Mily Balakirev was the brilliant, dynamic leader of the group of St Petersburg composers known as ‘The Mighty Handful’ or ‘The Five’, which included, besides himself, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Cui. As well as stimulating these other men, who might never have taken up composition but for him, he was a very fine composer in his own right. Completely lacking in conventional musical training, he had educated himself by studying the works of the Western masters and of his great Russian predecessor, Mikhail Glinka, and he was thus without the preconceived ideas inculcated in conservatoires of music in his day.

An album from Luther Allison's long-standing bandleader of the last several years. Released a few months after Allison's death, the album can be taken as a tribute album by Solberg of sorts to his old boss. Utilizing a strong, distorted tone throughout, Solberg keeps Luther's high-energy approach alive on a batch of shuffles ("Bubba's Boogie," "Must Be a Reason"), slow blues ("L.A. Blues," "Ballad of a Thin Man"), and uptempo rockers ("Wally World U.S.A.," "Rhumba Juice"). Midtempo shuffles abound in tracks like "A Closer Walk with Thee," "Robb's Souffle" and the closing "Happy Snails." The music on this record is heartfelt and inspired, a moving tribute. Fans of Allison's final work will say his memory is well served here.

The music of JADE WARRIOR is somewhat difficult to describe. Among the influences you'll hear in various aspects of JADE WARRIOR's music are rock, jazz, Latin, Japanese, African, ambient, and the kitchen sink (almost literally - there are spoons and an empty whiskey bottle in there somewhere!). It's often melodically simple, and rhythmically complex… or vice versa…

Cafe R&B is a five-piece band from the Los Angeles area consisting of female singer Roach, guitarist Byl Carruthers, keyboardists John "JT" Thomas, Harry Cohen and Stevie Utstein, bassist Bobby Pickett, and drummer Don Swanson and Adam Gust. Longtime music fans may remember lead singer "Roach" from her days fronting Los Angeles' "Roach and the White Boys" in the early 1980s. Critics in the U.S. and Europe have compared her hard-rocking vocals to the likes of Etta James, Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin. HITS Magazine declared: "Imagine Etta James riding a Harley out of an active volcano, and you'll have some vague inkling as to the vocal power…"

Tommy Cougar hails from Stockholm, Sweden. He has fronted many bands over the years, and has played many different styles of blues. His various bands have focus on styles including Hendrix, Trower, SRV, Albert Collin's and SRV.
This album is entirely in a style very reminiscent of Hound Dog Taylor. To achive a truly authentic sound, the band recorded with old, lo-fi equipment. The desired result was achived with great success. Fans of Hound Dog Taylor's rough, distorted, slide guitar and harsh vocals will defintely be able to relate to this CD.
Many songs are based on the shuffle blues style, ranging from slow blues to up tempo "houserockin' music", and driven by the crunching pulse of Tommy's rhythm playing…

Cruel Summer is a 1998 album by Swedish pop group Ace of Base, released as the band's third album in North America on 14 July 1998 and in Japan on 25 August 1998 by Arista Records. Flowers was the group's third album worldwide, but Arista Records decided to release a different version of the album in North America, Japan, and Latin America, retitled Cruel Summer. This version of the album featured the new track "Everytime It Rains" and many new versions of songs that were first featured on Flowers. As executive producer, Clive Davis enlisted collaborators including production team Cutfather & Joe and songwriter Billy Steinberg. While primarily a pop album, Cruel Summer explores the genres of euro disco, Motown, and dance. Cruel Summer received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who complimented its production and viewed it as a superior version of Flowers.

John Hiatt finally achieved some sort of fame in 1987, when his comeback album Bring the Family sparked a career renaissance. For the next decade, his albums sold well and his songs were continually covered by other artists, all of which earned him acclaim as one of the finest songwriters of his era. Despite its title, The Best of John Hiatt 1973-1998 is a chronicle of those successful ten years. Only two songs – "Riding With the King" and "Take Off Your Uniform" – date from before 1987, which means that the collection effectively sidesteps Hiatt's years of searching for a style; it chooses to ride with him once he settled on roots rock. Of course, that's where he did the bulk of his best work, and The Best Of does offer a good overview of his prime period. Since much of his best work was recorded for labels other than Capitol, the label releasing The Best Of, Hiatt entered the studio to record two new songs ("Love in Flames," "Don't Know Much About Love") and cut his first version of "Angel Eyes," the song he gave to Jeff Healey, who turned it into a hit in 1989. He also re-recorded "Have a Little Faith in Me" and "Drive South," two of his best songs from the late '80s. Although these new versions are OK, they don't compare with the originals and only hammer home the fact that this is merely an acceptable compilation, instead of the perfect one that it could have been. Nevertheless, it's a good sampler for the curious, and the hardcore fan will not be disappointed with the new material, even if they're frustrated that they have to purchase a whole new album to acquire it.

Combining synth-pop and goth rock, Canada's Psyche built a solid fan base in Europe and a cult following in the rest of the world with their marriage of drama and melody. Initially surfacing as a minimal synth act with a bizarre, confrontational stage show, their work gradually became more pop-minded while maintaining a dark, brooding atmosphere. By the end of the '90s, Psyche had fully embraced their danceable side, asserting their status as godfathers of the EBM/futurepop scene.

The Mickey Newbury Collection collects the ten albums Mickey Newbury released on three labels between 1969 and 1981 on an eight disc set. The set was released and is available through Mountain Retreat, a label run by Newbury and later Newbury's family. While Newbury had an impressive reputation as an artist and songwriter, at the time of the set's release in 1998, these recordings had been out of print for years. The original master tapes were lost by the labels, and so the recordings on the collection are digital transfers from virgin vinyl copies. The packaging replicates the original album art.

A legendary act from Luxembourg, which played along the lines of Marillion, albeit with a more bombastic and symphonic sound. They were found in 1988 in Dudelange and moved throughout their career around original members Patrick Kiefer (vocals), Alex Rukavina (keyboards) and Chris Sonntag (drums). 1993 sees the debut of the band ''Zodiac'' and two years later the fantastic follow-up ''The Secret Garden'' is published. Shortly after they secured a contract with Musea's branch label Angular Records and they celebrated their 10th anniversary with a third release, ''The Other Side''. Entering the millenium the band was put on ice due to family commitments of the members, but in 2006 they returned with their fourth album ''4'', released under the support of Musea…

In many ways Jordi Masó’s excellent Naxos collection is not upstaged by the competition. Moreover this is to be the first of a continuing series. He gives us the complete Canciónes y danzas (except for No. 13, which is for guitar), plus the engagingly diverse, but at times almost mystical Charmes, and his playing is imbued with gentle poetic feeling. Masó’s pianistic sensibility is never self-aware, always at the service of the composer, and the music’s soft-hued colours are perceptively graduated. The unostentatious innocence of the Scènes d’enfants is beautifully caught. Excellent recording makes this a disc to recommend even if it cost far more than it does.

One of the sexiest singers on the Motown label, Brenda Holloway was also one of its grittiest, with a strong gospel influence more typical of Southern soul than the company's usual polish. Best known for her ballad hit "Every Little Bit Hurts," Holloway also recorded (and co-wrote) the original version of "You've Made Me So Very Happy," which soon became a hit for jazz-rockers Blood Sweat & Tears. Holloway was born in Atascadero, CA, in 1946 and grew up in the Watts section of Los Angeles; as a child, she learned violin and began singing in church with her younger sister Patrice (who later became a prominent session singer and contributed vocals to Josie & the Pussycats).

Encountering this material in a fresh setting, stripped of the familiar configurations of the original albums, we can reassess this important music in contemporary terms. Right off the bat, As Good As It Gets receives a demerit for omitting "Mary Had a Little Lamb," easily Guy's best known … waxing. Otherwise, the CD provides a reasonable overview of the mercurial guitarist's output. Best of all, the set uncovers three previously unreleased items from the '67 sessions. Buddy Guy is one of the most celebrated blues guitarists of his generation (arguably the most celebrated), possessing a sound and style that embodied the traditions of classic Chicago blues while also embracing the fire and flash of rock & roll.

Roland Kent LaVoie (born July 31, 1943), better known by his stage name Lobo (which is a Spanish word for wolf), is an American singer-songwriter who was successful in the early 1970s, scoring several U.S. Top 10 hits including "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo", "I'd Love You to Want Me", and "Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend"…

Juan Verdera aka The Muses Rapt is a Spanish psychedelic trance musician. He began his career in the early 80's when he worked as a keyboardist with experimental punk bands like Derribos Aria, who used drum machines and guitars to create a hybrid of punk and industrial. He then came to Ibiza and began promoting concerts and invested his money in a studio in which he began to write his own experimental techno tracks. When he performed his first open-air-party in India, he "fell in love" with Goa trance, and so he decided to devote himself to creating of trance…