Полигон 2002

Anton Fils, dessen kurzes Leben mit nur 27 Jahren im Jahr 1760 als Cellist der Hofkapelle in Mannheim endete. Schon Zeitgenossen wie Schubarth haben den frühen Tod dieses hochbegabten und einfallsreichen Komponisten bedauert. Zum Glück für die Nachwelt hinterließ Fils eine stattliche Anzahl sinfonischer Kompositionen: So ist zu hoffen, daß das L’Orfeo Barockorchester und das Label cpo dieser ersten CD noch einige folgen lassen, um den überlieferten Schatz von etwa dreißig Sinfonien dieses Meisters den Musikfreunden zugänglich zu machen.

Mike Sanchez and Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest have always been musical anthropologists, sampling the sounds of other cultures (Pygmy tribes of Cameroon, Gypsies of Eastern Europe, Cuban street musicians, to name just a few) and swirling them into their own ambient dance pop. On this 2002 release the French duo revisits some old samples and also brings in Turkish chant, Japanese pop, and Indian vocals. They introduce startling new elements as well: heavy electric guitars, many lyrics written in English, and a live drummer replacing the programmed rhythm tracks of their previous recordings.
Many of the lyrics here concern environmental issues and warn of the impending dangers of soullessness…

After pursuing a Rolling Stones-styled blend of rock and country elements on their first two albums, Nazareth segued into a harder rocking style with 1973's Razamanaz. The resulting album has a lot of energy and drive and much of this can be credited to Roger Glover's production, which tempers the group's tendency to experiment with different musical styles by imposing an overall sound that play's up the group's hard rock edge. The end result is an album that rocks consistently throughout but works in intriguing musical elements to keep things interesting.

Sometimes the bloodlines show up and at other times they explode with a fanfare that shows itself to the world. Lil' Ed Williams traces his heritage back to his uncle, one of the Chicago blues legends, slide guitar master J.B. Hutto. He was tutored by his uncle, and the West Side Chicago blues scene that nurtured him, and readily gives J.B. much of the credit for his prowess. He captures some of that same raw street energy that was his uncle's trademark on many of the tracks on this, his fifth Alligator release. Listen to "The Creeper" to get an idea of the savage fury that he can channel through his slide guitar work. This disc manifests that feel for the blues that can't be taught, but must be both lived and seen from the inside…

George Harrison went quiet not long after the second Traveling Wilburys album, surfacing only for the Beatles' Anthology in the mid-'90s. He was recording all the while, yet he died before completing the album that would have been the follow-up to 1987's Cloud Nine. His son, Dhani, and his longtime friend/collaborator Jeff Lynne completed the recordings, released late in 2002, nearly a year after George's death, as Brainwashed. Given its baggage it's easy to be suspicious about the merits of Brainwashed prior to hearing it. Posthumous efforts often feel incomplete, Harrison's albums were frequently inconsistent, and Lynne favors ornate, cinematic productions that run contrary to George's desire for this project to be simple and low key - nothing that would suggest that Brainwashed would be a success…