Sweden’s power metal masters Insania return with their brand-new album “The Great Apocalypse“. 4 Years after the successful “V”, the Swedes are back with their own recipe of Power Metal, full of speedy, double-bass drums, great hooks, and amazing solos. The band's current line-up consists of Mikko Korsbäck (drums), Tomas Stolt (bass), Niklas Dahlin (guitar), Ola Halén (vocals) and Peter Östros (guitar). The first version of Insania was formed in 1992 by drum player Mikko Korsbäck and guitar player Henrik Juhano. Bass player Tomas Stolt was added to the line-up shortly after and a few other musicians were also part of the band for short periods of time. The band initially started off playing covers of their favorite bands such as Helloween and Iron Maiden, but eventually Mikko´s classmate Niklas Dahlin joined as a second guitar player and they started writing their own tunes…

Though they never quite hit the same musical highs as E.L.P., Yes, or King Crimson, this German prog rock outfit garnered a huge following among those in the know.
Based on the famous Roman gladiator who led the rebellion against his homeland, the music supports the album's concept quite solidly, with the better tracks coming in the form of the sporadic "School of Instant Pain" and the nine- minute "March to the Eternal City," which gathers a menacing conglomeration of bass guitar riffs and pointed keyboard work. The music becomes effectively motivational toward the concept at the proper times, enabling the band's idea to remain fresh and colorful as the music is played out…

Between 1970 and 1972, Cat Stevens recorded four albums in the same manner, using the same producer and many of the same musicians, painting the album covers, and assigning the records ponderous titles. Things changed with his next album, Foreigner. The recording itself had been produced by Stevens, and while a couple of Stevens' usual backup musicians had been retained, New York session musicians appeared, and second guitarist Alun Davies was gone. With him went the acoustic guitar interplay that had been the core of Stevens' sound, replaced by more elaborate keyboard-based arrangements complete with strings, brass, and a female vocal trio featuring Patti Austin. It's easy to look at the 18-plus minute "Foreigner Suite" that took up the first side and accuse Stevens of excess and indulgence. What should be kept in mind, however, is that his peers in 1973 were acts like Jethro Tull and Yes, who in turn were taking their cue from the Beatles' Abbey Road and the Who's Tommy. Call Foreigner ambitious, then, rather than indulgent…

One of the most dynamic and accomplished artists to debut during the early '70s, singer and songwriter Chaka Khan secured her high standing as the frontperson of Rufus. A multiracial band that skillfully moved across soul, funk, rock, and jazz, they reached the mainstream with the slinking "Tell Me Something Good" (1974), a Top Five pop hit that won a Grammy, and throughout the decade continuously placed albums within the upper reaches of the pop and R&B charts. As Rufus remained active, Khan launched her solo career with "I'm Every Woman" (1978), an anthemic crossover disco smash that led to eight additional Top Ten R&B hits.

Manhattan Latin captures Dave Pike in flux between the straight-ahead approach of his earlier sessions and the psychedelic pop-jazz of his efforts for MPS: a playful yet methodical immersion into pure, sunkissed groove, its artful assimilation of global rhythms and textures anticipates the direction of Pike's most memorable work. Recorded with an impressive lineup including flautist Hubert Laws, drummer Willie Bobo and then-unknown pianist Chick Corea, the album largely eschews familiar Latin standards in favor of Pike originals. What's impressive is that the end result seems completely organic, living up to the album's title in terms of both sophistication and flavor. Phenomenal cover, too.

Marvin Gaye's Love Songs: Greatest Duets gathers most of his best-known duets, organizing them by singing partner. After getting off to a poor, but well-meaning start with a 1994 version of "Distant Lover" that pairs Gaye's original vocals with re-recorded vocals by Betty Wright and tinny-sounding production, the album does a 180 by offering up some of the best work Gaye did with his ultimate duet partner, Tammi Terrell. Along with definitive songs like "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By," the collection also includes lesser-known gems such as the lovely "If This World Were Mine."

In 1905, three musical friends who would later become giants as soloists came together to form a piano trio. After their initial successes, they reserved time each year from their hectic individual careers to meet in London or Paris to play chamber music. Their musical relationship lasted another twenty-nine years, with the three playing together for the last time in 1934. Although their repertoire was relatively small (only thirty-three works were programmed by the trio during their entire existence), they left behind a handful of recordings, that, more than seventy years on, are still benchmarks, and continue to garner enough sales to keep them alive in the catalog.

Both conductor and soloist are well-known for their performances of the Beethoven Violin Concerto – just not with each other. The conjunction of Furtwängler and Schneiderhan is probably the least-well remembered of the conductor’s collaborations, either live or studio. Similarly the violinist’s commercial DG recording, conducted by Eugen Jochum, holds the most pressing claim on the collector, notwithstanding Furtwängler’s eminence or the fact that the disc under review was made live in the Titania-Palast in Berlin in May 1953.

An American-British fortepianist, a Transylvanian violinist, and an Italian-British cellist join together into a trio with a Spanish name and produce a historical-instrument recording of a group of late Haydn trios that may well set the standard. Perhaps you can chalk it up to the increasingly international quality of the historical performance movement. Whatever the case, this recording showcases the strengths of historical instruments in Haydn and is just beautifully thought out in every detail.

It's hard not to have a good time listening to Iridescence. Rudy Adrian's fresh insight into the Berlin School of electronic music combines his sensual memory of the natural world with suprising shapes of glowing analogue sound. Coaxing classic warm timbres from his synthesizer, Rudy Adrian transmits the most cosmic of ideas with instinctual accuracy. Syncopated synth patterns beneath confident lead melodies rise out of vast cerebral preludes and provides each piece with its own unique contour. Detuned drones, shifting pads and elated harmonies give Iridescence an introspective quality and vivid dimensionality while the album's rhythmical cadence and lilting melodies provide a bright and lively focus. On a few of the pieces we hear the human voice, wordless singing processed with reverb and echo - a wonderful signature. Elsewhere, the artist's voice is expressed through his unrestrained playing, so vulnerable in its joy of discovery.

This rather impressively lavish box set collects the recorded output from Bill Bruford’s eponymous band that enjoyed an all-too-brief existence from 1977 to 1980. The collection contains their three studio records and one live album, alongside the previously unreleased Live At The Venue from 1980, and a collection of rehearsal snippets from the sessions for the planned but never realised fourth studio album. All that’s missing is their 1979 Rock Goes To College performance.
The original incarnation featured guitarist Allan Holdsworth, bassist Jeff Berlin and keyboardist Dave Stewart. When Holdsworth departed the fold, his spot was filled by his protégé John Clark, who, bizarrely enough, subsequently became Cliff Richard’s guitarist…