Yngwie Johan Malmsteen (born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Malmsteen first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 21 studio albums in a career spanning over 40 years. In 2009, Time magazine rated Malmsteen as number 9 among the 11 greatest electric guitar players of all time.
Malmsteen's playing on the follow-up to the epochal Rising Force is slightly more raw and aggressive, but the most notable difference is the addition of lyrics on many of the songs. By his own admission, Malmsteen isn't much of a lyricist, and his frequent use of occult and pagan imagery (demons, Vikings, and so on) isn't as effective at producing a dark, gothic mood as his compositions and guitar playing are. Still, those aspects of the album are vital and stimulating, making Marching Out a worthwhile listen.
Odyssey is the fourth studio album by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, released on 8 April 1988 through Polydor Records. The album reached No. 40 on the US Billboard 200 and remained on that chart for eighteen weeks, as well as reaching the top 50 in five other countries. As of 2017 it remains Malmsteen's highest-charting release on the Billboard 200. Steve Huey at AllMusic gave Odyssey two stars out of five, calling it "a more subdued, polished collection seemingly designed for mainstream radio airplay", but that it "shows little difference in approach from Malmsteen's previous output". He praised Joe Lynn Turner's vocals and Malmsteen's guitar work, but remarked that the latter sounds "constrained and passionless" due in part to his recovery from a near-fatal car accident in 1987.
For a change, the late 1960s yielded up a supergroup that lived up to its hype and then some. Ginger Baker's Air Force was recorded live at Royal Albert Hall in January of 1970 - in fact, this may be the best-sounding live album ever to come out of that notoriously difficult venue - at a show that must have been a wonder to watch, as the ten-piece band blazed away in sheets of sound, projected delicate flute parts behind multi-layered African percussion, or built their songs up Bolero-like, out of rhythms from a single instrument into huge jazz-cum-R&B crescendos. Considering that this was only their second gig, the group sounds astonishingly tight, which greatly reduces the level of self-indulgence that one would expect to find on an album where five of the seven tracks run in excess of ten minutes…
Malmsteen's playing on the follow-up to the epochal Rising Force is slightly more raw and aggressive, but the most notable difference is the addition of lyrics on many of the songs. By his own admission, Malmsteen isn't much of a lyricist, and his frequent use of occult and pagan imagery (demons, Vikings, and so on) isn't as effective at producing a dark, gothic mood as his compositions and guitar playing are. Still, those aspects of the album are vital and stimulating, making Marching Out a worthwhile listen.
Part of an extensive line of budget compilations from Sony, this Billy Ocean volume includes the singer's three number one pop hits – "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)," "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)," and "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car" – as well as seven other significant songs from his '80s albums for Epic and Jive. It's not particularly in-depth – it's certainly not as thorough as 2004's Ultimate Collection – but it does feature most of Ocean's big hits, which also include "Nights (Feel Like Gettin' Down)," "Suddenly," and "Love Zone." Some S.O.U.L. releases are marred by inferior live material, but this set consists of the original studio recordings.
Part of an extensive line of budget compilations from Sony, this Billy Ocean volume includes the singer's three number one pop hits – "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)," "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)," and "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car" – as well as seven other significant songs from his '80s albums for Epic and Jive. It's not particularly in-depth – it's certainly not as thorough as 2004's Ultimate Collection – but it does feature most of Ocean's big hits, which also include "Nights (Feel Like Gettin' Down)," "Suddenly," and "Love Zone." Some S.O.U.L. releases are marred by inferior live material, but this set consists of the original studio recordings.