End Day (2005)

Best known, if at all, as avant-garde director Robert Wilson's most frequent musical collaborator (no, not Philip Glass, Tom Waits, or David Byrne), Louisiana-born violinist/composer Michael Galasso has not been much of a presence on recordings. Indeed High Lines follows his previous album, Scenes, by a good 23 years and from the evidence here, you can infer without any derogatory inplications why he has stayed away from the spotlight all that time.

Télépopmusik's sophomore effort is filled with beautiful backing tracks. Pillows of soft synth slowly emerge while pianos, harps, brass instruments, electronic ticks, and glitches stroll in and out of the picture as they please. This subdued electronica landscape is something to get lost in, and while it's nothing you haven't heard before, it's exactly what headphones crave on rainy days and almost enough to excuse the hackneyed lyrics and overindulgence.

Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid. Run in support of the aims of the UK's Make Poverty History campaign and the Global Call for Action Against Poverty, Ten simultaneous concerts were held on 2 July and one on 6 July. On 7 July the G8 leaders pledged to double 2004 levels of aid to poor nations from US$25 to US$50 billion by the year 2010. Half of the money was to go to Africa.

The band first got noticed when their 1996 debut album, Livin’ It Up, was released . This was swiftly followed by Break Away a year later and Make My Day in 1999. However, record label problems led to the band splitting up at the end of the last century. Fats forward six years, and Frontiers persuaded vocalist Fred Hendrix and his keyboard playing brother Ron to take a break form their prog rock project Aquila and do a new Terra Nova album. The result was 2005′s Escape, which showed the band had lost none of its power. Now, together with guitarist Gesuino Derosas and drummer Lars Beuving, they’ve delivered Come Alive, maintaining the high standards of the past.

Those connecting Faithful Breath from Bochum with hard rock are right as regards their later works. In the beginning, however, they played psychedelia, then, initiated by their keyboarder Manfred von Buttlar, symphonic rock dominated by Mellotron. Their first LP is considered to be their best work: "Fading Beauty", recorded at the end of 1973 and released as a private pressing in early 1974. Especially the long track "Tharsis", occupying an entire side of the LP, is a real masterpiece. Already in 1991, the LP was released as a CD in the U.S. As it was no longer available, however, a re-release was overdue, which has been made from the master tape. In the 32-page booklet, there is the usual detailed band history and discography as well as plenty of cover and label reproductions and photographs of the artists…