Sahara 1987

Guitarist/keyboardist Tony MacAlpine really hits his stride on Maximum Security. While it's not all that different from his first album, Edge of Insanity, it's just much better. The album's captivating neoclassical/fusion forays are filled with plenty of beautiful melodies and hair-raising solos; MacAlpine simply lights up the fretboard – and the keyboard, for that matter. Opening with a stormy harpsichord motif, the album's leadoff track, "Autumn Lords," sounds promising from the start. The piece soars with dramatic classical precision and features some truly breathtaking guitar/keyboard interplay.

Sahara is a 1972 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, his first to be released on the Milestone label. It was recorded in January 1972 and features performances by Tyner with Sonny Fortune, Calvin Hill, and Alphonse Mouzon. The music shows African and Eastern influences and features Tyner playing koto, flute, and percussion in addition to his normal piano.

A master of the kora (21-string West African harp), Toumani Diabaté has brought the traditional music of his native Mali to the attention of an international audience with a series of well-received solo albums and some unlikely, but acclaimed, collaborations. Although he came from a family of musicians, Diabaté (born August 10, 1965) taught himself to play the kora at an early age, as his father, who also played the instrument, was often away touring. He developed a style of playing that, while being strongly rooted in the Malian tradition, is also open to a wide range of other influences, such as jazz and flamenco. He has subsequently sought out other musicians from around the world who are willing to experiment with him, even performing a concert in Amsterdam with a classical harpist.

UK eight disc (seven CDs + NTSC/Region 0 DVD) set. The Studio Albums 1979 - 1987 is a clamshell box set that gathers together all seven studio albums released by the legendary classical rock band Sky over a nine year period. Formed in 1979, Sky brought together the worlds of rock and classical music in a highly successful and inspiring way. Featuring the gifted talents of guitarist John Williams, percussionist Tristan Fry, legendary bass player Herbie Flowers, former Curved Air keyboard player Francis Monkman and guitarist Kevin Peek, Sky recorded their debut album at Abbey Road studios in the early months of 1979…

A seasoned American hard rock troupe with roots in AOR and glam metal, America's House of Lords convened in 1987 after the dissolution of keyboardist Gregg Giuffria's previous ensemble, Giuffria. The band saw success with their 1988 eponymous debut, which was released by Kiss bassist Gene Simmons' RCA imprint, and again with 1990's Sahara and 1992's Demons Down, but the onset of grunge dulled the group's commercial momentum, and they spent the remainder of the decade on hiatus. House of Lords reconvened in the mid-2000s sans Giuffria with vocalist/guitarist James Christian at the fore and have gone on to issue a string of dynamic melodic rock efforts like Come to My Kingdom (2008), Indestructible (2015), and New World - New Eyes (2020), all of which have been released on Frontiers Records.