Painted Lady

It was designed to be a blockbuster and it was. Prior to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John had hits – his second album, Elton John, went Top Ten in the U.S. and U.K., and he had smash singles in "Crocodile Rock" and "Daniel" – but this 1973 album was a statement of purpose spilling over two LPs, which was all the better to showcase every element of John's spangled personality…

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was where Elton John's personality began to gather more attention than his music, as it topped the American charts for eight straight weeks. In many ways, the double album was a recap of all the styles and sounds that made John a star. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is all over the map, beginning with the prog rock epic "Funeral for a Friend (Love Lies Bleeding)" and immediately careening into the balladry of "Candle in the Wind." For the rest of the album, John leaps between popcraft ("Bennie and the Jets"), ballads ("Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"), hard rock ("Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"), novelties ("Jamaica Jerk-Off"), Bernie Taupin's literary pretensions ("The Ballad of Danny Bailey"), and everything in between. Though its diversity is impressive, the album doesn't hold together very well. Even so, its individual moments are spectacular and the glitzy, crowd-pleasing showmanship that fuels the album pretty much defines what made Elton John a superstar in the early '70s.

Gnidrolog are one of the more overlooked bands that took part in the progressive rock explosion in Britain around 1971-73.
As to their sound, on the strong and tight rhythm section an alluring high tone vocal is supported by the melody of flute and saxophone. And they seem to put more emphasis on whole band ensemble than each solo playing. Particularly the flute is played with enthusiastic intensity, and the saxophone is rather functioning to lead the ensemble, giving the strong proceeding vector. Guitar also takes some solo part but it is better utilized as an accompaniment with compare to the wind. The ensemble of vocal and saxophone may remind you of the sound of Van der Graaf Generator but the voice is quite different…

With the release of Ambition Rocks, their first album in 25 years, and with a new lineup, AOR and classic rock band Da Vinci returns with brand new songs. The group was formed in Norway back in 1986, and after a short round with demos, the band got a record deal with Polygram Norway and released their debut album the following year. Looking back on the Norwegian melodic rock of the 80's, one of the bands to leave a major impression were undoubtedly Oslo's Da Vinci. Enjoying as much radio play and charting nationally in the same league as Return, Stage Dolls and TNT, Da Vinci released two albums, Da Vinci and Back in the Business…