Pseudo Desktop

Australian synth-pop band Pseudo Echo formed in 1982 and were influenced by the emergent British New Romantic bands Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Ultravox. By 1984, Pseudo Echo were second in popularity in their homeland only to the mighty INXS. According to rock music historian Ian McFarlane, Pseudo Echo "combined flash clothes, blow-wave hairstyles, youthful exuberance and accessible synth-pop to arrive at a winning combination … and found a ready-made audience among teenagers who fawned on the band's every move". Their international breakthrough hit was their pop-rock makeover of the Lipps Inc track, the disco classic 'Funky Town'. This was a worldwide smash hit in 1987 reaching #1 in Australia and Canada, #8 in the UK and #6 on the US Billboard Hot 100! This is a 2-disc expanded edition of their second album, "Love An Adventure", that 'Funky Town' originally appeared on.

War Child was Jethro Tull's first album after two chart-toppers, Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play, and was one of those records that was a hit the day it was announced (it was certified platinum based on pre-orders, the last Tull album to earn platinum record status). It never made the impression of its predecessors, however, as it was a return to standard-length songs following two epic-length pieces. It was inevitable that the material would lack power, if only because the opportunity for development that gave Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play some of their power. Additionally, the music was no longer quite able to cover for the obscurity of Tull's lyrics ("Two Fingers" being the best example). The title track is reasonably successful, but "Queen and Country" seems repetitive and pointless…

As openings go, they don’t come any more enigmatic than the one that ushers in Marillion’s third album, ‘Misplaced Childhood’. The concept album that was conceived during a 10-hour acid trip is widely regarded as the flagbearer for the entire ‘neo-prog’ movement and features the band’s two most famous singles ‘Kayleigh’ and ‘Lavender’…

If The Hurting was mental anguish, Songs from the Big Chair marks the progression towards emotional healing, a particularly bold sort of catharsis culled from Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith's shared attraction to primal scream therapy. The album also heralded a dramatic maturation in the band's music, away from the synth-pop brand with which it was (unjustly) seared following the debut, and towards a complex, enveloping pop sophistication…

Appearing in the U.S. just two months prior to the band's April 1970 breakup, Hey Jude is one of the odder Beatles records released during the group's lifespan. Essentially a clearinghouse for singles that never appeared on album, the record relies heavily on songs released between 1968 and 1969, but it also stretches back to get both sides of the 1966 single "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" and "Can't Buy Me Love" and "I Should Have Known Better," two 1964 songs that never appeared on a Capitol LP (but did show up on the soundtrack to A Hard Day's Night, which was released by United Artists in 1964)…

Frank Minion - The Soft Land of Make Believe (1959-1960) {Bethlehem Japan CDSOL-6054 rel 2013}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 282 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 98 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 42 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1959-60, 2013 Solid Records Japan / Bethlehem Records | CDSOL-6054
Jazz / Bop / Vocal Jazz / Vocalese

Features the latest remastering. Includes a Japanese description and lyrics. Frank Minion's one and only recording is a fascinating window into the world of a jazz performer. Quite cynical and sarcastic toward the jaundiced American view of the jazz life, Minion minces no words in stating his case, his reasons why, and his conclusions as to the home country of the music so thoroughly dismissing the music he loves. As this project was done back in the late '50s and early '60s, it reflects a syndrome that unfortunately still exists 50 years later. The CD reissue begins with a five-part suite based on the talking points and songs reflecting the vagaries and perceptions of a fictional big city neighborhood, which just as easily could be the reality of renaissance Harlem, references to Atlanta, or perhaps his native Baltimore.