On 1968's ANTHEM OF THE SUN, the Grateful Dead stopped being just another band on the San Francisco scene and began initiating their own myth. Outgrowing the white-boy blues jamming of their debut and of their many SF contemporaries, the Dead graduated to an advanced, more lysergically influenced style–not just singing about Alice's adventures in that other world down the hole, but participating in them. Adventurous and grand, ANTHEM OF THE SUN was the first result of the muse that author Ken Kesey's infamous Acid Tests brought out in Grateful Dead music.

For those unfamiliar with the careening, death-defying life and music of Iggy Pop, NUDE & RUDE provides a concise and potent overview. Opening with tracks from his seminal late '60s outfit, The Stooges, the assault is immediate. "Search & Destroy," "No Fun," and "Gimme Danger" all possess an animalistic power to which many bands aspire but very few achieve. The countless cover versions that have surfaced over the years have only underscored the Stooges' bone-rattling urgency.

”If Betty were singing today she be something like Madonna, something like Prince, only as a woman. She was the beginning of all that when she was singing as Betty Davis.” ~ Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe, Miles: The Autobiography. == This album is incredible. Without a doubt, Mrs. Davis was twenty years ahead of her time. Sure, she married Miles Davis and slept w/Jimi Hendrix but she wrote and sang too. Her attitude makes feminism hide under the bed. The players are fantastic and the music takes no prisoners.

Krakatau! Oh man, yes. Volition is the ECM album for peeps who hate ECM … ECM with *feedback* and bullroarers … homemade wind instruments (including the "krakophone", an 8-foot organ pipe with a baritone mouthpiece). A band that understands the importance of the bass end of the spectrum.

An album with an especially intriguing title: ‘The President of the LSD Golf Club’. And has Hooverphonic come up with a psychedelic album? From the hypnotic opener ‘Stranger’ to the mystifying closing track, ‘Bohemian Laughter’, the answer is a definite yes. The album pays homage to Alex Callier’s musical roots: retro-psychedelic, which is apparent in the way the album was recorded. == For me it is the best Hooverphonic release.

One of the most versatile of all East Coast contemporary jazz guitarists, Chuck Loeb was equally inspired to play screaming fusion as he was to write hip radio-ready smooth jazz hits and sweet candlelit gems. This nice collection definitely focuses on the latter, highlighting his low-key acoustic and electric playing on songs culled from his seven Shanachie releases from 1996-2005. Although the first two tracks, simple and lush renditions of the Babyface tunes "Water Runs Dry" and "Breathe Again," pale in comparison to thoughtful and soulful originals like "Blue Kiss" and "New Life" (which features labelmate saxman and song co-writer Kim Waters), they show that Loeb was ahead of the curve in smooth jazz; when the format went cover happy in the early \2000s, it was Kirk Whalum who did the first all-Babyface recording The Babyface Songbook. True to his adventurous musical sensibilities, Loeb doesn't totally play it safe when he's romantic. The chill tune "Stained Glass" (originally from eBop) is driven by otherworldly percussion textures and a slow burning swirl of electric guitar and Randy Becker's trumpet. By design, The Love Song Collection is not aimed to please fans of Loeb's wilder side, but it's a great reminder of his ability to compose beautiful melodies.