A smorgasbord album, the cast list includes Bjork, Siouxsie Sioux, Brendan Perry, and long-term sidekick Barbera Googan. As expected, the mood is cold, often somber in tone. Only on "The Long Voyage," a springy ditty fronted by Suzanne Vega and John Cale, does the album ascend from the depths. Some of the gloom works, like in "Havet Stomar," a brilliant slow burner with B.J. Cole's pedal steel guitar and ECM artist Lene Willemark's chilling howls. "Annukka Suaren Neito" presents what must be the closest to an Eskimo rap you can get. Mark Isham provides freestyle trumpet that almost sounds like seagulls swooping the skies. The Jane Siberry-fronted "She Is Like the Swallow" is a beauty, as soft as it is light. Hector Zazou's electronics are in fine check too. The canvas expands to new textures, such as metallic percussion in "Adventures in the Scandinavian Skin Trade".
Culled from the deep vaults of Chicago's Chess Records, 'Go Go Power' takes its name from a fantastic slice of gritty Chicago R&B groove by pint-sized soulster Sugar Pie Desanto. The songs here were not chart hits in the U.S., but were popular in the U.K., where clubs devoted to soul music continue to thrive. Marlena Shaw's excellent "Wade in the Water" shows that she wasn't restricted to jazz recordings, and Billy Stewart surprises with the funky rendition of the blues standard "Everyday (I Have the Blues)." As if they weren't potent enough by themselves, Sugar Pie Desanto and Etta James team up for "In the Basement" and ask you to "stop and check yourself" on "Do I Make Myself Clear." It's also nice to see lesser-known names make stellar appearances here, like the Knight Brothers – best known for their 1965 ballad "Temptation 'Bout to Get Me" – turn in a Memphis burner with "That'll Get It," while Chicago staple Bobby McClure proves he knows what he wants with the pulsing "Peak of Love." A thoroughly consistent selection that makes for a fine downtown diversion when the uptown gloss and polish of Motown seems too genteel.
Soul Jazz apply keen ears to the ingenious era of UK rave, hardcore and jungle and its unprecedented stylistic shifts of the early ‘90s with a haul of seminal, obscure and killer cuts.
The latest in an ongoing series wherein legendary Detroit label Motown revisits their back catalogue through alternate versions of their hits and lesser known tracks, Motown Unreleased 1966 gathers up 80 songs that have never previously been released on CD.
Intertwined amond punk, hard rock, heavy metal or, as Lemmy himself has claimed, in the most classic rock n'roll, Motorhead has created a unique and recognizable sound right from the start. Motorhead is a true original band. Like The Ramones or AC / DC, they have created a sub-genre by themselves. The Many Faces Of Motorhead is a new volume in the successful and fascinating series The Many Faces, which digs into the inner world of Motorhead, highlighting their roots, their side projects, his rarest recordings and his legacy. The Many Faces of Motorhead is an entertaining 3XCD album, a wild ride through the existence of one of the most significant bands of the world of rock & roll.
After more than 35 years, ten studio albums, and eight Grammy Awards, Metallica has more than proven its staying power as rock's preeminent metal group. They are one of the most influential heavy metal bands of the '80s and '90s, inspiring generations of rockers with their early thrash and later hard rock sounds before settling into their roles as a popular legacy act in the 2000s. Responsible for bringing the metal genre back to earth, the bandmates looked and talked like they were from the street, shunning the usual rock star games of metal musicians during the mid-'80s pop-metal renaissance. In The Many Faces of Metallica, we will review their catalog via tribute performances by bands that have been heavily influenced by the quartet from Los Angeles, California.