The Doobie Brothers’ illustrious career is marked by a string of hits, two of which, “Sweet Maxine” and “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me),” are included here. But Stampede offers much more. In terms of musical dexterity, the 1975 set stands as the group’s peak studio moment.
With ex-Steely Dan guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter finally a full-time member of the band, the California quintet steps up everything from the arrangements to the songwriting. The group also invited several distinguished guests along for the ride: Vocalist Maria Muldaur, soul legend Curtis Mayfield, slide guitarist Ry Cooder, and jazz hand Victor Feldman among them. The results are as good on record as they appear on paper…

With 1986's Strong Persuader, guitarist and vocalist Robert Cray stepped to the front of the line as a smooth and intelligent practitioner of the blues genre. Strong Persuader almost worked as well as a greatest hits set, with the brilliant Willie Mitchell-influenced "I Guess I Showed Her" being best of a perfect ten. With that standard being set, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is marred by it's lack of potent material and a tired-sounding band and Cray. The title is a steamy track punctuated by the Memphis Horns. The edgy and methodical "Don't You Even Care" finds Cray again on the losing end of a relationship. Although the relationship blues are stinging here, this album's best effort strays far from the formula. The oddly humorous "Night Patrol" has Cray playing armchair therapist wondering what went wrong with a drunk, and a 17-year-old girl on the corner…

First time on CD for this 1976 album from the jazz great. Miroslav Vitous is one of the premiere bass players in all of jazz music. At age 6 Miroslav started with the violin and switched to the piano at age 9. He then finally settled on playing the bass at age 14. He came to the United States in 1966 and became part of the New York Jazz scene. In 1970 he formed the band Weather Report and three years later formed the Miroslav Vitous Group. This album features Lenny White, David Earl Johnson and Gerry Brown.

This album is her initial solo piece that was recorded in Gent, Belgium in 1999 and is imported from Japan. Known around the world as the most promising and upcoming young artist who has the finest percussion technique and musical skills. This album explores wide ranges of percussion sound by marimba, vibraphone and multi-percussions and her perfect performance covers the signature pieces from Iannis Xenakis, Franco Donatoni, Frederic Rzewski, Joseph Schwantner and Yoichi Sugiyama.

Rhino’s seventh installment of 50th Anniversary Studio Releases for Grateful Dead. FROM THE MARS HOTEL is the 7th album and 2nd released on Dead’s own label, Grateful Dead Records. The Deluxe Edition will feature the same remastered and Plangentized audio from the 50th Remaster PLUS the previously unreleased live performance from the University of Nevada-Reno on May 12, 1974. This was the first road show for the infamous “Wall Of Sound,” which debuted mere weeks earlier at home on March 23, 1974 at the Cow Palace. remastered by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer David Glasser, with Plangent Processes tape restoration and speed correction and Produced for Release by David Lemieux.

On Jobim's second A&M album, Eumir Deodato takes over the chart-making tasks, and the difference between him and Claus Ogerman is quite apparent in the remake of "The Girl From Ipanema": the charts are heavier, more dramatic, and structured. Sometimes the arrangements roll back so one can hear, say, the dancing multi-phonic flute of wildman Hermeto Pascoal on "Tema Jazz," and the rhythms often veer away from the familiar ticking of the bossa nova. Jobim is his usual understated self, adding very subtle electric piano to his arsenal of acoustic piano and guitar, but the material sometimes falls short of Jobim's tip-top level (dead giveaway: "Tide" is a clever rewrite on the chord changes of "Wave"). Still, it's beautifully made and very musical at all times.

"Cantafabule" was published 1975 as double vinyl album and marks the undisputed high point in the career of this Romanian act. Phoenix blend Romanian folk vibes with classic and prog rock themes and deliver a cool mix of tunes. “Cantafabule” contains some great vocal harmonies and memorable songs full of originality and musical depth. Some great keyboard work here by Guenter Reininger with the rest of band adding nice musicianship (Nicolae Covaci (Voice, Guitar), Josef Kappl (Voice, Bass, Violin), Ovidiu Lipan and Mircea Baniciu (Voice, Guitar).

Though probably nobody fully appreciated it at the time - perhaps least of all the band! - Depeche Mode's debut is at once both a conservative, functional pop record and a groundbreaking release. While various synth pioneers had come before - Gary Numan, early Human League, late-'70s Euro-disco, and above all Kraftwerk all had clear influence on Speak & Spell - Depeche became the undisputed founder of straight-up synth pop with the album's 11 songs, light, hooky, and danceable numbers about love, life, and clubs. For all the claims about "dated" '80s sounds from rock purists, it should be noted that the basic guitar/bass/drums lineup of rock is almost 25 years older than the catchy keyboard lines and electronic drums making the music here…