Axis 01

Alpha Noir is a welcome revisit to the band’s early works and probably their most ferocious sounding since their debut, Wolfheart (1995). This is due in no small part to the guitar work. Throughout this album the guitars offer face melting riffs and wild soloing that lasts more than a few seconds here and there. Additionally, there is a ton of lead work happening at all times and it just makes everything bigger and angrier. Not unlike brethren Paradise Lost and Amorphis though, Moonspell dig deep and craft a much heavier album than anyone expected.

John Rose is a founding member of Spacecraft and an e-music veteran with over 25 years in the genre. Cosmogenesis, his solo debut, is packed with atmospheres, sequences, bravado and triumph. John's goal has long been to create music to get inside. The double meaning is clear. As listeners get deeper into the music, it gets deeper into the listeners. John compliments his signature electronics with an acoustic piano and dulcimers. Those acoustics take the music over the edge of the lightness of being. John, as Spacecraft fans know, is not about to explore the dark side of the psyche. He is more interested in celebrating the gentler and softer aspects of the being. His pastoral textures create the perfect vehicle for such celebration. This CD is great for lazy afternoons and for relaxing rest stops on the highway of life.

These 12 songs were recorded by Twin Engine in 1971 with the intention of getting an album together for release on United Artists, but they weren't issued until more than 30 years later. The music has very much of a 1970 aura, mightily influenced at different points by the Let It Be-era Beatles (particularly in the guitar sound of "Give My Love a Chance," "The Time Is Now," and "Mistress of the Morning"), Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (a riff in "The Time Is Now" seems airlifted directly from Neil Young's "Cowgirl in the Sand"), American Beauty-era Grateful Dead, and the country-rock being laid down by the Flying Burrito Brothers/Byrds axis in Southern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. (That last influence may not have been entirely due to chance, as Byrds and/or Burritos members Chris Hillman, Clarence White, and Sneaky Pete Kleinow are all referred to in the packaging as having played on the sessions, though it's not specified who played on what track). It's very accomplished, and Twin Engine's duo harmonies are quite cheerful and invigorating.

Fritz Wunderlich is in absolutely stunning voice in this classic recording of Mozart's "Turkish" opera brilliantly led by Eugen Jochum. Kurt Bohme is a lively, rich voiced Osmin, while Erika Koth and Lotte Schadle are a vivacious pair of female leads. Friedrich Lenz makes for an expert, lyrical second tenor! "The Rough Guide To Opera" says that "this is a justifiably famous performance, . . . not least for its being the first of the opera to present the score uncut. It is also celebrated for being one of Fritz Wunderlich's last and finest studio recordings.

Mao Fujita follows up his 'acclaimed' debut album on Sony Classical, the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas, with a similarly ambitious recording project, 'Preludes'; three complete sets of 24 preludes by Chopin, Scriabin, and 20th century Japanese composer Akio Yashiro. This album represents a fascinating exploration of three different but intricately connected worlds, each full of poetic diversity, volcanic energy and atmospheric stillness.