Art Germany From September 2016

No matter the associates or variables involved, a Saint Etienne album is always going to end up sounding just like a Saint Etienne album, even if it's a little different from what came before it. On Tales from Turnpike House, the group gets two productions from Xenomania (Girls Aloud, Sugababes), several vocal arrangements from Tony Rivers (the Castaways, Harmony Grass) and son, some songwriting and vocal contributions from the misunderstood David Essex ("Rock On," "Stardust"), and assorted things from faces old and new…

David Gilmour released his second solo venture in 1984, following the apparent dissolution of Pink Floyd. He had released a record on his own in 1978, but About Face is much more accessible. Gilmour has a stellar band backing him, including Jeff Porcaro (drums), Pino Palladino (bass), and Anne Dudley (synthesizer). The songs on About Face show a pop sensibility that Pink Floyd rarely was concerned with achieving…

Brothers Ron and Russell Mael from Los Angeles, USA have been making diverse music since 1969 under various incarnations of Sparks. In 1979 they ditched the guitars and keyboards of glam geek rock and started working with Italian producer Giorgio Moroder, beginning a love affair with electronic music. Since then they have worked with a variety of people including Finitribe, Les Rita Mitsouko, Erasure and Faith No More.

Swiss art rock band Rumpelstilz was founded in 1971 by Hanery Amman (piano) and Polo Hofer (vocals, lyrics), along with Jürg Werren (guitars), Sami Jungen (bass) and Hans Jungen (drums). Hans Jungen was replaced soon after its founding by Küre Güdel, and half a year later René "Schifer" Schafer replaced Jürg Werren. The first single Warehuus Blues (Swiss German, meaning "department store blues") was released in 1973 and was less successful, and in 1975 the first LP Vogelfuetter (meaning "bird seed") was released. The band's performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1975 opened the band's sound to a wider audience. The song Teddy marked the commercial breakthrough in 1976, and shortly afterwards Kiosk became their greatest hit.

Rock Island is the 17th studio album by the British rock group Jethro Tull, released in 1989. The album continued the hard rock direction the band took on the previous effort, Crest of a Knave (1987). The line-up now included Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, Dave Pegg and drummer Doane Perry in his first full recording with the band, although he was already a member of Jethro Tull since 1984. Without a permanent keyboard player, the role was shared by Fairport Convention's Martin Allcock and former Tull member Peter Vettese. Rock Island went Gold in the UK, with good sales also in Germany, where it peaked at Nº 5. There were good sales also for the "Kissing Willie" single, that reached Nº 6.

Vigilante is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Magnum, released in 1986 on Polydor. Capitalising on the success of On a Storyteller's Night, Magnum changed to a more commercial direction with Vigilante. Produced by David Richards and Queen drummer Roger Taylor, the band's sound stepped towards that of 1980s Queen, with keyboards much higher in the mix than guitar. The album was recorded at Queen's famous Mountain Studios in Montreux.