Sault 11

It was formed in 1994 by Nick Jackson as a psychedelic and multi-media band based in both London, England and Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. Citing influences such as Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Opeth, The Cure, the band combines progressive rock along with several other influences, including country, heavy metal, hard rock and pop. The band released it first full-length album, "The Stranger Inside the Self" the same year (1994). At this point, It was purely Nick Jackson's vehicle as he was the only full member of the band. Guest musicians were used to provide additional instrumentation for the album. During It's live shows promoting the album, the band began to use multi-media techniques, such as playing short films behind the band on stage. It's second album, "Two Worlds" was released early the following year…

The first two albums re-recorded, remixed and remastered to sound as they deserve to be with original missing tracks included. Machines Dream formed in 2010 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. Machines Dream began as five guys getting together a few times a week to jam, to improvise and follow their hearts musically. Those jams and ideas resulted in songs, which led to recording and - in March 2012 - the self-titled debut was released. The album is a collection of progressive rock songs with a scope both atmospheric and cinematic that embraces tales of mental illness, alienation, communication and the need to find safe haven in a destructive world. It's easy to see the lineage of Machines Dream. The members listened to groups like PINK FLOYD, GENESIS, MARILLION, KING CRIMSON, PORCUPINE TREE and TOOL and those influences are recognizably referenced in their own music.

But I have for a very long time liked what Eric Clapton liked, the Delta Blues, and in particular Robert Johnson, the Delta bluesman who would be more myth than fact if it were not for the incomparable legacy of recordings we were lucky enough to be left to posterity. So it was therefore with some trepidation (and the faint hope that I might actually like it) that I came to hear 2004's Me and Mr. Johnson (Reprise, 2004). Call me prejudiced, but I was right. Immaculately recorded, perfectly played, I hated it.

Beginning life as a psychedelic, multi-media group, IT is a band with a colossal sound that shakes the bones and, with a barrage of images, feeds the mind. Based both in London England and Sault Ste. Marie Canada, IT is part of a new movement in Progressive Rock that includes such bands as Porcupine Tree and Nine Inch Nails, among others. IT’s sound fuses the classic melodies of prog rock’s past with a passion and intensity usually only found in punk or metal bands. Politics, religion, war and sexuality all come under the Band’s lens for critical examination. Lyrics are intelligent, challenging and occasionally darkly humorous. The bottom line is that the IT experience will inform your thinking, feelings and memory long after the last notes have ended.

Enjoying great success in music, film, television, and the stage, Dean Martin was less an entertainer than an icon, the eternal essence of cool. A member of the legendary Rat Pack, he lived and died the high life of booze, broads and bright lights, always projecting a sense of utter detachment and serenity; along with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and the other chosen few who breathed the same rarefied air, Martin – highball and cigarette always firmly in hand – embodied the glorious excess of a world long gone, a world without rules or consequences. Throughout it all, he remained just outside the radar of understanding, the most distant star in the firmament.