Playboy's Women of The World 1987

Men Without Hats broke big with their 1982 debut, Rhythm of Youth. Though they never maintained that level of success, their third album Pop Goes the World was a smart, well-crafted, woefully underrated offering. The album chronicles the quest for and backlash of fame on songs like the title track, on which Ivan sings "Johnny and Jenny had a crazy dream/See their pictures in a magazine." Perhaps it was a way of dealing with the band's sudden success/failure, particularly on "Lose My Way" and "The Real World.." Thankfully, a wild sense of humor and a heartbreaking poignancy keeps the album from becoming too serious. Additionally, each song is vastly different: there are some lullabies ("Moonbeam"), some anthems ("Jenny Wore Black"), and some dirges ("Bright Side of the Sun" - which is criminally short, adding to its power)…

The Light of the Spirit is one of Kitaro's best CDs. Perhaps it is because Mickey Hart co-produced, or perhaps Kitaro asked Hart to co-produce because it is so good. It doesn't really matter if either of those is the reason; this is just an awesome CD. Kitaro's specialty has always been the symphonic synth and this is no exception. He augments that synth with several guest musicians on a variety of ambient instruments. This is truly ambient music, albeit on the new age side of that style. The vocal accompaniment by Lynn Ray and Jeannie Tracy counts as instrumental as well. The sound design treats the wordless vocals as an extra sound to incorporate. David Jenkins contributes a smoking electric guitar that gives this rock & roll textures as well. This disc stands proudly with work by Constance Demby, Vangelis, Suzanne Ciani, and Dean Evenson as some of the best adult contemporary instrumental new age music.

To describe Alvin Stardust's hit-making career as deceptive is to do the man (and the music) a major disservice. He never pretended, after all, to be anything but an old time rocker reborn for the glam age; nor, once he and producer Pete Shelley had driven their first great idea into the ground, did he even threaten to return with anything so viscerally vibrant as his debut hit. But "My Coo Ca Choo" was more than a hypnotic guitar riff, a lyric steeped in lascivious sensuality and a really scary-looking singer who held his microphone upside down. It was forbidden sex and secret code, it was yowling subversion and evil intent, it was "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Be Bop a Lula" breathlessly updated and whipped into shape.