U2 sounded so confident and assured on their debut that perhaps it was inevitable they would stumble slightly on its follow-up, October. The record isn't weaker than its predecessor because it repeats the formula of Boy. It's because the band tries too hard to move forward. Bono, in particular, tries too hard to make big political, emotional, and religious statements, but the remainder of the band isn't innocent…
Del Shannon’s formidable hit list qualifies him as one of the truly great artists of the 1960s. Del made #1 on both sides of the Atlantic with his first 45, ‘Runaway’, and for the next few years he delivered the chart goods again and again with some of the best singles ever made – most of which he wrote or co-wrote. This new Ace set is, we believe, the first to present Del’s UK 45s, as released between 1960 and 1966, in the order they appeared here and in the same couplings used on the original London and Stateside pressings (which often differed from their US counterparts).
Very Rare Late 60s Progressive-rock Album with the Emphasis on Organ and Guitar Workouts. Includes a Brilliant Version of Zappa's 'peaches En Regalia'.
The tender musical heart of this enchanted take on The Man Who Fell to Earth belongs to composer Edward Shearmur, who turns in a largely synthesized score where spare, delicate piano melodies often recall Thomas Newman's deft sense of space and dynamics. While the general musical ethos seems a throwback to the mid-'80s heyday of pioneering electronic scores by Vangelis and Tangerine Dream, contemporary technical advances have allowed Shearmur to impart an ethereal and distinctly organic aural patina to these cues. Though informed by his atmospheric session work with Pink Floyd (The Division Bell), Shearmur's K-PAX score stands apart: quiet, mystically introspective music that seems as uncomplicated–and yet innately profound–as an autumn breeze.
Originally issued in Japan in 1998, Sonic Origami was released in the U.S. a year later with the bonus track intact. The album has a grand, epic tone throughout that doesn't always match Uriah Heep's journeyman-sounding prog-tinged hard rock, and some songs' lyrics sink under the weight of their pretension or sentimentality. But for diehard Heep fans those are minor quibbles; while the group's sound may not be devastatingly original anymore, they are definitely quite committed to their performances, and the occasional overreaching is part and parcel with this sort of classic AOR pomp-rock (and, in fact, constitutes a not insignificant part of its appeal).
Looking for a fresh start, Budgie signed with A&M Records in 1976 and released the strangely titled If I Were Brittania, I'd Waive the Rules. The band continued to incorporate new elements into their sound here, showing a special interest in funk on such tracks as "Anne Neggen" and "Sky High Percentage." …