Simply Fused

As years pass, it’s only natural for some of us to idealize the past. Nothing will ever surpass the first time we jammed our favorite bands and of course, one common complaint is that music nowadays simply lacks the emotional foundation it had in one’s favorite era. The problem becomes even more frequent with progressive metal…

The third in a trilogy of legendary Iron Maiden albums, Powerslave is frequently ranked as the fan favorite of the bunch, capping off a stellar run that sealed the band's genre-defining status. If The Number of the Beast was the all-time metal landmark, Powerslave is perhaps the quintessential Maiden album, capturing all the signature elements of the band's definitive era in one place…

Come a Little Closer is a surprisingly effective mating of a distinctive singer with seemingly incongruous material and production. Helmed by Gabriel Mekler, who'd produced Steppenwolf and Three Dog Night, the record features Etta James supported by a slew of hotshot L.A. session men (including Little Feat's Lowell George). The song selection ranges from "St. Louis Blues" to Randy Newman's perverse "Let's Burn Down the Cornfield" to the dramatic, melismatic "Feeling Uneasy," in which the junk-hungry James improvised wordlessly over an otherwise blues progression. Here's more evidence that Etta is one of the most versatile vocalists of her era.

Tim "Ripper" Owens, who had previously sung in a Judas Priest tribute band called British Steel, was hired in 1996 as Judas Priest's new singer. This line up released two albums, Jugulator and Demolition, as well as two live double-albums – '98 Live Meltdown and Live in London…

This massive 12 GB collection (3.5 GB of 24-bit WAV files) of Pop, Modern and Indie Rock Songwriting Styles is a showcase of groups like Coldplay, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Kelly Clarkson, One Republic, Fall Out Boy, Kings of Leon, Train, Pink, One Direction, Bruno Mars, Muse, Queens of the Stone Age, Linkin Park and so many more!

Mandingo Griot Society were a Chicago-based quartet who fused elements of African, jazz, funk, and blues musics. Jazz trumpeter Don Cherry guested on this, the band's 1978 debut album.
This, the first album by the Mandingo Griot Society, is not simply a different form of fusion music. True, it does combine traditional African instruments with a contemporary American rhythm section: electric bass, drums set, and percussion. But is it, in fact, a reuniting, a coming together of two musical cultures with a common origin. For it should be understood that the African creative process, spiritual in its essence, has always been the root of American "fusion" musics, most significantly jazz, funk, and blues.