Zero 7

The men behind the European downtempo outfit Zero 7 – producers Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker – launched their careers in the music industry as tea boys at a London recording studio. Shortly thereafter, however, both were in the thick of action, working alongside a string of well-known British musicians such as the Pet Shop Boys and Robert Plant. They spent the best part of the '90s honing their production skills behind the scenes. Then, after taking on the name of a nightclub in Honduras, the duo gradually began unleashing their own ideas onto an unsuspecting public.

The double album collects the thirty-two songs, over two hours of music from Renato Zero's concert, last summer at the Arena di Verona.

With a musical vision that is at the same time dark and ominous, yet stylish and sophisticated, Univers Zero are one of the most unique and influential bands ever to be associated with progressive rock, and the undisputed creators of the genre known as 'chamber rock'. Getting their inspiration from such diverse sources as rock, jazz, European folk and classical music (both ancient and modern), they have forged a distinctive sound that has received widespread critical acclaim, as well as influencing a vast number of contemporary avant-garde bands and ensembles.
Hailing from Belgium, the band was formed in 1973 by drummer Daniel Denis and trumpeter Claude Deron, with the original name of Necronomicon - though this was changed to Univers Zero (after a book by Belgian novelist Jacques Sternberg) in 1974…

Relaps is another chapter in the archival recordings of Univers Zero. It documents concert recordings of two different lineups during the band's transitional years, and the ones that presaged their lengthy - though gratefully temporary - hiatus from recording and touring between 1986-1999. There are four shows and two different lineups of UZ on display here. First up are a pair of performances from a quintet version of UZ that includes Denis on drums, new keyboardist Jean-Luc Plouvier (who replaced Andy Kirk, original keyboardist and one of the band's two composers), Dirk Descheemaekeron reeds and winds, bassist Christian Genet, and cellist and alto saxophonist André Mergenthaler (aka André Mergen)…

Tomaso Albinoni was a composer who was different from most of his colleagues in presenting himself as a dilettante. That didn't prevent him from being highly appreciated, not only in Italy but also abroad. His music has been found in many locations across Europe. There are various pirated editions of his works and collections with sonatas claimed to be from his pen. Their authenticity is highly questionable but their quantity bears further witness to his status.

Nine Below Zero started life in South London during 1977, in the midst of the punk rock boom in England – but their sound and inspiration were so totally counterintuitive to what was going on in punk rock that they scarcely seemed to be part of that movement, apart from their extremely energetic attack on their instruments. Rather than noise for its own sake or auto-destruction, their inspiration lay in classic Chicago blues (though John Mayall's early music and that of the Who and the Kinks from early in their careers also figured into their sound). Dennis Greaves (lead vocals, guitar), Peter Clark (bass), and Kenny Bradley (drums) – soon joined by Mark Feltham (who actually replaced a teacher of theirs who had sat in on the early gigs) on vocals and harmonica – were schoolmates and friends who shared a love of blues; all had all come into the world in the early '60s, and might well have resigned themselves to having missed the boat for the British blues revival by virtue of having been born in the midst of it. Instead, they reached back to that era and found themselves pegged as part of the "mod revival" in the midst of the punk era.