Michael Pagán

To state that the mid-2000s were a time of transition for the European power metal scene would be stating the obvious, but it was a particularly turbulent point for one of its most prolific and conservative affiliates Crystal Ball…

An enchanting debut for a Finnish-Norwegian trio featuring the trumpet and vocalese of the great Per Jorgensen, the piano of Samuli Mikkonen and the drums of Markku Ounaskari. This is sinewy, hypnotic music unlike any other in the ECM catalogue. It's slow moving but full of purpose and long, winding melodies that insinuate themselves deep under the skin. Ounaskari and J rgensen have played with the likes of Lee Konitz, Don Cherry, Jon Balke, Michael Mantler, Kenny Wheeler and Tomasz Stanko, amongst others. (Source: Editorial Review, amazon.com)

The Fourth Symphony was written at a particularly crucial point in Tchaikovsky’s life. 1877 was not only the year of his disastrous marriage but also the year in which he began his fifteen-year correspondence with his patroness Nadezhda von Meck. The F minor Symphony has always been a popular work with its muscular and melodic writing. Infused throughout the score is the sense of ‘fate’ which Tchaikovsky believed controlled his destiny as he described in a letter to Madame von Meck, “the fateful force which prevents the impulse to happiness from achieving its goal … which hangs above your head like the sword of Damocles.”

Leslie Smith’s solo classic album,”Heartache” from 1982, is finally, 30 years after it’s original vinyl release, going to be re-released on SHM CD on Japanese Vivid Sound and it’s said that it’s coming with “Japanese special outer cover” and “great sound quality”

Morrison's best album of the '90s still casually hangs out in the spiritual world that served as his home for most of his '80s material, but the mystical touches are at least kept in check for a good deal of the time. Better still is that Morrison sings with a passion that had crawled into laziness during big, and crucial, chunks of his career (most prominently the early to mid-'80s). The songs, or more accurately (as the title makes very clear) hymns, combine the elements that have guided Morrison's best albums – R&B, folk, pop, Celtic, rock, even gospel – for a satisfying journey through the mystic and the real…