‘N Fellow

Drummer Billy Cobham played some of the most exciting music of the 1970s. As a member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and as a leader of his own bands, Cobham was at the forefront of the jazz fusion movement and was a prime mover during its glory days. He was still at it as of 2007, and proved more than capable of keeping up with both the new breed of fusion players and fellow veterans. Assisted by such stalwarts as Jan Hammer, Jeff Berlin, and Brian Auger, Cobham storms, crackles, and soars through a dazzling brace of dynamic, concise compositions on DRUM 'N' VOICE 2.

Beau Coup is condemned to forever remain a cult classic; it is one of the many exciting bands (and solo artists) who will always be fondly remembered within the AOR and pomprock minded community, but who outside this sphere have never received the recognition they so richly deserved…

One of the greatest soul discoveries of recent years. Joe Barr shaped his art in the smoky clubs of Chicago. This essay in the form of a tribute to the big names in the genre is definitely a masterstroke!

I have no idea why it comes as a shock that the debut solo album from the longest serving member of Guns N’ Roses (apart from Axl) would be tasty, but it is a shock, and it is rather tasty. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s G’n’R keyboardist Dizzy Reed, so you could be forgiven for expecting an album full of self indulgent piano noodling, but rather than battering the listener over the head with his own interpretations of Beethoven classics or a Jazz workout, Reed has opted to go with an album of material ripe for a Saturday night in your local dive.

Like his fellow Yellow Magic Orchestra alumnus Ryuichi Sakamoto, keyboardist and programmer Haruomi Hosono has a taste for exotic experimentation. But the similarities pretty much end there. Sakamoto's solo work runs to a sort of light contemporary classical music, and his collaborations have tended to be with pop musicians. On N.D.E., Hosono teams up with a host of sidemen both famous (bassist Bill Laswell) and obscure (saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu, violinist Arun Bagal) to create a beautiful, funky, and yet strangely creepy collage of electronic beats, modal melodies, and exotic samples…

Before Wigwam enter the land of the progressive they spent a few songs more in the Psychedelic vein with blues rock influences in many ways not unlike Pink Floyd. Finland's Wigwam were an original act from the start lead by Britan's Jim Pembroke's song writing and Jukka Gustavson's organ grinds and compositions. "Hard 'N' Horny" plays actually like 2 separate albums or in this case as 2 distinct sides. The album's first side clearly belongs to Gustavson (credited will all side one song penmanship) with his prog-blues organ drenched pieces and clever song writing drawing on genres of psych/jazz/avant art rock. In total contrast the second half of this album rests in the hands of Jim Pembroke (again all songs credit on side 2 to Pembroke) in a sadly forgotten, side-long, conceptual psychedelic masterpiece about some middle aged fellow named Henry.

With The Alleycats! swingin' holiday classics with big band arrangements.
This oldies quartet formed in 1987 while attending Fullerton College in California. Inspired by 1950s doo-wop sounds, The Alley Cats - Royce Reynolds (bass), Todd Dixon (baritone), Andre Peck (tenor), and Armando "Mando" Fonseco (baritone) - landed their first singing job at Disneyland as part of Disney's "Blast to the Past" show in 1988 and 1989. John O'Campo and Terron Brooks joined the group in 1997 after the departure of founding members Peck and Dixon. The group went on to do television and radio appearances, including a promotional gig with Sunkist Paradise Fruit Juice and a performance on the Arsenio Hall Show…