
Although Uriah Heep is known for its extensive personnel changes, its lineup has been stable since the mid-'80s; unfortunately, that stability coincided with the band's commercial decline (its last album to chart in the U.S. came in 1983, its last in its native U.K., 1985). So, no one outside the group's fan base noticed that the quintet of founding member and guitarist Mick Box, drummer Lee Kerslake (1971-1978, 1982-2007), bassist Trevor Bolder (who joined in 1977, left during the band's hiatus in the early '80s, and returned a couple of years after its re-formation), singer Bernie Shaw, and keyboard player Phil Lanzon (both of whom joined in the mid-'80s) remained in place through numerous world tours and the studio albums Raging Silence (1989), Different World (1991), Sea of Light (1995), and Sonic Origami (1998).
The new era begins in 2011 when the band gets together again in a slightly altered line-up. Clive, Mick and John Mitchell are once more joined by their old Arena pal, John Jowitt on bass! The question of a new vocalist is widely discussed by the fans and the eventual announcement of the choice of Paul Manzi, meets with enthusiasm and appreciation. The release of The Seventh Degree of Separation in 2011 confirms that the lineup is strong and Arena is in great shape! The Seventh Degree of Separation dwells on the subject of death and explores Frigyes Karinthy’s theory of Six Degrees of Separation expanded by the seventh degree, which, according to Clive, would link the living to the world of the dead. The release of the album is followed by the European tour during which some of the new material is presented in combination with Arena’s greatest classics.
"The Brethren of the Long House" is Riot's ninth studio album. It was first released in Japan on November 11, 1995 and later in the United States and rest of the world in early 1996. The album is dedicated to the lost culture of American Indians.
Swedish DJ Avicii is a strange case. In 2011, he broke through with "Levels," a bleepy and bright bit of EDM that could have been his signature hit, but then his 2013 album, True, was a country-pop and folk-inspired affair that thrilled his fans with its inventiveness, but left others as cold as a meandering Mumford & Sons remix effort. Two years later, his LP Stories is another genre-busting affair that fits in better with mainstream radio than it does the club, but everything iffy about True has been perfected here, as the producer revisits the song-oriented album and lets the outside genres freely come and go.