The Weapon, The Hour & The Motive L'arma, L'ora, il Movente (1972)

Swiss band Krokodil released a bit of a classic with their 1971 album 'An Invisible World Revealed', an addictive mix of swampy bluesy acid rockers with heavy psych flavours and plentiful Mellotron. Most of their other four albums never quite delivered the same excellence, but the follow-up to '…Invisible', 1972's 'Getting Up For The Morning' comes damn close. As expected of the band, there's a ton of bluesy jams, fragile ballads and acid-rock fire, but the second side of the LP brings some subtle Krautrock elements mixed in, and overall there's a very upbeat quality to the music that is truly infectious and a joy to listen to.

Olga Pashchenko is one of today’s most versatile keyboard players. Equally at home on the fortepiano, the harpsichord, the organ and the modern piano, she radiates extraordinary virtuosity and passion. Her discography has hitherto enabled her to explore the music of Beethoven, her great passion, but also that of Dussek and Mendelssohn among others. A key figure was missing until now: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. That omission has now been repaired with this recording of his Piano Concertos nos. 9 and 17, written in 1777 and 1784. This initial collaboration with the ensemble Il Gardellino, founded more than thirty years ago by the oboist Marcel Ponseele and the flautist Jan De Winne, is scheduled to continue with other Mozart concertos in the next few years.

The Mamas & the Papas' second album was made while the group was still riding high from the chart success of their first album, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, and the two singles, "Monday, Monday" and "California Dreamin'," that made them icons of the young pop generation. At the same time, their personal lives were so messy that Michelle Phillips got bounced out of their ranks for a few months. Only the good vibes made it on the record, though, as the same creative team sought to recapture the beautiful harmonies and jangling, sometimes moody folk-rock that made their debut sound so good.

An often misunderstood album, this album (aside from the 1971 "reunion" album) was the final record by the Mamas & the Papas. It has held up incredibly well over time, and sounds better today than when it was released in mid-1968. The centerpiece of the album is "Dream a Little Dream," which very well may be the finest cover version that the group ever recorded, and in the end, was a very nice way to end the group's short but incredible career. The album also contains some excellent John Phillips material such as "12:30" (a minor hit), "Rooms," and "Too Late." These three tracks form a mini-medley in the middle of the second side, and add a lot of dimension to the record. Cut at the Phillips' home studio, the album has a simple sound, but when the vocal majesty cuts through on such tracks as "Mansions" (one of the band's lost masterpieces), it's faultless.