The Band was a Canadian-American roots rock group including Rick Danko (bass guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (keyboards, drums, vocals), Robbie Robertson (guitar, vocals), and Levon Helm (drums, vocals, mandolin, guitar). Their time backing Bob Dylan was when they first reached prominence (as well as providing The Band their name), but they were originally formed as The Hawks, a backing band for rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins…
The opening chords of "Finding My Way" signal the beginning of a song, album, and career that would have a permanent place in rock history. The debut album from the Canadian progressive metal outfit features drummer John Rutsey who, although a talented drummer, would quit after this album to be replaced by Neal Peart. Peart contributed to the band's songwriting progression and use of time changes.
Billy Joel - Piano Man (1973). Embittered by legal disputes with his label and an endless tour to support a debut that was dead in the water, Billy Joel hunkered down in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, spending six months as a lounge singer at a club. He didn't abandon his dreams - he continued to write songs, including "Piano Man," a fictionalized account of his weeks as a lounge singer. Through a combination of touring and constant hustling, he landed a contract with Columbia and recorded his second album in 1973. Clearly inspired by Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection, not only musically but lyrically, as well as James Taylor, Joel expands the vision and sound of Cold Spring Harbor, abandoning introspective numbers (apart from "You're My Home," a love letter to his wife) for character sketches and epics. Even the title track, a breakthrough hit based on his weeks as a saloon singer, focuses on the colorful patrons, not the singer…
The birth of Russian national music culture in the 19th century is closely connected with Glinka. Balakirev was one of the initiators of the group in which musicians of varying creative inclinations & abilities came together. The oriental element is very evident in works by Borodin & he makes effective use of the exotic sound world in his only opera Prince Igor. Rimsky-Korsakov is represented as a composer in his own right on this recording by his overture Russian Easter Festival (1888). Tchaikovsky was not a member of the "Mighty Five", unlike the composers already mentioned, but he too strove to write works in which typical national features were prominent.
B.B. King is one of America's few, long-standing musical treasures whose stature has grown to an unassailable, international level. Despite his 85 years, King continues to tour, perform and to grow in influence, casting a shadow that reaches far beyond the blues scene from whence he first came. His warm, down-home vocal style, his distinctive, talking blues guitar playing, and his songs that sing of love's joys and hardships Sweet Sixteen, How Blue Can You Get?, Help The Poor, The Thrill Is Gone and countless others are all indelibly imprinted elements in the modern musical heritage. Celebrating his 50th Anniversary signing to ABC-Paramount Records in 1962 we bring you this multi-format career retrospective. Leading the way with a slick 10 CD, 194 track collection chronicling his entire career from his first recordings in 1949 through to his most recent studio album.