Stories Masayoshi Fujita

Even though Tales From the Lush Attic was IQ's first LP, the band had self-released a cassette in October 1982 entitled Seven Stories Into Eight. Recorded on a domestic four-track machine, this collection of songs shows the band in its formative months, as members were trying to agree on the musical direction they wanted to follow. The cassette was sold at shows and via mail order until 1984, when it was deleted. Each copy was packaged with handmade artwork by singer Peter Nicholls. The album opens with "Capital Letters (In Surgical Spirit Land)," an atypical high-octane fusion number à la Brand X or National Health.

Director Sam Eastmond composed and arranged these works for the 15-piece big band Spike Orchestra, as he examines the power and magic of words through stories, splintered and fragmented through resonance and dissonance, merging influences, styles and instrumental colors over four expansive works yielding inspired moments in orchestration and soloing.

The sixth album for the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, released following a year-plus hiatus that nevertheless saw the release of two new LPs: the water-treading Live, and the odds 'n' oldies collection Penthouse Tapes. Both portrayed the band in a light that had only a little in common with the group's true strengths – both, attended by major chart success and exposure, left the band uncertain quite how - or even if - they should proceed. SAHB Stories suffers accordingly.
At its greatest, it shines alongside the very best of the band's past. The closing "Dogs of War," though bombastically overwrought, nevertheless ranks alongside John Cale's similarly fear-lashed "Mercenaries" as one of the greatest-ever examinations of the soldier of fortune, while the twisted history of "Boston Tea Party" - quite likely the only U.K. hit to mention George Washington's wooden teeth - is set to a pounding tomahawk guitar riff…

This budget-price U.K. compilation bypasses the problem of shoehorning 15-minute "hits" into a bite-sized package by increasing the size of the package (so to speak). Wonderous Stories: The Best of Yes spans two discs, which leaves room for the full versions of epic favorites like "And You and I: Cord of Life/Eclipse/The Preacher the Teacher/Apocalypse,…

Like the work of Buffalo Springfield or the Moody Blues in the first go 'round, you'll need to take it on faith that the Baroque touches on Barclay James Harvest and Other Stories were effective for their time. The fuzzed guitars, Mellotron, bongos, heavy orchestration and dreamy arrangements may sound stilted today, but strip them away (or simply acquiesce to enjoy them) and a very good collection of songs reveals itself…

Edgar Allan Poe’s power to inspire artists of various different mediums and styles has been a significant factor of his enduring popularity, as has the man and the mystery himself. Whilst the academia hauntings of M.R. James and the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft have experienced something of a renaissance in recent times, E.A. Poe has always been a lingering presence. His meandering stories featuring such things as the onset of plague in a quarantined complex, troubles at sea, a murderer preying upon victims in their homes in the streets of Paris and quite frequently the haunting phantasms of guilt and grief and loss. At the times the supernatural drifts in, it is frequently with a disconcerting subtlety, even when wreathed in Gothic robes. His horrors are relatable, timeless and ultimately haunting and therefore they and Poe endure.