1st Press

"No Exit" is the fourth studio album by progressive metal band Fates Warning, released in 1988 through Metal Blade Records. It is the first Fates Warning album to feature current vocalist Ray Alder, who replaced John Arch after the release of Awaken the Guardian (1986), as well as the last to feature drummer Steve Zimmerman, who left the band just prior to the recording of their subsequent album Perfect Symmetry (1989). The title was inspired by No Exit, a 1944 play written by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. This 1988 album arguably represents Fates Warning's best work.

David Foster is a Canadian musician, record producer, composer, songwriter, and arranger. He has been a producer for notable musical artists including Christina Aguilera, Andrea Bocelli, Toni Braxton, Michael Bublé, Chicago, Natalie Cole, The Corrs, Céline Dion, Jackie Evancho, Kenny G, Josh Groban, Whitney Houston, Jennifer Lopez, Seal, Rod Stewart, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, and Westlife. During the '80s, '90s, and early 2000s, David Foster was among the most commercially successful producers and composers in all of popular music. Foster has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations.

Here it is, the unholy quartet back in all its glorious ugliness with the name it should have had all along. Heaven & Hell are comprised of guitarist Tony Iommi, fuzz and buzz bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Vinny Appice, and vocalist Ronnie James Dio. The former pair were founding members of doom metal lords Black Sabbath, of course. Dio is best known as the lead singer of Elf, and then Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, and Vinny Appice was Rick Derringer's drummer before joining these three lads in a new version of Sabbath after Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward left. This quartet issued a total of three recordings together, Heaven & Hell (1980), Mob Rules (1981), and Dehumanizer (1992).

The versatile British combo Byzantium made a run at mainstream success in the front half of the 1970s, releasing a trio of eclectic albums that endeared them to critics, but befuddled both the masses and the band's record label. In retrospect, the group's blend of psychedelia, progressive rock, country-rock, and West Coast pop perhaps predestined the cult status that time eventually bestowed upon them. Featuring a multi-headed staff of talented songwriters and with instrumental prowess to match, Byzantium were a vigorous live band with a strong vocal presence and plenty of technical flair that could be heard in their ambitious arrangements.

Following the release of the 1977 album Animals and its accompanying "In the Flesh" tour, Pink Floyd went on hiatus, having become popular enough to support solo albums by bandmembers who were inclined to make them. Guitarist David Gilmour and keyboard player Richard Wright were. For his album, Wright assembled some of the backing musicians who had been accompanying Pink Floyd for years, in particular reed player Mel Collins and guitarist Snowy White. So it was no surprise that the resulting record, Wet Dream, sounded like outtakes from Pink Floyd sessions. Wright's keyboards had always been a major element in the Pink Floyd sound, and his singing and songwriting had also been a big part of the group's music, despite the increasing domination of Roger Waters.

On True Colors, Cyndi Lauper began to edge her way into adult contemporary territory, but it was on her third album, A Night to Remember, that she concentrated all of her attention on becoming a self-consciously "mature" singer/songwriter. A Night to Remember doesn't always work, but not because she's incapable of performing polished, well-crafted middle-of-the-road material – "Time After Time" and "True Colors" prove that she could convincingly deliver ballads. Instead, the album bogs down because it assumes that labored arrangements and precisely detailed production are tantamount to musical sophistication. That said, there are some moments – such as the seductive "I Drove All Night" – that make a lasting impression, illustrating what Lauper was attempting to achieve with the record.

Outsider is Uriah Heep's 24th studio album. It follows the untimely passing of their beloved bass player, Trevor Bolder in May 2013. The recording started in late 2013 at Liscombe Park Studios in Buckinghamshire, England and features 11 brand new songs, including some epic additions to the band's huge catalog of rock classics. Uriah Heep debuted in 1970 with the release of one of Hard Rock music's milestones Very 'eavy… Very 'umble (which some rock historians argue contains the very FIRST heavy metal song ever, the classic Gypsy) and have since sold in excess of 30 million albums worldwide.

Dancing with Strangers is the ninth studio album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1987. It became Rea's first major success in UK, peaking at #2, behind Michael Jackson's Bad, and spent 46 weeks in the charts, achieving Platinum accreditation. It reached the Top 10 in six other European countries, while in New Zealand it became a number one album. "Let's Dance" was released as the first single and, like the album, became a major hit for Rea in UK, peaking at #12. In tone with the success of the album, "Let's Dance" became a major hit in New Zealand as well, peaking at #2. The other singles released from this album were "Loving You Again" (UK #47), "Joys of Christmas" (UK #67) and "Que Sera" (UK #73).

Regrettably bypassing the Top Ten hit "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough," Twelve Deadly Cyns features almost all of Cyndi Lauper's Top 40 hits, tacking on a handful of new tracks at the end, including "Hey Now (Girls Still Wanna Have Fun)," an updated version of her breakthrough hit single, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." As hits collections go, the album is fine, but with the exception of the ballad "True Colors" and the pop confection "Change of Heart," all of her finest songs and biggest hits were on She's So Unusual, which is a more consistent and entertaining album.