Up! Up You June 1999

Tuonela proves the fact that Amorphis are not one of the bands that can be chained to a particular genre or style. Such bands are great because you always wonder with what they'll come up next. You can't say that Amorphis is that or is this, only that in the period xx-yy they were singing in a way and then in another way and so on. They stay true to their name (since Amorphis comes from a word that means "no determinate form or shape"). Their creation is always surprising and even though this may cause a "recycle" of their fans from period to period, it doesn't lessen their artistic merits. This album finds Amorphis experimenting with many more sounds and instruments and the good production sure helps to show it. Yes, it sure is a departure from the style of Elegy, but not for the worse…

This is another swell two-for-one album pairing from the British wing of EMI. This one features two of June Christy's classic Capitol recordings, each of which showcases her in small-group jazz settings. The superior Ballads for Night People features Christy backed by a superb cool jazz group led by her husband, Bob Cooper. As befits its title, this session is generally dark in tone but it also really swings. The Intimate Miss Christy is more warmly romantic and finds the vocalist backed only by guitar, bass, and the occasional flute. This one is geared more toward fireside smooching then Christy's usual nocturnal regret or daylight exuberance. Christy was always a great interpretive vocalist, but she was at her most relaxed and natural in the type of small-group jazz settings that are featured on these two albums.

In the summer of 1956, the famed Harlem congressman Adam Clayton Powell arranged for Dizzy Gillespie to embark on a worldwide goodwill-ambassador tour sponsored by the State Department. Gillespie and an all-star big band featuring trumpeter Quincy Jones, the late trombonist Melba Liston, alto saxophonist Phil Woods, and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson performed in Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil to frenzied, beret-wearing fans. Recordings were made but they weren't commercially available and were played only for a select group of musicians before Gillespie's death in 1993. Now the sides have been released, showcasing Dizzy at his bebopping best.

For over 30 years, Charlie Musselwhite has released consistent, if not classic, blues albums in the great Chicago tradition. An acknowledged master of the harmonica, Musselwhite's rough voice is also a recognizable aural trait, and on Continental Drifter he uses both to evoke a world weariness. In the same way a bluesman might rootlessly travel from town to town, the swinging melodies of songs like "Edge of Mystery" and "No" seem to drift and amble musically. Though it's not one of his best efforts, the album – which also has Musselwhite dabbling with Tex-Mex on two tracks – is a solid offering.

Here's the question for Small Faces fans: Is it better to own the original Immediate albums or to invest in the splendid double-disc set, The Darlings of Wapping Wharf Launderette? The question is a tricky one, since Darlings contains all of their Immediate recordings, meaning all of Autumn Stone (or There Are But Four Small Faces, as it's known in its American incarnation), plus all of the landmark Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. Granted, Ogden's is divided cleanly in half, with the first side appearing on disc one and the second on disc two, which may irritate listeners who like to hear the concept album uninterrupted…

In the twenty-first century, Anathema have often been mentioned in the same breath as Opeth and Porcupine Tree due to their increased movement towards thoughtful progressive rock structures. It hasn’t always been that way, of course. Like Opeth, the band began life as a totally different musical beast, playing in a melodic death metal style. Shifting line-ups naturally resulted in shifting sounds, and by the time the band signed with the legendary Music For Nations label for their fifth album "Judgement" in 1999, they’d settled on a rather tough but accessible blend of gothy and alternative rock.
Comprising three discs of remastered audio material, "Fine Days 1999-2004" presents a detailed look this important period in the Anathema history, showing the workings of a band very much moving towards the top of their game…

Guns N' Roses - Live Era '87-'93 is a four record live album by Guns N' Roses, released on November 23, 1999. The album was the first official Guns N' Roses release since "The Spaghetti Incident?" released on the same day in 1993. Former guitarist Slash notes that the album is "not pretty and there are a lot of mistakes, but this is Guns N' Roses, not the fucking Mahavishnu Orchestra. It's as honest as it gets." The dates and locations of the tracks are not revealed in the liner notes, and are only referred to simply as being "Recorded across the universe between 1987 and 1993". However, the majority of the tracks on the four records are sourced from the extensive Use Your Illusion Tour of 1991-1993. Only two tracks come from 1988 live recordings - "Used to Love Her" and "You're Crazy".

Tenor saxophonist Reed was retired for a brief time while he wrote the songs for this recording, and then came back to live performing and touring. His band is a bit rough and a little out of control at times, as the backing guitars are sharp and out of tune. For the most part, though, things are together. There are two cuts from unearthed older sessions featuring the late Albert Collins, some neat horn charts, and cameos from singers Maurice John Vaughn, Sammy Fender, and Arthur Irby, which work to varying degrees. Reed's songs emphasize various social ills, some optimism, and a blues-chasing attitude that always feels good. Reed's signature funky blues crops up on the title track, a travelers anthem about Mickey D's, B.K., and similar places, during which he admits that he eventually "ate a foot long dog," knowing it wasn't good for him…