Laser Burning

After an eight year absence, Tiles returns with a vengeance by delivering the mesmerizing 2-CD magnum opus "Pretending to Run." Clocking in at over 96-minutes, "Pretending to Run" is an ambitious and richly crafted song cycle spinning the tale of a man blindsided and disillusioned by betrayal.
Lending their talents to "Pretending to Run" is an extraordinary collection of special guest musicians: Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Winery Dogs), Adam Holzman (Steven Wilson Band), Mike Stern (Miles Davis), Kim Mitchell (Max Webster), Colin Edwin (Porcupine Tree), Kevin Chown (Tarja Turunen, Chad Smith), Max Portnoy (Next to None), Matthew Parmenter (Discipline), Mark Mikel (Pillbugs), Joe Deninzon, and other notable guests from the Detroit area…

With three discs featuring a total of 63 tracks, this is Mahalia Jackson's complete output for the Apollo label from 1946 to 1954. These are the recordings that brought Jackson to a national audience right up to her breakthrough with Columbia Records and the ones that literally made gospel recording history. Highlights can be found anywhere the laser beam falls on any of the three discs in this set, but her performances of "Go Tell It on the Mountain," "His Eye Is on the Sparrow," "In the Upper Room, Pts. 1 & 2" "Move on Up a Little Higher," "What Could I Do," "Ever Me," "I'm Going to Tell God," "Dig a Little Deeper," and "Walk with Me," "In My Home Over There," "Just Over the Hill, Pts. 1 & 2," and "Walking in Jerusalem" are too perfect for words and should simply be in everyone's gospel collection as some of the best the genre has to offer. Marvelous transfers of the original master tapes plus great notes by AMG contributor Opal Louis Nations are just extra icing on the cake to this essential collection.

The Virgin Years 1977-1983 is the follow-up to last year's The Virgin Years 1974-1978 (see review) by Tangerine Dream (TD). The latter album was a 3CD-box set comprising the five remastered albums TD recorded for Virgin Records between 1974 and 1978: Phaedra (1974), Rubycon (1975), Ricochet (1975), Stratosfear (1976) and Cyclone (1978) plus a selection of rare single releases, 7-inch edits as well as two rarely heard radio adverts. However, it didn't contain Encore, originally released in 1977. The follow-up to this previous release contains seven albums plus two singles all packed on a 5CD-album set.