Music as a Mirror of History

Michael Jackson's double-disc HIStory: Past, Present, and Future, Book I is a monumental achievement of ego. Titled "HIStory Begins," the first disc is a collection of his post-Motown hits, featuring some of the greatest music in pop history, including "Billie Jean," "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," "Beat It," and "Rock with You." It leaves some hits out – including the number ones "Say Say Say" and "Dirty Diana" – yet it's filled with enough prime material to be thoroughly intoxicating. That can't be said for the second disc, called "HIStory Continues" and consisting entirely of new material – which also happens to be the first material he released since being accused of child molestation. "HIStory Continues" is easily the most personal album Jackson has recorded.

Initially a British folk-rock combo called Tyrannosaurus Rex, T. Rex was the primary force in glam rock, thanks to the creative direction of guitarist/vocalist Marc Bolan (born Mark Feld). T. Rex's music borrowed the underlying sexuality of early rock & roll, adding dirty, simple grooves and fat distorted guitars, as well as an overarching folky/hippie spirituality that always came through the clearest on ballads…

This is a very special boxed set by the short-lived but excellent Japanese band Shingetsu, compiling just about everything the band ever did in the studio along with material by the various solo and offshoot projects that came into being after the band dissolved. The result is something I would consider essential to all fans of the golden age of '70s progressive rock. Influenced by classic King Crimson, Mike Oldfield, Pink Floyd, and particularly Genesis, Shingetsu did not appear on the scene until the late '70s but brought with them that pure, symphonic, cinematic sound shared by those other bands earlier in the decade, completely untainted by punk and the other commercial music which had now started to plague progressive music here in the west…

Almost two centuries passed between the creation of the first and last pieces on the cd programme at hand, which was recorded by Bram Beekman on the De Rijckere organ in the Oostkerk (East Church) in the Dutch town of Middelburg. Almost 200 years in the wideranging history of the organ separate both the D minor Toccatas by the German organ masters Johan Sebastian Bach and Max Reger…

AT THE GATES are innovators. From debut album, The Red In The Sky Is Ours, through comeback stunner, At War With Reality, the Gothenburg-based death metal act have always traversed the left-hand path on their own terms. The Swedes are keenly aware of who they are, where they come from, and how they got to where they are today. In the ‘90s, AT THE GATES spearheaded The New Wave of Swedish Death Metal. In the aughts, then-swansong album, Slaughter Of The Soul, served as a feature-rich treasure chest for a host of upstarts to plunder. When AT THE GATES returned in 2008—a full 12 years after they disbanded—their return was celebrated and the follow-up to Slaughter Of The Soul—now placing handsomely on Top Metal Album Lists—hotly anticipated. Now, four years after At War with Reality, the Swedes are ready to show their indomitable spirit, ceaseless ingenuity, and raw power on new album, To Drink From The Night Itself.