New Redfoo

Almost every one of Peter Gabriel’s best-laid plans winds up going awry, and so it was with Scratch My Back, his 2010 collection of orchestral covers of some of his favorite songs. He had hoped to have the artists he covered return the favor by interpreting his songs but that project never got off the ground, so he pursued New Blood, an album where he turned that orchestra upon his own songs. New Blood is in every way a companion piece to Scratch My Back; it’s cut from the same aesthetic cloth, it's austere and cerebral without being chilly, it finds emotion within intellect.

The short lived New England originally formed around the Boston area in the late 1970s, featuring John Fannon on guitar and lead vocals, Jimmy Waldo on keyboards, Hirsh Gardner on drums and Gary Shea on bass guitar. After being discovered by famed KISS manager Bill Aucoin, their self-titled debut was issued by Infinity Records in 1979, and produced by KISS’s Paul Stanley, produced along with famed Queen, Asia and Journey producer Mike Stone. The tracks ‘Hello, Hello, Hello’ (UK No. 69) and ‘Don’t Ever Wanna Lose Ya’ (US No. 40) began to pick up plenty of airplay on AOR radio in the States as the band headed out on a major arena tour opening for KISS. Switching to Elektra Records, New England followed their debut in 1980 with “Explorer Suite”, this time co-produced by Mike Stone with singer and principle songwriter, John Fannon. The title track, plus ‘Livin’ In The Eighties’ were released as singles, but didn’t quite manage to capitalise on the airplay from the first LP. “Walking Wild”, their third and final album, also for Elektra, was released in 1981 and produced by Todd Rundgren. With ‘Don’t Ever Let Me Go’, ‘DDT’ and ‘Get It Up’ released as singles, the album had a more harder rocking approach, but unfortunately the band split up shortly after its release, in 1982.

Three CDs. Madison Square Garden, the world-famous New York City arena, was a home away from home for The Grateful Dead, a reliable sanctuary where the band would ultimately play 52 shows, a record at the time. The venue's fine acoustics combined with the fans' unbridled energy consistently brought out the best in the Dead. At the band's 2015 induction ceremony into Madison Square Garden's Walk Of Fame, Bobby Weir said "This place was both horrifying and titillating with an audience that was discerning but ravenous. We had to rise to the occasion every time."

Preoccupations is a Canadian post-punk band from Calgary, Alberta, formed in 2012 under the name Viet Cong. The band consists of Matt Flegel (vocals, bass), Scott Munro (guitar, synth), Daniel Christiansen (guitar) and Mike Wallace (drums). The group's musical style has been described as "labyrinthine post-punk".

The four members of New York Polyphony here present a programme which explores the themes of grief, loss and mortality. Apart from the work by Jackson Hill on Guillaume de Machaut’s famous 14th century rondeau Ma fin… and two examples of plainsong, all works included on this disc, the ensemble’s first on BIS, were composed by masters of the Franco-Flemish school of polyphony from the first half of the 16th century. Most of this music was partly used liturgically: the two Gregorian chants Libera me and In paradisum both form part of the Roman Catholic burial service.