It has been 40 years since the release of Boz Scaggs "Silk Degrees", which is said to be the original AOR! It is a 3-disc set that can be said to be the decisive board of the AOR compilation, and the song selection and supervision is by Mr. Toshikazu Kanazawa, a leading expert in AOR criticism. It covers everything from AOR classics such as Boz Scaggs, TOTO, and AirPlay to maniac songs unique to this compilation.
Since he became the music director and conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas has largely focused his attention on presenting the symphonies of Gustav Mahler in splendid audiophile recordings, for which he has received critical and popular praise. So his first hybrid SACD of works by Claude Debussy comes as a surprise, not only because the sound world is quite different from Mahler's, but Tilson Thomas' interest in Debussy has seemed less obsessive over the years.
Decades after its release, Tales from Topographic Oceans is still the most controversial record in Yes' output. This was the place where Yes either fulfilled all of the promise shown on their previous five albums or slid off the rails in a fit of artistic hubris, especially on the part of lead singer Jon Anderson and guitarist Steve Howe, who dominated the composition credits here…