Second Best To None

Although they didn't fare nearly as well as fellow Teutonic thrashers like Kreator and Sodom in terms of career longevity or commercial success, Würzburg, Germany's Paradox certainly seemed, on the surface, to have a better shot at the big time with their more melodic and accessible style. Formed in February of 1986 by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Charly Steinhauer, lead guitarist Markus Spyth, bassist Roland Stahl, and drummer Axel Blaha, the group was heavily influenced by the biggest of all thrash bands – Metallica – and quickly parlayed a few impressive demos into a deal with Roadrunner Records and a very impressive debut album, Product of Imagination, the following year…

The phrase "very best of" in an album title usually indicates a highly selective collection of an artist's career highlights.

The Shadows are usually thought of as the quintessential British instrumental group and, along with the American band the Ventures and the Swedish group the Spotnicks, one of the most popular instrumental groups in the world. But that barely tells the story of their true significance in the history of British rock & roll including the fact that they were the first home-grown British rock & roll band to dominate the U.K. charts; or that they weren't originally an instrumental group, either.

These performances are very authentic, which essentially means misconceived from the start, and often downright unmusical. Using teeny tiny forces (only seven violins), and inaptly named Arte dei Suonatori, they lack just that: the art of making a pleasing sound. The loudest thing here is the continuo, consisting of harpsichord, organ, theorbo, and archlute. Its prominence and enthusiastic improvisational flourishes on what ought to be very subsidiary harmonic support destroy Handel’s balance of tone and wreck the interplay between concertino and tutti. Frankly, the whole approach is so stupid and unstylish that it’s very hard to believe that anyone could associate this kind of playing with “historically informed performance”. It’s like wearing all of your internal organs on the outside of your body, and just about as pleasant.

Cross the Rollling Stones, Otis Redding and throw in a pinch of Z.Z. Top and Otis Redding and presto you've got FLIES ON FIRE…

After Neil Young left the California folk-rock band Buffalo Springfield in 1968, he slowly established himself as one of the most influential and idiosyncratic singer/songwriters of his generation. Young's body of work ranks second only to Bob Dylan in terms of depth, and he was able to sustain his critical reputation, as well as record sales, for a longer period of time than Dylan, partially because of his willfully perverse work ethic…