Stories Masayoshi Fujita

After the seven-year gap between 1990's Jordan: The Comeback and 1997's Andromeda Heights, many Prefab Sprout fans were surprised by the comparatively brief four years between that album and 2001's The Gunman and Other Stories. The album holds other surprises for the longtime Prefab Sprout fan; for one thing, backing vocalist Wendy Smith is absent, having left the group after the birth of her first child, and for another, it's a Western-themed concept album.

The debut album by The Misers 'Amplified Life Stories' from 2009 on Sonny Jim Records. While this group was well known in the UK, it seems that they never have gotten much airplay or exposure in the States or, for that matter, anywhere else in the world.

Adele, Pearl Jam, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Kris Kristofferson, Torres, and more contribute to Cover Stories, a new tribute album to singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, Rolling Stone reports. Barack Obama wrote the LP’s foreword—read a statement from him below. The album, which will benefit War Child UK, comprises covers of songs from Carlile’s 2007 album The Story. Scroll down to hear Dolly Parton’s take on the title track. Most of the songs were recorded last year, one exception being Adele’s take on “Hiding My Heart,” which came out as a bonus track in 2011 and inspired the release.

When Harry Sokal played his interpretation of Wolfert Brederode's composition Trinity, ten years before the appearance of this CD, both Sokal and Brederode had the feeling that they had something worth developing. Some years passed however before they could make a joint recording. Following several international tours, the celebrated Austrian saxophonist baptised this project at the start of the new millennium. The duo was born and quickly earned its first laurels at its concerts. Sokal describes the end product of the work on this album as "the expression of sensual interaction with each other". In fact, it is a dialogue between Sokal, with his poetically expressive saxophone sound, and lyrical Brederode, with his crystal clear, sometimes dark piano sound, and is guided by their underlying wish "to spend some time together, telling stories".

Following the Grammy-nominated 'Distances' comes the eagerly awaited second ECM album from the British-German-Italian trio fronted by singer Norma Winstone, with pianist Glauco Venier and reedsman Klaus Gesing. Alongside their own pieces, the musicians play songs from Mexico's Armando Manzanero to Armenia's Komitas, to Wayne Shorter. Textures, colours and rhythms are drawn from scattered, surprising sources. (Source: amazon.co.uk)

Laurie Mansworth had already seen action with NWOBHM act More when in 1982 he decided on a more transatlantic musical approach for his next musical venture. The result was Airrace and a deal was quickly inked with Atco/Atlantic records for their debut album ‘Shaft Of Light’ produced by Beau Hill (Ratt, Streets, Kix)…

Life Stories retains the synthesizers of Soda Fountain Shuffle but it gets a little warmer, adding backing vocals and the occasional live instrument, all in a move to help push the record closer to quiet storm. Although sometimes the sound is a shade glassy, Life Stories nevertheless succeeds: it's a nice, warm, grooving little record.

Cyrus Chestnut's third Atlantic CD continues to showcase his tremendous growth as a thought-provoking pianist and composer. "In the Garden" is an inspirational solo indicating his gospel roots. "East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)" proves his ability to create a novel trio arrangement of a standard tune covered by numerous musicians. The remaining tracks include a number of outstanding originals, especially the reflective "My Song in the Night" and the playful "Maria's Folly."