Four + Six

From the twelfth century (Saint Hildegard) to the twenty-first, the voices of The Gesualdo Six weave a meditative reflection around the ancient Office of Compline in a moving sequence of music from fourteen composers.

The blues scene in Chicago has sadly deteriorated over the last 10 years or so. Most of the old, legendary musicians have died. Only a very few places still feature live music in the black neighbourhoods (the South- and Westside, where Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, and all the other greats had their home base). Many new blues clubs opened on the (white) Northside, but the music there is mostly aimed at the white tourist market. The same old songs played over and over again, no steady bands, personnel in the. bands always changing, definitely never any rehearsal. One of the few bands that have maintained a high musical standard, is The Big Four Blues Band. They were formed more than ten years ago, have not changed the personnel, became better and better over the years, and without trying to become rock stars they are still playing that old Chicago Blues…

For a brief moment at the start of the '90s, everyone seemed to be doing the retro-rock thing, and while most bands were digging back to the late '60s for inspiration, the Four Horsemen's ambitions went no further than the late '70s – more specifically AC/DC. There's not a single original riff on all of their first full album, Nobody Said It Was Easy, mind you, but the band's raunchy guitars and gritty delivery make up for this in spades. And had he not been arrested seemingly every six months for one misdemeanor or another, outlaw frontman Frank Starr may have even challenged Axl Rose for his "king of the bad boys" crown. Starr's whiskey and broken glass vocal style literally ignites the album's best moments, including the title track, "Can't Stop Rockin'," and the incredible "Rockin' Is Ma' Business." And while "Hot Head lifts its main riff directly from AC/DC's "Rock'n'Roll Damnation," the slightly more original "Tired Wings" actually received some MTV rotation thanks to its mellower Southern rock vibe and slide guitars.