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Jamie T returns with his new album The Theory of Whatever. The album includes the lead single ‘The Old Style Raiders’ and follows the 15 years anniversary celebrations of Panic Prevention, Jamie T’s seminal debut album which went platinum in the UK this year. Jamie T has been away, and done a lot, but now he’s back. And he has a lot to say.

With apologies to groups like The Meters, Bar-Kays, and Average White Band, when it comes to all-time great instrumental R&B bands, for most folks Booker T. & the MG's represent the gold standard. And with good reason'or, actually reasons! First of all, as the house band of the hallowed Stax label, The MG's pretty much invented the sound of Southern soul, playing on records by everybody from Otis Redding to Wilson Pickett to Carla Thomas. Second, on their own as Booker T & the MG's, they came up with some of the most indelible instrumental jams of all time, including'but by no means limited to!''Green Onions.' And, third, each member of the band was an absolute monster on their instrument, to this day revered and copied by untold numbers of musicians. Indeed, by the time the mid '60s rolled around, bands on both sides of the Atlantic wanted to sound like Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, Jr, and Lewie Steinberg (replaced about halfway through this collection by the great Donald 'Duck' Dunn).

An excellent set that brings together 28 early 50s recordings by T-Bone Walker - crucial sides that link together jazz and blues traditions, with incredible work on guitar that would go onto influence both genres tremendously. The fact that Walker became a huge influence on soul jazz guitarists like Billy Butler, George Freeman, and Wild Bill Jennings is probably not lost on Blue Note - who included the set here as the only non-jazz set in their 2LP 70s reissue series.

A melodic hard rock group from Sweden, H.E.A.T materialized in 2007 with a sound built on a foundation of classic hard rock and late-'80s-inspired commercial heavy metal. They released an eponymous debut in 2008 and found success after a strong showing at the 2009 Melodifestivalen with the hit "1000 Miles." They continued to find favor with melodic rock fans both at home and abroad on subsequent outings like Tearing Down the Walls (2014) and Into the Great Unknown (2017). Three years later the band returned with H.E.A.T II, which marked a return to the heavy melodic rock of their earlier albums.