Solo 1981

Tilt is the second solo album by English drummer Cozy Powell, released in 1981. Tilt features musical assistance from Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce, Don Airey, Bernie Marsden and Gary Moore. Considered to be one of England's best drummers, Cozy Powell was almost legendary for a heavy-hitting style that could be made to work with many styles of music, He is best remembered for his work with Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Whitesnake and Black Sabbath as well as Emerson, Lake & Powell.

Sweet electric fusion from The Players - a Japanese combo led by keyboardist Hiromasa Suzuki. The style here is kind of a cross between CTI modes and some of the more dynamic fusion of the European scene - funky at points, but also somewhat free and open too - lots of tight rhythms at the bottom, but soaring solo work from Suzuki on a variety of keyboards, plus saxes from Mabumi Yamaguchi and guitars from Tsunhide Matsuki.

Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, 64 at the time of this Pablo recording, is in superior form on the blues-oriented material. With Art Hillery (on piano and organ) and guitarist Cal Green leading the rhythm section, and trumpeter Martin Banks and the tenor of Rashid Ali offering contrasting solo voices, this is a particularly strong release. It is true that Vinson had sung such songs as "I Want a Little Girl," "Somebody's Got to Go," and "Stormy Monday" a countless number of times previously but he still infuses these versions with enthusiasm and spirit, making this set a good example of Cleanhead's talents in his later years.

It wasn't surprising that the Buggles' second release, Adventures in Modern Recording, didn't meet the expectations that 1980's internationally successful The Age of Plastic set. Both Horn and Downes had been working on several outside projects, including Yes' 1980 release Drama, which severely limited their time, and for the most part, Adventures was a Trevor Horn solo project; Geoff Downes only appears on three tracks. However, many of the criticisms leveled against this outing were unfounded and there is still much to like; several songs, such as the infectious title track, equal The Age of Plastic. Both "Adventures in Modern Recording" and "Inner City," with its lush arrangement and engrossing melody, show off Horn's remarkable production savvy…

Queen drummer Roger Taylor's first solo album is a fairly strong set of up-tempo rockers and well-written ballads featuring Taylor's rough voice and effective croon. Much of the material is reminiscent of Taylor's work for Queen - more guitar-based and less bombastic than the work of his cohorts in that band. That's not to say Taylor doesn't get over-dramatic. On "Future Management" and "Magic Is Loose," Taylor's vocals are quite over the top. However, "No Violins" and "Let's Get Crazy" balance things out with some fairly straightforward rock numbers that show the influence of 1950s rock & roll. Surprisingly, Taylor, who rarely wrote a ballad with Queen, shows himself quite adept at writing slower pieces on the lovely "Laugh or Cry"…

This is a fine recording of the complete set of concertos for strings with solo violin and harpsichord by Tomaso Albinoni, performed by I Solisti Veneti directed by Claudio Scimone. Albinoni was a contemporary of the better-known Antonio Vivaldi and wrote concertos in a similar style. String instruments much as we know them today were developed in Cremona in the 17th and 18th centuries by three families in particular - Amati, Guarneri and Stradivari - to replace the viols that had been used in the previous centuries. As a result there were several composers, in Italy especially but also elsewhere in Europe, who composed works for these exciting new-sounding instruments.

With George Clinton, a humorous phrase could be nothing more than playful tomfoolery, or it could be a double entendre with a deep political meaning. The phrase "electric spanking of war babies" falls into the latter category – it referred to what the funk innovator saw as the U.S. government using the media to promote imperialistic wars. To Clinton, the American media functioned as a propaganda machine during wartime. But whether or not one cares to examine its hidden political messages, Electric Spanking is an above-average party album. Spanking falls short of the excellence of One Nation Under a Groove and Uncle Jam Wants You and didn't boast a major hit single, but amusing funk smokers like "Electro-Cuties" and "Funk Gets Stronger" aren't anything to sneeze at, nor is the reggae-influenced "Shockwaves." Spanking turned out to be the last album Clinton would produce under the name Funkadelic - when he hit the charts again in 1983, Mr. P-Funk was billing himself as a "solo artist."

Joe Walsh's long and varied career has had its ups and downs, to say the least. Here, you see Walsh in good old rock form. The opening track, "Things," pretty much defines it all: drum beat intro, a simple riff kicks in, a few synths, and then Walsh's lead - it's this simple formula that gives the album its charm. This is early '80s rock in its most entertaining and fun form. Walsh's lead guitar is, as always, breathtaking. The rock legend's trademark sound is prominently featured throughout the album, and undoubtedly here he performs some of his finest solos. The only qualm that one can pick is that the whole album is in a much-similar vein. This is classic rock, though: once you start, you want more. There Goes the Neighborhood is by far one of Joe Walsh's greatest works, particularly from this era. Indeed, after the three-year absence in solo releases, Walsh proved himself ready and able to adapt to the sound of the time with shocking ability.