Mirch Masala 1987

Meditative music gently guiding you from everyday stress into a silence that contains magical moments of long forgotten feelings.

Written and conceived during a period of inner-band turmoil, Clutching at Straws would prove to be Fish's swan song, and perhaps Marillion's most unheralded masterpiece. Teaming up once again with producer Chris Kimsey, Clutching at Straws showcases some of the band's most satisfying compositions, including the magnificent "Warm Wet Circles" and "That Time of the Night (The Short Straw)." Bookended by Fish's disgust with not only himself, "Torch Song," but also with the burgeoning neo-Nazi uprising in Europe, "White Russian," the great Scot delivers an inspired condemnation. The commercial pomp and circumstance of "Incommunicado" also gives way to a self-parodying confessional inspired by Fish's inability to see himself as a bona fide rock star and celebrity ("I want to do adverts for American Express cards, talk shows on prime time T.V.")…

Written and conceived during a period of inner-band turmoil, Clutching at Straws would prove to be Fish's swan song, and perhaps Marillion's most unheralded masterpiece. Teaming up once again with producer Chris Kimsey, Clutching at Straws showcases some of the band's most satisfying compositions, including the magnificent "Warm Wet Circles" and "That Time of the Night (The Short Straw)." Bookended by Fish's disgust with not only himself, "Torch Song," but also with the burgeoning neo-Nazi uprising in Europe, "White Russian," the great Scot delivers an inspired condemnation. The commercial pomp and circumstance of "Incommunicado" also gives way to a self-parodying confessional inspired by Fish's inability to see himself as a bona fide rock star and celebrity ("I want to do adverts for American Express cards, talk shows on prime time T.V.")…

Night Ranger was riding high on the success of Midnight Madness and Seven Wishes, a pair of albums that actually brought the arena rockers into arenas. They had stardom and they knew they wanted to keep the Big Life – which is exactly why their 1987 follow-up to Seven Wishes sounds so stilted…

"Actually" debuted at the number 2 on the UK Albums Chart upon its release in 1987. The album was produced by Julian Mendelsohn, Stephen Hague, Shep Pettibone, Andy Richards and Pet Shop Boys. This period saw Pet Shop Boys reach new critical and commercial heights with three number one singles, "It’s a Sin", "Always on My mind" and "Heart", and "What Have I Done To Deserve This?", their number two single featuring Dusty Springfield.
The "Catalogue" re-issue of "Actually" includes the remastered original album with the 2-CD album features bonus material including the Shep Pettibone mix of ‘Heart’, and demo versions and alternative mixes of tracks including "One More Chance" and "Always On My Mind".

After years of playing a dispiriting game of musical chairs with various lead singers during the early '80s, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi finally stumbled upon a dependable frontman when he admitted relative unknown Tony Martin into the fold, thereby initiating the original heavy metal band's long awaited return to respectability – if not chart-topping success…

The combination of drummer Max Roach's regular group (which includes trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, tenor saxophonist Odean Pope and electric bassist Tyrone Brown) with the Uptown String Quartet to form his Double Quartet works extremely well. Because the strings get to improvise and are not restricted to the background, the interplay between the two groups is a special highlight of this particularly strong outing. In addition to works by Pope and Brown (the latter contributed "Tribute to Duke and Mingus"), The Double Quartet interprets Steve Turre's "Double Delight," Randy Weston's "Hi Fly" and Roland Kirk's happy "Bright Moments." A frequently exquisite yet adventurous album, highly recommended.