F.t.w（chinese Purplesoul

In 1976, guitarists Paul A. MacDonnell and Robert Cross, bass player Trevor Darks and drummer/vocalist Dave Ball joined their considerable skills and produced one of the greatest but nearly forgotten heavy progressive projects, Automatic Fine Tuning. Doing an early form of neo-classical instrumental rock that predates the gothic harmonies and Paganini-love of Michael Schenker and Yngwie Malmsteen, the quartet boldly went where few rock ensembles had and recorded one brilliant album before disbanding.

As soon as REO Speedwagon's second album – aptly titled T.W.O. – kicks off with "Let Me Ride," it's clear that the band has made some significant strides in gaining a personality. Part of this is due to singer Terry Luttrell being swapped out for Kevin Cronin, whose keening tenor is markedly different from Luttrell's bluesy gargle, and part is due to three of the songs, dramatic multi-sectioned rockers, being more distinguished than the pedestrian boogie of the debut. That boogie hasn't been abandoned – the group takes the swing out of Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie," which brings it closer to the anonymous thud that characterizes Gary Richrath's "Flash Tan Queen," along with much of the rest of the album.

It must have been daunting for J.S Bach’s musical sons to work with his huge shadow. The fact that four of his children succeeded in becoming important and influential composers is both remarkable and proof of how extraordinary these men were. C.P.E and J.C Bach are perhaps the most famous of them, and of the other two, J.C.F and W.F, it is Wilhelm Friedemann (1710-84) who perhaps came closest to his father as a composer.

It was the Bachs who launched the harpsichord on its career as a concerto soloist and the sons did not wait to follow in father's wake; the first of Carl Philipp Emanuel's 52 concertos, spanning more than 50 years, probably just predates the first of JSB's. Neither did they pursue the practice of having more than two soloists. In his F major Concerto (the numbering of which differs from that given in Grove: H410, Wq46) CPE accepts the formal plan of the ritornello but not the concept of its unity of thematic mood; he introduces a diversity that is more like that of the exposition in sonata form—though the resemblance ends there, and the element of contrast is maintained in the 'solo' episodes, not derived from the ritornello material.

The musical world of the eighteenth-century court at Dresden is characterised by its diversity: Vivaldi, Hasse, Ristori and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach were all highly esteemed. The Zürcher Barockorchester perform selections from this demanding repertoire and successfully transport listeners to Dresden’s vibrant Augustan era.

The novelties here are the Mattheson works, the first two fully composed, the third a figured-bass exercise from Mattheson's treatise on the subject. The sonata is a dramatic, virtuoso outing in the Italian style; the suite, ostensibly more french in character, retains a typical German heaviness.