Blue Room

On The Blue Room, her second Decca recording, Madeleine Peyroux and producer Larry Klein re-examine the influence of Ray Charles' revolutionary 1962 date, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. They don't try to re-create the album, but remake some of its songs and include others by composers whose work would benefit from the genre-blurring treatment Charles pioneered. Bassist David Pilch, drummer Jay Bellerose, guitarist Dean Parks, and pianist/organist Larry Goldings are the perfect collaborators. Most these ten tracks feature string arrangements by Vince Mendoza. Five tunes here are reinterpretations of Charles' from MSICAWM. "Take These Chains" commences as a sultry jazz tune, and in Peyroux's vocal, there is no supplication – only a demand. Parks' pedal steel moves between sounding like itself and a clarinet.

Luke Morley has stood at the very heart of UK rockers Thunder since 1989 as their guitarist, chief songwriter and producer. He's been a lynchpin in their 14 albums' success and served a crucial role in building up these rock heroes' loyal fanbase and enduring popularity. That's helped Thunder enjoy 7 UK Top 10 albums and 18 Top 40 singles:. in the past 5 years alone, Thunder have released no fewer than three UK Top Five albums. In 2022 Thunder sold out a UK arena headline tour climaxing at Wembley Arena. Impressive metrics, but there's more to Luke Morley than most know, and his brand-new solo album 'Songs from The Blue Room' brings other aspects of his talents into the limelight, as he confidently steps into the arena of Rock-tinged Americana. The new album is a tour de force for Luke Morley's multiple talents: songwriter, singer, musician and producer. Not only is he a renowned guitarist, but he plays all instruments on the album, bar drums. 'Songs from The Blue Room' also brings Luke Morley's strong, but nuanced, rock vocals to the fore where he sings lead on all tracks.

The fourth album from Jon Zeeman is another classic. Intense blues-rock spiked with jazzy elements. A real treat for every connoisseur. From the age of 8, Jon Zeeman has been obsessed with guitars, amplifiers, wah-wah pedals, power tubes, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones. Growing up outside NYC, he studied classical piano and decided on a career in music at the ripe age of 13. Early jobs at IHop and other occupations taught him that the business world, or anything that required waking up early was not for him, and so he spent his high school years practicing more and more and doing less and less homework.

This is the second album of German progressive rock band. Their debut album “Crying of the Whales” was released a couple of years ago by the same record label. Fuzzed roaring guitars, soaring keyboards (predominantly, organ), melodic solos, strong singing mixed at the front, sumptuous backing vocals, mid-tempo throughout… While all of these components do originate in the 1970s, however, this is a very modern sounding record: the production is crisp yet warm, very much in your face yet elegant at the same time. It's a record that will appeal to fans of heavy prog, symphonic prog, psychedelic and all those who like good melodies, slick arrangements, and a strong sense of what the musicians want to achieve.

Blue Room is an album that comes very close to home for Ana. When she was growing up, her family’s apartment in Belgrade was unlike other Serbian homes. It was within that 11th floor flat that an enclave called “the blue room” was the place where blues and rock albums were played and discussed, and music was pursued. It was where a father inspired his daughter to take up the guitar and to unlock the blues feeling within her. “I wanted to record the songs that we used to play together while I was still living at home,” Ana says about the many deep blues cuts on the album. While her father had never pursued a career in music, Ana has since become an international touring sensation. Popovic, widely recognized as a brilliant guitarist…