To some listeners, An Accidental Collocation of Atoms? may not seem necessary, since Extreme's two hits were already on one album, yet for casual fans who don't have Pornograffitti, or want highlights from the other records, this is a strong, representative collection. Sure, dedicated fans will find some favorites missing – after all, these are pulled from records that were designed as albums – but all the singles are here, including such European releases as "Get the Funk Out" and "Tragic Comic," along with such strong album tracks as "Decadence Dance." There's only one semi-rarity to snag the faithful – the "Horn Mix" of "Cupid's Dead" – but these fans are likely to stick with the original albums, no matter what. And, truth be told, there's some relevance in that, since the albums were cohesive works, but An Accidental Collision of Atoms remains a first-rate sampler that proves Extreme were better than the vast majority of their Bush-era hard-rock and pop-metal peers.
Aya Kamiki is a Japanese singer-songwriter. Her style ranges from pop, rock to rhythm and blues.
The act with the first arena-sized sound in the electronica movement, the Chemical Brothers united such varying influences as Public Enemy, Cabaret Voltaire, and My Bloody Valentine to create a dance-rock-rap fusion which rivaled the best old-school DJs on their own terms – keeping a crowd of people on the floor by working through any number of groove-oriented styles featuring unmissable samples, from familiar guitar riffs to vocal tags to various sound effects. And when the duo (Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons) decided to supplement their DJ careers by turning their bedrooms into recording studios, they pioneered a style of music (later termed big beat) remarkable for its lack of energy loss from the dancefloor to the radio. Chemical Brothers albums were less collections of songs and more hour-long journeys, chock-full of deep bomb-studded beats, percussive breakdowns, and effects borrowed from a host of sources. All in all, the duo proved one of the few exceptions to the rule that intelligent dance music could never be bombastic or truly satisfying to the seasoned rock fan; it's hardly surprising that they were one of the few dance acts to enjoy simultaneous success in the British/American mainstream and in critical quarters.
Cardboard sleeve (mini LP) reissue from Traffic featuring the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (fully compatible with standard CD players). Part of a ten-album Traffic SHM-CD Cardboard sleeve (mini LP) reissue series featuring the albums "Mr. Fantasy," "Heaven is in Your Mind," "Traffic," "Last Exit," "John Barleycorn Must Die," "Welcome To The Canteen," "THe Low Spark of High Heeled Boys," "Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory," "On The Road," and "When The Eagle Flies." Since Traffic's debut album, Mr. Fantasy, has been issued in different configurations over the years, a history of those differences is in order. In 1967, the British record industry considered albums and singles separate entities; thus, Mr. Fantasy did not contain the group's three previous Top Ten U.K. hits. Just as the album was being released in the U.K., Traffic split from Dave Mason.
This band's debut may well have been one of the most amazing and radical records to be released during the punk era (or any era for that matter), recorded under the most extreme conditions in the years before punk rock was a reality (1973-1974). Prague's Plastic People of the Universe, and the band they later became, Pulnoc, remain one of rock & roll's great stories of triumph and how great music can be produced and survive even in the most hostile of environments…