Undoubtedly one of the more adventurous, Area were also a very important band on the seventies Italian prog scene, their first four albums in particular come highly recommended and essential listening to anyone discovering the RPI genre.
In 1978 Area left the independent label Cramps and released their first album for a major, CGD, "1978 Gli Dei Se Ne Vanno, Gli Arrabbiati Restano!" (1978, the gods are going away, the angry people remain). In that year Italian post '68 protest movements were losing strength after ten years of hopes and contradictions and the members of the band, one of the most committed on the Italian scene, went through a period of personal crises too…
Beginning with his self-titled debut in 1970, Ry Cooder's records seemed to be as much history lesson as they were entertainment. Not because Cooder was trying to club you over the head with this stuff; he simply gravitated to great songs, no matter what the era or genre. Released in 1978, Jazz seems to be his first conscious attempt at a concept album, in the historical sense. Here he pays homage to some of the early tunes and masters of jazz, ranging from the late 1800s through the "coon songs" of the early part of the next century, to the ragtime and "Spanish" music of Jelly Roll Morton, and the sophistication of cornetist Bix Beiderbecke. The only living artist (at the time of release) who's represented here is the great Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence, who recorded from the '50s through the '80s, and whose syncopated style was extremely influential in Cooder's own development as a guitarist.
Dire Straits is the debut studio album by the British rock band Dire Straits released on 7 October 1978 by Vertigo Records internationally and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album produced the hit single "Sultans of Swing", which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 8 on the UK Singles Chart. The album reached #1 on album charts in Germany, Australia and France, #2 in the United States and #5 in the United Kingdom. Dire Straits was later certified double-platinum in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Robin Trower is an English rock guitarist and vocalist who achieved success with Procol Harum during the 1960s, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio. Throughout his long and winding solo career, guitarist Robin Trower has had to endure countless comparisons to Jimi Hendrix due to his uncanny ability to channel Hendrix's bluesy/psychedelic, Fender Strat-fueled playing style. Caravan to Midnight is the sixth studio album by Robin Trower. The album cover art is by Hipgnosis.