V. A. Seventies Ballads

With "Canto di Primavera" Banco closes the era of the seventies giving their music a touch of late Camel sound, as it evident in the opener instrumental "Ciclo". We are far from the richness and complexity of albums as "Io Sono Nato Libero", "Darwin" or even "Come in un Ultima Cena" but there are still some excellent moments of excellent contribution to the italian progressive scene. The sound is more polished and song-based with relaxing and melodic ballads enriched by nice keyboards parts, acoustic guitars, sparse sax touches and even mandolin.

EMERSON LAKE & PALMER (ELP) reformed for the first time since 1998 to headline the High Voltage Festival on Sunday July 25th 2010. 2010 marked the 40th anniversary of the creation of Emerson Lake and Palmer, the band that was formed from King Crimson, The Nice and Atomic Rooster. They became the first true prog-rock Super Group and defined an era…

The group had eleven UK hits between 1975 and 1978, all of them making the top twenty. In 1980, they had a lesser (top forty) hit with Take good care of my baby, a cover of Bobby Vee's classic. Of their UK hits, four made the top five, these being If you think you know how to love me, Living next door to Alice, It's your life and Oh Carol (not a cover of the old Neil Sedaka song), all up-tempo songs. I like all those songs but my favorites are the ballads - Something's been making me blue, I'll meet you at midnight and Lay back in the arms of someone. Their other essential UK hits are Don't play your rock'n'roll to me, Needles and pins (a cover of the sixties classic) and For a few dollars more.

Born in 1964 in Chiswick, England, the only son of a world-famous guitar legend, Juergen Richard “J.R.” Blackmore began his musical career in Germany. When he was just five years old, his parents separated and J.R. left the United Kingdom together with his mother to live in her birthplace Hamburg. It was the early years of modern-day Hamburg, which had seen legends to be like The Beatles play in the Star-Club before their heyday. Just like his father, Ritchie Blackmore, who made a name for himself and later became world-famous as a founding member of Deep Purple and later Rainbow. If you were going to be somebody in the music business, Hamburg was the place to be and was a gateway into stardom for a plethora of bands.

UK vocalist Shaun Escoffery, whose classic hits “Space Rider” and “Days Like This” are enjoyed by club goers worldwide, is back with a stunning new album “In The Red Room” which combines sheer gospel-tinged power – as on the single “Nature’s Call” – with soulful subtlety on ballads such as “Nobody Knows” and “Do U Remember”.