Rock Open 2006

Continuing their nearly unbroken string of unclassifiably terrific albums, Norwegian trio Motorpsycho deliver one of their finest with the epic Black Hole/Blank Canvas. A two-disc, 17-track set, Black Hole/Blank Canvas leans more to the group's drony psychedelic side than its heavier acid rock sound, with a stronger than usual overlay of sweetly melodic pop hooks to go along with all the pleasurably noisy guitars…

By the late 1970s, percussionist Pierre Moerlen had taken over the leadership of Gong and had steered the band away from Psychedelic Space Rock and took the band into a Jazz Rock direction. After recording several albums with Virgin, Moerlen signed with Arista Records in 1978. Following the album's Downwind, Time Is the Key and Live, Moerlen's band recorded this classic album with Hansford Rowe on bass and Bon Lozaga on guitar.

High Wheel's history begins in late-80's, when Wolfgang Hierl and Erich Kogler set themselves apart from the thrash metal scene and their band ''The Hammers'', searching for more melodic and refined musical paths. Their new project would never become true, if they hadn't met excellent drummer Uli Jenne and after a few rehearsals they decided to form officially a new progressive rock act. With the addition of Andreas Lobinger on keyboards their debut ''1910'' came out in 1993 as a private press, recorded at Tonstudio Rixner near Tegernsee…

GREATEST EVER! is Union Square Music’s select, best-selling label, utilising the very best repertoire from key major labels, Greatest Ever’s 3CD box sets are some of the strongest multi-artist compilations on the market, with the greatest ever songs.

As 2006 nears its end, no one can argue that the world of country music isn't, at this moment, the most adventurous in the mainstream pop music industry and that Nash Vegas is taking more chances on its acts as the rest of the biz relies more on narrowing things into smaller and smaller niches that can easily be hyped and digested. Sure, as always, artist's images and many recordings are calculated to score big as in any pop industry. The difference is in approach. The country-listening audience/demographic has widened considerably; therefore, there is a need – as well as an opportunity – for experimentation to see what sticks. This is the most exciting the music's been since Willie and Waylon hit the charts in the '70s, or perhaps to be a bit more fair, when Garth Brooks turned them upside down in the early '90s…

Mike Oldfield is a bit of an enigma. On the one hand is the artist who almost single-handedly ushered in the genre of new age music with his epic masterpiece Tubular Bells, and then followed that with several albums, Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn, and even Tubular Bells II and III, all with tracks that invariable meandered for half an hour or more through various musical ideas and soundscapes – and no doubt would have gone on a lot longer had it not been for the constraints of vinyl and the restrictions on the length of musical compositions that would physically fit on two sides of a piece of plastic with micro grooves…

Pete Townshend - Empty Glass (1980) {2006 Remaster Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 449 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 147 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 15 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2006 Hip-O / Eel Pie | HIP-O B0005941-02
Rock / Hard Rock

Who mastermind Pete Townshend's strongest solo record was born in a hailstorm of despair, uncertainty, and tribulation. With the once viscerally powerful Who in limbo, the guitarist nearly sunk himself into brandy-drenched oblivion. He emerged with one of his most gripping solo pieces and–perhaps unsurprisingly–the most Who-like album of all his solo work.