The Unknown was formed smack dab in the sweet spot, 1987. A mainstay on the Florida’s west coast, the truly AOR band started gaining a following with each show played which then yielded bigger and bigger gigs. They were eventually asked to play spring break gigs in Ft. Lauderdale, one of the biggest draws for college students. There was a theory behind this…The Unknown drew lots and lots of girls to their shows and the boys would follow…the band was untouchable and could play anywhere they wanted on the Florida scene. In 1989, The Unknown released their first and only album “Big Dreams”…a true gem that now fetches about $150 on ebay – but know you can get the remastered version of it for a normal price thanks to FnA Records. This album is some of the purest AOR one can find.

Another winner sporting memorable songs ("T.L.C.," "Personal Baby," "City of Angels," "Prove Your Love"), sinuous grooves, and a whole lot of vicious guitar from one of the hottest relatively young bluesmen on the circuit. He goes it alone on the finale, "I'll Get to Heaven on My Own," sounding as conversant with the country blues tradition as he does with the contemporary stuff.

One of the greatest jazz-rock guitarists of the '80s and '90s provides this classic Christmas guitar album. A hugely successful guitarist and composer, Larry Carlton emerged from the Los Angeles studio scene of the late '60s, eventually becoming a popular contemporary jazz artist in his own right. Noted for his lithe technique, sweet-toned, blues-inflected sound, and distinctive use of volume pedals, Carlton first came to prominence as a member of crossover jazz and R&B outfit the Crusaders. From there, he developed into an in-demand session player, recording on up to 500 albums a year and appearing on over 100 gold albums. His studio credits from the '70s and early '80s include work with musicians and groups like Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, Michael Jackson, Sammy Davis, Jr., Herb Alpert, Quincy Jones, Bobby Bland, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and literally dozens of others.

The birth of this project was in the early 80's. Koto was at first an italian synth group, founded by Anfrando Maiola and Stefano Cundari and published by Memory Records, Italy. Together they have created some great tracks like: "Visitors", "Dragon's Legend" "Chinese Revenge" and "Jabdah". In 1989, a German record label ZYX Music bought rights to all Memory Records catalogue, including the rights to "Koto" music and name. They have asked (well known from Laserdance project) Michiel van der Kuy to re-record and remix some of old Koto tracks. The result of this process was "Masterpieces" album. It contains remixed versions of Anfrando Maiola's tracks along with three new songs, entirely composed by Michiel van der Kuy. In 1990 Anfrando Maiola striked back with "Champion's Cue", but the single didn't gather much popularity.

Passion is in actuality Peter Gabriel's soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ, retitled as a result of legal barriers; regardless of its name, however, there's no mistaking the record's stirring power. Like much of Gabriel's solo work, the album is a product of his continuing fascination with world music, which he employs here to create an exceptionally beautiful and atmospheric tapestry of sound perfectly evocative of the film's resonant spiritual drama; inspired by field recordings collected in areas as diverse as Turkey, Senegal, and Egypt, Passion achieves a cumulative effect clearly Middle Eastern in origin, yet its brilliant fusion of ancient and modern musics ultimately transcends both geography and time.

Blues on the Range is a nice, but not particularly noteworthy, set of traditional blues. What makes the album worth a listen is Roy Rogers' facility as a slide player - he can make his guitar sing. However, the quality of the songs and performances are slightly uneven, making it only of interest to die-hard fans.
A northern California-based blues guitarist, Roy Rogers works firmly out of a Delta blues acoustic style and is particularly good with a slide. A member of John Lee Hooker's '80s Coast to Coast Band, Rogers produced and played on Hooker's Grammy-winning comeback album, The Healer, and its follow-up, Mr. Lucky. During the early '70s, Rogers played with a variety of Bay Area bar bands…

Dream Theater's first official release gave an indication that this was a talented band that combined the styles of Yes, Rush, and Queensrÿche. The latter seemed to be too big of an influence at this stage of their career. Vocalist Charlie Dominici's voice is not powerful enough to carry out the band's otherwise convincing intensity, and his attempt to sound like Queensrÿche's Geoff Tate was unsuccessful. The music here is not as heavy as it would become in the '90s but could still be classified as progressive metal. Guitarist John Petrucci and drummer Mike Portnoy established themselves as competent musicians, but their individual styles were not yet refined. The band's originality does shine through on "Light Fuse and Get Away," "The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun," and "Only a Matter of Time"…

The music from Vangelis, Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Jan Hammer and others.
Ed Starink is a Dutch composer, arranger, session musician and record producer. Starink's debut album was Cristallin, but his best known releases are his cover versions of other hits, film and television themes, which have been released on his own record label, Star Inc. Towards the end of the 1980s, Starink co-operated with Arcade Records, and released a series of 'Synthesizer' albums, which succeeded mainly in the European market. His album, Synthesizer Gold, made it into the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart in 1993. His previous album, Synthesizer Greatest, peaked at #22 in the UK.

The year 1989 was awesome for Kathy Mattea. Her brand of country-pop music began to evolve toward folk and Celtic-oriented influences, which were actually encouraged by her label – changes like this in Nash Vegas are few and far between – and what's more, it all translated in terms of chart success and record sales. A strong and indeed the first completely realized project of her career, Willow in the Wind boasted three hits, "Burnin' Old Memories," "Where've You Been," and "Come from the Heart." The hard honky tonk/West Texas swing of "Burnin' Old Memories," with its slightly rocked-up tempo, is more than just catchy; it's infectious.

Mordkovitch and Wallfisch play with a good deal of spirit and poetry in the Double Concerto and the recording captures their attractive quality of tone very effectively, since they are placed at a reasonable distance from their microphones. The LSO is set a little too far back in the sound picture, and in a slightly cavernous acoustic which may exaggerate the impression of a slightly lacklustre routine orchestral contribution under Järvi.

Atomic Rooster are a British rock band originally formed by members of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, organist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer. Their history is defined by two periods: the early-mid-1970s and the early 1980s. The band went through radical style changes, but they are best known for the hard, progressive rock sound of their hit singles, "Tomorrow Night" (UK No. 11) and "Devil's Answer" (UK No. 4), both in 1971. In 2016 Atomic Rooster reformed with permission from Crane's widow, with the new line-up featuring two members from the various 1970s incarnations of the band.

This 1977 double-album opus represents Golden Earring's entry into the series of live albums that were so popular in the late '70s. At this point in its career, the band's live sound had a newfound sense of power, thanks to the addition of second guitarist Eelco Gelling. Indeed, classics like "Radar Love" and "She Flies on Strange Wings" benefit from a newfound complexity and energy that stems from the energetic guitar interplay between Gelling and George Kooymans. Golden Earring's new double-guitar sound also allows the group to overhaul some of its material in new and interesting ways.

Super 20 is the second compilation by French singer Amanda Lear released on BMG-Ariola in 1989. This is also the first compilation available in West Germany and in South Africa. This was the first collection of Lear's songs from her time with Ariola to be released on new digital format compact disc, and includes songs from "I Am a Photograph", "Sweet Revenge", "Never Trust a Pretty Face", "Diamonds for Breakfast", "Incognito" and the 1982 non-album single "Fever". This Compilation also contains 7" Edit of "Fashion Pack (Studio 54)", "Fabulous, Lover Love Me" and "Diamonds".

Rafael Kubelik recorded more Mozart than Haydn. I suspect that he performed more Haydn in concert. All of these are excellent, as is this #99- with a somewhat reduced orchestra. #99 is one of Haydn's greatest symphonies. It features a long, serious, and beautiful Adagio with a section for winds and great outer movements. Kubelik leads his great orchester energetically, giving due weight long first movement introduction and the sublime second movement.