6804 - IAN ANDERSON - Homo Erraticus (2014)

IAN ANDERSON
''HOMO ERRATICUS''
APRIL 15 2014
51:33

Part 1: Chronicles
1. Doggerland (4:20)
2. Heavy Metals (1:29)
3. Enter The Uninvited (4:12)
4. Puer Ferox Adventus (7:11)
5. Meliora Sequamur (3:32)
6. The Turnpike Inn (3:08)
7. The Engineer (3:12)
8. The Pax Britannica (3:05)
Part 2: Prophecies
9. Tripudium Ad Bellum (2:48)
10. After These Wars (4:28)
11. New Blood, Old Veins (2:31)
Part 3: Revelations
12. In For A Pound (0:36)
13. The Browning Of The Green (4:05)
14. Per Errationes Ad Astra (1:33)
15. Cold Dead Reckoning (5:28)

Ian Anderson / vocals, flute, acoustic guitar
John O'Hara / Hammond organ, piano, keyboards
David Goodier / bass guitar, glockenspiel
Florian Opahle / electric guitar
Scott Hammond / drums, percussion
Ryan O'Donnell / vocals

OFFICIAL REVIEW
In 2012, Ian Anderson released Thick As A Brick 2, the follow-up to Jethro Tull’s legendary concept album. The album was a critical and commercial success, charting around the world. In April 2014 he returns with Homo Erraticus, his new studio album.

The original Thick As A Brick album, released in 1972, was based around the poem of disgraced child prodigy Gerald Bostock. For Homo Erraticus, Anderson is reunited with Bostock, using lyrics written by Gerald based on an old historical manuscript. The manuscript examines key events from throughout British history before going on to offer a number of prophecies for the future.

Suitably dramatised and exaggerated by Bostock as metaphors for modern life, he presented Anderson with ideas for 15 songs, which have now been set to music. The result is Homo Erraticus.

The album will be released on Anderson’s own Calliandra Records label in conjunction with Kscope on April 14th.

Following the release of this “Jethro Tull” (in all but name) album, Ian and his band will be embarking on an extensive UK tour, where they will play the album in its entirety followed by a selection of Tull classics. These shows will be followed by further tours in Europe, America and more later in the year.

REVIEW
By Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Two years after Thick as a Brick 2, an explicit 2012 sequel to the 1972 prog classic, Ian Anderson embarked on another ambitious journey, this time assembling a concept record called Homo Erraticus. A loose -- very loose -- album based on a "dusty, unpublished manuscript, written by local amateur historian Ernest T. Parritt (1873-1928)," Homo Erraticus is an old-fashioned prog record: it has narrative heft and ideas tied to the '70s, where jazz, classical, folk, orchestral pop, and rock all commingled in a thick, murky soup. Divorced from Tull, Anderson favors fruitiness -- he likes ripe melodies and baroque arrangements that showcase either his flute or the dexterity of his band -- and if the music by and large isn't as forceful as Aqualung, partially due to the absence of muscular musicians, it nevertheless demonstrates a clear-eyed conception that is in the same lineage. Yes, the production on Homo Erraticus is too precise -- there's too much air, there's too much room to roam, decisions that diminish the impact of the music -- but the contours of the compositions deliberately and delicately recall classic Tull, so Homo Erraticus winds up satisfying: it's as close to '70s prog as is possible in 2014.

6803 - RENAISSANCE - Symphony Of Light (2014)

RENAISSANCE
''SYMPHONY OF LIGHT''
APRIL 2014
53:45

1/Symphony Of Light/12:09
2/Waterfall/4:44
3/Grandine il Vento/6:13
4/Porcelain/6:41
5/Cry To The World/5:44
6/Air Of Drama/5:21
7/Blood Silver Like Moonlight/5:16
8/The Mystic And The Muse/7:48
All songs by Dunford/Haslam except 9 Dunford/Thatcher

Annie Haslam - lead vocals
David J. Keyes - bass
Rave Tesar - keyboards
Frank Pagano - drums, percussion
Jason Hart - keyboards
Michael Dunford - guitars
Additional musicians:
John Wetton (ex-King Crimson, UK) - vocals on "Blood Silver Like Moonlight"
Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) - flute on "Cry To The World"

REVIEW
Anchored by longtime lead vocalist Annie Haslam and the masterful songwriting and arrangement skills of Michael Dunford, Symphony of Light is a testament to the unforgettable melodies and unique blending of progressive rock with classical influences and symphonic arrangements that have become the band's trademark.

Composer and guitarist Michael Dunford died prematurely after the completion of the band's first album in 13 years. Annie Haslam, with Renaissance keyboardist Rave Tesar, composed an additional song, 'Renaissance Man' that they have dedicated to Michael and added to the new album. Guest appearances include Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) and John Wetton (Asia).

BIOGRAPHY
By Bruce Eder
The history of Renaissance is essentially the history of two separate groups, rather similar to the two phases of the Moody Blues or the Drifters. The original group was founded in 1969 by ex-Yardbirds members Keith Relf and Jim McCarty as a sort of progressive folk-rock band, who recorded two albums (of which only the first, self-titled LP came out in America, on Elektra Records) but never quite made it, despite some success on England's campus circuit.

The band went through several membership changes, with Relf and his sister Jane (who later fronted the very Renaissance-like Illusion) exiting and McCarty all but gone after 1971. The new lineup formed around the core of bassist Jon Camp, keyboard player John Tout, and Terry Sullivan on drums, with Annie Haslam, an aspiring singer with operatic training and a three-octave range.

Their first album in this incarnation, Prologue, released in 1972, was considerably more ambitious than the original band's work, with extended instrumental passages and soaring vocals by Haslam. Their breakthrough came with their next record, Ashes Are Burning, issued in 1973, which introduced guitarist Michael Dunford to the lineup and featured some searing electric licks by guest axeman Andy Powell. Their next record, Turn of the Cards, released by Sire Records, had a much more ornate songwriting style and was awash in lyrics that alternated between the topical and the mystical.

The group's ambitions, by now, were growing faster than its audience, which was concentrated on America's East Coast, especially in New York and Philadelphia -- Scheherazade (1975) was built around a 20-minute extended suite for rock group and orchestra that dazzled the fans but made no new converts. A live album recorded at a New York concert date reprised their earlier material, including the "Scheherazade" suite, but covered little new ground and showed the group in a somewhat lethargic manner. The band's next two albums, Novella and A Song for All Seasons, failed to find new listeners, and as the 1970s closed out, the group was running headlong into the punk and new wave booms that made them seem increasingly anachronistic and doomed to cult status.

Their '80s albums were released with less than global or even national fanfare, and the group split up in the early '80s amid reported personality conflicts between members. During 1995, however, both Haslam and Dunford made attempts to revive the Renaissance name in different incarnations, and Jane Relf and the other surviving members of the original band were reportedly planning to launch their own Renaissance revival which, if nothing else, may keep the courts and some trademark attorneys busy for a little while.

6802 - JACK BRUCE - Silver Rails (2014)

JACK BRUCE
''SILVER RAILS''
MARCH 25 2014
47:31

01 - Candlelight/4:18
02 - Reach For The Night/6:18
03 - Fields Of Forever/4:33
04 - Hidden Cities/4:59
05 - Don't Look Now/5:03
06 - Rusty Lady/5:11
07 - Industrial Child/3:39
08 - Drone/4:46
09 - Keep It Down/4:55
10 - No Surrender/3:32

Silver Rails is Jack's first studio in ten years, recorded at the world famous Abbey Road studios. Produced by Rob Cass, it is a splendid collection of carefully crafted songs written in partnership with lyricists Pete Brown, Kip Hanrahan and Margrit Seyffer.

He is joined on the album by a host of celebrated instrumentalists including Phil Manzanera, Robin Trower, Bernie Marsden & Uli Jon Roth.

REVIEW
By Tom Jurek
Silver Rails is Jack Bruce's first solo studio album since 2003's fine More Jack Than God. Bruce recorded the set at Abbey Road with producer Rob Cass and collaborated with a dazzling array of musicians. Notably, he brought back John Medeski and Cindy Blackman Santana from the Spectrum Road project -- a tribute band to the Tony Williams Lifetime -- that released its own album in 2012. He also enlisted son Malcolm Bruce and guest guitarists including Phil Manzanera, Robin Trower, Bernie Marsden, and Uli Jon Roth. Bruce wrote songs with longtime collaborators Pete Brown and Kip Hanrahan, as well as his wife, Margrit Seyffer. The music is quite diverse, making this album a distant spiritual cousin to 1969's Songs for a Tailor. There are some scathing rockers, most notably the rumbling, politically intense "Drone," illustrated only by distorted bass and drums -- and samples of a WWII Stuka. "Reach for the Night" is a sophisticated, multivalent pop song with R&B and even jazz overtones. The piano-driven rock of "Fields of Forever" actually recalls the spirit of "Doin' That Scrapyard Thing" from Cream's Goodbye album. "Rusty Lady" (about the death of Margaret Thatcher -- Bruce wasn't a fan) is a funky blues with Trower's silvery guitar punctuating the mix. The Caribbean rhythms and horns in "Candlelight" make it a sophisticated outlier here, Medeski's organ careening around a bubbling bassline, stuttering drum kit, brass, and Manzanera's dancing single lines and vamps. The complex melody in "Hidden Cities" walks a line between metal and prog, while the next cut, "Don't Look Now," commences as a lithe, weary ballad before gradually cracking itself open and transforming into a midtempo rocker. Marsden's stinging fills punch through Bruce's bassline in the strutting modern blues that is "Keep It Down." The set closes with the thundering rock and roll of "No Surrender," the most raucous tune on the set. Bruce's voice is a tad grainy, but his pitch and phrasing remain intact. Silver Rails is chancy and engaging, even through inconsistent moments and stands as a bright testament to an exceptional musician who, for over 50 years, has pushed at the margins of every genre he's taken on.
BIOGRAPHY
By Richard Skelly
Although some may be tempted to call multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer Jack Bruce a rock & roll musician, blues and jazz are what this innovative musician really loves. As a result, these two genres are at the base of most of the recorded output from a career that goes back to the beginning of London's blues scene in 1962. In that year, he joined Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated. Throughout the following decades and into the 21st century, Bruce has always been a supreme innovator, pushing himself into uncharted waters with his jazz and folk-rock compositions.

Bruce's most famous songs are, in essence, blues tunes: "Sunshine of Your Love," "Strange Brew," "Politician," and "White Room." Bruce's best-known songs remain those he penned for Cream, the legendary blues-rock trio he formed with drummer Ginger Baker and guitarist Eric Clapton in July 1966. Baker and Bruce played together for five years before Clapton came along, and although their trio only lasted until November 1968, the group is credited with changing the face of rock & roll and bringing blues to a worldwide audience. Through their creative arrangements of classic blues tunes like Robert Johnson's "Crossroads," Skip James' "I'm So Glad," Willie Dixon's "Spoonful," and Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign," the group helped popularize blues-rock and led the way for similar groups that came about later on, like Led Zeppelin.

Bruce was born May 14, 1943, in Lanarkshire, near Glasgow, Scotland. His father was a big jazz fan, and so he includes people like Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller among his earliest influences. He grew up listening to jazz and took up bass and cello as a teen. After three months at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, he left, disgusted with the politics of music school. After traveling around Europe for a while, he settled into the early blues scene in 1962 in London, where he eventually met drummer Ginger Baker. He played with British blues pioneers Alexis Korner and Graham Bond before leaving in 1965 to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, whose guitarist was Eric Clapton. This gave him time to get his chops together without having to practice. With Manfred Mann, who he also played with before forming Cream, Bruce learned about the business of making hit songs.

Cream's reputation for long, extended blues jams began at the Fillmore in San Francisco at a concert organized by impresario Bill Graham. Bruce later realized that Cream gave him a chance to succeed as a musician, and admitted that if it weren't for that group, he might never have escaped London. After Cream split up in November 1968, Bruce formed Jack Bruce & Friends with drummer Mitch Mitchell and guitarist Larry Coryell. Recording-wise, Bruce took a different tack away from blues and blues-rock, leaning more in a folk-rock direction with his solo albums Songs for a Tailor (1969), Harmony Row (1971), and Out of the Storm (1974).

In 1970 and 1971, he worked with Tony Williams Lifetime before putting together another power trio with guitarist Leslie West and drummer Corky Laing in 1972, simply called West, Bruce & Laing. After working with Frank Zappa on his album Apostrophe in 1974, Bruce was at it again in 1975 with the Jack Bruce Band, whose members included keyboardist Carla Bley and guitarist Mick Taylor. Back on the road in 1980 with Jack Bruce & Friends, the latter version of the group included drummer Billy Cobham, keyboardist David Sancious, and guitarist Clem Clempson, formerly of Humble Pie. In the early '80s, he formed another trio, B.L.T., this time with guitarist Robin Trower, before working with Kip Hanrahan on his three solo albums. Bruce's bluesiest albums include all of his work with Cream, the albums B.L.T. and Truce with Trower, some of his West, Bruce & Laing recordings, and several of his albums from the 1980s and early '90s. These include Willpower (PolyGram, 1989); A Question of Time (Epic Records, 1989), which includes guest performances by Albert Collins, Nicky Hopkins, and Baker; as well as his CMP Records' live career-retrospective album recorded in Cologne, Germany, Cities of the Heart (1993).

Bruce released Monkjack in 1995, an album of his jazz piano compositions that he performed with organist Bernie Worrell, issued on CMP. Bruce recorded the fierce Shadows in the Air in 2001 with a new band called the Cuicoland Express that included Vernon Reid, Worrell, and Robby Ameen, and guest artists Eric Clapton and Dr. John for the CMC International/Sanctuary imprint. Bruce reunited with Robin Trower for 2008's Seven Moons, released on Evangeline Records, following it with Seven Moons Live a year later in 2009. In 2010, Bruce joined the Tony Williams Lifetime Tribute Band with Reid, organist John Medeski, and drummer Cindy Blackman and toured in the late part of that year and in early 2011 to sold-out performances and rave reviews. Also in 2011, Pledge Music, a company that pairs fans and artists to fund projects, released Jack Bruce and the Cuicoland Express Live at the Milky Way, from a 2001 concert in Amsterdam. The high-quality recording was provided by Bruce's daughters, who designed the cover as well. The Lifetime Tribute Band's tour had been so successful that the group renamed itself Spectrum Road and entered the studio. They emerged with a self-titled album that featured covers of Lifetime material and originals. In 2013, Bruce reconvened the rhythm section under his name for the album Silver Rails (with Robin Trower, Phil Manzanera, Uli Jon Roth, and Bernie Marsden alternating in the guitar chair). It was released in March of 2014.

6799 - ATOMIC ROOSTER - Rebel With A Clause, Disc Two: Headline News (2005)

ATOMIC ROOSTER
''REBEL WITH A CLAUSE, DISC TWO: HEADLINE NEWS''
NOVEMBER 14 2005
125:05

DISC ONE: "The First 10 Explosive Years"
1. Sleeping For Years (5:27)
2. Seven Streets (6:42)
3. I Can't Take No More (3:32)
4. Taken You Over (4:50)
5. Lost In Space (5:52)
6. Play It Again (3:11)
7. Devil's Answer (live) (4:10)
8. rebel With A Clause (2:57)
9. Night Living (3:38)
10. Death Walks Behind You (7:20)
11. It's So Unkind (4:06)
12. When You Go To Bed (3:43)
13. Head In The Sky (5:38)
14. Break The Ice (4:59)
15. Play The Game (4:46)
16. Tomorrow Night (live) (4:52)
Total Time: 75:50

DISC TWO: "Headline News"
1.Hold Your Fire (4:50)
2. Headline News (5:17)
3. Taking A Chance (3:10)
4. Metal Minds (4:24)
5. Land Of Freedom (3:49)
6. Machine (5:26)
7. Dance Of Death (4:30)
8. Carnival (4:36)
9. Time (6:32)
10. Future Shock (4:25)
11. Medley: Watching Out/ Reaching Out (5:11)
Total Time: 52:15

REVIEWS
By PROGARCHIVES
DISC ONE
The First 10 Explosive Years (1999): In 1970 guitarist and vocalist John DuCann joined Atomic Rooster and he immediately went on tour with the band. When bass player Graham left the band keyboardist Crane refused to replace him and started playing bass lines on the lower part of Hammond organ. To compensate the fact that he couldn't use his left hand to press down chords on the lower manual he created a 'burning' style of playing, often in furious interplay with DuCann. When Carl Palmer left Atomic Rooster to join Keith Emerson and Greg Lake left for supergroup ELP Rick Parnell shortly replaced him. John and Vincent were not satisfied about his skills and had to replace him by Paul Hammond, an extremely good drummer from a local band called Farm. Soon the trio started to develop their influential 'heavy progressive' sound: hard edged progressive music with a swirling Hammond B3 organ and fiery guitarplay. The interplay between John's guitar and Vince organ is hot and often furious. In fact this powerful sound was the precursor to 'progressive metal', many metal- acts from The Eighties pointed at Atomic Rooster as their main source. In '89 it was all over for Atomic Rooster because of Crane's tragical death, he commited suicide. On this great compilation (my favorite Atomic Rooster CD) you will be blown away by the dynamic sound, loaded with short but magnificent soli on guitar and organ, energetic drums and powerful vocals.
DISC TWO
Headline News (1983): After some years in hibernation, the year 1980 saw Vincent Crane collaborate once again with old cohort Arthur Brown and recording a fine album with 'Faster Than The Speed of Light' (in conjunction with German electronic wizzard Klaus Schulze). After this project, Crane decided on re-kindling the Atomic Rooster flame and called upon former guitarist John DuCann and a session drummer and cut a rather 'metal' sounding 'come-back' album which was, at least, partially successful. After some 12 inch E.P's, and some minor shifts in line-up (with yet another Rooster veteran, drummer Paul Hammond re-joining the fold) they cut this album. DuCann had left by this time, and guitar duties were handled by D. Gilmour and Bernie Torme (from Ian Gillan's solo band) and the result was an uneasy blend of typically Rooster- ish (or rather Crane-ish) keyboard heavy prog-flavoured arrangements, and some stabs at blatant commercialism. Yeah, almost no-one could escape the tragic developments of 80's plasticiary - the somewhat cold, synthetic sounding production with 'gated' drums and synth-bass - well, at least after the 1st album, Crane always handled the bass with his Hammond, which sounded mightier than the synth....Anyways, the good songs : 'Hold Your Fire' starts out with some volume swells (courtesy of Gilmour) and a driving synth-based rhythm, the song is pretty good, with the inimitable Gilmour pouring more soul into his solo than, say, anything with a lot of soul. Title-Track 'Headline News' is an intense piece with jerky rhythms and odd time sigs, great organ and clavinet playing - the song itself has a real 'epic' and urgent feel to it. 'Metal Minds' is one of those 'cold' sounding minor-key things Vincent loved to dabble in. Gilmour again adding his magic touch on his (speculation) red Strat he was often seen with during this time (what a tone !!!). Machine' again features some jolting rhythms and is the song closest to their classic sound. 'Dance Of Death' (the title says it all, really) is an interesting track with an almost tribal sounding percussion bit somewhere in the middle. Some 'take-it' or 'leave-it' moments with 'Time', and some insipid pop tunes with predictable, cheezy melodies - 'Taking a Chance', 'Land of Freedom' and 'Carnival'.

BIOGRAPHY
By William Ruhlmann
Atomic Rooster was a British progressive-rock group formed in 1969 with an original lineup of Vincent Crane (organ), Nick Graham (bass), and Carl Palmer (drums). Their debut album, Atomic Rooster, hit number 49 in the U.K. in June 1970, after which Graham and Palmer left the group. Crane maintained the name and recruited guitarist/singer John Cann and drummer Paul Hammond for the second album, Death Walks Behind You, which hit number 12 in the U.K., where it featured the number 11 single "Tomorrow Night," and number 90 in the U.S. Pete French of Cactus assisted on the third album, In Hearing Of, which featured the number-four U.K. single "The Devil's Answer" and reached number 18 in England and number 167 in America. Then the group split up again, and again Crane assembled a new Atomic Rooster, this time featuring singer Chris Farlowe, guitarist Steve Bolton, bassist Bill Smith, and drummer Rick Parnell. Made in England reached number 149 in the U.S. in 1972, but the group had split again by 1974. Crane fronted lineups of Atomic Rooster into the '80s, before taking up with Dexys Midnight Runners in 1983. In 1989, he committed suicide.

6798 - ATOMIC ROOSTER - Rebel With A Clause, Disc One: The First 10 Explosive Years (2005)

ATOMIC ROOSTER
''REBEL WITH A CLAUSE, DISC ONE: THE FIRST 10 EXPLOSIVE YEARS''
NOVEMBER 14 2005
125:05

DISC ONE: "The First 10 Explosive Years"
1. Sleeping For Years (5:27)
2. Seven Streets (6:42)
3. I Can't Take No More (3:32)
4. Taken You Over (4:50)
5. Lost In Space (5:52)
6. Play It Again (3:11)
7. Devil's Answer (live) (4:10)
8. rebel With A Clause (2:57)
9. Night Living (3:38)
10. Death Walks Behind You (7:20)
11. It's So Unkind (4:06)
12. When You Go To Bed (3:43)
13. Head In The Sky (5:38)
14. Break The Ice (4:59)
15. Play The Game (4:46)
16. Tomorrow Night (live) (4:52)
Total Time: 75:50

DISC TWO: "Headline News"
1.Hold Your Fire (4:50)
2. Headline News (5:17)
3. Taking A Chance (3:10)
4. Metal Minds (4:24)
5. Land Of Freedom (3:49)
6. Machine (5:26)
7. Dance Of Death (4:30)
8. Carnival (4:36)
9. Time (6:32)
10. Future Shock (4:25)
11. Medley: Watching Out/ Reaching Out (5:11)
Total Time: 52:15

REVIEWS
By PROGARCHIVES
DISC ONE
The First 10 Explosive Years (1999): In 1970 guitarist and vocalist John DuCann joined Atomic Rooster and he immediately went on tour with the band. When bass player Graham left the band keyboardist Crane refused to replace him and started playing bass lines on the lower part of Hammond organ. To compensate the fact that he couldn't use his left hand to press down chords on the lower manual he created a 'burning' style of playing, often in furious interplay with DuCann. When Carl Palmer left Atomic Rooster to join Keith Emerson and Greg Lake left for supergroup ELP Rick Parnell shortly replaced him. John and Vincent were not satisfied about his skills and had to replace him by Paul Hammond, an extremely good drummer from a local band called Farm. Soon the trio started to develop their influential 'heavy progressive' sound: hard edged progressive music with a swirling Hammond B3 organ and fiery guitarplay. The interplay between John's guitar and Vince organ is hot and often furious. In fact this powerful sound was the precursor to 'progressive metal', many metal- acts from The Eighties pointed at Atomic Rooster as their main source. In '89 it was all over for Atomic Rooster because of Crane's tragical death, he commited suicide. On this great compilation (my favorite Atomic Rooster CD) you will be blown away by the dynamic sound, loaded with short but magnificent soli on guitar and organ, energetic drums and powerful vocals.
DISC TWO
Headline News (1983): After some years in hibernation, the year 1980 saw Vincent Crane collaborate once again with old cohort Arthur Brown and recording a fine album with 'Faster Than The Speed of Light' (in conjunction with German electronic wizzard Klaus Schulze). After this project, Crane decided on re-kindling the Atomic Rooster flame and called upon former guitarist John DuCann and a session drummer and cut a rather 'metal' sounding 'come-back' album which was, at least, partially successful. After some 12 inch E.P's, and some minor shifts in line-up (with yet another Rooster veteran, drummer Paul Hammond re-joining the fold) they cut this album. DuCann had left by this time, and guitar duties were handled by D. Gilmour and Bernie Torme (from Ian Gillan's solo band) and the result was an uneasy blend of typically Rooster- ish (or rather Crane-ish) keyboard heavy prog-flavoured arrangements, and some stabs at blatant commercialism. Yeah, almost no-one could escape the tragic developments of 80's plasticiary - the somewhat cold, synthetic sounding production with 'gated' drums and synth-bass - well, at least after the 1st album, Crane always handled the bass with his Hammond, which sounded mightier than the synth....Anyways, the good songs : 'Hold Your Fire' starts out with some volume swells (courtesy of Gilmour) and a driving synth-based rhythm, the song is pretty good, with the inimitable Gilmour pouring more soul into his solo than, say, anything with a lot of soul. Title-Track 'Headline News' is an intense piece with jerky rhythms and odd time sigs, great organ and clavinet playing - the song itself has a real 'epic' and urgent feel to it. 'Metal Minds' is one of those 'cold' sounding minor-key things Vincent loved to dabble in. Gilmour again adding his magic touch on his (speculation) red Strat he was often seen with during this time (what a tone !!!). Machine' again features some jolting rhythms and is the song closest to their classic sound. 'Dance Of Death' (the title says it all, really) is an interesting track with an almost tribal sounding percussion bit somewhere in the middle. Some 'take-it' or 'leave-it' moments with 'Time', and some insipid pop tunes with predictable, cheezy melodies - 'Taking a Chance', 'Land of Freedom' and 'Carnival'.

BIOGRAPHY
By William Ruhlmann
Atomic Rooster was a British progressive-rock group formed in 1969 with an original lineup of Vincent Crane (organ), Nick Graham (bass), and Carl Palmer (drums). Their debut album, Atomic Rooster, hit number 49 in the U.K. in June 1970, after which Graham and Palmer left the group. Crane maintained the name and recruited guitarist/singer John Cann and drummer Paul Hammond for the second album, Death Walks Behind You, which hit number 12 in the U.K., where it featured the number 11 single "Tomorrow Night," and number 90 in the U.S. Pete French of Cactus assisted on the third album, In Hearing Of, which featured the number-four U.K. single "The Devil's Answer" and reached number 18 in England and number 167 in America. Then the group split up again, and again Crane assembled a new Atomic Rooster, this time featuring singer Chris Farlowe, guitarist Steve Bolton, bassist Bill Smith, and drummer Rick Parnell. Made in England reached number 149 in the U.S. in 1972, but the group had split again by 1974. Crane fronted lineups of Atomic Rooster into the '80s, before taking up with Dexys Midnight Runners in 1983. In 1989, he committed suicide.

6792 - CHARLIE HAGER & THE CAPTAIN LEGENDARY BAND - Smoking Barrel (2010)

CHARLIE HAGER & THE CAPTAIN LEGENDARY BAND
''SMOKING BARRELL''
2010
60:52

01 - Brothers/4:01
02 - North East Texas Women/4:03
03 - Moonshiner's Prayer/4:47
04 - Back Home/4:00
05 - Flyin'/4:09
06 - Another Fall/3:48
07 - Cocaine Afternoon/2:46
08 - Lost In A Song/6:26
09 - Alabama Woman/4:25
10 - Close My Eyes/4:26
11 - Harry The Beast Stomp/2:08
12 - Down/3:45
13 - Things/4:44
14 - Smoking Barrel/6:54

Aaron Bancroft /Group Member, Guitar (Electric), Organ, Piano, Piano (Electric), Vocal Harmony
Dwayne Boehnemann /Organ, Piano
Evel_E /Drums
Charlie Hager /Group Member, Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Rhythm), Lap Steel Guitar, Mandolin, Vocal Harmony, Vocals
Jess Hager /Group Member, Guitar (Bass)
Billy Jo High /Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Rhythm), Producer, Vocal Harmony
Dan Johnson /Pedal Steel
Glenn Shankle /Dobro, Pedal Steel Guitar
Jason Spencer /Guitar (Acoustic), Harmonica, Slide Guitar, Vocal Harmony
David Stockton /Vocal Harmony
Wace Wilke /Drums, Group Member

Album Notes
by cdbaby
Charlie Hager and The Captain Legendary Band's new release is the first full length studio album put out by the band in almost four years. New additions to the group beef up the sound into a Southern Rock/ Country masterpiece. Produced by up and comer Billy Jo High, and engineered by Grammy winning Adam Odor at Bismeaux Studios in Austin, TX, this album shines like none before. The rocking sounds of new guitarist Aaron Bancroft, and grooving beat of drummer Wace Wilke are unmistakable. The steady rythym of Jeff Hager on bass, and the rootsy artistry of Charlie Hager's songs remain constant as on other albums. However, this record takes what was already good and projects it into hyperspace. Toe tapping jams to heartfelt songs of loss and redemption, it has something everyone can relate to. Plus it just plain rocks!

6791 - JOHN MCLAUGHLIN & THE 4TH DIMENSION - The Boston Record (2014)

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN & THE 4TH DIMENSION
''THE BOSTON RECORD''
RECORDED LIVE ON JUNE 22 2013, AT THE BERKLEE PERFORMANCE CENTER, BOSTON
MARCH 18 2014
63:07

1 - Raju/8:35
2 - Little Miss Valley/9:21
3 - Abbaji/6:53
4 - Echos From Then/8:15
5 - Senor C. S./2:49
6 - Call & Answer/9:17
7 - Maharina/4:56
8 - Hijacked/6:45
9 - You Know You Know/6:11
All Tracks By McLaughlin

Etienne M'Bappe/Bass
Ranjit Barot/Drums, Vocals
Gary Husband/Drums, Keyboards
John McLaughlin/Guitar

BIOGRAPHY
by Steve Huey
One of fusion's most virtuosic guitar soloists, John McLaughlin placed his blazing speed in the service of a searching spiritual passion that has kept his music evolving and open to new influences. Whether shredding on electric or simmering quietly on acoustic, McLaughlin's intensity and underappreciated versatility have nearly always kept his playing vital, and his best moments -- whether as a solo artist or bandmember -- represent some of fusion's greatest recordings.

McLaughlin was born January 4, 1942, in Yorkshire, England, and began playing guitar at age 11. Initially attracted to blues and swing, he worked with British artists like Georgie Fame, Graham Bond, Brian Auger, and Ginger Baker. McLaughlin formed his own band in 1968, and recorded the excellent debut Extrapolation in early 1969. Later that year he moved to New York to join Tony Williams' groundbreaking fusion band Lifetime, and appeared on the classic Emergency! Through Williams, McLaughlin was invited to join Miles Davis' band, and became an important part of fusion landmarks like In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and A Tribute to Jack Johnson. In 1970, wanting to explore acoustic and Eastern music, McLaughlin recorded the classic My Goal's Beyond; he soon left Davis, and after one further solo album, Devotion, McLaughlin spent some time woodshedding.

He re-emerged in 1971 as leader of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, a seminal band that did much to define and popularize early jazz-rock fusion, as evidenced by the albums The Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire, and Visions of the Emerald Beyond. Pausing to record Love Devotion Surrender with Carlos Santana in 1972, McLaughlin led Mahavishnu until 1975. Returning to spiritual preoccupations on My Goal's Beyond, he then formed Shakti, which fused acoustic jazz with Indian music over the course of three albums. McLaughlin returned to his solo career in the late '70s, forming a backing outfit called the One Truth Band, and also recording the guitar trio albums Friday Night in San Francisco and Passion, Grace & Fire with fellow fusion burner Al di Meola and flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia. As the '80s went along, McLaughlin experimented with classical-jazz hybrid composing; there was also a short-lived Mahavishnu reunion in the mid-'80s.

In the 1990s McLaughlin continued to record steadily in both electric and acoustic groups. He signed to Verve, where he would remain for 13 years. Some of the more notable albums from that period include the acoustic Time Remembered: John McLaughlin Plays Bill Evans in 1993; After the Rain with Elvin Jones and Joey DeFrancesco in 1995; and 1996's The Promise, which featured the guitarist in a number of settings, including a reunion with his acoustic trio partners di Meola and de Lucia, and a trio with DeFrancesco and drummer Dennis Chambers. The drummer was also a part of McLaughlin's final album of the decade, Heart of Things, a furious bout of electric jazz.

The 21st century found McLaughlin in another nostalgic mood, releasing Remember Shakti: The Believer, a live set featuring the guitarist (playing electric guitar) with electric mandolinist U. Shrinivas, kanjira and ghatam player V. Selvaganesh, and legendary tabla player Zakir Hussain. While it wasn't a Shakti album proper, it nonetheless echoed that group's intricate and amazing rhythmic and harmonic breakthroughs. The group toured and released Saturday Night in Bombay a year later. McLaughlin's Euro-classical-leaning Thieves and Poets appeared in 2003. In 2004, WEA in Germany issued the massive 17-CD box set of McLaughlin's Montreux Concerts, which featured performances recorded between 1974 and 1996. Industrial Zen, released in 2006, was a mixed-bag recording where the guitarist's ambitions ran wild. It was his final album for Verve.

In 2008 McLaughlin issued Floating Point, an extension of many of the concepts on Industrial Zen, on the Abstract Logix imprint. The final track on that album was entitled "Five Peace Band"; it served as the name for a supergroup assembled by McLaughlin and Chick Corea for a one-off world tour. The other members were saxophonist Kenny Garrett, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, and bassist Christian McBride; an album of the same name was released in 2009 on Concord. To the One, a studio album with his 4th Dimension band, was released on Abstract Logix in the spring of 2010. McLaughlin resurfaced two years later with Now Here This, featuring new 4th Dimension drummer, Ranjit Barot.

6790 - COWBOY - BOYER & TALTON Reunion (2010)

COWBOY
''BOYER & TALTON: REUNION 2010''
RECORDED DECEMBER 17 2010, MACON, GEORGIA, COX CAPITAL THEATER
2010
78:18

01 - Introduction/0:26
02 - Livin In The Country/3:51
03 - Satisfy/3:20
04 - Everything Here/6:10
05 - Nobody Else's Man/5:09
06 - It's Time/5:21
07 - Message In The Wind/4:38
08 - Houston/4:25
09 - Pretty Friend/4:45
10 - I Will Be There/3:59
11 - A Patch & A Painkiller/4:27
12 - Use Your Situation/3:47
13 - All My Friends/4:36
14 - River To The Sea/8:16
15 - Please Be With Me/4:27
16 - Takin' It All The Way/3:17
17 - Time Will Take Us/7:16

Scott Boyer - vocals, guitars
Tommy Talton - vocals, guitars
Randall Bramblett - keys, sax, harmony vocals
Stan Robertson - bass, harmony vocals
Bill Stewart - drums
Bill Pillmore - pedal steel guitars

BIOGRAPHY
By Steve Leggett
One of Southern rock's best-kept secrets during its golden age in the 1970s, Cowboy was formed by songwriters Tommy Talton and Scott Boyer in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969. Playing a kind of acoustic country-rock similar to contemporaries Pure Prairie League, Cowboy had its own twist on the formula, thanks to Talton and Boyer's sharp, focused songwriting and a distinguishable Muscle Shoals flair. After hearing the band, Duane Allman passed the word along to Phil Walden at Macon, Georgia's Capricorn Records, who offered the group a recording contract. The band's membership was pretty fluid during this time, other than Talton and Boyer, both of whom became de facto members of the Capricorn house band, playing with the Allman Brothers, Gregg Allman, Alex Taylor, and Bonnie Bramlett, among others. In all, four albums were released under the Cowboy name on Capricorn Records, 1970's Reach for the Sky and 1971's 5'll Getcha Ten (combined into the two-disc compilation Why Quit When You're Losing in 1973), 1974's Boyer & Talton, and 1977's Cowboy. Also, the 1976 album Happy to Be Alive, attributed to the trio of Tommy Talton, Bill Stewart, and Johnny Sandlin, was a Cowboy album in all but name. That was it, though, until 30 years later when Talton and Boyer put Cowboy back together in 2007, recording tracks at Sandlin's Duck Tape Studio in Decatur, Alabama, but none of those tracks has yet been released.

6789 - The Best Of COWBOY: A Different Time (1993)

COWBOY
''THE BEST OF COWBOY: A DIFFERENT TIME''
1993
73:14

1 /Livin' in the Country
Scott Boyer / Bill Pillmore/3:06
2 /Pick Your Nose
Bill Pillmore/1:44
3 /Everything Here
Tommy Talton/5:26
4 /It's Time
Scott Boyer/4:27
5 /5'll Getcha Ten
Tommy Talton/4:58
6 /Shoestrings
Scott Boyer / Bill Pillmore/3:24
7 /Seven Four Tune
Bill Pillmore/2:40
8 /All My Friends
Scott Boyer/4:49
9 /Please Be With Me
Charles Scott Boyer / Scott Boyer/3:40
10 /A Patch and a Painkiller
Tommy Talton/3:25
11 /Where Can You Go
Tommy Talton/2:00
12 /Love 40
Tommy Talton/3:45
13 /Road Gravy Chase
Scott Boyer / Tommy Talton/3:19
14 /Houston - Houston Vamp
Tommy Talton/5:55
15 /Now That I Know
Tommy Talton/3:53
16 /Pat's Song
Scott Boyer/3:31
17 /Everybody Knows Your Name
Scott Boyer / Tommy Talton/4:37
18 /Nobody Else's Man
Tommy Talton/4:32
19 /It Might Be the Rain
Tommy Talton/4:47

Tommy Talton - vocals, acoustic, electric & slide guitars, mandolin, bass
Dave Brown /Saxophone
Scott Boyer - vocals, acoustic, steel & electric guitars, violin
Peter Kowalke - vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, drums
George Clark - acoustic & electric bass, background vocals
Bill Pillmore - acoustic guitar, electric piano, background vocals
Tom Wynn - drums

BIOGRAPHY
By Steve Leggett
One of Southern rock's best-kept secrets during its golden age in the 1970s, Cowboy was formed by songwriters Tommy Talton and Scott Boyer in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969. Playing a kind of acoustic country-rock similar to contemporaries Pure Prairie League, Cowboy had its own twist on the formula, thanks to Talton and Boyer's sharp, focused songwriting and a distinguishable Muscle Shoals flair. After hearing the band, Duane Allman passed the word along to Phil Walden at Macon, Georgia's Capricorn Records, who offered the group a recording contract. The band's membership was pretty fluid during this time, other than Talton and Boyer, both of whom became de facto members of the Capricorn house band, playing with the Allman Brothers, Gregg Allman, Alex Taylor, and Bonnie Bramlett, among others. In all, four albums were released under the Cowboy name on Capricorn Records, 1970's Reach for the Sky and 1971's 5'll Getcha Ten (combined into the two-disc compilation Why Quit When You're Losing in 1973), 1974's Boyer & Talton, and 1977's Cowboy. Also, the 1976 album Happy to Be Alive, attributed to the trio of Tommy Talton, Bill Stewart, and Johnny Sandlin, was a Cowboy album in all but name. That was it, though, until 30 years later when Talton and Boyer put Cowboy back together in 2007, recording tracks at Sandlin's Duck Tape Studio in Decatur, Alabama, but none of those tracks has yet been released.

6788 - COWBOY (1977)

COWBOY
''COWBOY''
1977
38:43

01 - Takin It All The Way/3:05
02 - Now That I Know/3:53
03 - Pat's Song/3:31
04 - Straight Into Love/4:10
05 - Everybody Knows Your Name/4:42
06 - What Can I Call It/2:38
07 - Nobody Else's Man/4:29
08 - Except For Real/3:53
09 - Satisfy/3:01
10 - River To The Sea/5:16

Tommy Talton/Guitar, Vocals
Scott Boyer/Guitar, Vocals
Chip Condon/Keyboards, Vocals
Chip Miller/Drums, Percussion
Aron Pearson/Bass, Vocals

BIOGRAPHY
By Steve Leggett
One of Southern rock's best-kept secrets during its golden age in the 1970s, Cowboy was formed by songwriters Tommy Talton and Scott Boyer in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969. Playing a kind of acoustic country-rock similar to contemporaries Pure Prairie League, Cowboy had its own twist on the formula, thanks to Talton and Boyer's sharp, focused songwriting and a distinguishable Muscle Shoals flair. After hearing the band, Duane Allman passed the word along to Phil Walden at Macon, Georgia's Capricorn Records, who offered the group a recording contract. The band's membership was pretty fluid during this time, other than Talton and Boyer, both of whom became de facto members of the Capricorn house band, playing with the Allman Brothers, Gregg Allman, Alex Taylor, and Bonnie Bramlett, among others. In all, four albums were released under the Cowboy name on Capricorn Records, 1970's Reach for the Sky and 1971's 5'll Getcha Ten (combined into the two-disc compilation Why Quit When You're Losing in 1973), 1974's Boyer & Talton, and 1977's Cowboy. Also, the 1976 album Happy to Be Alive, attributed to the trio of Tommy Talton, Bill Stewart, and Johnny Sandlin, was a Cowboy album in all but name. That was it, though, until 30 years later when Talton and Boyer put Cowboy back together in 2007, recording tracks at Sandlin's Duck Tape Studio in Decatur, Alabama, but none of those tracks has yet been released.