Marathon marked the addition of keyboard player Alan Pasqua and singer Greg Walker's replacement by singer/guitarist Alex Ligertwood in the Santana lineup. Otherwise, the album was notable for consisting entirely of band-written material, although those songs were in the established R&B/rock style evolved on albums like Amigos, Festival, and Inner Secrets.

With "Discover A Nu World" Jean Mare presents his fourth album. 18 tracks from ambient to chill and lounge for relaxation and for enjoying the calm moments at night and by day. Experimental sounds, young grooves, atmospheric soundscapes, mysterious and relaxing, a well-balanced marriage of smooth modern lo-fi tunes, soulful lounge grooves and epic cinematic instrumentals. Each song is a unique piece and a fine result of tender and loving work.

Celebrating 30 years since the release of their 1982 debut album, Asia's 2012 full-length XXX is also the third release to feature the original line-up since they reunited for 2008's Phoenix and 2010's Omega. Once again showcasing the talents of lead vocalist and bassist John Wetton, keyboardist Geoff Downes, guitarist Steve Howe, and drummer Carl Palmer, XXX is a rock tour de force that disproves the notion that rock bands get worse as they get older. In fact, as with Phoenix and Omega, XXX is a strong follow-up to both of Asia's first two albums and, while never sounding dated, smartly sticks to the band's '80s prog-pop sound. In keeping with this aesthetic, the album even features Roger Dean cover art reminiscent of his 1982 serpent on the band's self-titled debut…

A sequel to 2014's Torsten the Bareback Saint, this 2016 release continues the collaboration between Erasure vocalist Andy Bell and theatrical writers Barney Ashton-Bullock and Christopher Frost and revives their Torsten character, who is described completely in the opening "Statement of Intent." "Used to be someone doesn't mean that I'm a has-been" it goes, but this thoroughly modern Millie also proudly crows "I'm gonna do it all before I go to seed." Later titles "Blow Jobs for Cocaine" and "The Slums We Loved" prove that Torsten's "do it all" is different than the everyday "do it all," but debauchery rarely comes framed in such artful flair, as Torsten joins Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Hedwig, and Quentin Crisp on the Mt. Rushmore of the queer and aggressively inquisitive…

Guns N 'Roses took the pop music scene of the '80s by storm. With their wild looks, their irreverent attitude and a repertoire firing in all directions, Guns N' Roses caught the attention of both rockers and pop fans alike. Their legacy and influence has been undeniable. The Many Faces in a stunning triple album, that not even the band itself had possible imagined. With an impressive presentation and remastered sound, this collection presents many of the band members' side projects; some of their not so well known songs plus a complete map of music scene where they were born, with songs from each of the bands that shared their beginnings. For all these reasons, The Many Faces Of Guns N 'Roses is a unique album, a must for anyone who has ever enjoyed the band's music.

A chronological history of jazz vocal presented by André Francis and Jean Schwarz. 10 CDs with more than 12 hours of music.
The resulting 2 boxed sets of 10 CDs in each, unlike any other available today, groups together the main vocalists in the story of jazz from the first half of the 20th century. Each of these 20 CDs offers in more or less the same proportion, the purest of African-American song with gospel and blues singers, from truculent Ma Rainey to majestic Bessie Smith, sophisticated Sarah Vaughan to popular Louis Prima, the folk-related tones of Charlie Patton to the honeyed voice of Frank Sinatra.

Petra is one of the most successful Christian rock bands ever, a veritable institution whose name (taken from the Greek word for "rock") has come to reflect not only their music, but their staying power as well, even in spite of Christian radio's reluctance to program their brand of loud, slick arena rock. Petra was formed in 1972 by guitarist Bob Hartman, who was attending the Christian Training Center in Fort Wayne, IN at the time; he recruited several fellow students - guitarist/vocalist Greg Hough, bassist John DeGroff, and drummer Bill Glover - to his cause, and the group began playing around the Fort Wayne area with backing from their school…

Michel de Villers made the beautiful evenings of La Rose Rouge before attending the Trois Mailletz with his accomplices Guy Lafitte and André Persiani. Attached to the swing, the saxophonist worked to demonstrate that good music and entertainment were perfectly reconcilable. A point of view shared by Boris Vian, artistic director of Philips discs. His clientele demanding dance records, Boris supervised the recordings. Entrusted to Villers, arranged by Persiani, these big band faces from 1958 and 1959 - we ignore the staff - instrumental adaptations of fashionable themes, still retain all their charm. In 1961, Jean-Christophe Averty produced a Claude Bolling Special Show for television. The show featured the pianist's nonette, a medium formation that sounded like great. In the absence of images, the music testifies to it.

Complete with anthemic choruses, spoken word story lines, and plenty of bombastic power metal punctuating every dramatic turn, Nightfall in Middle-Earth is perhaps Blind Guardian's most triumphant effort. After spending ten years and numerous releases building a large following in Europe and Japan, Blind Guardian took on the task of creating this progressive concept record based on J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Silmarillion. The story recounts events from the first age of Middle-Earth, Tolkien's parallel world that serves as the mythological backdrop for his classic Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Blind Guardian interpretation features bassist/vocalist Hansi Kürsch's first-person character portrayals and narrations of the medieval quest for truth and glory…

Since his 2007 debut, this young Glaswegian producer’s peak-time club spin on mainstream R&B and rap has, in an intrepid fashion, grown increasingly hyperactive, thrill-oriented, and indulgent. On Glass Swords, Rustie continues to integrate the currently hip and terminally unhip - garish probes of ‘80s synth rock, beaten-to-a-pulp dance-pop, ‘90s rave, and bass music, to name four of several drawing points - all for the sake of a rush. Integrate is a light way of putting it, though; the method is more like slathering, layer after layer, with no concern for restraint or tastefulness, though each track is shaped into a songlike structure…

After reuniting for 2008's Phoenix, the original four members of prog-pop supergroup Asia (bassist/vocalist John Wetton, keyboardist Geoff Downes, guitarist Steve Howe, and drummer Carl Palmer) stayed together for three more albums including 2012's XXX. However, after touring in support of that album, Howe amicably parted ways with the band to pursue other projects, and once again Asia were in search of a guitarist. Enter 27-year-old Sam Coulson, who replaces Howe for Asia's 2014 effort, Gravitas. A technical wizard on the guitar, Coulson has all the requisite abilities to fill Howe's role as resident flamethrower for Asia. Ironically, the aptly titled Gravitas is one of Asia's more reserved albums and Coulson, who acquits himself nicely throughout, isn't called upon to throw much fire for most of Gravitas' running time…

The songs heard on The Love Album first came to light nearly 30 years after their recording, but they should never have lingered in the vaults so long; what's more, if an LP had appeared on schedule, it would have easily remained Doris Day's finest album of the '60s. But neither her commercial fortunes nor the market for Tin Pan Alley songs (even standards) appeared particularly bright in 1967. Day had just broken with her record label Columbia, and was producing herself for the first time; and most of her contemporaries were either fighting the tide of pop culture or only keeping their head above water by covering new standards such as "Sunny" or "The Windmills of Your Mind." Day chose instead to sing a collection of songs whose cumulative age was something like 350 years old (although the chestnut "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" had been revived by Elvis Presley only a few years earlier)…

This LP fuses two massive talents, for the first time to Athens Of The North we introduce House and Techno legend Linkwood, joining him is one of the UKs most respected Jazz Artists Greg Foat, who will need no introduction to Athens Of The North fans. ‘Linkwood & Foat’ is the first LP to be recorded in the new ’Athens of the North Studio’, which was designed and built specifically for our artists so that they can create without the time pressures or expenses of studio hire elsewhere. With no fixed plans, no rules or expectations, the pair relaxed in the new studio and started making music. The result is very special indeed. Linkwood had just returned from walking in the wilds of an Ibiza summer and Greg had similarly been immersed on the sun drenched south coast of the Isle of wight…

Mojo magazine is celebrating the re-release of Pink Floyd's catalog with its own series of Floyd albums covered in their entirety by contemporary artists. First comes Return to the Dark Side of the Moon, the classic 1973 Floyd album re-imagined here by bands like Gallops, the Oscillation, Our Broken Garden and the Pineapple Thief. The album is available on CD, packaged together with Wish You Were Here Again, a remake of 1975's Wish You Were Here featuring new versions of select tunes from the album by various contemporary acts (Beak>, The Orb).

If The Times They Are a-Changin' isn't a marked step forward from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, even if it is his first collection of all originals, it's nevertheless a fine collection all the same. It isn't as rich as Freewheelin', and Dylan has tempered his sense of humor considerably, choosing to concentrate on social protests in the style of "Blowin' in the Wind." With the title track, he wrote an anthem that nearly equaled that song, and "With God on Our Side" and "Only a Pawn in Their Game" are nearly as good, while "Ballad of Hollis Brown" and "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" are remarkably skilled re-castings of contemporary tales of injustice. His absurdity is missed, but he makes up for it with the wonderful "One Too Many Mornings" and "Boots of Spanish Leather," two lovely classics. If there are a couple of songs that don't achieve the level of the aforementioned songs, that speaks more to the quality of those songs than the weakness of the remainder of the record. And that's also true of the album itself - yes, it pales next to its predecessor, but it's terrific by any other standard.