Hakuchyu no Shikaku Aka Dead Angle (1979)

This session is so relaxed and tasteful as to be rather dull. Guitarist Kenny Burrell (featured on five standards and a pair of basic originals in a trio with bassist Larry Gales and drummer Carl Burnette) seems so intent on every note being appropriate that the results are overly safe and predictable.

Sonny Clark's conception of modern jazz is not far removed from his peer group of the late '50s, in that advanced melodic and harmonic ideas override the basic precepts of swing and simplicity. What sets Clark apart from other jazz pianists lies in his conception of democracy to allow his bandmates to steam straight ahead on compositions he has written with them in mind. Though the bulk of this session features the marvelous trumpet/tenor tandem of Donald Byrd and Hank Mobley, it is drummer Art Blakey whose demonstrative presence is heard in full force. He's kicking the band in his own distinctive, inimitable way, rambling through the opener "Junka," based on the changes of "You Go to My Head" with his brand of bomb drops, hard accents, and indefatigable swing…

This session is so relaxed and tasteful as to be rather dull. Guitarist Kenny Burrell (featured on five standards and a pair of basic originals in a trio with bassist Larry Gales and drummer Carl Burnette) seems so intent on every note being appropriate that the results are overly safe and predictable.

More than any other Fleetwood Mac album, Tusk is born of a particular time and place – it could only have been created in the aftermath of Rumours, which shattered sales records, and in turn gave the group a blank check for their next album. But if they were falling apart during the making of Rumours, they were officially broken and shattered during the making of Tusk, and that disconnect between bandmembers resulted in a sprawling, incoherent, and utterly brilliant 20-track double album…

Bob James is a prolific, best-selling, Grammy-winning composer, arranger, producer, and pianist. Along with Grover Washington, Jr., he is known as one of the fathers of smooth and contemporary jazz. His music seamlessly melds genres from bop to pop, from classical to R&B via relatively simple, accessible, and elegant melodies with rich harmonies and multiple sonic textures, often anchored by lithe, funky grooves. In addition to gold- and platinum-selling albums on his own and in various collaborations, he issued four numerically titled albums for CTI in the mid-'70s that successfully melded jazz, pop, and classical styles with sharp arrangements, accessible melodies, and funky grooves. Those four albums are all considered shining examples of early jazz-funk and have been abundantly sampled by hip-hop DJs and producers…

Victim of Love, released in 1979, is the thirteenth studio album release for Elton John. It is a disco album, released shortly after the peak of disco's popularity. It was not critically or commercially well-received, and is Elton John's third lowest charting album to date in the US, after 1986's Leather Jackets and 1985's Ice on Fir…

When first approaching The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, it's best not to think of it as a Sex Pistols album; rather, keep in mind that it's the soundtrack to a movie that was mostly about Malcolm McLaren and only tangentially concerned the great band he managed. Only eight of the twenty-four songs on The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle feature the same band as on Never Mind the Bollocks, and most of those capture them stomping through covers in the studio, sometimes to impressive effect (Johnny Rotten sounds positively feral on the Who's "Substitute" and the whole band tears into "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" with malicious glee) and sometimes not (Rotten reveals he doesn't know the words to either Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" or Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner," and the band's familiarity isn't much greater).