Led Zeppelin's fourth album, Black Sabbath's Paranoid, and Deep Purple's Machine Head have stood the test of time as the Holy Trinity of English hard rock and heavy metal, serving as the fundamental blueprints followed by virtually every heavy rock & roll band since the early '70s. And, though it is probably the least celebrated of the three, Machine Head contains the "mother of all guitar riffs" – and one of the first learned by every beginning guitarist – in "Smoke on the Water." …

Mutantes E Seus Cometas No Pais do Baurets is the fifth album by the Brazilian rock band Os Mutantes and the last to feature all three founding members. There was little sound technology available, so they had to invent their own wah-wah, flanger, and phaser pedals, sound systems, and more. The second track is an acoustic ballad where the innocent voice of Rita Lee presents the love declaration of a bitch to her dog, backed by a bumbo leguero (typical instrument of South American countries and a trademark of protesters against dictatorship). It is no surprise that they were hated by the government: censorship delayed the release of the album, due to the title and the lyrics of "Cabeludo Patriota" ("Hairy Patriot")…

Imagine a cross between Fantasy, T2, Spring and Rare Bird. Lashings of mellotron, quality harmony vocals, biting guitar work and well written and recorded songs.
Dancer were formed from remnants of Isle of Wight folk rockers Shide & Acorn and future famed film director the late Anthony Minghella. Minghella had previously appeared as keyboardist in a small jazz group known as Earthlight. The musicians were discovered by Wilf Pine, former manager of Black Sabbath and future reputed ranking member of the Gotti mafia syndicate in the United States. Pine secured the group studio time at Olympia in the Barnes suburb of London in 1972, where they recorded seven tracks over a month's period under the direction of Groundhogs guitarist Tony McPhee…

This is a mellotron lovers garden of eden! Lots of great keyboard work here and some incredible musicanship. Like so many great Italian recordings, "Ys" demands the listeners full attention throughout. Although this recording has a true '70's reproduced feel to it, it remains very enjoyable with its underground sound. The guitar work is superb and what really stands out is the use of vocals and harmonies throughout.

For Example is an another band from the SWF-broadcast vaults, with their recording they did in 1973. The band, founded in the late sixties, consisted of students of various study fields. In the beginning they played under the name 'Frida III' cover versions of sixties hits, but after they had been taken on for 2 productions by the State Theatre Tübingen, they changed their music style, added three wind players with jazz experience and formed 'For Example'. At first they played pieces of their favourite bands 'Chicago' and Blood, Sweat and Tears', but their repertoire also comprised soul numbers with horn sections. Step by step they added self composed titles and found their own music style, still influenced by their favourites…

"Talking Book" is the 15th studio album by American singer, songwriter and musician Stevie Wonder, released on October 28, 1972, on the Tamla label for Motown Records. The album is widely noted for being the signal recording of Wonder's "classic period". The sound of the album is sharply defined by Wonder's keyboard work, especially with the synthesizers he incorporated. His use of the Hohner clavinet model C on "Superstition" is widely regarded as one of the definitive tracks featuring the instrument.

In 1999, Mobile Fidelity reissued Blue Oyster Cult's first two albums, Blue Oyster Cult (1972) and Tyranny and Mutation (1973) on a single 24-karat gold CD that was aimed at audiophiles. Hearing the albums back to back on the same disc, one is reminded how much crisper, tougher and sharper Murry Krugman and Sandy Pearlman's production was on Tyranny and Mutation – it's a production that's more suitable for a heavy metal/hard rock band…

Latte E Miele offer only subtle reminders of the great ELP, but certainly take us here down a journey into the unknown. This is one of the all time classic Italian prog releases. Here dream-like passages and inter-winded with the narrative of the story giving the listener a full concept feeling. Latte E Miele offer here some very dynamic mood swings and go from pastel pastures to heavy jazz-like passages.

With 1971's Fragile having left Yes poised quivering on the brink of what friend and foe acknowledged was the peak of the band's achievement, Close to the Edge was never going to be an easy album to make…

A significant name of the German krautrock scene, Thirsty Moon were found in Bremen in 1972 and started as a 7-member band. By the same year their eponymous debut was already recorded and released by Brain Records. It consists of four short tracks and one epic jam,clocking at over 20 minutes (+ bonus track on this CD edition). The album follows the typical German mode of krautrock with strong interplays, long jamming and a lot of space for endless improvisational musicianship. Saxes are everywhere played by Willie Pape and ranging from smooth passages to abstract heavy parts. There is also some lovely percussion work throughout the listening, featuring also nice organ and groovy electric pianos. Vocals are English with a rough edge, which fit very much to the band's style, while the epic of the album contains also a lot of spacey parts…

Lobo was a pop singer/songwriter/guitarist who had a top 5 hit in 1971 with 'Me And You And A Dog Named Boo'. He also had numerous charting albums in the 1970s. We have put two of them together on a single disc, making their worldwide CD debuts. Introducing Lobo originally came out in 1971 on the Big Tree label. Of A Simple Man came out in 1972, also on Big Tree, and rose to # 37 on the Billboard charts.

A Rome-based group formed by Sicilian natives, they started as Flea On The Honey with all members using English pseudonyms in a common line of many Italian groups.After playing at the Viareggio 1971 Pop Festival they released a self-titled Hard Rock debut on the Delta label, entirely sung in English.A few gigs later, among them a good performance at the famous Rome Villa Pamphili Festival, they shortened their name to Flea and the members reappeared with their normal names, Antonio Marangolo on vocals, piano, flute and harmonica, Carlo Pennisi on guitar, mandolin and vocals, Agostino Marangolo on drums, vibraphone and vocals and Elio Volpini on bass, saxophone, guitar and vocals.Second album Topi O Uomini was released in 1972 on the Fonit label…

Goldie Review by Stewart Mason
It's a tragedy of pop culture in the new millennium that starlets don't rush willy-nilly into the recording studio anywhere near as much as they used to. Goldie Hawn's sole foray into pop music – originally released in 1972 on Warner Bros. after Laugh-In but before Steven Spielberg's Sugarland Express revealed her dramatic range as an actress – isn't Golden Throats-level bad, surely to the disappointment of hipsters everywhere. Although Hawn's helium-pitched voice is a trifle thin and limited, the selection of material wisely plays to her strengths, with Dolly Parton's "My Blue Tears" and – believe it or not – Joni Mitchell's "Carey" both well-suited to her soprano vocals. In fact, the only really egregious errors aren't really her fault: the Frenchified "Butterfly," with its absurdly cheesy choral backing, wouldn't have sounded good sung by anybody, and the countrified take on Van Morrison's "I Wanna Roo You" has a botched arrangement that slaps on a vaguely oompah-style waltz-time arrangement that suits neither singer nor song. Other than that, though, Goldie is a sweetly endearing country-tinged middle of the road pop record of a style that just isn't being made anymore.