Pete Townshend revisited the rock opera concept with another double-album opus, this time built around the story of a young mod's struggle to come of age in the mid-'60s. If anything, this was a more ambitious project than Tommy, given added weight by the fact that the Who weren't devising some fantasy but were re-examining the roots of their own birth in mod culture…
Two-time Academy Award winner Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon), produced the epic action drama Rush (2013), a spectacular big-screen re-creation of the merciless 1970s rivalry between Formula 1 racers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. The Rush soundtrack features a musical score composed by Hans Zimmer, plus five classic Rock songs by Dave Edmunds, Steve Winwood, Mud, Thin Lizzy, and David Bowie.
As the 1950s came to a close, Nat King Cole (vocals/piano) continued creating stylish renditions of pop and jazz flavored standards. On Welcome to the Club (1959) the artist teams up with Dave Cavanaugh and the Count Basie combo – minus the maestro himself due to contractual restraints – for one of Cole's most powerful collections supported by a big band. In fact, it is Cole's unmistakable ultra-cool intonations that flawlessly reign in the fiery – and at times overbearing – ensemble arrangements. Right from the start, the vocalist proves that he can swing on the refined and syncopated opening title track "Welcome to the Club."…
Burning House is a bombastic sonic summit created by beat-maker extraordinaire Chief Xcel (Blackalicious) and keyboard wiz Hervé Salters (aka General Elektriks). One of the founding members of heralded San Francisco Bay Area Hip-Hop collective Quannum Projects (Blackalicious, DJ Shadow, Latyrx …), Xcel met Salters when the latter moved from his native France (Paris) to S.F in the early 2000s. Quickly realizing that they both shared a common love for all things funky and irreverential, and both agreeing that when it comes to music, anything goes, The Chief would go on to invite Hervé and his vintage keys on numerous tracks and projects, while Salters invited Xcel on his first album as General Elektriks.