Ordinary Milet

Ian Jones (Karnataka) and Steve Evans, multi-million selling songwriter and producer join forces with vocalist Lisa Fury, guitarist Ian Simmons and special guests including world-renowned Uilleann pipe player Troy Donockley (Nightwish) to create a powerful, dynamic and evocative sound fusing lush cinematic soundscapes with Progressive, Celtic and world music influences.

For Walter Trout, there is no 'us' and 'them'. Across his five-decade career, the great US bluesman's music has always been a lifeline and call-to-arms, reminding listeners they are not alone. Now, as the world seeks solace from a tragedy that has touched us all, he comes armed with a boundary-exploring new studio album and eleven searingly honest songs that bring his fans even closer. "There's a lot of extraordinary madness going on right now," considers Trout, of the COVID-19 crisis. "This album started because I was dealing with the flaws and weakness inside me. But it ended up being about everyone." Ordinary Madness was completed mere days before the US shutdown, its cathartic songcraft and themes of shared troubles couldn't chime better with a period in which our souls and spirits are under fire from tumultuous global events.

Previn's Four Songs, using poems by Toni Morrison, continues the US song tradition established by Copland. They may not be strikingly original in style (they owe a debt to 12 Poems of Emily Dickinson), but they are very attractive, idiomatically American and movingly evocative of their texts. The set was written for Sylvia McNair, with a plangent cello obbligato for Yo-Yo Ma. McNair is outstanding here, her voice radiant but warm, soaring but secure.

Composed by multi-award-winning artist Michel Legrand and written by American poets Alan & Marilyn Bergman, this album is made up of a cycle of songs. It tells the story of a woman s life from birth to death, passing by all of its highlights: childhood, adolescence, first love, and motherhood. Composed and written in the 70 s, the project was never completed. Thanks to Natalie's input, Michel Legrand rewrote the score and Alan & Marilyn Bergman rewrote the lyrics especially for her in order to give a second life to this project. This masterpiece was recorded last September in London at the Air Studio with the London Studio Orchestra, conducted by Michel Legrand.

Misfits: The Mercury Years 1986-1990 is a new four-CD box set featuring eighties British pop band Curiosity Killed The Cat. Two and a half years in the making, this set has been compiled by SDE Editor Paul Sinclair and has been put together with the cooperation of the band. Curiosity Killed The Cat were fronted by the charismatic Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot and they enjoyed a number one album and a string of hits in the late 1980s, including Down To Earth, Ordinary Day, Name and Number and Misfit. The promo video for the latter was memorably filmed by – and co-starred – Andy Warhol, who took a shine to the band and invited them over to New York in 1986.

Arista remastered Graham Parker's masterpiece, Squeezing Out Sparks, for CD reissue, adding the previously promotional-only live album Live Sparks as an added bonus. Though it is somewhat disconcerting to hear the same songs in the same order in a row, it's an excellent addition for hardcore collectors, especially since the sound on the original album is considerably improved. And, Live Sparks is a nervy, energetic live recording, especially with the addition of "I Want You Back (Alive)" and "Mercury Poisoning".

Tomas Bodin's regular job is to play the keyboards for The Flower Kings but as usual some of these musicians and especially if they are a member of The Flower Kings have too many ideas and one musical life doesn't satisfy them any longer. They need to have a solo project. And seemingly Tomas Bodin also has a lot of good ideas left over. But the music on his solo albums is quite different, it's a mix between Jazzrock/Fusion and Retro Prog, all instrumental. And of course the whole sound is keyboard dominated.