Founded in Toronto, Canada in 1976 - Disbanded in 1989 - Reformed in 1994-1996, 2006 and again since 2011.
This trio came from Toronto around the end of the 70's but got slightly over-shadowed by the profusion of bands exploding all over the album charts, with Rush, Triumph, Saga, Max Webster etc.. It is no wonder some could not get their share of sunlight, among which Goddo, Moxy, Zon, Santers and most certainly FM. Their first LP full of a weird sort of hard rock with strange studio tampering alerted most potential fans that this was a very particular band with their lead violinist Nash The Slash playing as a mummy and Martin Deller at the drum seat as well as Cameron Hawkins on bass. Unfortunately, their crazy frontman opted for a fairly successful solo career (crazy videos on MuchMusic - the equivalent of MTV in the early 80's) and the remaining duo had to find Ben Mink as a replacement but they never managed to regain the magic of their first album…

Opening with Queen’s beautiful ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ ahead of Pet Shop Boys’ debut hit, the #1 ‘West End Girls’ – and Eurythmics with elegant synth-pop on ‘It’s Alright (Baby’s Coming Back)’. A run of gems come next including from a-ha, Go West and Bananarama. Taylor Dayne and Gloria Estefan provide huge pop-dance anthems while remixes of ‘70s classics proved very popular for Chaka Khan, Bill Withers and Michael Jackson & Jackson 5. Hits from Bobby Brown, De La Soul, Five Star and Sananda Maitreya lead toward the first disc’s closing trio of sophisticated pop from Level 42, Bryan Ferry and Sade with 1985’s stunning ‘Is It A Crime’.

Focus had well proven their ability to write rocking instrumentals by the time of this release. Their catalog, although consisting of four albums, rarely had a dull moment between them. Hamburger Concerto is equally consistent, much of it being prime Focus material. The Akkerman-written "Birth" and "Early Birth" are examples of Focus fully flexing their muscles, featuring superb guitar work and amazing all-round musicianship, as well as sporting some superb riffs. The usual lengthy instrumentals are present also, as well as some manic vocals from the manic but genius Thijs Van Leer. Although Hamburger Concerto is not as unerring as Moving Waves or Focus III, anyone who enjoyed the previous releases would undoubtedly find great satisfaction from this album.

Founded in 1961 by George Kooymans and Rinus Gerritsen, Dutch rock band Golden Earring (or Golden Earrings, until 1969) started off as a beat band, experimented as a psychedelic quartet and finally became a heavy rock group. Their ninth album Moontan (1973) - including their classic track Radar Love - hit the international album charts and is the band's most successful album in the United States, being the only Golden Earring album to be certified Gold by the RIAA.

Jefferson Starship were among the most successful arena rock bands of the 1970s and early '80s. Guitarist Paul Kantner and singer Grace Slick started Jefferson Starship after the disbandment of Jefferson Airplane, adding former Airplane vocalist Marty Balin not much later. Red Octopus, the group's second album, established Jefferson Starship as a mainstream rock powerhouse. It topped Billboard's Top 200 and its smooth single "Miracles" gave the band a number three hit that crossed over to the adult contemporary charts.

The String Cheese Incident The bluegrass-based jam band the String Cheese Incident comprises mandolinist/violinist Michael Kang, guitarist Bill Nershi, bassist Keith Moseley, pianist Kyle Hollingsworth, and percussionists Jason Hann and Michael Travis. Formed in Crested Butte, Colorado, in 1993, the group's self-described "sacrilegious mix of bluegrass, calypso, salsa, Afro-pop, funk, rock, and jazz" quickly built up a following on the local club circuit, and within six months of their formation they earned an invitation to open the legendary Telluride Bluegrass Festival. They initially gigged simply in exchange for free lift tickets at ski resorts throughout the Western U.S., but as the String Cheese Incident's popularity grew, they began taking their music more seriously, soon averaging upwards of 170 live dates each year and eventually setting up their own record label, Sci Fidelity. The band's debut LP, Born on the Wrong Planet, appeared in 1997, followed later that year by A String Cheese Incident Live. The group resurfaced in 1998 with 'Round the Wheel, followed by the live Carnival '99. It's About Time and Outside Inside arrived in 2001, followed by a deluge of live recordings chronicling the band's massive 2003 tour.

Banquet is the fourth album by German progressive rock band Lucifer's Friend, released in 1974. By this time there was no hard rock sound, it was now strictly progressive rock mixed with jazz fusion. The song "Our World Is a Rock 'n' Roll Band" was the opening track on some versions (i.e. the U.S. version) of the original LP release, but the only CD releases to date do not include this track, which can instead be found as a bonus track on the Repertoire Records CD release of their self-titled debut.

Recorded Live at the Fillmore West, San Francisco, California, USA 29th April 1970

Acclaimed rock outfit The Paradox Twin are proud to announce a major new release event today via White Star Records, the label set up by John Mitchell and Chris Hillman. Their highly anticipated third studio album, "A Romance of Many Dimensions," is available on all digital platforms. Coinciding with the digital release, pre-orders for the physical edition of the album (May 8th) have officially opened.

The 90 minute recording has twenty-one minutes from the November 27th, 1970 show in Hannover, thirty minutes from the November 14th show in Hamburg, and forty-one minutes from the Münster concert on February 24th, 1971.

Jefferson Starship were among the most successful arena rock bands of the 1970s and early '80s. Guitarist Paul Kantner and singer Grace Slick started the group after the disbandment of Jefferson Airplane, adding former Airplane vocalist Marty Balin not much later. Red Octopus, their second album, established Jefferson Starship as a mainstream rock powerhouse. It topped Billboard's album chart and its smooth single "Miracles" gave the band a number three hit that crossed over to the adult contemporary charts. Many Airplane fans decried the Starship's more mainstream musical direction, especially after Airplane singers Grace Slick and Marty Balin departed in 1978. But with shifting personnel still anchored by Kantner and bassist David Freiberg, the group managed to please its new fans, and some old ones, over a period of a decade before shifting gears into even more overtly pop territory and changing names again to simply Starship. Kantner revived Jefferson Starship in the '90s, bringing Freiberg back into the fold in the mid-2000s, and the bassist kept the band going into the 2020s after the 2016 death of Kantner. Jefferson Airplane, the seminal San Francisco psychedelic rock band of the '60s noted for its hits "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit," began to fragment in the early '70s.

Nobody really expected the Berlin Wall to come down in 1989, and so suddenly. Roger Waters especially, because he had once made a promise never to perform The Wall again after the 1980 tour until the bricks fell in Berlin. But they did, and Waters had no intention to renege on his promise. The Wall became a star-studded megaconcert to benefit the Memorial Fund for Disaster Relief, with larger bricks, bigger inflatable puppets, and a larger audience than any of the original Pink Floyd shows. There was always a contradiction in performing such a personal work in a stadium setting, but here it becomes especially acute when opening up the vocal tasks to a variety of artists. Bryan Adams is actually an astute choice for the cock rock swagger of "Young Lust," but Cyndi Lauper ruins the spare funk of "Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2" with over-enthusiastic yelping.

This early live set by Purple Mark II, complete on two discs, was recorded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1970, and it showcases the band at its most extended. The jams on "Wring That Neck" and "Mandrake Root" clock in at around half an hour apiece. An instrumental version of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" leads into the requisite drum solo, and also included is the longest-ever recording of "Child in Time." Some of this (especially "Mandrake Root") can be trying to the patience of someone who wasn't there. But this was the era when hundreds of bands were stretching out every night, and Purple, with the skills and imaginations of Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore to call on, did it better than many, at its climaxes reaching a fiery intensity matched by few others.

Atom Heart Mother, for all its glories, was an acquired taste, and Pink Floyd wisely decided to trim back its orchestral excesses for its follow-up, Meddle. Opening with a deliberately surging "One of These Days," Meddle spends most of its time with sonic textures and elongated compositions, most notably on its epic closer, "Echoes." If there aren't pop songs in the classic sense (even on the level of the group's contributions to Ummagumma), there is a uniform tone, ranging from the pastoral "A Pillow of Winds" to "Fearless," with its insistent refrain hinting at latter-day Floyd. Pink Floyd were nothing if not masters of texture, and Meddle is one of their greatest excursions into little details, pointing the way to the measured brilliance of Dark Side of the Moon and the entire Roger Waters era.

Tommy is the fourth studio album by the English rock band The Who, a double album first released in May 1969. The album was mostly composed by guitarist Pete Townshend as a rock opera that tells the story about a deaf, dumb and blind boy, including his experiences with life and his relationship with his family. Townshend came up with the concept of Tommy after being introduced to the work of Meher Baba, and attempted to translate Baba's teachings into music. Recording on the album began in September 1968, but took six months to complete as material needed to be arranged and re-recorded in the studio. Tommy was acclaimed upon its release by critics, who hailed it as the Who's breakthrough.