Pampered Menial is the debut album by American progressive rock/AOR band Pavlov's Dog, released in 1975. The album features the band's original line-up, comprising David Surkamp, Steve Scorfina, Mike Safron, Rick Stockton, David Hamilton, Doug Rayburn, and Siegfried Carver (born Richard Nadler). In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & the Story of Prog Rock, the album came number 26 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".

Despite some growth from their King Crimson roots, this album shows Anekdoten still sounding remarkably like Red. "Harvest," opening with a creepily distorted Rhodes piano, establishes the band's somewhat overused pattern of alternating metallic verses clotted with bass, guitar and hi-hat with gorgeously soaring choruses of Mellotron, cello, and ride cymbals. "Here" gives the guitar theatrics a rest and allows Liljestrom's melancholy vocals and the group's delicate playing to come to the foreground. Its mournful lyrics and pensive strings are played over a wheezing pump organ - listen for Nicholas Berg's feet pumping away at the bellows in the background. The concluding "In Freedom" points to a possible path to the future by eschewing gratuitous heaviness for their real talent, which is constructing beautiful interplay between percussion, cello, and the Mellotron.

A previously unissued album recorded in 1967 at Gold Star studios, Houston, Texas. This session teams up Johnny Winter with local Dallas bluesman Calvin "Loudmouth" Johnson on 13 loose blues jams. This record presents a real blues band playing exactly the way they played - raw and to the bone.

Jumping the Creek is an album by jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd, recorded in January 2004 by Lloyd with Geri Allen, Robert Hurst and Eric Harland. The album received wide critical acclaim. The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars and states "this, like Lloyd's other recordings on ECM is about emotion, feeling, and a sense of peace and serenity. Lloyd uses the rough places in his improvisations, to be sure, but it is only to make the rough places plain, limpid, utterly integrated in a serene whole. On Jumping the Creek he succeeds seamlessly and ups his own artistic ante". The All About Jazz review by John Kelman stated "Jumping the Creek represents a clear highlight in a career filled with memorable milestones".

On his 1988 solo effort Talk to Your Daughter, singer/guitarist Robben Ford proves himself a master of sophisticated blues-rock guitar playing. The material is quite strong, and all the musicians perform at the highest level, but it's Ford's stellar soloing that makes this release. Fans of flailing '80s rock virtuosos would do well to check out Ford's exceptional work on Talk to Your Daughter. The musician's colorful yet controlled improvising and harmonic mastery is a rare and beautiful sonic treat. The title track is dripping with soulful, well-placed guitar lines that play like a master lesson of up-tempo blues phrasing that guitarists would do well to study. Other standouts include "Born Under a Bad Sign" and "Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues." The fine arrangements and especially Vinnie Colaiuta's sharp drumming are all tightly wound with crisp, clear production that tops off "Talk to Your Daughter," making it a shining success. Listeners fond of Ford's work with the Yellowjackets and numerous side gigs, as well as guitarists and all musicians, should enjoy this very professional, succinctly executed offering. First rate!

Whomanfoursays is the fourth studio album by Canadian musician Dalbello. It is Dalbello's first concept album. Lisa Dalbello describes its concept as "[a collection of] songs about relationships with people that sometimes are forced into molds, that they don't know that they can break out of. These are stories about people that are trying to become the people that they really wanna be." The album was released in 1984, which marked a change in direction in her musical career, away from the soul R&B image of her previous albums and toward a more individual and avant-garde sound. Dalbello wrote every track herself, and changed her recording name from Lisa Dal Bello to her last name only. Musician Mick Ronson, who collaborated extensively to the project, produced the album with her; all instruments were played by either or both of them. The title is a homophone for the words "human forces". The original vinyl album cover features in either black or white the name in faux Cyrillic letters; on the CD version, this was replaced with regular uppercase lettering. Lisa's face is featured on the cover in tribal warpaint.

Fables of the Reconstruction was intentionally murky, and Lifes Rich Pageant was constructed as its polar opposite. Teaming with producer Don Gehman, who previously worked with John Mellencamp, R.E.M. developed their most forceful record to date. Where previous records kept the rhythm section in the background, Pageant emphasizes the beat, and the band turns in its hardest rockers to date, including the anthemic "Begin the Begin" and the punky "Just a Touch." But the cleaner production also benefits the ballads and the mid-tempo janglers, particularly since it helps reveal Michael Stipe's growing political obsessions, especially on the environmental anthems "Fall on Me" and "Cuyahoga." The group hasn't entirely left myths behind – witness the Civil War ballad "Swan Swan H" – but the band sound more contemporary both musically and lyrically than they did on either Fables or Murmur, which helps give the record an extra kick. And even with excellent songs like "I Believe," "Flowers of Guatemala," "These Days," and "What if We Give It Away," it's ironic that the most memorable moment comes from the garage rock obscurity "Superman," which is sung with glee by Mike Mills.

From Out Of The Vast Comes Nearness, Paul Ellis‘ first release on the Lotuspike label, is a purely electronic expression of five long-form pieces that blend ambient sound design with rhythmic electronics, recalling the classic works of genre masters like Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze or Vangelis; but with a restrained modern air.
With a mixture of synthesized sonics, both melodic and cerebral, the music brings to mind the unfolding expanse of the cosmos, stated with a graceful patience that propels the steadily evolving, constantly moving synthscapes to a highly personal level…

Released in 1994 to coincide with the Stones' catalog moving to Virgin Records, as well as the accompanying remastering of their Rolling Stone Records catalog (1971's Sticky Fingers through 1989's Steel Wheels – actually 1991's Flashpoint, which is the last Rolling Stones Records release, but isn't featured here), Jump Back supplants Rewind as the best single-disc overview of the Stones' '70s and '80s recordings. The nonchronological order at times is a little irritating – bouncing between "Brown Sugar," "Harlem Shuffle," "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)," "Mixed Emotions," and "Angie" nearly causes whiplash – but nearly all the big songs from this period are included. Yes, "She Was Hot" isn't here, along with a couple other singles that didn't catch hold, but this has everything that the casual follower could want, which makes up for the fact that it could have been sequenced better (that's what home programming and burners are for anyway).

Octopus's sole long-player Restless Night is something of a treasure among '60s Brit-psych fans due to its mixture of proto-progressive riffs, accomplished pop tunes and sparkling Beatlesque flourishes. The band evolved out of the thriving Hertfordshire beat scene that also gave us The Zombies, The Gods and those other cult pop-psych heroes Forever Amber. Octopus' music was coloured by the use of keyboards and layered vocal harmonies in much the same way. As The Cortinas they enjoyed several years of local success which culminated in the 1968 CBS single "Phoebe's Flower Shop". The single was pure pop confectionery and betrayed little of the band's tight, melodic brand of rock. By the time they'd been signed to Larry Page's Penny Farthing label in 1969, their sound had expanded to encompass the burgenoning progressive scene, the dawn of the solo troubadour and the omnipresent influence of The Beatles…

Rory Gallagher's most successful albums are his live ones. He was an artist that came alive when onstage and this album covers a previously undocumented live period. This barnstorming 20-song, previously unreleased set is culled from four shows (London, Brighton, Sheffield and Newcastle) which were part of a 1977 tour across the UK in support of Rory’s then latest album 'Calling Card'. Featuring fantastic live versions of tracks from that album as well as from 1975’s 'Against The Grain' and other live favourites, has been mixed from the original multitrack tapes from the official Rory Gallagher archive and mastered for this release at Abbey Road Studios. Cover art by Irish graffiti artist Vincent Zara.

Opening with Mike Hugg's title track, which builds on Mick Rogers' intense riffing and the killer vocals of Vicki Brown, Judith Powell, Liza Strike, and Ruby James, Messin' is pretty intense and involving from its very first bars. It's also damned topical and serious, for all of the free-wheeling rock & roll spirits and the progressive rock complexities that go into the playing. And the result is a spellbinding whole, featuring some astonishing keyboard flourishes by Manfred Mann himself (who ventures into Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson territory on "Buddah," even as the rest of the band seems to be emulating Deep Purple) and killer guitar from Mick Rogers, while Colin Pattenden and Chris Slade lay down the rhythm section like a pair of articulate pile-drivers.

From the Green Hill is Tomasz Stanko's ECM follow-up to the deservedly acclaimed Litania - The Music of Kryzsztof Komeda. The Polish composer and trumpeter (and former Komeda sideman) teams up with countrywoman Michelle Makarski, ECM stalwarts saxophonist John Surman, bandoneon king Dino Saluzzi, drum god Jon Christensen, and bassist Anders Jormin. The set is comprised mainly of Stanko originals, but there are also compositions by Surman, and two by Komeda, including "Litania." This chamber jazz sextet draws heavily on European jazz influences naturally, but also from Eastern Europe's folk traditions. In this way, Komeda's influence is clearly felt throughout the recording, even on Surman's "Domino"…

Canadian hard rockers Harem Scarem are pleased to announce the release of their highly anticipated new album “Chasing Euphoria”, set for release on April 25, 2025, via Frontiers Music Srl.

The first female Professor at the Paris Conservatoire, the first female player in the Queens Hall Orchestra and the first female American Symphonist to be published. The Neave Trio celebrate these three outstanding pioneers on this captivating album. Since forming in 2010, Neave Trio violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov, and pianist Eri Nakamura has earned enormous praise for its engaging, cutting-edge performances. WQXR explains, ""'Neave' is actually a Gaelic name meaning 'bright' and 'radiant', both of which certainly apply to this trio's music making."" The Boston