The Hawaiians (1970) Tom Gries, Charlton Heston, Tina Chen, Geraldine Chaplin

Before scaling the hard rock heights with Rainbow and Alcatrazz, Graham Bonnet belted out contemporary covers with his cousin, Trevor Gordon, in the Marbles. Born in Lincolnshire, England, Bonnet performed with a blues band and a jazz trio before hooking up with Gordon, who played with the Bee Gees, and the Marbles caught the interest of media mogul Robert Stigwood at RSO Records. The first Marbles single, "Only One Woman," a Gibb brothers composition, did well in the U.K. and Australia. Another Gibb tune, "The Walls Fell Down," also received airplay, but the Marbles abruptly broke up. Transitory behavior would become typical of Bonnet's career. Though the band split, the eponymous Marbles debut dropped in 1970. The 2003 CD reissue on Repertoire adds six bonus tracks, including mono single versions of four tracks from the LP and two 1969 B-sides.

Esoteric Recordings is pleased to announce the release of a new clamshell boxed set featuring all four of Curved Air’s classic albums recorded between 1970 and 1973. “The Albums” features newly remastered versions of “Air Conditioning”, “Second Album”, “Phantasmagoria” and “Air Cut”, along with bonus tracks ‘It Happened Today’ (single version), ‘What Happens When You Blow Yourself Up’ and ‘Sarah’s Concern’, all originally issued as singles.
Originally issued on the Warner Bros. label in November 1970, “Air Conditioning” showcased the highly innovative talents of Sonja Kristina (vocals), ex-Royal College of Music student Darryl Way (violin), former Royal Academy of Music student Francis Monkman (electric guitar, piano, mellotron, VCS3 synthesiser), Rob Martin (bass) and Florian Pilkington-Miksa (drums)…

J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy provide the inspiration for a series of strange, other-worldly tracks that transcend their source material. Hansson's keyboard playing is quite unlike the work of such rivals as Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman, less heavy and "gothic" and more oriented toward jazz. His guitar work as is flashy and aggressive as his keyboards ("The Black Riders/Flight to the Ford" is a great showcase for both), and the backing by sax, flute, and drums creates an overall rich sonic palette.
The album was first released on CD in 1988 as an "extended remixed version", with an additional eleven bonus tracks taken from Hansson's other 1970s albums "Magician's Hat" and "Attic Thoughts."

Southside Johnny Lyon has been fronting one of America's most consistently hard-rocking R&B show bands, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, for well over 30 years, so this album should come as something of a surprise to longtime fans - here Southside sings a dozen tunes from the songbook of Tom Waits alongside a jazzy, full-bodied big band led by Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg, a longtime fixture in the Asbury Jukes horn section (and a member of Max Weinberg's band on Late Night with Conan O'Brien). While this is very much a change of pace, it's one that both Lyon and Rosenberg handle with confidence and aplomb; Lyon's voice shows a touch more grain than it did in his salad days with the Jukes, but his sense of phrasing and showman's touch is superb, and he brings swagger, heart, and sincerity to every performance here, and when Waits shows up for a duet on "Walk Away," the two trade lines as if they've been singing together for years…

Bread broke big with their second album, thanks to David Gates' sentimental soft pop classic, "Make It With You" – the song that set the standard for sensitive mellow pop ballads for the '70s and for years to come. Its pull is strong, but it's a bit misleading, since the group hardly just turns out a series of these lovely, luxurious pop tunes throughout the record. In fact, with the considerable assistance of Robb Royer and James Griffin, the group actually rocks it harder than Crosby Stills & Nash (if not CSNY, true enough), and they continue to show that the diversity and range of material they demonstrated on their debut was no fluke. If anything, "Make It With You" doesn't set the pace for the rest of the record, since even the softer moments, such as "Look What You've Done," isn't as lushly mellow as that – there is more coloring through the guitars, and the songwriting has more edge and melody than that.