Dirt is Alice in Chains' major artistic statement and the closest they ever came to recording a flat-out masterpiece. It's a primal, sickening howl from the depths of Layne Staley's heroin addiction, and one of the most harrowing concept albums ever recorded. Not every song on Dirt is explicitly about heroin, but Jerry Cantrell's solo-written contributions (nearly half the album) effectively maintain the thematic coherence - nearly every song is imbued with the morbidity, self-disgust, and/or resignation of a self-aware yet powerless addict. Cantrell's technically limited but inventive guitar work is by turns explosive, textured, and queasily disorienting, keeping the listener off balance with atonal riffs and off-kilter time signatures. Staley's stark confessional lyrics are similarly effective, and consistently miserable…

By 1968, Waters was no longer reaching black audiences, who were mostly listening to soul music by that time, and he also wasn't selling records to more than a relatively small cult of white blues enthusiasts. Meanwhile, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and Cream were selling millions of records each using licks and sometimes songs learned from Waters. Previously, in 1966, Chess Records had recorded Waters' Brass and the Blues, trying to make him sound like B.B. King, and this time Leonard Chess' son Marshall conceived Electric Mud as a way for Waters to reach out to the Rolling Stones/Hendrix/Cream audience. Recorded in May of 1968, Electric Mud features Waters in excellent vocal form, running through new versions of old songs such as "I Just Want to Make Love to You," "She's Alright," "Hoochie Coochie Man," "Mannish Boy," and "The Same Thing"…

One of the best recordings for Keith Jarrett's mid-'70s American quartet (whose style differed sharply from its European doppelgänger), The Survivors' Suite opens with Jarrett's aching, breathy sigh on the bass recorder, evoking the sound of a horn somewhere across a great expanse of fog. Percussion soon punctuates the melodic line to give the opening a more spiritual, ritualistic feel, which is only the first of many mutations that this album will go through. Divided into two parts, entitled "Beginning" and "Conclusion," this suite effortlessly flows between its movements which range from fiery free jazz to open, meditative atmospheric pieces showing heavy input from indigenous musics to instrumental solos that owe a sylistic debt to the music of the previous decade…

The Windmill are a Norwegian progressive rock band formed in 2001 in the outskirts of Oslo. The music is symphonic neo prog influenced by several bands from the golden years of the seventies, such as Genesis, Pink Floyd, Camel and others. The debut album "To be Сontinued …" was released May 2010.
The album is filled with excellent compositions, built around melodic guitars, powerful organs, lovely vocal arrangements and some superb synthesizers. The album even contains a fantastic 21-min. epic, entitled ''A Day in a Hero's Life'', with strong Genesis, Yes and Camel inspirations, led by strong breaks, dramatic changes, instant melodies and a very rich and sensitive approach, incorporating influences also from Folk Music and Heavy Rock. But the remaining pieces are actually on the same level, full of delicate flutes, smooth organ and intricate guitar ideas to go along with quite decent vocals…

Classic Berlin School electronic music recorded live in Montana and evokes dreamy images of Yellowstone with influence of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Steve Roach and even Ashra.
Recorded live in 2007 with the Ricochet Gathering Yellowstone 2007. Mario is also well known for his solo works, collaborations and the German electronic music label Manikin. Thomas Fanger has played in many ambient and techno electronic line-ups. He is also in film production. This release contains an epic long Berlin School electronic track akin to Tangerine Dream in the mid 1970's. Rainbow Serpent with Gerd and Frank have long followed in the Berlin School electronic music tradition and this CD features two tracks showing Rainbow Serpent in their prime. Guaranteed to please any fan of this electronic music genre.

After hearing the recent tribute compilation Total Lee! which is quite mesmerizing, I decided to pick up this CD to see what Hazlewood is doing today. For Every Solution is a little more country than I expected, but after a couple of listens, I started to enjoy it for what it is. I won't natter on about Lee's past accomplishments, they are well known. I will say that after more than 40 years in the business that he sounds great and that this CD stands tall among his best. (Kurt Harding)

Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach first collaborated on "God Give Me Strength," a sweeping ballad that functioned as the centerpiece in Allison Anders' Grace of My Heart. It was a stunning song in the tradition of Bacharach's classic '60s work and it was successful enough that the composers decided to collaborate on a full album, Painted from Memory. Wisely, they chose to work within the stylistic parameters of Bacharach's '60s material, but Painted from Memory never sounds like a stylistic exercise. Instead, it's a return to form for both artists. Bacharach hasn't written such graceful, powerful melodies since his glory days, and Costello hasn't crafted such a fully realized album since King of America. It's a testament to both that even if the album is clearly in Bacharach's territory, it feels like a genuine collaboration.