not change the essential character of this sublime, low-key set, since all 11 tracks cut during this session consist of Walker alone at the piano, idiosyncratically playing a wide variety of originals, standards, and Ray Charles tunes. Although this all sounds of a piece - that is, terrific late-night blues - it's not same-y, since Walker keeps shifting his phrasing and playing, not just from song to song but within the songs themselves. As such, it sounds as if he's playing in the same room with you - a wonderful, intimate feeling that makes this a latter-day gem from this fine pianist and singer.

Digitally remastered edition of the classic 1978 album by the British Prog folksters. These Canterbury stylists featured leading lights of the genre. Comprising former Soft Machine members Hugh Hopper on bass and Elton Dean on saxophone, former Hatfield & the North drummer Pip Pyle, and Gilgamesh keyboard player Alan Gowen, the group recorded this sole album for Charly Records in 1978, drawing stylistically upon each member's musical pedigree producing a record of excellence. Soft Heap is a classic of the Canterbury style and this remastered edition is sure to be a much sought after release by all aficionados of the genre.

Musically, all of the sounds contained on ‘Brittle’ were created by piano, violin, cello, tingsha bells, harpsichord, and whistle. There are also field recordings from the inside of a room, with the windows open, but containing largely only room noise. The resulting recordings were then structured into 19 different tracks, which were then restructured into one single forming track of 74 minutes. All of the different pieces were merged together, to blur interruption and to allow the possibility of unfocused repetition. The album is arranged to move in a specific way, not simply section by section, but by subtle movements that swell and sway calmly. Instead of creating an environment to sink into, Celer hope that the piece will instead act as a blanket, moving with the listener through gentle sways, shifting tones and small spaces of silence that are as unpredictable as thought.

Five years after recording the amazing Karuna Supreme, John Handy and Ali Akbar Khan reconvened for a follow-up. This time out, Shyam Kane performs on tabla in place of Zakir Hussain, and Carnatic violinist L. Subramaniam is added as a soloist. Subramaniam turns in some fine playing, and Shyam Kane does a decent job in support on the tablas, but he lacks the excitement and attentive reactions that Zakir Hussain supplied…

The overall feeling on this 1955 recording, which was originally titled Velvet Mood, is strictly after-hours: the party is long over but a few close friends remain for nightcaps and, is that the sun peeking through the windowà? With slow tempo songs outnumbering not-so-slow songs fourteen to four, producer Norman Granz may or may not have had concept album on his mind. Whatever the case, he brought together a brilliant cross-section of cats who evidently put Billie entirely at ease and in the mood - no small feat when one considers her spotty later recordings.
Lady Day's renderings here of "It Had to Be You" and "Isn't This a Lovely Day?" are timeless gems…

Esoteric Recordings are proud to release the classic album We Are Everything You See by Locomotive. Issued by Parlophone in January 1970, it was the only album by the Birmingham based group fronted by keyboard player Norman Haines and was recorded in 1969. Featuring the psychedelic classic Mr. Armageddon, the album was a marvellous fusion of jazz, psychedelia and early progressive music and was produced by Gus Dudgeon and graced by guest musicians Dick Heckstall Smith, Henry Lowther and Chris Mercer.

In 1954, Henri Renaud was highly regarded in jazz circles. The French pianist/producer had played with his share of American heavyweights, who ranged from Lester Young to Clifford Brown to Sarah Vaughan. So when Renaud visited New York in 1954 and launched an all-star project that he called the Birdlanders, he had no problem attracting a lot of first-class beboppers. In order to be a Birdlander, one needed to be a regular at Birdland - thus, what you hear on The Birdlanders, Vol. 1 isn't unlike what was being played at Birdland in 1954 (although all of the material was recorded in a New York studio). This 77-minute reissue focuses on two of the Birdlanders' sessions that Renaud produced in 1954. The first took place on January 28, when pianist Duke Jordan formed a trio with bassist Gene Ramey and drummer Lee Abrams…

Best known as a member of the legendary Welsh band Man, Deke Leonard also enjoyed a successful solo career in the early 1970s.
Iceberg (1973). Though Deke Leonard had made his reputation playing progressive rock in the Welsh group Man, his first solo album has more of a roots rock feel than anything released by that band. Roots rock played by someone with a taste for odd arrangements, perhaps, but roots rock nevertheless. "Lisa" and "Jesse" both sound like something that the Band might have turned out, country fiddle, organ, and all, though Leonard's distinctive, reedy voice makes it unlikely that anyone is actually going to mistake one for the other…

What can we say? A classic album from John Dyson and Dave Ward-Hunt. The packaging has been completely revamped and has the sort of presence which an album of this calibre deserves. It quite simply contains pure 100% EM of the highest calibre and tackles styles across the spectrum, presenting epic Tangerine Dream style sequencing alongside stunning melodics.