Heliops From Issue 88, 2014

There are concessions that must be made on Keith Emerson and Greg Lake’s Live from Manticore Hall, starting with the absence of Carl Palmer - and then the occasional use of loops.
Too, the conversational aspect of the evening certainly works on its first listen, bringing us in with a confidential closeness. (Emerson, in an impish moment, recalls people asking questions about his pre-Emerson Lake and Palmer band: "The Nice what?") But once that context is understood, these lengthy segments quickly become extraneous detours away from what is often a adventurously re-imagined journey through some peak moments for both…

Harry Ray, Al Goodman and Billy Brown previously recorded as The Moments, their Stateside hits including “Love On A Two-Way Street”, Sexy Mama” and “Look At Me”. Here in the UK they made Top 10 in the national charts with “Girls” and “Dolly My Love” while the soul scene still spin their 1976 single “Nine Times”, another record for Sylvia Robinson’s Stang label before the group’s name transition to Ray, Goodman & Brown in 1978 for contractual reasons. The Moments had included prior members since forming in Washington in the 1960, but when Sylvia’s Sugarhill label was on a roll, Harry Ray would also record briefly as a solo artist, “Love Is A Game” being the song from that period he is best remembered for.

Charles Earland - Street Themes (1983) {Legacy Recordings Expanded Edition, Digital Issue rel 2014}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Digital Download -> 321 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 118 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 1983, 2014 CBS / Columbia / Legacy / Sony Music
Jazz / R'n'B / Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk / Keyboards

A great little groover from keyboardist Charles Earland – and an album that definitely lives up to its title! There's plenty of street sounds going on here – lots of modern R&B modes that echo the changing styles of early 80s soul music, especially on the east coast! And as part of that, there's a good deal of vocals on the record, alongside Charles' keyboards – work by singers who include Larry Hancock, Bruce Gray, and Sheryl Kendrick – each of whom adds plenty to the record, working over jazzy grooves nicely scored by Earland. Titles include "Be My Lady", "Take Me Away", "Feels So Good To Me", "Burning Devotion", "Tell Me What It Is", and "Go All The Way". CD features a bonus track – "Be My Lady (7" mix)".

It feels redundant to say The Flaming Lips make complete weirdness out of The Beatles’ iconic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. This complete reworking—er, deconstruction—of songs known the world over for their bright, shimmering sounds and Technicolor melodies will annoy purists, naturally, but it's actually a fun, wild ride for everyone else. Miley Cyrus sweetly croons “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” while the endless list of “Fwends” (well, 27 strong, including Grace Potter, Tegan & Sara, and Foxygen) ensures tracks are flush with madness. Unexpected highlight: The Electric Wurms, led by the Lips’ Steven Drozd, re-channel “Fixing a Hole” into an astral ballad.

Recorded during the last show of their North American tour for their 2012 album, Fanatic, Heart deliver a ripping set of new songs and classics on Fanatic Live from Caesars Colosseum. Recorded for television at Caesars Colosseum in Windsor, Ontario, the show finds Ann and Nancy Wilson in fine form as they play through a 14-song set that includes classic rock staples like "Crazy on You," "Barracuda," and "Alone."…

"Tracks from the Alps" is the band's fifth studio album, full of six original tracks, and a great cover of the Genesis Archive 1967-75 rarity, "Going Out to Get You".
With the lineup slightly tweaked with the inclusion of Mattia Rossetti as the new bassist, the band have also tightened up their sound, giving it a somewhat more modern atmosphere whilst retaining the techniques and motifs of classic Genesis and getting back to what they do best - presenting what the pastoral Genesis sound might have ended up like had Genesis themselves never abandoned it.

This is the "Masterworks Expanded Edition" of Leonard Bernstein's Quadrophonic 1972 London Symphony Orchestra recording of Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps. It was Bernstein's second go at the work in the studio, the first being made at the tail end of the mono era in January 1958 with the New York Philharmonic. CBS was very heavily into "Quad," and this justified a second recording of Bernstein in Le Sacre du printemps in order to show off the boom and bang of the new system. Whereas the 1972 Sacre is definitely exciting in spots and is a wildly colorful performance, it is also inconsistent in tempo, orchestral balance, and intonation.