Stay Mark

After decades of recording for RCA Victor, Atkins switched labels; this 1985 effort is a summit meeting of sorts with young guitar hotshots like Larry Carlton, George Benson, Mark Knopfler, Steve Lukather, and Earl Klugh, plus session A-teamers like Boots Randolph, Larrie Londin, David Hungate, Mark O'Connor and others. Atkins' tone is, as usual, faultless, and his playing superb. If the "meetings" don't always come off, it's usually due to the overzealousness of the other guitar players (Lukather's over-the-top style screams '80s big hair, for instance), not Chet, whose playing always exercises the utmost in restraint in every situation. All in all, a good modern-day Chet Atkins album, but not the place to start a collection.

The name Mark Baker may not be immediately recognizable to many, but for liner note/album credits junkies, it signifies top shelf AOR songwriting. Whether it be anthems or ballads, a Mark Baker song means memorable hooks and a big chorus. Mark Baker is the man behind the iconic Signal "Loud & Clear" album as well as many other songs, including tracks for .38 Special, Paris Black, Triumph and Boulevard. He was also the main co-writer on House Of Lords' acclaimed "Demons Down" record, rejoining as co-writer on some of the band's more recent albums too.

This is a relatively new venture for the outstandingly imaginative recording outfit that is Opera Rara. The label's fifty-fourth recording sees them venturing on an uncompleted work by Donizetti, the composer they love the most. The composer had decamped from Naples to Paris when the censors, on the king’s personal instructions, banned his opera Poliuto.

George Jinda must have forgotten he was doing his latest Special EFX project, because his use of an all-star cast on Here to Stay might be better suited to one of those Fantasy Band discs he was involved in before his debilitating stroke. Not that there's anything sonically wrong with the mainly mellow fare on this disc – Mark Whitfield, Chuck Loeb, and Gerald Veasley do stellar jobs conveying the melodic thoughts over Jinda's gentle percussion.