ZZ Top

Koko's Hideaway, the third solo disc from Austin, Texas blues/rock heavy guitar legend Van Wilks, features 15 solid tracks (nearly 73 minutes) of outstanding, compelling, hard- edged, heavy guitar driven blues/rock power trio riffage at it's best. Wilks is one of those rare gifted players who has created his own style and sound and he really "shines" on the Koko's Hideaway disc. Not only is Wilks a brilliant axeslinger, he also has an extremely cool, soulful, melodic vocal delivery that sets him apart from the rest - and far surpasses the norm. On top of which, Wilks is an excellent songwriter and riffmaster, which is clearly evident on Koko's Hideaway. This CD is highly recommended to fans of ZZ Top, Eric Johnson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Doyle Bramhall, Jimi Hendrix, Robin Trower, Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, Jeff Beck and any other cool outstanding blues/rock heavy guitar cats you can think of. Guitarist Eric Johnson is featured as a "special musical guest" on the killer get-down instrumental track called "Vanatized". Both Johnson and Wilks rip it up in fine, bad-ass, Texas heavy guitar fashion on this awesome jam. Other instrumentals include "Without A Word" and the title track.

The 80s Compilation market is a minefield - a lack of variety, re-recorded versions, poor sound quality among the pitfalls - but Demon Music Groups' "100 Hits" series have been the pick of the bunch in recent times…

The short-lived Houston, Texas late-'60s psych band Moving Sidewalks are generally best known as one of the first bands of Billy Gibbons, who went on to fame in biker-blues arena rockers ZZ Top. In their day, Moving Sidewalks recorded their sole LP, Flash, as well as a few singles of psychedelic blues-rock, before evaporating into garage rock history and seeing Gibbons off to radically different prospects. The Complete Moving Sidewalks collects all known studio work by the band as well as demos and unreleased tracks from the Coachmen, the Gibbons-fronted predecessor that came just before Moving Sidewalks. As an album, Flash is very much a product of its time. Gibbons' vocals, guitar playing, and songwriting are all under a heavy Hendrix influence, borrowing the stoned blues side of Jimi's nonchalant playing and electric hippie persona.

Eric Martin began his singing career in the late 1970s with a band called 415. With 415, Eric opened for many established acts like Billy Squire, Hall & Oats, Journey, ZZ Top and Foreigner. The band was signed to Elektra/Asylum records and released Sucker For a Pretty Face. Soon after, they changed their name to the Eric Martin Band. The band parted ways after returning from a 1984-85 tour with ZZ Top. For the next couple of years, Eric continued to tour and release albums as a solo artist. In 1988, Eric teamed up with Billy Sheehan, Pat Torpey and Paul Gilbert to form Mr. Big. The band found huge success with the release of 6 studio albums, numerous hit singles and 6 top-selling live CDs. All combined, worldwide sales reached the 7 million mark. Mr. Big released their final album, Actual Size in 2001.

Taking a different direction from his standard neoclassical shred style, Vinnie Moore's eighth album, "Aerial Visions," shows the guitar virtuoso riffing over classic rock genres spanning from southern rock and jazz fusion to '80s power ballads…