The Heir Apparent

Less than four months after issuing the landmark and autobiographical Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Elton John re-emerged with a new band and a slightly modified sound. However, the departure of bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson began a deceleration in terms of John's success, which rivalled only the Beatles' and Elvis Presley's in terms of global acclaim…

The Romanovs Glory And Fall Of The Tstars (2014)
HDTV | 1278x716 | .MKV/AVC @ 2698 Kbps | 51mn 25s | Audio: English MP2 128 kbps, 2 channels | Subs: None | 1.04 GiB
Genre: Documentary | History | War

A look at the end of the last Czar and his family at the hand of the Bolsheviks, and the 4 centuries of grand, bloody and war-torn history that proceeded it - the might of the double-eagle throne fascinates us to this day. The killing lasted 20 minutes. Czar Nikolaus II. was the first to die – shot in the heart with a pistol at close range. Then the Bolsheviks shot his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna, his daughters Olga, Tatyana, Maria, Anastasia, the heir apparent Alexei, and four employees of the royal family. The death of the Romanovs marked the end of a dynasty reaching back to the crowning of Michail Romanov in July 1613. The Czars always ruled their huge empire with an iron fist – which in the end became their undoing. 400 years of Romanov rule – 4 centuries of grandiose and fateful European and Russian history.

There was a time when Ray LaMontagne was viewed as the heir apparent to Van Morrison or Jeff Buckley. Part of the Light shakes up those assumptions as the New Hampshire singer/songwriter balances the quiet, loud, and ethereal. Ray’s voice ripples and expands like a pebble splash in a quiet lake, so the vocal echo on “It’s Always Been You” adds a haunting contrail. “As Black as Blood Is Blue” hints that LaMontagne has some Metallica cassettes stashed in his attic. Meanwhile, the ballads here are gorgeously lethal. “Let’s Make It Last” might be Ray’s best one yet, perfect for a wedding first dance. The track represents the album’s exquisite beauty and message: Slow down and appreciate what’s truly important.