Focus 05.2015

Positraction is the seventh studio album by electro-jazz group Four80East. Four80East is a Canadian electro jazz ensemble from Toronto with Rob DeBoer (keyboards, bass and guitar) and Tony Grace (percussion); accompanied by various session musicians. Although Four80East began as a studio concept, they have evolved into a live act. Four80East began as a studio project when DeBoer and Grace, who had been writing, arranging and producing for other artists on their Boomtang Records label, put together material of their own and released it as The Album, in 1997. The Album was well-received by critics and the public alike. It was followed by Nocturnal in 2001, and Round 3 in 2002.

The members of Naples, Italy-based jazz-rock ensemble Slivovitz (named after a Central and Eastern European plum brandy) can cite the exact date of the group’s formation: September 27, 2001, when, according to a Web interview with saxophonist Pietro Santangelo, Slivovitz came together after a spontaneous street jam. The group mixes jazz and rock with a variety of other styles, notably Balkan and Gypsy influences, which Slivovitz began exploring after a 2003 trip to Hungary. The band’s eponymous debut album was recorded in 2004 and released by an Italian imprint; Slivovitz subsequently signed with the New York-based MoonJune label, which released Hubris (mainly new compositions but also including three remastered tracks from the debut) in 2009…

100 tracks - Tremendous 1960s compilation of Australian Rock 'n' Roll, Beat, Folk and Pop Music, including many unknowns and surprises! Everything on this 4-CD set was taken from the original mastertapes!
Take a trip back to these classic records of the 60's to listen once again and remember those heady times when long hair and short skirts changed the world.

This top notch Dutch band from The Hague had their pinnacle during the early Seventies when they delivered some outstanding 24 carat symphonic rock albums. EARTH AND FIRE was founded by the twin brothers Chris (guitar) and Gerard (keyboards) Koerts in '68. Soon bass player Hans Ziech, drummer Kees Kalis and singer Lisette joined them. Unfortunately Lisette had to give up singing because of a serious eye-disease and Kees Kalis left…

As the first compilation covering Eric Clapton's Reprise/Warner work since 2007's Complete Clapton, 2015's Forever Man is the third collection to focus specifically on these recordings from the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, and it's by far the most extensive, weighing in at two CDs in its basic edition and three in its deluxe. The difference between the two is the addition of a disc of "Blues," a nice addition to the "Studio" and "Live" discs of the collection. These themes make sense on paper but they're a little odd in practice, with the Studio selections hopscotching between eras and the live heavy on new millennial selections. Often, the length highlights how light Forever Man is on hits: "Tears in Heaven," "I've Got a Rock N Roll Heart," "Forever Man," "Change the World," "My Father's Eyes," "Pretending," "Bad Love," "It's in the Way That You Use It," and the unplugged "Layla" are all here, but the sequencing suggests how the '70s hits are missing (or present in new live versions)…

During their brief time together, the Beatles, in addition to all the records they made, managed to shoot dozens of promotional films and music videos. At first they were a way for the band to connect to fans who couldn’t see them live. But by the middle of the ’60s, when they gave up touring for good to focus on the more experimental side of their music, the videos became another creative outlet, a way for one of pop culture’s most restless and daring groups to break past the boundaries of typical performance clips…

Following the release of Pawn Hearts, bandleader Peter Hammill took time out to develop a solo career, choosing to focus his energy on darkly introspective works that seemed to be intended to examine the personal consequences of his life. When it came time for reuniting the members of Van Der Graaf, this change in direction had its effect on the band's post-1975 music…