BIG GOLD DREAMS documents the vibrant independent music scene to emerge in Scotland across the late 70s and 80s. Initially ignited by punk, labels sprang up in Glasgow, Edinburgh and elsewhere to give a voice to the explosion of new acts across the country.
A year in six hours - or twelve months in electronic music, as its composer calls it. This Wagnerian undertaking by Gunner Moller Pedersen is nothing less than the depiction, in electronic music, month by month, of the passage of a whole year. In practical terms the piece is in quadraphonic sound. Pedersen calls his music "spatial" - multi-channel music with preferably four speakers, utilising reverberation and phasing to intensify the sense of space. Optimum listening conditions are therefore larger spaces - unsurprisingly A Sound Year has been performed in galleries and in concert halls and also shown on films and television.
The French synth-pop band Space had international hits with their 1977 dance numbers "Carry on Turn Me On" and "Magic Fly," leading to a deal with Casablanca Records and gold records for the band's songwriter and leader Didier Marouani…
Johnny Shines was far from predictable. Though he recorded his share of inspired electric dates, he had no problem turning around and delivering a stripped-down, all-acoustic Delta blues session like Too Wet to Plow. Recorded in Edmonton, Canada in 1975, Too Wet to Plow finds Shines in excellent form. His solid accompaniment includes harmonica player Sugar Blue and bassist Ron Rault, as well as guitarist/singer Louisiana Red (a superb bluesman who isn't nearly as well known as he should be), and Shines clearly has a strong rapport with them on "Red Sun," "Traveling Back Home," and other highly personal originals. Although Shines' own songs are dominant, one of the album's high points is an interpretation of Robert Johnson's "Hot Tamale."
Sammy Hagar is Sammy Hagar's second solo album, released in 1977. It is also often referred to as The Red Album, as it includes Hagar's first anthem, "Red", which is also the basis for his nickname "The Red Rocker". Future multi-platinum selling producer Scott Mathews was talked into playing a drum solo on "Red" after being told Ringo Starr had played his only drum solo in the very same room on The Beatles' last album, named after the EMI Studios this album was recorded in, Abbey Road.