Relapse Records Polish Assault [split] (2000)

This moody yet self-deprecating singer/songwriter's album will be nothing new to fans that have followed the long arc of Lloyd Cole's career. One listen to "What's Wrong with This Picture" – which offers the sentiment "'Smile,' she said, 'If you want I'll look the other way/Til you regain your melancholy disposition or until you get over yourself'" over a bright guitar figure – places longtime fans on familiar ground. Cole's uncanny melodic ear is also still in place. What is new, however, is his return to fronting a full-time band after spending his post-Commotions years (they split in 1988) as a fairly singular figure.

Fanya Lin, Polish Wieniawski Philharmonic Orchestra & Theodore Kuchar - Rhapsodic (2023)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 185 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 99 Mb | 00:43:15
Classical | Label: Navona Records

Pianist Fanya Lin’s RHAPSODIC is a masterful exploration of two of the most iconic pieces in piano repertoire. With her deft touch and nuanced interpretation, Lin lends an entirely new dimension to George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Variations.

Regardless of who came up with the term "freakbeat" - either Bam Caruso czar Phil Smee created it in the mid-'80s or Richard Allen came up with it as the name for his psych fanzine - it's generally agreed that the Smoke were one of the best examples of the style (along with the Birds, the Creation, Les Fleur de Lys, and a few others) during the "swinging London" era of the mid-'60s. This 23-track comp of feedback-rich primeval psych-beat is highlighted by their finest moment right up front: "My Friend Jack" hit the U.K. Top 50 in 1967, despite the fact that it was banned by the BBC. (According to the excellent liner notes, the Beeb banned the song after the Bishop of Southwark - who misconstrued it as a celebration of drug abuse - contacted EMI head Sir Joseph Lockwood to complain about the song right in the midst of hysteria over a then-recent Rolling Stones drug bust, LSD, and "moral decline")…

This CD is a most satisfying listening experience, despite a few shortcomings in the packaging. Released under the auspices of Annie Haslam at a time when Renaissance had splintered in several different directions (with even Jane Relf reportedly getting ready to start using the group name again), it's assembled from what appear to be several live performances – the notes by Haslam would lead one to believe that these date from the late '70s, and the lineup of Haslam, Michael Dunford, John Tout, Jon Camp, and Terry Sullivan. But as there are no dates or actual credits, that's impossible to say with 100-percent certainty – what is true beyond doubt is that the sound is excellent (almost too good for a '70s-vintage concert recording) and the performances are superb from beginning to end; not only is the band tight and loud, but Haslam is in even better shape vocally than the rest of them are instrumentally.

Limp Bizkit is an American rap rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Its lineup consists of Fred Durst (lead vocals), Sam Rivers (bass, backing vocals), John Otto (drums, percussion), DJ Lethal (turntables), and Wes Borland (guitars, vocals). The band's music is marked by Durst's angry vocal delivery and Borland's sonic experimentation. Borland's elaborate visual appearance, which includes face and body paint, masks and uniforms, also plays a large role in Limp Bizkit's live shows…

This is the time to celebrate the emergence of such a lovely progressive dance in the key of 21st century Canterbury? From Spain's Northeastern coast, Amoeba Split has delivered a beautiful album in which jazzy vibrations and melodic colorfulness fuse in an appealing dynamics. Four years was the time that Amoeba Split took to complete this album's repertoire little by little, and now "Dance Of The Goodbyes" is a brilliant reality. A must for Canterbury fans out there.
Out of print for many years, this new limited edition on double cd (glass master) is really special! CD 1 features the newly remastered "Dance of the Goodbyes" album, and CD 2 includes the demo recorded in 2003, never officially released, to which the legendary demo of the song "Flight to Nowhere" is added as a bonus…

King's Shelter years were covered in toto on the 1995 double-CD King of the Blues, which had everything from all three of his Shelter albums and then some. Although all of the 18 songs on this single-disc anthology were on King of the Blues, this is a more manageable survey of the same era. Not an era, it should be said, that was King's best, with more ordinary material and less canny production than was used on his best earlier work. It does, however, have some of the better cuts from his 1970s recordings, such as "Going Down," "Lowdown in Lodi," the string-drenched Leon Russell tune "Help Me Through the Day," the brassy instrumental "Guitar Boogie," and covers of chestnuts like "Reconsider Baby," "I'd Rather Be Blind," and "Please Send Me Someone to Love."