I Against I

The Modern Jazz Quartet - Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) {Blue Note CDP7934152 rel 1990}
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© 1959, 1990 Blue Note / Capitol | CDP 7 93415 2
Jazz / Cool / Third Stream

The Modern Jazz Quartet never actually recorded for Blue Note but their United Artists date was reissued on this Blue Note CD. The MJQ (vibraphonist Milt Jackson, pianist John Lewis, bassist Percy Heath and drummer Connie Kay) perform six of Lewis's compositions which were used in the film Odds Against Tomorrow. Best known is "Skating in Central Park" but all of the selections have their memorable moments and it is good to hear this classic unit playing such fresh material.

Plenty of Blondie compilations have appeared over the years, but the band endorsed Against the Odds: 1974-1982, a comprehensive complete chronology available in four separate incarnations: a Super Deluxe Collectors' Edition containing ten vinyl records (plus bonuses) and a Deluxe eight-CD set that both contain newly remastered versions of Blondie's first six albums plus 52 bonus tracks, then a Deluxe four-LP set and a triple-CD version that solely feature the non-LP bonus material. Some of the bonus tracks cover B-sides and single mixes that have been in circulation for some time, but there are a grand total of 36 unreleased tracks, most taken from the personal collection of guitarist Chris Stein, who is also the source for much of the memorabilia and pictures seen in the two hefty sets of liner notes accompanying the box. The bonus material runs the gamut of Blondie's career, ranging from edgy early demos from 1974 – they had the basic elements of "Heart of Glass" in place even then, here heard as "Once Had a Love" – to some stray synth mixes Stein commissioned for a project in 1982.

Back Against the Wall is an album released in 2005 by Billy Sherwood in collaboration with a number of (mostly) progressive rock artists as a tribute to Pink Floyd's album The Wall…

Marc Almond, Jeremy Reed, Othon - Against Nature (2015) {Marc Almond ANCD1}
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© 2015 Marc Almond | ANCD1
Acoustic / Alternative / Chanson / Neo-Classical / Adult Alternative Pop

We’ve got a real treat here for Marc Almond fans – the last of his very limited edition Against Nature collaboration with Jeremy Reed and Othon. Against Nature is said to be the seminally decadent novel of 19th Century fin de siècle Paris. It explores the central character of Des Esseintes who, as Jeremy Reed explains lived, “a life governed by deviated aesthetic obsessions and the desire to subvert…. nature through artificial pursuits. Endemically bored, wealthy, disillusioned, acutely refined, phobic and neurotic and singularly disgusted by humanity he withdraws from Paris as a middle-aged sensualist to live with servants as a recluse”.

Taking the hard rock inclinations of Generation Terrorists to an extreme, the Manic Street Preachers delivered a flawed but intriguing second album with Gold Against the Soul. Inspired by Guns N' Roses, the Manics decided to rework their working-class angst as heavy arena rock; they seize upon the latent politicism of Guns N' Roses' tortured white-trash metal, interpreting it as a call to arms. Since the Manics are more intellectual and revolutionary than the Gunners, Gold Against the Soul burns with inspired, if confused, rhetoric. The Manics, however, aren't quite as gifted with hooks at this stage – their power derives from their self-belief, which they can't quite translate into songs.