Heretic Breaking Point (1988) [2009, Remastered, Lfr1008]

The Twelve Commandments of Dance is the debut album by the London Boys, a German dance pop duo. It was released in 1988, and reached number 2 in the UK charts. The album stayed on the charts for 29 weeks. Other than the charting singles stated in the track listing, two other singles were released: I'm Gonna Give My Heart and Dance Dance Dance. The 2009 remastered reissue released by Cherry Pop Records features extended remixes of tracks 1, 3, 6 and 7.

The Innocents was the third proper studio release from Erasure, released in 1988. Produced by Stephen Hague and released by Mute Records in the UK and Sire Records in the U.S., it was the release that made Erasure superstars in their home country and gave them their long-awaited breakthrough in the U.S….

Galliard were in on the ground floor of the British progressive rock movement, releasing their debut album, Strange Pleasure, in 1969 and mixing jazz, rock, folk, and psychedelic influences. The following year, New Dawn pretty much picked up where its predecessor left off, with one key exception. The band had initially featured two wind players, Dave Caswell and John Smith; though Smith was absent from New Dawn, a whole brace of additional horn players had been brought in to augment the sound. This was during the period when the likes of Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears (and their British equivalents) were starting out, and brass-rock was all the rage. That's not to suggest that Galliard were trying to ride the brass-rock gravy train – their work is too skilled and varied for that – but simply that they were right in time for the Zeitgeist.

There's a certain relief that this 2009 Rhino reissue of 2002's double-disc set The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac doesn't even attempt to dabble in the early blues work of the Peter Green band, and treats the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks as ground zero. The two eras of the band don't sit well together, and it's best to isolate them, since those who want the hits don't need to hear the blues. Here, it's the prime of the platinum years, with almost all of the big songs in their original hit versions (the one real exception is a live version of "Big Love" from 1997, but most listeners aren't going to be too upset with the substitution).

While it can be easy to dislike and dismiss some cookie-cutter electronic music, the challenge lies in finding reasons to listen to it again. Such is the case with Revolutions by Jean Michel Jarre. One reviewer wrote, simply, "(This) is not revolutionary." That is true; Jarre breaks no new ground with the release of this album. He does, however, continue to create original music in his own style. He is often imitated and that is the sincerest form of flattery. This album features ten short pieces (five minutes and 22 seconds is the longest) of pop influenced e-music. This disc neither challenges nor offends the listener. It has its moments but it neither soars nor plunges. Of course, die-hard Jarre fans will love this disc. Fans of Synergy, Char-El, Klaus Schulze, and Ashra will like it.