G Force G Force (1980) [j. Edition 2010]

G-Force is a 1980 album by the namesake UK-American band led by Gary Moore. Moore was on an American tour with Thin Lizzy and left the band mid-tour. He went to Los Angeles in an attempt to make a solo rock presence. With the opportunity to tour America in support of Van Halen, Moore recruited bassist Tony Newton, vocalist Willie Dee and percussionist Mark Nauseef and the band was formed as G-Force. The tour was a success, and the band supported Whitesnake on their 1980 Ready & Willing trek. However, the band was short lived, only producing the one eponymous album. The album consisted of more conventional hard rock radio oriented music than Moore's previous efforts. Soon after its release, G-Force disbanded and Moore joined with Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & Palmer fame, on a new venture.

Released right before the group called it quits, Abbiamo Tutti I Suoi Problemi is a must-have for fans of complex avant-prog rock and Rock in Opposition, and it can also seduce open-minded fans of Italian progressive rock. The young musicians of Picchio dal Pozzo here manage to carve out a unique sound, resolutely attuned to the most progressive elements in Italian and British progressive rock, yet entirely personal and never matched afterward. Abbiamo Tutti I Suoi Problemi shares strong similarities with Unrest-era Henry Cow in the complex metrics, use of wind instruments, and overall chamber ensemble feel of pieces like "I Problemi di Ferdinando P." and "Mettiamo il Caso Che." Other reference points include Gentle Giant for the contrapuntal writing, Grand Wazoo-era Frank Zappa for the melody and guitar work in "Moderno Ballibile," Premiata Forneria Marconi for Aldo De Scalzi's vocals…

Grinding Stone is hard to place musically in Gary Moore's early, pretty varied career, but fits somewhere in between Colosseum II and Skid Row. In any case, as well as being his solo debut, it is one of Gary Moore's most overlooked albums. A description of the music could be something as seemingly self contradictory as experimental boogie rock, but on the album Moore explores a number of styles, from the title track's instrumental boogie rock to soulful vocals in "Sail Across the Mountain" and 17 minutes of guitar and keyboard excursions in the surprisingly funky "Spirit." In some ways Grinding Stone gives a taste of what would be heard from Colosseum II a few years later, but if the word fusion can be used here, it is not in the generic sense…

Grinding Stone is hard to place musically in Gary Moore's early, pretty varied career, but fits somewhere in between Colosseum II and Skid Row. In any case, as well as being his solo debut, it is one of Gary Moore's most overlooked albums. A description of the music could be something as seemingly self contradictory as experimental boogie rock, but on the album Moore explores a number of styles, from the title track's instrumental boogie rock to soulful vocals in "Sail Across the Mountain" and 17 minutes of guitar and keyboard excursions in the surprisingly funky "Spirit." In some ways Grinding Stone gives a taste of what would be heard from Colosseum II a few years later, but if the word fusion can be used here, it is not in the generic sense…

Grinding Stone is hard to place musically in Gary Moore's early, pretty varied career, but fits somewhere in between Colosseum II and Skid Row. In any case, as well as being his solo debut, it is one of Gary Moore's most overlooked albums. A description of the music could be something as seemingly self contradictory as experimental boogie rock, but on the album Moore explores a number of styles, from the title track's instrumental boogie rock to soulful vocals in "Sail Across the Mountain" and 17 minutes of guitar and keyboard excursions in the surprisingly funky "Spirit." In some ways Grinding Stone gives a taste of what would be heard from Colosseum II a few years later, but if the word fusion can be used here, it is not in the generic sense…

Odyssey is the fourth studio album by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, released on 8 April 1988 through Polydor Records. The album reached No. 40 on the US Billboard 200 and remained on that chart for eighteen weeks, as well as reaching the top 50 in five other countries. As of 2017 it remains Malmsteen's highest-charting release on the Billboard 200. Steve Huey at AllMusic gave Odyssey two stars out of five, calling it "a more subdued, polished collection seemingly designed for mainstream radio airplay", but that it "shows little difference in approach from Malmsteen's previous output". He praised Joe Lynn Turner's vocals and Malmsteen's guitar work, but remarked that the latter sounds "constrained and passionless" due in part to his recovery from a near-fatal car accident in 1987.

Calling a band Maboul (French slang for crazy, nutty) creates certain expectations. And this album does hold up to them. The result might be called Ethnic-Noise-Chamber-Rock. This album alternates between the bizarre (A Modern Lesson) and the obscure (I Viaggi Formano La Gioventu) with the many oriental/arab sounds in some of the tracks and the classical instrumentation in others. The oriental sounds here add a great flavour to the music alongside the punk in several songs and the chamber-rock in others. Inoculating Rabies is a sort of post-punk track with its noisy guitars on the one hand which sound as if they were a bit far away from the microphones and the wind instruments (bassoon and oboe) which are more in the front of the music…

This early 1980s set of funk-tinged instrumentals features Stanley Turrentine performing a set of easy-listening jazz with orchestral accompaniment. Though perhaps not the best example of the saxophonist's work, it does contain several nice set pieces, notably the big band arrangement of "Ghana," and the atmospheric after-hours ballad "Don't Misunderstand."

After brief sojourns at Argo and Cadet, Lou Donaldson marked his 1967 return by recording Lush Life, the grandest project he ever attempted. With its plush arrangements and unabashedly pretty melodies, Lush Life stands in stark contrast to everything else he cut in the '60s. There are no blues, no stabs at soul-jazz grooves, no hard bop - only sweet, sensitive renditions of romantic standards. Donaldson shone on ballads before, but it's nevertheless surprising how successful he is on this set of slow love songs. His tone is full and elegant - it's easy to get lost in his rich readings of these familiar melodies, as well as his slyly seductive improvisations. Of course, it helps that his instrumental backdrops are as lovely as those his nine-piece backing band provide…