The Hole (1998) Ming Liang Tsai, Kuei Mei Yang, Kang Sheng Lee, Tien Miao

An in-depth look at the Chinese Secret Service, the Tewu, focuses on Kang Sheng, who was a major force in making China a world power.
Il fut l'éminence grise du président Mao, le père des services spéciaux de la Chine rouge, le chef de la police secrète, l'artisan de la rupture entre Pékin et Moscou.

Though they ultimately made their name as a blues-rock band, and Peter Green's admiration of artists like Jerry Garcia eventually found its way into their music, Fleetwood Mac began as a straight-ahead blues band. A bunch of Brits devoted to the music of Chicago and the Delta, Green and company couldn't help but put their own twist on the blues, but they were simultaneously reverential towards it. This is the situation presented in this 1968 live recording.

When jazz vocalist Freddy Cole sings, it's with a built-in groove that's unshakeable, with warm, honeyed tones that wrap the lyrics in velvet and set them down firmly in the pocket. Cole has one great little album here; if you thought it was impossible to produce a modern-day jazz vocal album that's not infused with endless oodles-of-noodles riffing that shows you nothing except the ability of the vocalist to sing everything but the melody, be prepared for greatness. With a small combo led by pianist Cedar Walton and tenor saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr., Cole has a backdrop that never gets in the way of his magic nor does anything that doesn't help the song. Timber-wise, he owes a lot of his phrasing to his older brother, Nat "King" Cole, and Francis Albert Sinatra, but Freddy ultimately remains his own man and that's what makes this album such a success. Ten or 12 stars, at least.

Morgan's seventh album for the Black Top imprint brings some new and welcome twists to the mix. First is the production chores being handled by label head Hammond Scott. Second is the return of harmonica ace/vocalist Lee McBee after a three-year hiatus from the lineup to pursue a solo career. The third notable feature is the abundance of fine original material. Rather than a set of bandstand ready-mades, you can tell some time and work went into the production of this album. McBee's harp work is as strident as ever, and Morgan's guitar still maintains its blazing Texas fury, but framing it with a horn section here and there, Riley Osborne on piano and Hammond B-3 organ and Rhandy Simmons subbing on bass for six of the 11 tracks keeps this album from ever getting samey or predictable. Particularly noteworthy are "Bad Luck and Trouble," "You're Gonna Miss Me" and the title track.

Trine Rein is an American-Norwegian singer, who belongs to the exclusive group of Norwegian artists whose album sales have exceeded more than a million records. Trine Rein released her first solo album in 1993, Finders, Keepers. It peaked at the top of the Norwegian album chart for no less than five weeks. But as she was almost unknown before the release, it took her 14 weeks - more than three months - to finally have the most popular album in Norway. And due to the extensive foreign press coverage of the Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer February 1994, her album was soon a hit in Japan as well. At one time she topped 16 different Japanese radio station charts simultaneously. Due to this immense popularity and interest on the Japanese isles, almost two thirds of the more than 600,000 albums sold of her first album were bought by Japanese fans.