With Black Label Society, guitarist and one-time Ozzy sideman Zakk Wylde found a lasting home for his ferocious metal picking. Formed in the late '90s, the outfit features a rotating lineup and Wylde taking on the bulk of the instruments. At its heart a Southern metal band, BLS melds the whiskey-soaked spirit of '70s rockers like Lynyrd Skynyrd with the unleashed chaos of '80s thrashers such as Slayer…
Guitarist Joe Pass was known for his forthright, straight-ahead style, gorgeous tone, and melodic concepts. This magnificent five-CD set collects his entire output in 1963 and 1964 as a leader, with additional sessions in which Pass plays in a trio led by Les McCann. Most of the tracks feature a quartet (the five exceptions adding the saxophone or flute of Bill Perkins), with the guitarist virtually always a key voice.
Dakota is a US based melodic rock group active during the late 1970s and early 1980s, not to be confused with the British pop-rock band of the same name active from 2007–2010. Dakota first achieved moderate success with their 1979 self-titled album Dakota, but the band's popularity increased rapidly while performing as the opening act for Queen on their 1980–1981 The Game Tour. The band released their second and best-selling AOR album, titled Runaway, in 1984. The band experienced several line-up changes during the 1980s and eventually stopped performing in 1987. During the 1990s and 2000s original member Jerry Hludzik continued to record a number of records under the Dakota name, featuring guest musicians, friends and also his son Eli Hludzik. In 2014, original members Jerry Hludzik and Bill Kelly reunited and teamed up with Jon Lorance and Eli Hludzik to record a new Dakota album titled Long Road Home.
The instrumental, multimedia Montreal group Godspeed You! Black Emperor creates extended, repetition-oriented chamber rock. The minimal and patient builds-to-crescendo of the group's compositions results in a meditative and hypnotic listen that becomes almost narrative when combined with found-sound splices and the films of their visual collaborators. Collection includes: 'F#A#∞' (1998); 'Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada E.P.' (1999); 'Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven!' (2000) 2CD; 'Yanqui U.X.O.' (2002); 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!' (2012); 'Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress' (2015).
Although Adrian Belew has played with some of rock's biggest names over the years (Frank Zappa, David Bowie, the Talking Heads, King Crimson, etc.), he remains one of the most underrated and woefully overlooked guitarists of recent times…
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. From 1974 until 1985, the band consisted of guitarist Eddie Van Halen, vocalist David Lee Roth, drummer Alex Van Halen, and bassist Michael Anthony. The band went on to become major stars, and by the early 1980s they were one of the most successful rock acts of the time…
Quasar was formed in the late 70's and even if they to date only have two studio albums in their discography, they have apparently endured as many line-up changes as some of the most prolific and famous Prog bands! Indeed, band leader Keith Turner is the only member who is present on both of their albums. Fire In The Sky was Quasar's debut album and in a way this can perhaps be regarded as Proto-Neo-Prog. However, there is little indicating the release date of 1982. This sounds more like second-division classic Prog; this could have come out of the mid 70's, just as well. The vocals do, however, sound like they were recorded in the 60's…
Van Halen is an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1974. They have enjoyed success since the release of their debut album Van Halen (1978). As of 2007, Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and have had the most number-one hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. During the 1980s they also had more Billboard Hot 100 hits than any other hard rock or heavy metal band…