British-born pianist George Shearing's work for the MGM and Capitol record labels from the late '40s to the early '60s is collected on this 21-track compilation. Beginning with four tracks recorded for MGM in 1949 with his unique quintet of guitar, bass, drums, and vibraphone (which would double the melody he was playing with his right hand), Shearing's piano work is always tasteful and guaranteed to swing. Although the players regularly changed, he stuck with the quintet with vibraphone format throughout this period. Of special note are the three tracks included where Shearing backs up vocalists: 1951's "You're Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do?)" featuring Billy Eckstine, 1959's "You Came a Long Way From St. Louis" with Peggy Lee, and 1960's "The Nearness of You" featuring Nancy Wilson. There are also two solo tracks ("Tenderly" from 1950 and "Memories of You" from 1960) and one trio track ("What Is This Thing Called Love" from 1962). This disc does a very nice job of capturing the laid-back sound of Shearing and is a good place to start a collection of his work. It is also recommended to anyone looking for an album of quiet, romantic piano tunes.

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With Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane, Lester Young makes up what could be called the Holy Trinity of jazz tenor saxophonists. On this Verve compilation, we get a wonderful overview of Young's post- Count Basie Orchestra output. Selections featured here range from dates recorded in 1943 up through 1956, three years before the musician's death.
Young's cool-toned, behind-the-beat phrasing is in evidence on all 15 tracks, from the Latin inflected "In a Little Spanish Town ('Twas on a Night Like This)," through the relaxed swing of "Peg O' My Heart," to the uptempo bounce of "All of Me." This CD sizzles with great jazz performances.

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Not all of the installments in the Verve Jazz Masters series contain material originally issued on Verve. Verve Jazz Masters 3, for example, consists of 14 examples drawn from seven Chick Corea LPs released on the Polydor label during the years 1972-1978. Six of these come from Corea's Return to Forever period. The backbone of this collection (tracks one, seven, ten and fourteen) are selections from the highly acclaimed album Light as a Feather (1972) and there are excerpts from Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973) and No Mystery (1975). The other eight titles are traceable to Corea's theatrically costumed and somewhat heavy-handed production albums The Leprechaun (1975), My Spanish Heart (1976), Friends (1978) and The Mad Hatter (1978). This disc will be useful as a vintage jazz fusion sampler or more specifically as an overview of what Chick Corea was up to during the Nixon/Ford/Carter years

Many a guitar fan would have predicted that a summit between legendary guitarists Andy Summers (the Police) and Robert Fripp (King Crimson) would result in a guitar solofest. But the music on their first collaboration together, I Advance Masked, stresses guitar textures and moods over indulgent soloing. Although the recording sessions weren't entirely enjoyable for Summers (who was experiencing marital problems at the time), some very beautiful music can be found on the resulting album. The music for the track "Girl on a Swing" does an excellent job of conveying the song's title in one's mind, and the duo's guitars weave wonderful polyrhythmic guitar lines throughout "China – Yellow Leader." "The Truth of Skies" is an atmospheric piece, created by a wash of keyboard sounds and guitar dissonance, while "New Marimba" would have sounded right at home on an early-'80s King Crimson album. I Advance Masked has a dreamlike quality to it, and is definitely not typical rock music. It's highly recommended to fans of these two great and original guitarists. ~ by Greg Prato

Hungary's After Crying delivered their second album in 1992, a couple of years after their debut. From a prog perspective, the positioning of a 22 minute suite A Gadarai Megszállott right up front offers the hope of a damn good listen. A quick check of the line up on the other hand suggests a degree of caution. Completely absent are guitars of any kind; instead we have a quasi-classical assembly, with oboe, cello, flute and brass featuring strongly.
The aforementioned suite, as it turns out, is a sort of modern classical piece apparently based around various improvisations on themes. When the vocals are eventually added, they sound to my untrained ear to be of the type common on Italian Symphonic Prog albums. The language may be Hungarian, but the atmosphere is universal. It is perhaps these vocals which differentiate the piece from simply being classified as a modern classical suite, but surprisingly they do not sound out of context. Around the mid- point of the track, the brass section suddenly makes its presence felt with a brief but rousing burst of jazz rock.
Of the remaining four tracks three are brief, almost interlude, pieces. They are pretty, but of little real consequence. The other track of note is the 11 minute Megalázottak És Megszomorítottak. There is more of a rock orientation to this piece, with occasional hints of ELP when the pace is lifted. Overall though, the atmosphere is less structured than the works of ELP, hinting more towards 1980's King Crimson.
Overall, the album is paradoxically difficult to get into but easy to listen to. Superficially, the sounds are easy on the ear and pleasant, but the improvisational style of composition means that there is little to grasp onto and retain. Certainly worth a listen or three.

Very important band from the rich Hungarian prog scene which makes a very complex and moody music. There is a huge variety in their music among their discography. Some albums are very dark, yet beautiful, with a calm atmosphere provided by cellos and violins among moody keyboards and guitars. Other albums hold a more consistent sound where you'll find ELP influences (mainly on the Hammond passages).Really original! This is classical chamber rock, delicate and peaceful. Definitely a must in any prog rock collection.

In the mid-Nineties I discovered the incredible progrock from the Hungarian formation After Crying. This 2-CD set is a very comprehensive musical compilation of their best work and their stunning skills on a wide range of instruments. You can compare After Crying with Gentle Giant concerning the complexity of the music and versatility of every musician. The sound of their music has elements from ELP (bombastic keyboards) and King Crimson (Fripperian guitar) but in general it's a unique blend of classical, jazz, rock, symphonic and avant-garde: a combination of Keith Emerson keyboards, trumpet, fiery electric guitar in "Viadukt", soaring keyboards, repetetive guitarplay and powerful drumbeats in "Stalker", howling electric guitar, a wailing cello and powerful trumpet in "Suburban night", piano, cello and contrabas in the Gentle Giant sounding "Goblin dance", sensitive Fripperian guitar (like Edhels) in "Pilgrim's march" and a superb rendition of King Crimson's classic piece "Starless", goose bumps! After Crying doesn't make very accesible progrock because the combination of classical instruments (please, take a look at the track listing) and modern electric equipment and the variety of styles begs for an adventurous taste and most progheads are very conservative…

A SHOW OF HANDS includes all of Rush's mid-'80s hits: "The Big Money," "Subdivisions," "Distant Early Warning" and "Time Stand Still," which featured 'Til Tuesday's Aimee Mann singing backup on a giant video screen. Also included is "Witch Hunt" from MOVING PICTURES and A FAREWELL TO KINGS' "Closer To the Heart." Of course no Rush concert would be complete without a drum solo, and "The Rhythm Method" shows why Neil Peart is considered one of the best rock drummers ever.

Continuing a tradition that began more than a decade earlier, Rush follows its 12th studio album with a live one, A SHOW OF HANDS. The album draws almost exclusively from the third chapter of Rush's life, 1982-89, stressing the notion that their newer material was just as important as their classics. By this time they had eschewed the typical guitar trio sound for one that emphasized layers and texture. Amazingly, they were able to reproduce their studio albums live without taking extra musicians on the road or playing along with sequencers. Although they didn't physically play every instrument, every sound heard live was triggered by Geddy, Alex and Neil using whatever appendage was available.

Bajofondo, formerly known as Bajofondo Tango Club, is an Argentine-Uruguayan tango fusion collective led by Grammy-winning producer Gustavo Santaolalla. In general, the collective fuses acoustic tango with electronic music, resulting in a contemporary style representative of the Rio de la Plata music scene in the 21st century. Led by Santaolalla (guitar, percussion, vocals), whose production credits include such luminous Latin acts as Juanes, Café Tacuba, and Julieta Venegas, Bajofondo is also comprised of Juan Campodónico (programming, beats, samples, guitar), Luciano Supervielle (piano, keyboards, scratching), Javier Casalla (violin), Martín Ferrés (bandoneon), Gabriel Casacuberta (upright bass, electric bass), Adrián Sosa (drums), and Verónica Loza (VJ, vocals). They made their full-length album debut in 2002 with Bajofondo Tango Club on Santaolalla's Universal Music-affiliated boutique label, Surco Records. Subsequent albums include Bajofondo Tango Club Presenta: Supervielle (2004), Remixed (2006), and Mar Dulce (2007), the latter featuring an all-star list of guest features (most notably Gustavo Cerati, Nelly Furtado, Mala Rodríguez, Juan Subirá [of Bersuit Vergarabat], Elvis Costello.). In addition to their album releases, Bajofondo also releases club-oriented 12" EPs and tours internationally.

Brief Encounter is the title of a compilation EP by Marillion with two studio and three live tracks that EMI's American label Capitol Records released there in 1986, coinciding with the band's tour of the U.S. and Canada that year. The band was Rush's support act on the Power Windows tour and also played headline gigs at smaller theatres. The "mini album" contained five tracks: the band's European breakthrough single "Kayleigh" (which had also entered the lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 100); its b-side "Lady Nina"; "Freaks", released in Europe as the b-side of the follow-up single "Lavender"; and live recordings of the first two albums' title tracks, Fugazi (1984) and Script for a Jester's Tear (1984).

Featuring the best material from their first two albums as well as their classic debut single "Market Square Heroes," 1984's Real to Reel is an excellent live document of Marillion, the undisputed leaders of the short-lived mid-'80s progressive rock revival. In fact, these recordings make a strong case for the many fans who actually prefer the band's more refined live versions over their rather flat studio counterparts. For the uninitiated, Marillion basically picks up where Peter Gabriel-era Genesis left off, writing complex, multifaceted, and unashamedly overblown compositions topped with dense, often incomprehensible lyrics from vocalist Fish. Thematically, the darkly ironic "Assassing" and the flippant "Garden Party" are complete polar opposites and clearly display the band's incredible creative scope. But the album's centerpiece has to be the dramatic, ten-minute war chronicle "Forgotten Sons." The CD reissue also features an excellent bonus track titled "Emerald Lies." ~ Eduardo Rivadavia. Allmusic.com

In 2006, with little advance word, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke unveiled his first solo album, THE ERASER, much to the surprise of many of the band's fans. Given that Yorke is the literal voice of the beloved British rock ensemble, these nine songs, produced by Nigel Godrich, don't depart too much from Radiohead's moody, electronica-tinged sound (i.e. KID A, AMNESIAC, HAIL TO THE THIEF), but they do prove to be more intimate, sometimes recalling the hauntingly spare "Rabbit in Your Headlights," Yorke's collaboration with DJ Shadow on U.N.K.L.E.'s PSYENCE FICTION. Like that tune, much of THE ERASER is awash in somber piano lines and minimal beats, as on the dreamy opening title track, while "The Clock" runs on skittering, tightly wound loops. Though there are up-tempo moments on the record, the overall atmosphere is melancholy and sometimes flat-out ominous, qualities that are hand-in-glove with Yorke's achingly plaintive voice and often bleak lyrics. Enhanced by the beautifully illustrated artwork of Stanley Donwood, THE ERASER isn't just music for a rainy day, it's the perfect counterpoint to a thunderstorm.

Ice is an instrumental tribute to the music of Björk. It features ten tracks culled from the Icelandic performer's post-Sugarcubes output, focusing specifically on material from Debut, Post, and Homogenic. What's remarkable – or perhaps unremarkable – is the ease with which many of these songs are translated to violin, viola, cello, and bass. Björk is one of the few artists working successfully within the increasingly narrow parameters of popular music while accessing multiple genres and influences. This means that her music is as likely to feature drum programming as it is a full section of reeds. That said, Homogenic's "Joga" appears here, stripped of the stippling drum'n'bass that skittered across the surface of the strings in the original. Instead, unadorned violin and viola employ the full emotional range of the melody. A bass stalks the bottom end of "Army of Me" as eerie reverb and chorus effects make the violins sound like carrion birds calling to one another from the parapets. And Debut's "Big Time Sensuality and "Human Behavior" end up resembling the more urgent material from Björk's later solo efforts. An example of this is "Bachelorette." The original crossed its hissing, crackling electronics with a plaintive string section. The Ice version removes the beats and the vocal, but retains the strings. Like "Joga," "Bachelorette"'s sad, sweeping melody is rendered beautifully by the symphonic arrangement. While Ice was not endorsed by the artist herself, the album is such a success that it could stand next to Björk's own Telegram remix LP as a document of her songs' limitless potential for sonic exploration. ~ Johnny Loftus. Allmusic.com

Once again finding harmony and creating alchemy between seeming opposites, on Volta Björk is bold but thoughtful, delicate yet strong, accessible and avant. The intricacy and complexity of projects like Medúlla and Drawing Restraint 9 suggested that she might have left the more direct side of her work behind, but Volta's opening track and lead single, "Earth Intruders," puts that notion to rest: the song literally marches in, riding a bubbling, ritualistic beat courtesy of Timbaland and Konono No. 1's electric thumb-pianos. Björk howls "Turmoil! Carnage!" like incantations over the din, and after several albums' worth of beautiful whispers, it's a joy to hear her raise her voice and volume like this. "Wanderlust" follows and provides the yin to "Earth Intruders"' yang, its horns and brooding melody giving it the feel of a moodier, more contemplative version of "The Anchor Song." These two songs set the tone for the rest of Volta's pendulum-like swings between sounds and moods, all of which are tied together by found-sound and brass-driven interludes that give the impression that the album was recorded in a harbor — an apt metaphor for how ideas and collaborators come and go on this album. Timbaland's beats resurface on "Innocence," another of Volta's most potent moments; a sample of what sounds like a man getting punched in the gut underscores Björk's viewpoint that purity is something powerful, not gentle. Antony and the Johnsons' Antony Hegarty lends his velvety voice to two outstanding but very different love songs: "The Dull Flame of Desire" captures swooning romance by pairing Björk and Hegarty's voices with a slowly building tattoo courtesy of Lightning Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale; "My Juvenile," which is dedicated to Björk's son Sindri, closes Volta with a much gentler duet. Considering how much sonic and emotional territory the album spans — from the brash, anthemic "Declare Independence," which sounds a bit like Homogenic's "Pluto," to "Pneumonia" and "Vertebrae by Vertebrae," which are as elliptical and gentle as anything on Vespertine or Drawing Restraint 9 — Volta could very easily sound scattered, but this isn't the case. Instead, it finds the perfect balance between the vibrancy of her poppier work in the '90s and her experiments in the 2000s. ~ Heather Phares. Al music.

The title may be lengthy, but it's also perfectly accurate; this release serves as a fine catch — all of the earliest remixes done for Björk. Compared to the explosion of mixes and alternate takes that would surface on later singles, the mere six mixes totaling 41 minutes here seem paltry. The quality level, thankfully, remains quite high (quite happily, Mick Hucknall's mix of "Venus as a Boy" has been ignored). It starts with the definite highlight, Underworld's radical revamp of "Human Behavior." A 12-minute long masterpiece, it replaces the shuffling stutter of the original's percussion with a combination of crisp disco pulse and fast-paced funk loop, with other quirky keyboard bits and spoken samples floating in and out of the mix as needed. Björk's vocals remain intact, but otherwise this is pretty much Underworld's showcase, and a fine one; the addition of piano at the end adds to the unexpected charm and power of the mix. The remaining mixes are split between avant- techno trio Black Dog and remixer extraordinaire Andy Weatherall, more specifically his Sabres of Paradise project. The Sabres' "Endorphin" mix of "One Day" is a chilled, stoned slice of loveliness, light piano and dub-touched echoes matching the slow beat and Björk's slightly reverb-treated vocals. A faster-paced mix of the same track, the "Springs Eternal" take, has some good crisp electronic percussion but isn't as strong, while a version of "Come to Me" feeds Björk's vocals through heavy reverb and echo over a quiet series of beats. Black Dog's mix of "Come to Me" has echoes of Muslimgauze's Arabic/techno fusion to it, a nice touch, while their take on "The Anchor Song" has a nicely strange, second-long loop and a totally a capella mid-song vocal break that works wonders. ~ Ned Raggett , All Music Guide

The early 1980s was perhaps the worst time in musical history to be a prog-rock band, much less to start a new one, but that's just what the hardy souls in Marillion did. Little could anyone have imagined that they'd set off a whole wave of "neo-prog" in the UK. At a time when synth-pop was all the rage, and unassuming ditties ruled the charts, Marillion's debut album, SCRIPT FOR A JESTER'S TEAR nodded proudly to such ambitious forebears as Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel-era Genesis. Lead vocalist Fish, in fact, bore an uncanny sonic similarity to Gabriel, a fact that his penchant for onstage theatrics did little to discourage. In turn, the rest of the band offered a '70s-flavored blend of Floyd/Camel-like melodic guitar lines, Rick Wakeman-with-an-attitude multi-keyboard cascades, and odd-metered rhythms.

If that was the whole story, Marillion would have been written off as mere revivalists. The real spark of SCRIPT lies in the fact that it filtered these influenced through a sense of urgency and concision that could only have come from living through the post-punk era. In fact, many of Fish's lyrical themes were concerned with skewering the upper classes in a manner not dissimilar to the likes of Ian Dury or any Thatcher-hating New Waver of the era. Prog was born anew with SCRIPT, and it had a chip on its shoulder.

Re-issue contains a bonus disc featuring album tracks, B sides, studio takes & demos.