Justin Hinds & the Dominoes were one of the most popular vocal groups during the ska and rocksteady era, but Hinds was a country boy at heart, and with the rise of reggae he returned to his rural home. Thus the group disappeared from view for most of the first half of the '70s, but by 1975, producer L. "Jack Ruby" Lindo coaxed Hinds to Kingston, and the trio back into the studio. The musical scene had shifted dramatically during the interim, with the pusillanimous freneticism of early reggae slowing into the denser and more atmospheric sound of roots. And here, Hinds and company were right at home.
The debut album by John Foxx And The Maths will be released by Metamatic Records on 21st March, 2011. Interplay is a collaboration between John Foxx and electronic composer and synthesizer collector, Benge (Ben Edwards). He's best known for his 2008 album, Twenty Systems which was described by Brian Eno as 'a brilliant contribution to the archaeology of electronic music.' The album will initially be available as a Deluxe Digipack limited to 1500 copies, designed by Jonathan Barnbrook whose previous work includes David Bowie's Heathen and Reality albums. Moody and atmospheric, but also full of songs that are actually more pop than avant garde, Interplay pulls various strands of electronic music together from early 80s electro to 70s Krautrock, even flashes of Cabaret Voltaire and Foxx s first band, Ultravox!
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings are a band perfectly willing to wear their enthusiasm on their collective sleeve. After all, the project that brought Stephen Fearing, Colin Linden, and Tom Wilson together and gave them their group name was a tribute to Canadian singer/songwriter Willie P. Bennett, and they've never been hesitant to cover songwriters they look up to or bring in guest artists they admire…
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is the only studio album by Anglo-American blues rock band Derek and the Dominos. Released in November 1970, the double album is best known for its title track, "Layla", and is often regarded as Eric Clapton's greatest musical achievement. The other band members were Bobby Whitlock on keyboards and vocals, Jim Gordon on drums, Carl Radle on bass, and special guest performer Duane Allman on lead and slide guitar on 11 of the 14 songs. In 2000, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2003, television network VH1 named Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs the 89th-greatest album of all time, and Rolling Stone ranked it number 117 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Critic Robert Christgau ranked Layla the third greatest album of the 1970s.
As a longtime member of one of the groups that helped create heavy metal (Deep Purple, for the uninitiated), it's understandable to expect a solo outing by bassist Roger Glover to be geared toward headbangers. But as evidenced by his fifth solo album overall, 2011's If Life Was Easy, Glover has opted to follow a bluesier, roots rocky path. Which is understandable, because the whole point of doing a solo album should be to step out from under Purple's high-decibel shadow. As a case in point, a pair of tunes feature Glover's daughter Gillian Glover on vocals: "Set Your Imagination Free" and "Get Away (Can't Let You)," with the former falling in "ballad" category while the latter is a blues-rocker with blaring horn work.