Howling Rain

This is Vaan Shaw's first CD ever! Vann is Eddie Shaws son and went in his youth fishing with Howling Wolf. He played guitar with the Wolf Gang after Hubert Sumlin left - there are great songs by Vaan, like "Morning Rain" and "TV Preacher".

The new album "The Hands Of Time" was again produced in the band's own studio by THE PICTUREBOOKS and Claus Grabke, and will be released on March 8th, 2019 right after the tour with MONSTER TRUCK. Fynn Grabke (vocals, guitar) and Philipp Mirtschink (drums) comment: "On our next album we´re introducing a bunch of instruments we had never used on an album before. For 'Howling Wolf' the Mandolin fit perfectly, adding an all new vibe but keeping true to the Picturebooks sound aesthetic."

1985's Love displayed a marked improvement over the Cult's early material, and though it remains underappreciated in America (worldwide it was a smash), this exceptional record has actually aged better than the band's more notorious (and equally important) releases: Electric and Sonic Temple. Equal parts psychedelic hard rock and new wave goth, the songs on Love emanate a bright guitar sheen, tight arrangements, crisp drumming, and a command performance from vocalist Ian Astbury, who as usual says a lot more with less than most singers…

Increasingly, and especially in a day and age where music is so widely and readily available thanks to advanced technologies, when a company or act wants to make a good box set, it had better deliver. To its credit, Beggars Banquet did just that with Rare Cult, an astoundingly comprehensive and entertaining collection that packs in 90 tracks over the course of six discs…

Kingdom Come is the debut studio album by American rock band Sir Lord Baltimore, released on Mercury Records in 1970. This album is notable for the fact that its 1971 review in Creem contains an early documented use of the term "heavy metal" to refer to a style of music. It features very fast-paced, rhythm and blues-based rock 'n' roll with high levels of distortion in the guitar and, in some cases, the bass. Baltimore's heavy style can be compared to early Black Sabbath, the Stooges and MC5. Kingdom Come has received acclaim from critics and its influence on heavy metal music is well-noted. In his retrospective review, Marcos Hassan of Tiny Mix Tapes called it "one of those great records where not a second is wasted".

Leon Thomas' debut solo recording after his tenure with Pharoah Sanders is a fine one. Teaming with a cast of musicians that includes bassist Cecil McBee, flutist James Spaulding, Roy Haynes, Lonnie Liston Smith, Richard Davis, and Sanders (listed here as "Little Rock"), etc. Thomas' patented yodel is in fine shape here, displayed alongside his singular lyric style and scat singing trademark. The set begins with a shorter, more lyrical version of Thomas' signature tune "The Creator Has a Master Plan," with the lyric riding easy and smooth alongside the yodel, which bubbles up only in the refrains. It's a different story on his own "One," with Davis' piano leading the charge and Spaulding blowing through the center of the track, Thomas alternates scatting and his moaning, yodeling, howling, across the lyrics, through them under them and in spite of them…