Hammerfall Masterpieces (2008) [japanese Edition]

Pocketful of Sunshine was Brit-pop artist Natasha Bedingfield's North American sophomore album; everywhere else around the world, a similar album was released eight months earlier, simply entitled N.B. Pocketful of Sunshine is built from half of N.B.'s original track list, as well as a handful of pop singles geared perfectly toward the mainstream American market, such as lead single "Love Like This" (with Sean Kingston) and the title track. Compared to its international counterpart, the album was packed with more potential singles, a sunnier disposition, and a much more radio-friendly sound, allowing Bedingfield to release two similar but different albums around the same time to appeal to the two markets in which she has found success.

It should come as no surprise that Enrique Iglesias' 2008 Greatest Hits begins in 1999, when he made the leap from the Latin market into the mainstream. All his very successful '90s albums on Fonovisa are bypassed, written off as prehistory, so the spotlight shines only on his English-language singles of the new millennium: the club tracks and syrupy slow songs that gave him a significant number of crossover hits. With the exception of a couple of minor blips on the charts like 2000's "Sad Eyes," all these are here, starting with 1999's "Bailamos" and "The Rhythm Divine," running through 2000's "Be with You" and 2001's "Hero," stopping for 2004's "Not in Love," winding up with 2007's "Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song)" and wrapping up with two new duets, "Away" with Sean Garrett and "Takin' Back My Love" with Ciara. While this approach may lop off half of his career, it also does exactly what hits collections should do: it gives the casual listener the hits they want to hear and nothing else.

Being released by the iconic legendary label 4AD, Chemical Chords is a collection of purposefully short, dense, fast pop songs, according to Gane, brimming with Motown-like drums, O'Hagan's finest baroque-pop brass and string arrangements and etched with some of Sadier's most eloquent, mellifluous vocal performances to date, it is, nonetheless, classic Stereolab; like all their best work, a perfect equipoise between an implausibly cool past and a shamelessly exotic future.

Following two short-lived live reunions in 2004 and 2006, Extreme reconvened for real in 2007, which inevitably led to the release of SAUDADES DE ROCK. Core members Gary Cherone (vocals), Pat Badger (bass), and Nuno Bettencourt (guitar) are joined by former DramaGods/Satellite Party drummer Kevin Figueiredo (who built a grooving kinship with Nuno in both aforementioned bands)…

Fourteen years is a long time to spend with one label, especially for jazz and fusion groups. Azymuth celebrated 14 years with the United Kingdom's Far Out label in 2008. Butterfly is their eight record for the imprint and their first new studio album in four years. The original trio – Jose Roberto Bertami (keyboards/vocals), Alex Malheiros (bass/guitars/vocals), and Ivan Conti (drums/percussion/vocals) – is still together after 35 years. Here jazz, funk, fusion, and elegant samba are woven together seamlessly. The disc was produced by the trio with David Brinkworth (Harmonic 33). "Butterfly," the album opener, is a sultry, breezy cover of the classic Herbie Hancock track, originally on 1974's Thrust. The elegant sound of gorgeously arranged strings (by Arthur Verocai no less), warm rolling Rhodes piano, Conti's breaking drums that walk the line between lithe funk and samba, and a pronounced but languid bassline gradually and deliberately build the space, stopping at interludes to reinsert the sensuous mood in the melodic line. Certainly it's an auspicious way to begin, but it's only one of the many highlights on this set.

Since arriving in New York City, Tessa Souter has built a dedicated following. She was a relative latecomer to jazz, taking time out to raise a family at a young age and work as a journalist before studying at the Manhattan School of music and privately with vocal great Mark Murphy, though she has developed into a formidable singer in a relatively short time. Souter's gorgeous, natural vocals never show pretension or gimmickry, while her taste in songs is amazingly wide-ranging and occasionally risk-taking. For these 2008 sessions, her accompanists include the brilliant pianist Kenny Werner (who works especially well with vocalists), saxophonist Joel Frahm, Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo, veteran first-call bassist Jay Leonhart, and the in-demand drummer Billy Drummond…

Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Developed from an earlier group, the Rain, the band originally consisted of Liam Gallagher (vocals and tambourine), Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan (bass guitar), and Tony McCarroll (drums, percussion). They were later joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher (lead guitar and vocals) as a fifth member, becoming the band's settled line-up until April 1995…

Japanese version of the 2008 sophomore album from the Swedish Jazz artist featuring two bonus tracks. At 22, Swedish singer-songwriter Fredrika Stahl already shows amazing maturity. She does not want to restrict herself to one genre or another and expresses her very personal style, somewhere between pop and jazz. Her vocal qualities make for a refined, natural and unaffected performance.

To this point Kalmah have established themselves as one of the very best bands of the Finnish melodeath scene, if not the best band, edging out peers like Norther and Children of Bodom. With their 5th opus For the Revolution, they are only out to reinforce that fact with yet another excellent effort. The album boasts a killer Tico Tico studio production, seamlessly blending the band's signature heavy use of synths into the standard instruments. The title track opens the album, pure Kalmah reminiscent of They Will Return. "Dead Man's Shadow" is far catchier with its folkish guitar melody. Ditto on "Holy Symphony of War" with another bracing and catchy guitar line. "Wings of Blackening" is like a steamroller of melodic death/thrash with some excellent leads. "Outremer" is another insanely catchy track.