Mark Knopfler has the luxury of being selective about soundtrack work, and this is only his tenth film score in 17 years. It may be that he waits for films that can benefit from his approach, which is generally a lighter version of what he used to write and perform for Dire Straits and what he does on his solo albums. The soundtrack albums of his films usually are so closely identified with him that it's a dilemma where to shelve them in the record store, and this one is no exception; it is billed on the cover as "a Mark Knopfler soundtrack." The music will come as no surprise to anyone who's seen and heard such previous Knopfler soundtracks as those for Local Hero and The Princess Bride. There are some Scottish themes in keeping with the movie's setting (it's one of those sports films about a hapless team that somehow reaches a championship)…

The second studio release with "Ripper" Owens, Demolition is an intriguing album. Listening to this one sometimes makes you wish that they had decided to go with a moniker other than Judas Priest. The reason is that, although this album is very strong, it really does not fit in with the historical sound of the band. It seems like a completely new group might have released it. Such a distinction almost seems to deserve a different band name. There are moments that do feel like older Priest, but the overall texture is harder and more modern. At times Owens comes across like Rob Halford (listen to the first verse of "Blood Suckers"), but he is really working to carve out his own identity. If you are a fan of classic Priest, maybe you should hear this one first, but if you are into more modern dark metal, by all means, pick it up.

The issue of authenticity of Bach’s so-called lute music is one that continues to perplex artists today; most of the recordings of Bach’s lute music range from transcriptions of the cello and certain solo violin suites to other more capriciously chosen works that are made to “fit” the instrument. Indeed, one of the best (and most popular) of such collections, that by Nigel North (Linn Records, “Bach on the Lute”), consists entirely of these violin and cello works, albeit with the not-uncommon idea of such works finding their way into the repertoire of all sorts of related instruments.

After being away from the scene for many years, German progressive rock band Kraan have returned with this fantastic live album, covering many of the classic tracks that were fan favorites back in the 70's. The perennial line-up of Hellmut Hattler on bass/vocals, Peter Wolbrandt on guitars/vocals, Ingo Bischoff on keyboards, and Jan Pride on drums are all here, and display all the tight interplay and rhythmic ferocity that they were famous for decades ago.

McDowell may have been a musical conservative but, in spite of the European flavour of his music, he thought himself a true ‘American’ composer—favouring the influences of ‘the manly and free rudeness of the American Indian’ rather than jazz, which thought had too strong an eastern European, Bohemian inheritance.

Trained as a violinist, Andreas Romberg (1767-1821) began touring Europe at age 6 with his cousin Bernard who was a cellist. Well regarded during his lifetime, he took Haydn’s mature works as his model for his 30 string quartets. But as Beethoven became more popular, Romberg‘s reputation declined. That inverse relationship is dramatically revealed by the number of his public performances, which decreased in direct proportion to the string quartet performances of his more famous contemporary. All written in minor keys, the three quartets were composed at different times during his lifetime and follow the usual 4 movement pattern with the minuet as the 2nd section.

This is the album where Jeff Lynne finally found the sound he'd wanted since co-founding Electric Light Orchestra three years earlier. Up to this point, most of the group's music had been self-contained – Lynne, Richard Tandy, et al., providing whatever was needed, vocally or instrumentally, even if it meant overdubbing their work layer upon layer. Lynne saw the limitations of this process, however, and opted for the presence of an orchestra – it was only 30 pieces, but the result was a much richer musical palette than the group had ever had to work with, and their most ambitious and successful record up to that time.

The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth album by the English rock band Pink Floyd. Originally released on 1 March 1973, on the label Harvest, it built on ideas explored in the band's earlier recordings and live shows, but departs from instrumental thematic by founding member Syd Barrett. The album explores themes including conflict, greed, the passage of time, and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by Barrett's deteriorating mental state. The Dark Side of the Moon was an immediate success; it topped the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart for a week and remained in the chart for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988. With an estimated 45 million copies sold, it is Pink Floyd's most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling worldwide. It produced two singles, "Money" and "Us and Them", and is the band's most popular album among fans and critics, and has been ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Benefit was the album on which the Jethro Tull sound solidified around folk music, abandoning blues entirely. Beginning with the opening number, "With You There to Help Me," Anderson adopts his now-familiar, slightly mournful folksinger/sage persona, with a rather sardonic outlook on life and the world; his acoustic guitar carries the melody, joined by Martin Barre's electric instrument for the crescendos. This would be the model for much of the material on Aqualung and especially Thick as a Brick, although the acoustic/electric pairing would be executed more effectively on those albums. Here the acoustic and electric instruments are merged somewhat better than they were on Stand Up (on which it sometimes seemed like Barre's solos were being played in a wholly different venue), and as needed, the electric guitars carry the melodies better than on previous albums.

Chandos’ Dutch music series continues with this second disc of Hol symphonies. As with Symphonies 1 and 3, Nos. 2 and 4 display Hol’s mastery of symphonic form, orchestration, and counterpoint. They also reveal the prevailing influence of Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms (with occasional suggestions of Dvorák). Mendelssohn figures most in Symphony No. 2, with an opening movement that rides along like many of the German composer’s tempestuous allegros, followed by a fleet-footed and colorful scherzo. Symphony No. 4 begins with a slow introduction before launching into the driving allegro proper. There’s energy aplenty in the following scherzo and much tender emotion in the adagio. The finale, like that of the Second Symphony, creates a festive atmosphere based on folk-dance rhythms.

Neurosis is a band with a distinctive sound driven by sludgy guitars and aggresive screaming vocals while still maintaining atmospheric. They are often regarded as the pioneers of post- metal and have influenced many major bands in that genre, like Isis and Pelican. The band's seventh full length studio album, A Sun That Never Sets, shows the band taking a more avant- garde and experimental direction than before.
The album features very frequent softer and atmospheric parts, making the album very atmospheric. The songs often progress, starting out with clean guitar playing and slowly moving towards sludgy riffs and fierce screams. Despite the low tempos that the sludgy riffs are played in, they rarely fail to sound powerful, fierce and rough…