Kazakstan 1993 2000

Royal Blue is the first Alligator release from Koko Taylor since 1993's Grammy nominated Force of Nature. This is a mainly up-tempo set with excellent support from several guest appearances by B.B. King, Johnny Johnson, Ken Saydak, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd who contributes some scorching guitar on the Melissa Ethridge-penned hit "Bring Me Some Water." Taylor not only co-produced this release but wrote four of the 12 tracks, including the acoustic "The Man Next Door." On this track, the combination of Koko's passionate voice with Keb Mo's gritty Delta slide guitar makes you wish she would move further in this direction on future releases. Royal Blue proves Koko Taylor is still the undisputed queen of the blues.

Lobgesang, Mendelssohn's ''Hymn of Praise'', is no longer a rarity on disc, with a dozen versions listed. That makes it timely that Spering, following up the success of Herreweghe's Harmonia Mundi version of Elijah (4/94), here presents a performance in period style. When the composer's preference for fast speeds is well documented, and has so convincingly been followed up by his latterday successor at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Kurt Masur, it is perhaps surprising that Spering is far more relaxed in his choice of tempos. His overall timing—64'48'' as against Masur's 58'32''—shows what a wide discrepancy there is, and in no way does he let the music drag or become sentimental. For with clean, crisp textures this is a most refreshing performance, full of incidental beauties, of a work that for several generations was regarded as too sweet on the one hand, over-inflated on the other. Spering's clean directness and his obvious affection for the music reverses that jaundiced judgement.

Gilda (Miriam Alejandra Bianchi) was an Argentine singer and songwriter. She was the most successful tropical singer of the 90's in Argentina. Gilda started getting involved in music while organizing festivals at a Catholic school. After meeting musician Tito Giménez, the teacher became a backup singer, joining a band called la Barra and soon participating in a second project named Crema Americana. In 1993, Giménez convinced her to start a solo career, recording De Corazón A Corazón after signing up to local label Magenta. The following year, "La Única" featuring the hit "Corazón Herido" and "La Puerta" was released. In 1995, Pasito A Pasito came out, getting the hit and one of her most popular songs "No Me Arrepiento De Este Amor."

Communism–the extraordinary social experiment promising equality and freedom which swept from Russia around the world. In the early days, hopes were high, but in the end the story of Communism is on of grim realities. Listen as people from behind the Iron Curtain tell how their lives were affected by this new world order–from the storming of the Winter Palace in Tzarist Russia in 1917 to the swift implosion of communist regimes around the world in the 1980's.

The Seventh House came out almost four years after IQ's previous studio album, Subterranea. In light of this CD, it appears that the critically acclaimed 1997 concept album was the band's creative peak, which does not mean The Seventh House is weak. The general feeling of the album makes it closer to 1993's Ever. Peter Nicholls' theatrical voice gains in beauty with age. The playing is unsurprisingly tight, the musical approach firmly anchored in melodic progressive rock. Highlights include "Guiding Light," "The Wrong Side of Weird," and the title track, the latter a complex and exhilarating number. On the other hand, "Erosion" and "Zero Hour" feel like they miss a dimension, even if the acoustic guitar on the latter brings in a different texture…