1988 Spirit Of Eden [2003 Sacd Dsf64]

This dreamy music will calm and relax the listener, stimulate the senses, and encourage deep meditation. Each track is heavily influenced by Indian music. Consequently, it is very trance-like. Each of these four tracks is based on a drone, together with sparse melodies and ethereal sound effects. The result is a mystical experience that is intended to put one in touch not only with the inner self, but also with the external wonders of the cosmos. Indeed, these ambient compositions are powerful musical tapestries that encourage contemplation and even enlightenment. Of the four tracks, Manose Singh's haunting bamboo flute playing on "Khumjung" really stands out. The Spirit of Yoga is the perfect background for any kind of yoga practice - from vigorous to meditative.

The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth album by the English rock band Pink Floyd. Originally released on 1 March 1973, on the label Harvest, it built on ideas explored in the band's earlier recordings and live shows, but departs from instrumental thematic by founding member Syd Barrett. The album explores themes including conflict, greed, the passage of time, and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by Barrett's deteriorating mental state. The Dark Side of the Moon was an immediate success; it topped the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart for a week and remained in the chart for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988. With an estimated 45 million copies sold, it is Pink Floyd's most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling worldwide. It produced two singles, "Money" and "Us and Them", and is the band's most popular album among fans and critics, and has been ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time.

This 1975 release on Mercury has Randy California and Ed Cassidy's names imprinted boldly on the cover as Spirit, and the 26 songs - starting with "America the Beautiful/The Times They Are a Changin'" and concluding with "The Star Spangled Banner" - are more than just a sly tribute to the bicentennial. They are the most fluid and satisfying statement by the California/Cassidy version of the band, who would be together for another 20 years before California's untimely passing. As ethereal and icy as Feedback, the album Cassidy recorded with the Stahely brothers, there are all sorts of hidden meanings projected throughout this LP. Randy California gives more than a few nods to his work with Jimi Hendrix - covers of "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Hey Joe" are two of Hendrix's more notable and triumphant revisions…

By the time this third album came out, little was left of the original spirit of East Of Eden and only violinist Dave Arbus of the original line-up. They had changed from one progressive label Deram to another Harvest, but also lost their experimental edge in the process. As a matter of fact, aside from more conventional song structures, this album has a slight country music feel. This album is quite far removed from the experimental forays of their first two albums, but the album has many charms and holds some interest for progheads.

It may be hard to believe, but this is the CD premiere of this little-known, underrated, but quite important 5th release from such an amazing British progressive band! It was recorded in February 1974 (a whole year after violinist Dave Arbus departure, and now with Jo O'Donnell from Irish folk-rock band Mushroom on board) but released a whole year later by German Harvest label in striking, nude cover. Without a doubt it deserves for recognition. The band has offered a varied and well-arranged progressive-jazz-blues-rock songs stylistically similar to some of the tracks from the previous two albums (from 1971), but done in somewhat simpler and more consistent form. This CD has been expanded with many rare & unreleased live tracks.

East of Eden's debut LP is one of the hardest-rocking albums to come out of the progressive rock movement, and maybe the best non-Rolling Stones albums issued by English Decca label during the late 1960s. It's also one of the most daring debut albums of its period, less tightly focused than, say, King Crimson's Court of the Crimson King, but otherwise equally bold and maybe more challenging. The whole record is eerie - coming from a pop culture where most psychedelic rock tended toward the light and airy - East of Eden use high-impact bass, drum, and guitar parts mixed with the distinctly Oriental and Central/Eastern European classical influences…