Missionary

Man - Live At The 'Rainbow' 1972 (1998) {Eagle Records EDL EAG 124-2 rel 1998}
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© 1972, 1998 Point / Eagle Records | EDL EAG 124-2
Rock / Prog-Rock / Psychedelic / Pub Rock / Hard Rock

Man were arguably at their peak in 1972, with guitars and solos still locked firmly on stun, and their improvisational powers so taut that it was impossible to predict what might happen next when they played. Certainly the U.K. tour that culminated at the London Rainbow remains one of the most fondly remembered of all the band's excursions, and though the sound quality is just a shade on the murky side, this four-songs-and-a-fiddly-bit souvenir captures all the magnificence of that crowning night.

Listen: there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honour. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus am I 'A feather on the breath of God'.

Soul singer extraordinaire E.C. Scott comes back from her 1995 debut with perhaps even a stronger album the second time at bat. Ten of the 11 tunes on here emanate from her prolific pen (the only cover is her interpretation of the Eurythmics' "Missionary Man"), and her earthy, engaging style is heard to great effect on the opener, "Steppin' Out on a Saturday Night," the bouncy shuffle "Don't Touch Me," the slow blues "Lyin' and Cheatin'" and the title track. Her time is impeccable, her phrasing straight and true, and every vocal on here is chock full of deep feeling; as a modern-day example of a soul-blues album, this one's about as good as the form gets.

Here he slides back into the raw, blown out garage rock that he's so well known for and man does it sound good. The riffs are piled high all over this album and he's never sounded so urgent and utterly relevant. Everything distorts in just the right places and the hooks are guaranteed to stay in your head for a long, long time. He's stripped everything back and come back bigger, badder and better than ever. 2024 needs this man big time.

Claire Lynch's new album is a rare bird indeed. At one point, albums like this weren't the exception, but the rule. Twelve exquisitely written, carefully produced songs that bound along at a pace appropriate for their subject matter: life, love, and the conviction to get on with both. Only one song nudges the four-minute mark, and rightfully so.

Jordi Savall - Ramon Llull 1232-1316 (2016) {2CD Set, Alia Vox AVSA9917}
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© 2016 Alia Vox | AVSA9917
Classical / Medieval

Born in Majorca c. 1232, three years after the Christian conquest of the island (1229), Ramon Llull had very close contact with Muslim culture. It was not until after he was thirty years old that he gave up his life at court and began to study theology and philosophy. Not long after that, he purchased a Moorish slave in order to learn Arabic. This proximity to the Muslim world gave him an exceptional insight into religion and culture which set him apart from all the intellectuals in the Europe of his day. A tireless traveller, he visited the principal courts of Christendom to rally support for his projects, and he did so while engaging in an intense missionary activity to convert Jewish and, above all, Muslim unbelievers.

Following the disbandment of Eurythmics in 1991, vocalist Annie Lennox began a solo career that rivaled Eurythmics' in terms of crossover popularity. Born and raised in Aberdeen, Scotland, Lennox began playing music as child, learning how to play both the piano and flute. In her late teens, she won a scholarship to London's Royal Academy of Music, but she dropped out before she took her finals. For the next several years, she worked around London, performing various jobs during the day and singing at night. In the late '70s, she met guitarist Dave Stewart through a friend. Stewart, who had previously played with Longdancer, asked Lennox to join a new band he was forming with a songwriter named Peet Coombes. The band was named the Tourists, and they released three albums between 1979 and 1980 and scored a number four U.K. hit with a cover of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be with You."

With the new romantic movement they'd helped spearhead on the way out, futurist icons Spandau Ballet began thinking seriously about the future on their second album. The seeds of the group's transition to a slick, MOR soul outfit can be heard in hits like "Chant No. 1," the best song Spandau Ballet had come up with…