One of the great things about Jeff Beck is his utter unpredictability. It's also one of the most maddening things about him, too, since it's as likely to lead to flights of genius as it is to weird detours like Beck, Bogert & Appice…

Peter Hammill has always had an abiding interest, it seems, in the blurred boundary between the mystical and the scientific, and between the rational and magical mind; this is certainly evident on the debut Van Der Graaf Generator album, even though Hammill had yet to really begin focusing himself on what it was that was driving him (despite the fact that the band's very name referenced a device that resembles a bastard mix of scientific apparatus and shamanic totem)…

"I'm not Bob Dylan, but I never miss a beat" sings Nils Lofgren on 1977's I Came to Dance, a very polished collection of nine songs produced by the guitar virtuoso and drummer Andy Newmark…

Band of Gypsys was the only live recording authorized by Jimi Hendrix before his death. It was recorded and released in order to get Hendrix out from under a contractual obligation that had been hanging over his head for a couple years…

Gazeuse! was the first in a successful line of strictly jazz-rock sessions for percussionist Pierre Moerlen and company – compositions that stressed jazz more than rock and which generally strayed away from lyrical content. This 1976 recording, also released under the title Expresso, was the band's first completely instrumental album, a companion piece to the later, somewhat warmer Expresso II, which is quite similar in sound and structure…

Nightwish are a symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Nevalainen, and then bassist Sami Vänskä after the release of their debut album, Angels Fall First (1997). In 2001, Vänskä was replaced by Marco Hietala, who also took over the male vocalist role previously filled by Holopainen or guest singers…

Ian Gillan was one of the foremost vocalists of the heavy metal style of rock that emerged in the 1970s, earning his greatest renown as a member of Deep Purple, though he also led bands named after himself…

The foreboding crawl of the Hammond organ is what made Van Der Graaf Generator one of the darkest and most engrossing of all the early progressive bands. On H to He Who Am the Only One, the brooding tones of synthesizer and oscillator along with Peter Hammil's distinct and overly ominous voice make it one of this British band's best efforts…

German four-piece speed/thrash metal band, regarded as very influential to the modern black metal scene…

As PFM's work showed the increasing influence of electric jazz, the releases showed more impressive chops and yet also became less compelling to listen to. Jet Lag is the first release of theirs to cross this line, as it's noticeably less enjoyable than the previous year's Chocolate Kings…

This album marked a continued maturing of both PFM's style and their presence in the Anglophone market. It benefits from Premoli's high-speed Hammond organ and synth runs on such all-out prog assaults as the conclusion of "From Under," as well as Mussida's gentle acoustic guitar lines on slower numbers like "Harlequin."…

A blip in the Byrds' discography that could easily be missed, as all of the songs from these pre-Mr. Tambourine Man sessions are also found on the much more widely available In the Beginning. Byrds fans really need to track this down, though, because six of the 11 cuts are actually entirely different versions than the ones that appear on In the Beginning, and in some cases the differences are substantial…

Limited three CD edition. Digitally remastered and expanded edition of the 1975 live album from the Italian Prog band. Features the original live album on Disc One plus an additional two CD live set recorded in Central Park in 1974…

Are You Experienced is the debut studio album by English-American rock band the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released in 1967, the LP was an immediate critical and commercial success, and it is widely regarded as one of the greatest debuts in the history of rock music…

When it was originally released in June 1969, Beck-Ola, the Jeff Beck Group's second album, featured a famous sleeve note on its back cover: "Today, with all the hard competition in the music business, it's almost impossible to come up with anything totally original. So we haven't. However, this disc was made with the accent on heavy music. So sit back and listen and try and decide if you can find a small place in your heads for it."…