Fagor Press

It's quite difficult to find a young person who knows about the Scorpions. Even when their careers were peaking in the '80s, they were never widely recognized, existing always as more of an underground band. The lack of hit singles produced by the group is by no means a judgment of its talent, however, as Deadly Sting: The Mercury Years proves. Some may find the fact that Mercury made the compilation a double-disc set surprising – again due to the band's small following – but the album is far better than the single-disc collection Best of Rockers 'n' Ballads. Following chronologically from 1979 to 1993 (thus covering the years in which the band enjoyed its most success)…

Instrumental Works collects ten of The Alan Parsons Project's best musical pieces and acts as a wonderful journey through some of this group's most innovative material. Although famous for his concepts, Alan Parsons is equally renowned for his illustrious mood-invoking instrumentals that helped create atmosphere on all of his albums. These movements can easily be taken away from their master albums without losing their grandeur and charm, unlike his vocal works that act as pieces in a thematic puzzle and are better left within their conceptual domain. Both intricacy and subtlety are depicted here, with selections such as "I Robot," "Paseo de Gracia," and "Hawkeye."

Big Generator is the twelfth studio album by the English rock band Yes, released on 21 September 1987 by Atco Records. After touring worldwide in support of their previous album, 90125 (1983), which saw the band move from progressive rock towards a pop-oriented and commercially accessible direction, Yes started work on a follow-up in 1985 with producer Trevor Horn. It was a laborious album to make; recording began at Carimate, Italy, but internal and creative differences resulted in production to resume in London, where Horn ended his time with the band due to continuing problems. The album was completed in Los Angeles in 1987 by Rabin and producer Paul DeVilliers.

Landmarq was formed out of the breakup of Quasar in 1990. The original lineup was Steve Leigh (keys), Uwe D'Rose (guitar), and Bob Daisley (vocals). They added Steve Gee on bass. Next to sign on was drummer Dave Wagstaffe. The group began recording demos the following year. However, during that year, Daisley left the group and they began the search for a new singer. After several false starts, Tracy Hitchings among them, they settled on Damian Wilson. This was the lineup that released the debut Solitary Witness in 1992. The second album was released the same year and entitled Infinity Parade. Unfortunately, that year also saw Wilson leaving the group already. They eventually picked Ian Gould to fill his shoes. Gould did not remain with Landmarq for long, though, and in an interesting turn of events, was replaced by Wilson. The group released their next album, The Vision Pit, in 1995.

School's Out catapulted Alice Cooper into the hard rock stratosphere, largely due to its timeless, all-time classic title track. But while the song became Alice's highest-charting single ever (reaching number seven on the U.S. charts) and recalled the brash, three-and-a-half-minute garage rock of yore, the majority of the album signaled a more complex compositional directional for the band. Unlike Cooper's previous releases (Love It to Death, Killer), which contained several instantly identifiable hard rock classics, School's Out appears to be a concept album, and aside from the aforementioned title track anthem, few of the other tracks have ever popped up in concert.

The second studio album by the heavy metal band Killers, led by Iron Maiden's ex-vocalist - Paul Di'Anno. Coming together in 1991, Killers was one of the first metal super groups to exist. Featuring members from bands including Iron Maiden, Tank, Raven and Battlezone, they were hailed by the press as the 'Natural successor to Judas Priest'. With their album ""Menace to Society"" awarded Metal Hammer's best new album of 1994 and a world tour which included headlining the famous Wacken Festival in Germany, Killers represent all that is British Metal at it's very best. After the great response from the 'Murder One' album and constant touring, the band returned to the UK to start work on the follow up studio album.

Jadis is a U.K. neo-progressive rock group. They play guitar-driven rock with the use of synthesizers to add depth and atmosphere, and an emphasis on melody. They are currently signed to InsideOut Music. The name Jadis is taken from the novel "The Magician's Nephew" by C.S.Lewis. The same character appears as the white witch in "The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe." Jadis was formed in 1986 and in 1989 released their first album Jadis, which was produced by Marillion's Steve Rothery. In 1992, More Than Meets the Eye was released and was received well in the progressive rock scene.

When Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple in early 1975, many fans figured that the band was over. But with the arrival of worthy replacement Tommy Bolin, the band was suddenly back in business with the oft-overlooked Come Taste the Band release. What the prior members of Deep Purple didn't know, however, is that their new guitarist had a serious drug problem, which hampered his playing by the time the group landed in Japan for a series of shows in December of 1975. With Bolin allegedly having no feeling in one of his arms on the night of a Purple gig at the Budokan, the show was to be taped for a future release.

King Crimson opened 1970 scarcely in existence as a band, having lost two key members (Ian McDonald and Michael Giles), with a third (Greg Lake) about to leave. Their second album – largely composed of Robert Fripp's songwriting and material salvaged from their stage repertory ("Pictures of a City" and "The Devil's Triangle") – is actually better produced and better sounding than their first. Surprisingly, Fripp's guitar is not the dominant instrument here: The Mellotron, taken over by Fripp after McDonald's departure – and played even better than before – still remains the band's signature. The record doesn't tread enough new ground to precisely rival In the Court of the Crimson King. Fripp, however, has made an impressive show of transmuting material that worked on stage ("Mars" aka "The Devil's Triangle") into viable studio creations, and "Cadence and Cascade" may be the prettiest song the group ever cut. "The Devil's Triangle," which is essentially an unauthorized adaptation of "Mars, Bringer of War" from Gustav Holst's The Planets, was later used in an eerie Bermuda Triangle documentary of the same name.