Michael Albion Macdonald Secret of Secrets

The band – consisting of Nick Mason, Gary Kemp, Guy Pratt, Lee Harris and Dom Beken – were conceived with the simple aim of playing some early Pink Floyd – songs pre The Dark Side Of The Moon – that had not been given a live outing for decades. Three initial gigs in London in May 2018 were followed by sold out dates in Europe, the UK and North America in Autumn of that same year. A handful of extra UK shows were announced for April and May 2019, including two nights at The Roundhouse – the venue where Pink Floyd first played on 15 October 1966, at the International Times launch party. The setlist for Live at the Roundhouse includes ‘Arnold Layne’, ‘Vegetable Man’, ‘Interstellar Overdrive’, ‘Atom Heart Mother’, ‘Set The Controls For The Heart of the Sun’, ‘See Emily Play’ and more. This live recording is being issued as a 2CD+DVD set, a double vinyl package and on blu-ray.

"Live at the Roundhouse" is unlike any other concert film connected with Pink Floyd. It's the nearest thing you can get to a time machine, transporting you back to the very earliest days of the band. Nick Mason, the only band member to have played on all of Pink Floyd s studio albums, returns to the group's earliest records, joined in the line-up by Gary Kemp, Guy Pratt, Lee Harris and Dom Beken. Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets took the drummer back to clubs for the first time in 1967, then to theatres, across the UK, North America and Europe, playing only music his old band had recorded before The Dark Side of the Moon…

The Best of Michael Franks: A Backward Glance is a good 15-track collection that is equally divided between soft rock like "Popsicle Toes" and smooth jazz. Any curious listener looking for a one-stop introduction to Franks would be well served with this collection. Among the highlights are "The Lady Wants to Know," "Antonio's Song," "When the Cookie Jar Is Empty," "Tiger in the Rain," "Baseball," "Your Secret's Safe with Me," "When I Give My Love to You," "The Art of Love," "Soul Mate," and "Hourglass".

By the evidence of My Secret Passion, Michael Bolton's secret passion is opera. For several years, he had included arias in his concerts, but he had never recorded them until My Secret Passion. Bolton's bombastic style is relatively well-suited to arias, since he certainly can project his voice quite powerfully. He doesn't have the subtlety to deliver this repertoire completely convincingly, but the Philharmonia Orchestra, under the direction of Steven Mercurio, helps camouflage his weaknesses, as does the guest appearance of soprano Renee Fleming. In other words, My Secret Passion isn't the disaster that Bolton's detractors were expecting, but it isn't a triumph, either. Instead, it's a welcome change of pace from a singer who has become a touch too predictable.