The Gift of Rain

Two studio albums in three years may not seem to be a breakneck pace for anybody else, but for Lindsey Buckingham it is no less than pure acceleration. Indeed if we include the live album that came out in 2007 between the two, it's like three outings in as many years – warp speed for an artist like Buckingham who has been known to go more than a decade between his own offerings outside of Fleetwood Mac…

The world of pop music was hardly ready for the Velvet Underground's first album when it appeared in the spring of 1967, but while The Velvet Underground and Nico sounded like an open challenge to conventional notions of what rock music could sound like (or what it could discuss), 1968's White Light/White Heat was a no-holds-barred frontal assault on cultural and aesthetic propriety…

Soft instrumental music with the gentle touch for upliftment and comfort. Helpful for creating a space of calmness and inner peace. Dedication: "Like Gentle Rain, softly washing the Earth, clearing the atmosphere, brightening the colours and nourishing all life. Such is the gift of meeting and the blessing of friendship".

Although she had earned worldwide fame in 1978 with "It's a Heartache," Bonnie Tyler had trouble building on that success looked as if she were doomed to one-hit wonder status by the early 1980s. However, she returned to prominence in 1983 with Faster Than Speed of the Night, a bombastic opus that took her gift for heartbroken balladry to epic heights. The key to the this album's success is the production and writing chops of Jim Steinman. He applies the same gothic operatic touch that made his work with Meat Loaf so captivating (and successful), wrapping the songs in atmospheric, all-stops-out arrangements that blend drama and power chords in equal measure.