Face Off 1997

There's a clean San Francisco sheen to Tommy Castro's second album for Blind Pig, and it's not just the glossy production work of Jim Gaines (Santana, Huey Lewis and Stevie Ray Vaughan) that's responsible for it. Castro and his band have long been local favorites of the Bay area bar crowd, and his blues-rock/soul-pop synthesis with the occasional slow blues thrown in makes him another young contender for the yuppie throne of modern bluesdom. From the opening rock strut of "Can't Keep a Good Man Down" and "You Knew the Job Was Dangerous," Castro lays down lazy, in-the-pocket vocals (the only time he hits scream territory is on the closer, Albert King's "Can't You See What You're Doing to Me") pitted against in your face guitar blasts à la Stevie Ray Vaughan.

The Toronto-based Loverboy, comprised of vocalist Mike Reno, guitarist Paul Dean, bassist Scott Smith, keyboardist Doug Johnson, and drummer Matthew Frenette, was never a big hit with critics, but the band members' blend of hard-edged pop won droves of fans and kept them at the forefront of pop/rock for most of the '80s. This album contains most of their hits (excepting some more minor cuts like "Queen of the Broken Hearts"), giving a broad overview of their work. Sex was always a hot topic for the band – think "Hot Girls in Love" – but there is more to Loverboy than just hormones. There are also party anthems, with "Working for the Weekend" and "Turn Me Loose" being iconic in the genre.

Limp Bizkit is an American rap rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Its lineup consists of Fred Durst (lead vocals), Sam Rivers (bass, backing vocals), John Otto (drums, percussion), DJ Lethal (turntables), and Wes Borland (guitars, vocals). The band's music is marked by Durst's angry vocal delivery and Borland's sonic experimentation…

In the course of nine years, the Strawbs evolved from an obscure, quirky British bluegrass group into one of the most beloved progressive rock bands in the world. This 150-minute collection covers most of that history, encompassing most (but not all) of the key songs from their nine A&M albums, as well as lost B-sides, songs by ex-members Richard Hudson and John Ford, and a pair of tracks off of Dave Cousins' 1972 solo album Two Weeks Last Summer. The selection of material is inspired, juxtaposing rarities with a good deal of important music from the core of their output. The programming straddles the collectable and the historical/musical significance of the material, so we get early-'70s FM hits such as "The River" and "Down by the Sea" sharing space with material such as "Martin Luther King's Dream" and subsequent extended progressive material like "Ghosts."

James Newton Howard makes a rare but welcome foray into the horror genre with The Devil's Advocate, a chilling but majestic work highlighted by its stunning choral passages. While Howard's signature fusion of symphonics and electronics is the score's backbone, his use of the human voice most effectively communicates the evil lurking within lead Al Pacino, and his decision to avoid thematic consistency is another clever tool for keeping the listener off balance, with strange, ominous noises lurking in the background to further underscore the dark forces at work. Spooky, compelling stuff.