When Latin Quarter released their debut album, Modern Times, in 1986, it was so musically diverse, it seemed to be a compilation of several different bands. When Mick and Caroline was released the following year, the band was essentially the same, but their different approaches began to melt together, making this album more cohesive, if not as interesting. Late-'80s pop once again mixed with world rhythms and socially charged lyrics (courtesy of lyricist Mike Jones), creating a sound that could have made a commercial impact had it not been for the inability to pigeonhole the band into a clear musical genre.

A sketchy and underfocused debut, Rocka Rolla nonetheless begins to delineate the musical territory Judas Priest would explore over the remainder of the decade: frighteningly dark in its effect, tight in its grooves, and capable of expanding to epic song lengths. On the other hand, Rocka Rolla is also murkier, less precise and powerful in its riff attack, and more blues-based; the stylistic debts to Black Sabbath and Deep Purple are obvious at this juncture, although they would become much less apparent on subsequent releases. The compositions alternate between short songs and extended suites; some are decent, but overall they don't establish a real direction and tend to plod aimlessly in many of the longer pieces. Mostly a curiosity for hardcore fans, Rocka Rolla definitely hints at Judas Priest's potential and originality, but doesn't always suggest the quantum leap in vision that would occur with their very next record.

Fuerteventura is the sophomore album by English-singing, Spanish indie folk songwriter Lourdes Hernández, aka Russian Red, whose acclaimed debut drew comparisons with Cat Power and Feist. A more polished and luminous affair than its predecessor, Fuerteventura was recorded in Glasgow with members of Belle & Sebastian, and produced by Tony Doogan (Teenage Fanclub, the Delgados, Super Furry Animals, Mogwai, and Belle & Sebastian).

Death By Unga Bunga are on a roll these days. In 2020, the band created coolest streaming show of the year with Once Upon a Time in Deadwood City, made their own beer and released four kickass singles. Needless to say, expectations are sky-high for their upcoming album – wait for it – Heavy Male Insecurity, due in February 2021.

Rascal Reporters return on March 5th with an album of new music for the Avant-progressive / Rock In Opposition canon - 'Redux, Vol. 2: Rascals Revenge and the Great Reset'!

This is PFM's brilliant follow-up to Storia di un Minuto, and both albums are considered progressive rock classics, for good reason. The diversity, complexity, and integrity of the music here is as fine as anything produced during the early '70s from other prog rock giants such as Yes, Genesis, and King Crimson…

2007 release. Doctor 3 are back. Absent from the music business since 2003, their return is more precious than ever, because these years of silence have not produced anything similar in the panorama of Italian jazz music. The alchemy of Doctor 3 was and is theirs only, belongs only to the trio, although individual members of the group have given birth to albums of all respects. But – let's face it – it was not the same thing. Blue, irresistibly jazz, is, unlike earlier works, an album decidedly focused on nocturnal atmospheres of rich blue. Here there is minimalism and synthesis, compared to the four previous productions; there is a crystal-clear sound returned in every note, in every agreement, every nuanced harmonic; it is as if the authors so distant in time and space (from Burt Bacharach to Francesco De Gregori, from Damien Rice to Luigi Tenco, from Rodgers and Hart to Mogol/Battisti.

Written between 1818 and 1823, Beethoven's Missa solemnis was the result of intensive theological and musical research in the library of it's dedicatee, Archduke Rudolph of Austria. It is, in Beethoven's own view, his most ambitious composition. On this recording, René Jacobs shows us that it is also his loftiest. This is the work of a composer with deeply held religious sentiments and profound tenderness for humanity, so confident in his artistry that he could create that which goes beyond liturgical form and expresses in musical terms the universality of divine transcendence.

Shepherd’s debut two years ago heralded a promising young singer who used the piano trio format as a springboard for ideas rooted in jazz but stretched into other rhythm-first ideas. Parkdale’s production benefits from Ben Lamdin, who navigates similar courses with Nostalgia 77. Trumpet and percussion broaden the instrumentation, giving more latitude and propulsion to the sound. The title track is a perfect showcase of this updated sound, where bongos add a lot to the driving 6/8 tune. Similarly, the album’s high point, the suite-like "Con Alma,” pushes forward with conviction. However, Parkdale’s ten tracks prove to be an elaboration of her first album rather than a great leap forward. Shepherd’s vocal delivery, while lovely and rich, is ultimately a liability. Her lyrics and songwriting have improved but her vocal melodies are completely bound up in the chord changes, which become overly predictable after a while.

Faith Akin's 2009 comedy Soul Kitchen followed the adventures of a handful of eccentrics and bohemians who operate and patronize a rundown eatery in Germany, and true to the title the film's soundtrack album features plenty of classic soul and R&B tracks, as well as selections from the movie's original score. Soul Kitchen includes numbers by Al Green, Ruth Brown, the Isley Brothers, Dyke & the Blazers, Quincy Jones, and others; the collection also includes vintage reggae from Burning Spear and contemporary German techno and dance music by Deichkind and Solomun & H.O.S.H.

Dianne Reeves, who has always had a beautiful voice and the potential for greatness in jazz, has conducted a rather directionless career, performing many concerts filled with spontaneity while at the same time recording erratic albums that usually feature both veteran jazz ballads and newer material that is closer to pop and folk music. There are some strong jazz moments on this CD. "Comes Love" has an inventive arrangement that uses a riff from the Miles Davis version of "'Round Midnight" and a familiar rhythmic phrase from "Star Eyes" in surprising ways. "Detour Ahead" is fine and "The Benediction" ("Country Preacher" with Reeves's lyrics) is a sincere tribute to Cannonball Adderley (who makes a brief appearance on soprano via sampling) but on some of the other pieces Reeves wanders far away from jazz.

This CD could have been titled Finally! Dianne Reeves has long had the potential to be the top female jazz singer, but so many of her previous recordings were erratic as she skipped back and forth between idioms without committing herself. However, after years of flirting with jazz and being seemingly undecided whether she would rather be a pop star, she at last came out with a full jazz album in 1996, and it is a gem. The supporting cast on the ten selections (which feature different personnel on each cut) is remarkable and everyone gets a chance to play: trumpeters Clark Terry and Harry "Sweets" Edison, altoists Phil Woods and Bobby Watson, tenorman James Moody, trombonist Al Grey, harmonica great Toots Thielemans (on "Besame Mucho"), pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Rodney Whitaker, and drummer Herlin Riley.

Seller's comment :
If you are an ennio fan this cd will blow your mind, remixed in the style of cafe del mar, buddha bar, lounge music, with bass and drums.

Lava (established 1977 in Årdal, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz-rock band, known from a series of recordings in the 1980s (Polydor Records). The initiators Per Hillestad (drums), Svein Dag Hauge (guitar) were joined by Kjell Hestetun (bass) and Stein Eriksen (keyboards) and released the jazz funk influenced album Lava (1980), with contributions from Geir Langslet (keyboards) and Olav Stedje (vocals). When Hestetun and Eriksen left the band, the quartet Hauge, Hillestad and Langslet and bassist Rolf Graf continued releasing the album Cruisin (1981), with contributions by Per Kolstad (piano), Sigurd Køhn (saxophone) and Marius Müller (guitar), and the track «Take Your Time» became Norway and Europe hit.

After the Velvet Underground cut three albums for Verve Records that earned them lots of notoriety but negligible sales, the group signed with industry powerhouse Atlantic Records in 1970; label head Ahmet Ertegun supposedly asked Lou Reed to avoid sex and drugs in his songs, and instead make an album "loaded with hits." …