Across The Pond

Dockland Music Presents Across The Pond: British & Irish Country Music album original hits and the original artists genre Country, Folk.

Dockland Music Presents Across The Pond: British & Irish Country Music album original hits and the original artists genre Country, Folk.

Dockland Music Presents Across The Pond: British & Irish Country Music album original hits and the original artists genre Country, Folk.

Ruby & the Romantics have been poorly served by best-of collections, which are too brief and skimpy. This two-CD, 42-song set goes too far in the other direction, and not everything on here is exciting or worthy of multiple listens by any means. Still, too much is better than too little, and this does thoroughly cover the prime era of the original lineup at Kapp from 1963-1967. On the plus side, this convincingly demonstrates that there was more depth and quality than is commonly acknowledged to a group that is often remembered only for one song ("Our Day Will Come") or regarded as a lightweight pop-soul group.

At the dawn of 1964, the British Invasion was literally weeks away. The Beatles would land in the U.S. for the first time on Feb. 7 of that year, and The Rolling Stones would follow them across the pond a little less than six months later. But before the two bands met their American fans en masse, they met three particular ones: The Ronettes, whose "Be My Baby" had just hit the number-two spot on Billboard's Hot 100.

Eugene Istomin (1925–2003), one of America’s most respected pianists, was highly esteemed by audiences and colleagues alike for his mindful virtuosity and unusually wide-ranging repertoire. 2015 marks Istomin’s 90th birthday year, a milestone that Sony Classical celebrates with the first-ever release of his complete Columbia Masterworks concerto and solo recordings in a limited original-jacket collection including 10 previously unreleased studio recordings. Many of these performances appear in their first authorized CD editions, including the 19-year-old pianist’s recorded debut in Bach’s D minor Concerto led by Adolf Busch; his youthful concerto collaborations with Pablo Casals; Chopin’s complete Nocturnes; Brahms’s Handel Variations; Schubert’s D major D 850 Sonata, plus the long-out-of-print Rachmaninoff 2nd, Tchaikovsky 1st, Brahms 2nd, and Beethoven 4th and 5th (“Emperor”) Concertos with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Newly remastered from the original analogue tapes, the discs are presented in facsimile sleeves and labels corresponding to the original LP releases. An enclosed booklet offers full discographical information, an essay by Jed Distler, and a photographic retrospective.

In their long career, Vanden Plas has until now produced only one live album: "Spirit of Live," recorded in Paris at the legendary Elysée Montmartre, was released in 2000. With the upcoming release of "The Seraphic Live Works," the wait for another live long-player is finally over.

Like many American heavy metal bands of the late '70s and very early '80s, the Rods enjoyed a far warmer welcome overseas than in their native land, which was still suffering from a double whammy of the painful disco hangover and its resulting music business recession. And the Rods were among the "lucky" few who at least had major record deals on their home turf (peers like Twisted Sister and Manowar were signed to foreign indies), which is how the blue-collar metal trio found itself touring its eponymous first album in the U.K. as support to Iron Maiden and other major acts. The exposure certainly helped endear the group to British audiences, and since there was nothing really happening back home, Arista instructed them to go ahead and record their second album, 1982's Wild Dogs, right there in England, hoping that building momentum would eventually translate into sales across the pond.

In their long career, Vanden Plas has until now produced only one live album: "Spirit of Live," recorded in Paris at the legendary Elysée Montmartre, was released in 2000. With the upcoming release of "The Seraphic Liveworks," the wait for another live long-player is finally over. On many tours and in countless concerts, Vanden Plas has proven again and again that it is among the world's leading Prog-Metal bands. The quintet's glowing reputation carries across the pond to the USA, where Vanden Plas was invited to appear at the renowned Prog Power Festival in Atlanta in 2011. Regardless of a band's fame, an invitation to this prestigious venue is an honor, and their performance will certainly retain an exceptional place in the Vanden Plas history.

Is there a more rock and roll name than Hair Of The Dog? Its very thought conjures up left over Jack Daniels swigged from the bottle after a heavy night on the tiles. A purely 1970’s concept wrapped up in greasy biker threads and semi-clad women draped off the arm of the lead singer. It’s a time worn thing and pretty much related to a distant past now, one that maybe should stay hidden. But that’s the rub, it just won’t stay hidden and for every major rock star stating that rock is dead, along comes another new upstart to prove there is life in the old dog yet and this weeks Almost Famous debutants are this rather fantastic band from Edinburgh.