Doc & Merle Watson Bear's Sonic Journals Never The Same Way Once (live) (2017)

Recorded live at Navaro in Kumamoto, Japan - 20th December 2016.

Hungarian Jazz/Fusion band Djabe and Steve Hackett collaborated on various occasions and have released a couple of albums together, such as Summer Storms And Rocking Rivers (iTunes Link) and the more recent Life Is A Journey. On 15th February, Djabe released yet another interesting live CD/DVD digipak: It Is Never The Same Twice. It contains two recordings: The CD was recorded at Ady House of Culture in Miskolc (8th June 2017), while the DVD was recorded in Budapest, Jazz Club, 3rd June 2017. Both recording feature Djabe and guest musicians Gulli Briem and Steve Hackett.

Vincent Ho’s music is wild and fanciful, and takes us to the limits of sonic energy, but it is also intimate and tender, for he is not afraid to reveal his truly lyrical soul. THE SHAMAN is a work that sets an atmosphere of magical stillness, with the soloist evoking unearthly sounds - wolf calls, shimmering colours, and the lightest of orchestral textures. It is powerful work that merges the spiritual indigenous world with the modern classical world to create a compelling musical journey. ARCTIC SYMPHONY was inspired by the composer’s first-hand experience of the Arctic Ocean with a scientific research team aboard a Canadian Coast Guard ship. Evelyn Glennie is the first person in history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist, performing worldwide with the greatest conductors, orchestras, and artists.

In past incarnations of Bill Bruford's Earthworks, music often centered around the drummer's electronic sound sculptures using digital triggers and chordal drums. The approach yielded fine results, but Bruford up and changed everything when in 1995 he christened a new Earthworks. Ditching the technology in favor of a traditional jazz kit, his music began reaching back to cool, hard bop, and old-school fusion. In addition to now playing his kit in an unorthodox arrangement, Bruford moved the emphasis from nifty electronics to the kinetic energy generated by his impressive polyrhythmic work. On "Triplicity" his orchestration boasts a dizzying array of time changes, the tempo kept constant only by the hi-hat. It's an aural exercise (albeit a very enjoyable one) just keeping pace.

When a rock ‘n roll band is fronted by an electrifying voice like Nikki Lamborn’s, when its songs are written by the gifted Catherine ‘Been’ Feeney, when its musicians are world class, it’s called Never The Bride… Never the Bride has released six studio albums to date. “Jealousy” is a Never The Bride’s tribute to transatlantic rock and blues pioneers - the album of eclectic and wonderful covers that have been freshly realised and rebirthed by these partners in crime. Never the Bride is an English band, founded around 1991. Bristol-born vocalist Nikki Lamborn co-writes original songs with Catherine "Been" Feeney, who is the main composer, keyboard player, vocalist and occasional guitarist. Nikki and Catherine are the nucleus of the band, drawing additional members from an enviable pool of talented world-class musicians.

The Way We Live wasn't a terribly commercial or compelling name for a rock band, and Tractor is a yet more awkward and less appealing moniker. Yet, for some reason, that's what the Way We Live changed their name to between the 1971 A Candle for Judith album (which turned out to be the only the Way We Live LP) and their 1972 follow-up, Tractor. Both albums are combined onto one CD on this 1994 reissue by See For Miles. A Candle for Judith was uneven, second-division, early-'70s British hippie rock, divided between lumpy, bluesy hard rock and far folkier, pastoral, acoustic-flavored musings.