Born Itzy

'Born Again' is a great ROCK album, but there really isn't much 'progressive' about it - Graeme Field took the prog idealism along with him when he left Rare Bird after the exciting album 'As Your Mind Flies By'. That said, the songs here are very tight, undeniably well arranged, performed, and sound fantastic…

Big Bill Morganfield continues to forge his own sound with a delicate balancing act on this, his forth album. He pays tribute to his dad and the Chicago sound he helped create on the title track, but he has a jazzy side that keeps moving the blues in a more sophisticated direction as well. Al Duncan's "Too Late Brother" opens things with a juke-joint rocker in the style of Morganfield's dad, with Steve Guyger's harp tossing some fat on the fire. "High Gas Prices," a Morganfield original, gives the country blues an urban edge with a tune too many sang in the waning months of 2009. Morganfield sings Pearl Woods' "I Play Dirty" with a winning combination of humor and aggression, with Clark Stern's organ giving the tune a sanctified feel. "Who's the Fool," another original, is a shuffle on the familiar subject of a faithless woman, and Morganfield growls out the lyric with plenty of panache. What really distinguishes Morganfield from his dad is his way with love songs. Muddy always sounded dangerous, even when he was proclaiming his passion. Big Bill's voice is smoother and more mellow, and when he sings a soulful tune like Buddy Guy's neo-R&B ballad "My Love Is Real," his voice has a seductive power his dad lacked.

The hard-hitting, melodic heavy metal band Alcatrazz will once again throw down a studio gauntlet on July 31st 2020 with Born Innocent, their first studio venture since 1986’s Dangerous Game. Alongside the unique vocal prowess and range of star frontman and founding member Graham Bonnet, Born Innocent also features fellow founding members Jimmy Waldo and Gary Shea. And from the classic album art, featuring the mighty rock itself, Born Innocent is a journey into the sort of heavy, melodic and supremely articulated hard rock that is a cornerstone of the likes of Rainbow and the Michael Schenker Group, territory Alcatrazz successfully strode in the ‘80s before going on hiatus.

Undoubtedly one of rock's most anthologized bands bar none (even Kiss!), heavy metal legends Motörhead have their back catalog plundered and reconfigured yet again with this collection of singles (including B-sides) from their Bronze Records years…

Air Born: The MCA & Decca Years 1973-1984 is a new box set featuring the music of English prog-rock band Camel. The box features 27 CDs & five blu-rays and includes newly remastered versions of every Camel album and single issued between 1973 and 1984, but also includes new stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound versions of five albums, as well as new mixes of three concerts; The Marquee Club, London 1974, Hammersmith Odeon 1976 and Hammersmith Odeon 1977. The package also features previously unreleased outtakes from album recording sessions and BBC Radio ‘In Concert’ appearances from 1974, 1975, 1977 and 1981.

Not long into the ceaseless promotional parade for Born This Way, Lady Gaga’s second full-length record and easily the most anticipated record of the 2010s, a certain sense of inevitability crept into play. It was inevitable that Born This Way would be an escalation of The Fame, it was inevitable that Gaga would go where others feared to tread, it was inevitable that it would be bigger than any other record thrown down in 2011, both in its scale and success…

After sharing Grammy nominations in three categories earlier this year (two for production on Kenny Garrett’s album “Seeds From the Underground” and one co-writing of a song on Denise Donatelli’s album “Soul Shadows”), returning to playing piano after a year-long hiatus due for medical reasons, and releasing his new album “Born to Be Blue,” Brown may be on the verge of getting the recognition that in-the-know jazz lovers have known he deserves.

Albert King recorded a lot in the early '60s, including some classic sides, but they never quite hit the mark. They never gained a large audience, nor did they really capture the ferocity of his single-string leads. Then he signed with Stax in 1966 and recorded a number of sessions with the house band, Booker T. & the MG's, and everything just clicked. The MG's gave King supple Southern support, providing an excellent contrast to his tightly wound lead guitar, allowing to him to unleash a torrent of blistering guitar runs that were profoundly influential, not just in blues, but in rock & roll (witness Eric Clapton's unabashed copping of King throughout Cream's Disraeli Gears). Initially, these sessions were just released as singles, but they were soon compiled as King's Stax debut, Born Under a Bad Sign.