Red Shift Darwin Deez

"Raw" is an overused and sometimes misapplied term of admiration, especially in the realm of the blues, where it is all too often used as a euphemism for "incompetent and off-key." In the case of Louisiana Red's Back to the Black Bayou, however, it's the only apt descriptor, and it's fully justified as a term of praise: his sound is ragged-edged and fiery, though its center is utterly solid and his delivery is unfailingly powerful. Having lived in Germany since the early '80s, he went to neighboring Norway to record this album with producer and guitarist Little Victor, and even if the program leans heavily toward old and familiar material…

Picture Book is the debut album by British pop group Simply Red, released in October 1985. It contains the #1 single "Holding Back the Years", the band's most successful single, and a cover of The Valentine Brothers' "Money's Too Tight (To Mention)". Three other singles were released from the album: "Come to My Aid", "Jericho", and "Open Up the Red Box". The album includes 'lively' and 'energetic' groove beats and ballad orientated keyboard undertones that help songs such as "Holding Back the Years" to be so effective. Members Tim Kellett and Fritz McIntyre are acclaimed by Hucknall to be the most influential in the album based on the distinctive sound of their playing.

AVID Jazz continues with its Four Classic Albums series with a finely re-mastered 2CD release from John Coltrane with The Red Garland Trio & Quintet.

If you love Vivaldi's FOUR SEASONS, you will eat this up. The new tempos (which may be more like the original) take this piece from its previous iterations as a formal, Baroquesque piece to a wild, rowdy interpretation of nature's four seasons I mean, the actual four seasons. Spring has never sounded more like spring (the speeded up tempo reveals myriad birdsongs), etc.

Louisiana Red (born Iverson Minter) was a flamboyant guitarist, harmonica player, and vocalist. He lost his parents early in life through multiple tragedies; his mother died of pneumonia a week after his birth, and his father was lynched by the Klu Klux Klan when he was five. Red began recording for Chess in 1949, then joined the Army. After his discharge, he played with John Lee Hooker in Detroit for almost two years in the late '50s, and continued through the '60s and '70s with recording sessions for Chess, Checker, Atlas, Glover, Roulette, L&R, and Tomato, among others.