New Guitar in Town

Playing a melodious synthesis of symphonic hard rock that has occcasionally been compared to Pink Floyd, Hanover Krautrockers Jane can trace their origins back to the late sixties psychedelic band Justice Of Peace. Releasing a single Save Me/War, the band featured future Jane members Peter Panka on vocals, Klaus Hess on bass and Werner Nadolny on saxophone…

HOTEL CALIFORNIA is the fifth studio album by the American rock band the Eagles, and is one of the best-selling albums of all time. Three singles were released from the album, each reaching high in the Billboard Hot 100: "New Kid in Town" (No. 1), "Hotel California" (No. 1), and "Life in the Fast Lane" (No. 11). The album became the band's best-selling album after Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975), with over 16 million copies sold in the U.S. alone and over 32 million copies sold worldwide. The album was ranked number 37 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

The Chicago guitarist/saxist spreads his stylistic wings considerably further than he did on his debut, embracing funk more fully than his first time around but offering enough tasty contemporary blues to keep everyone happy. The prolific triple threat (he's also an engaging singer) wrote all but three tracks himself (one of the covers is the shuffling "Small Town Baby"; its composer, veteran pianist Jimmy Walker, plays on the cut).–by Bill Dahl

Nothing if not prolific (this is Popa Chubby's sixth set of original material in six years), the New York City-based guitarist nonetheless scores with fresh, often inspired material on this outing, Stealing the Devil's Guitar. He has already shown he can push past the rather strict boundaries of blues-rock by gradually infusing hip-hop, Latin, Southern swamp, and even reggae influences, and continues to do so throughout 12 new songs, along with a cover of Jessie Mae Hemphill's "In This World." Chubby loves to ride a chunky riff and he serves up a tasty selection of them here. The instrumental "Kinda Dicey" is a perfect example; it's a tough, sticky, funky groove, ideal for Chubby's licks. Same with the strutting "Smuggler's Blues," a story of the titular character who is both desperate and determined, with a smoking guitar solo that mirrors its narrator's intensity to get his job done.

Following through with the avant-garde inclinations of Station to Station, yet explicitly breaking with David Bowie's past, Low is a dense, challenging album that confirmed his place at rock's cutting edge. Driven by dissonant synthesizers and electronics, Low is divided between brief, angular songs and atmospheric instrumentals.