Holy Holy My Own Pool of Light (live In Melbourne) (2020)

Over four nights at Tilburg's 013 venue (scene of the Ayreon Universe series of live shows in 2017) Lucassen, his band and one of modern progressive music's most emphatic of casts celebrated the 20th anniversary of the third Ayreon album in front of thousands of adoring fans who had flown in from around the world. Originally released in 1998, 'Into The Electric Castle' is a classic tale of an epic quest. Set in 'no time and no space', it tells the story of eight individuals who are guided by a mysterious voice and tasked with finding the mysterious Electric Castle and discover what's inside. The entire album was performed live, featuring original album singers and musicians, such as Thijs Van Leer, Fish, Damian Wilson, Edward Reekers, Anneke van Giersbergen, and several special guests including Simone Simons (Epica) and Star Trek's John De Lancie as narrator. The 'Other Tales' are deep cuts from Arjen Lucassen's other projects, such as The Gentle Storm, Ambeon, Stream of Passion, Guilt Machine, Star One, his solo-album Arjen Anthony Lucassen and a very special Marillion cover. Step into the Electric Castle!

Rory Gallagher's most successful albums are his live ones. He was an artist that came alive when onstage and this album covers a previously undocumented live period. This barnstorming 20-song, previously unreleased set is culled from four shows (London, Brighton, Sheffield and Newcastle) which were part of a 1977 tour across the UK in support of Rory’s then latest album 'Calling Card'. Featuring fantastic live versions of tracks from that album as well as from 1975’s 'Against The Grain' and other live favourites, has been mixed from the original multitrack tapes from the official Rory Gallagher archive and mastered for this release at Abbey Road Studios. Cover art by Irish graffiti artist Vincent Zara.

Christmas 2020 will be unlike the Christmases of the past, because the Covid-19 crisis and social distancing have fundamentally changed the way we live. Maybe they will also make us yearn more for the true spirit and the joys of Christmas. As we reflect and contemplate on what is important to us, we know that we want to keep hold of our sense of friendship and community. We feel a strong imperative to reach out for whatever can bring joy to the world. And with that thought in mind, there can surely be very few people who can gift-wrap the Christmas season in music for us – and do so quite as naturally, effectively and magically – as Nils Landgren.

Djabe are an award-winning Hungarian jazz and progressive fusion band comprised of virtuoso musicians. Their music is a unique meld where elements of electric jazz are woven through various aspects of Hungarian and other cultures' folk and progressive rock. Djabe often collaborate with guitarist Steve Hackett.
In 2019 the band went on an North-American tour. Some of the highlights of this tour is the full house show in the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the 8th performance at the Rochester International Jazzfest in New York, and the closing gig at the Edmonton International Jazz Festival of Canada. In the band’s opinion the latter show was the best and they decided to release the recorded multitracks. Djabe played 2 sets with different tracklists, now featured both of them on this release.

Laila Biali masterfully mixes jazz and pop: “Already highly acclaimed in North America, with Laila Biali’s mellifluous vocals, dynamic pianism and ability for penning, hook-laden songs that reputation is surely going to flourish further afield."