Flypast 2002 11

Ambra: Honour & Glory, Fascination of sound and nature. Awesome production of nature film with music and lyrics which involves you in the myths of the middle ages. Truely out of this world.
Essentially, it is a collaboration between two composer/producer brothers, Giorgio and Martin Koppehele (or Cope to use their English-speaking alias). Their musical style is drawn from many diverse influences and classical training, but in a nutshell could best be described as intelligent electronica with depth and complexity, meets world music.
"Ambra, Honour and Glory" offers up a fascinating mixture of elements from many different cultures; Middle Eastern, Far Eastern, European and Native American to name but four. It is intended to be a musical journey around the world - India, the Antarctic, America, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand…

Is Cliff Martinez's soundtrack album Solaris (2002) the best science fiction film score since Vangelis' opus for Blade Runner? Martinez's score may have equals in the sci-fi sphere, but nothing surpasses it for originality and haunting atmosphere. Martinez and American filmmaker Steven Soderberg have worked together for many years and their collaborations have always been interesting, notably Traffic (2000), Contagion (2011) and Sex Lies & Videotape (1989), even if the accompanying soundtrack albums for those films are hit and miss affairs. Solaris, however, is completely unified as a standalone album…

Culled from various live recordings Junior Wells made in his final year or so, Live Around the World: The Best Of is not a "best-of." Instead, it intends to present the legendary Chicago bluesman in a late-career renaissance - or, as Donald E. Wilcock says in his affectionate liner notes, "This album is not the last gasps of a dying legend." To a certain extent that's true, because Wells does not sound tired, weary, or disengaged. He turns in spirited, energetic performances throughout and his harp playing remains a marvel, never following expected routes, always melodic and invigorating. That doesn't mean the album itself is invigorating, something that is a worthy bookend to Hoodoo Man Blues, since it suffers from the problem that plagues so many contemporary blues albums - clean, precise production with perfectly separated instruments, plus the band's tendency to veer into funk vamps instead of dirty grooves…

This two disc 40 track compilation features some of the biggest Rock hits recorded by some of the most famous artists of all time, many of them taken from the esteemed EMI catalog.
Queen, Pink Floyd, Phil Collins, Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel, Foreigner, The Pretenders, Genesis, Mike Oldfield and many more.

The recordings on this LP were originally supposed to be released by the Mode label in the late '50s but the company went defunct before it could come out. Released for the first time by V.S.O.P. in 1986, these 16 selections (all recorded the same day) feature five different pianists (Carl Perkins, Jimmy Rowles, Paul Smith, Gerald Wiggins and Lou Levy) in fine form on three or four songs apiece. It is interesting to compare the players' similar but individual styles and to see how they adapt their bop-based approaches to the demands of playing solo.

Mighty Mo Rodgers (real name Maurice Rodgers) was born in Indiana where his father owned a club that featured blues performers. When Rodgers wasn't studying classical piano he was checking out the blues artists that played there. Growing up, Rodgers was deeply affected by the mid-'60s soul music from the Memphis-based Stax label. Using Stax as an influence, Rodgers started his first band while in high school called the Rocketeers. Upon entering Indiana State College, Rodgers fronted another band, the Maurice Rodgers Combo, playing Wurlitzer piano and incorporating originals with cover versions of popular songs from the era. He finally decided to quit college, move to L.A., and give music his full-time attention…