Kula Shaker Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts (1999, Columbia # Col 493142 2)

By reviving the swirling, guitar-heavy sounds of late-'60s psychedelia and infusing it with George Harrison's Indian mysticism and spirituality, Kula Shaker became one of the most popular British bands of the immediate post-Brit-pop era. More musically adept and experimental than Cast, Kula Shaker nevertheless worked the same vaguely spiritual lyrical territory, but musically they brought the overpowering rush of Oasis to psychedelia, a genre that the Mancunians had previously avoided.

Stan Getz - Captain Marvel (1972) {Columbia COL 468412 2 rel 1997}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 287 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 101 Mb
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© 1972, 1997 Columbia / Sony Music | 468412 2
Jazz / Post Bip / Fusion / Saxophone

One of the more remarkable aspects of Stan Getz's 1972 masterpiece is just how organic he was able to keep the sound. The band surrounding Getz on this Columbia date was led by Chick Corea with his Return to Forever (electric) bassist Stanley Clarke, drummer Tony Williams, and Brazilian master percussionist Airto. With the exception of Clarke, all the rest had played with Miles Davis in his then-experimental electric bands. Corea's Return to Forever was just getting itself off the fusion ground, while Williams had been with John McLaughlin and Larry Young in Lifetime on top of his experience with Davis.

Ornette Coleman and Prime Time - Virgin Beauty (1988) {Columbia COL 489433 2 rel 1998}
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© 1988, 1998 Portrait Records / Columbia / Sony Music | COL 489433 2
Jazz / Fusion / Free Funk / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

After making a comeback to the world of recording in 1987 with In All Languages, Ornette and Prime Time return a year later with this substantially different recording, Virgin Beauty. Fortunately on Beauty Ornette and his producer son Denardo quit trying to sound so 'modern' and dispose of the huge gated snare sound and the sampled 'hits' that made Languages a bit clumsy. The result is a return to a more natural and relaxed sound that fits Ornette's playing much better than all that forced trendiness.

Miles Davis - In Concert: Live at Philharmonic Hall (1972) {2CD Set Columbia COL 476910 2}
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© 1972 Columbia / Sony Music | COL 476910 2
Jazz / Fusion / Jazz Funk / Jazz Rock / Trumpet

Of the myriad double-live sets Miles Davis recorded in the early '70s, In Concert: Live at Philharmonic Hall is the only one documenting his On the Corner street-funk period, which is immediately obvious from the cover art. Actually, in terms of repertoire, the material from Get Up With It, Big Fun, and A Tribute to Jack Johnson each takes up a greater percentage of space, but the hard-driving rhythms and plentiful effects make it clear which of Davis' fusion aesthetics applied. In Concert begins to move Davis' live work even farther away from jazz tradition, as he largely forgoes concepts of soloing or space.

John Cale - Vintage Violence (1970) {Columbia COL 467067 2 rel 1993}
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© 1970, 1993 Columbia / Sony Music | COL 467067 2
Rock / Art Rock / Experimental Rock

This is possibly one of the most ironically titled albums in the history of rock. I can remember contemplating buying Vintage Violence long ago. I knew Cale had spent a couple years with the rough and cynical Velvet Underground, he was producing equally cutting-edge urban artists such as Nico and Iggy Pop, and he had a reputation for noisy avant-garde experiments. Surely this album of his was harsh, jaded, dissonant and possibly somewhat painful; …wrong! Quite the opposite, instead John gives us beautiful relaxed pastoral tunes with sentimental personal lyrics framed in folksy instruments such as acoustic guitar and piano, as well as plaintive pedal steel guitar and orchestral strings.