Made In Germany was a real musical transformation for Amon Düül II. If you took this album, and ADII's first album "Phallus Dei" and played them both for an unknowing listener, they would never even suspect it was the same band! The songs like "Ludwig" have an almost Beatlesesque quality to them (albeit on much more drugs). Ambitious vocal harmony arrangements, pristine production values, orchestral flourishes… Amon Duul? Anyway, this album is a masterwork of a completely different sort than their earlier releases, so naturally many fans will not still be onboard at this point. Short, vaguely Floydian spacy instrumental breaks replace the full-on sonic assaults of yore, and the main feature is… songs. Beautiful, sometimes achingly melancholic, sometimes witty and humorous, always honed like a gem; this is top-notch songwriting without ever losing ADII's keen eye for ambition.

This 1975 release on Mercury has Randy California and Ed Cassidy's names imprinted boldly on the cover as Spirit, and the 26 songs - starting with "America the Beautiful/The Times They Are a Changin'" and concluding with "The Star Spangled Banner" - are more than just a sly tribute to the bicentennial. They are the most fluid and satisfying statement by the California/Cassidy version of the band, who would be together for another 20 years before California's untimely passing. As ethereal and icy as Feedback, the album Cassidy recorded with the Stahely brothers, there are all sorts of hidden meanings projected throughout this LP. Randy California gives more than a few nods to his work with Jimi Hendrix - covers of "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Hey Joe" are two of Hendrix's more notable and triumphant revisions…

Following the success of Sundown, Gordon Lightfoot continued his success by releasing a greatest-hits compilation. A double album (now a single CD), it contained the most popular songs from his Warner Bros. years on disc two, and he re-recorded many of his early songs for side one of record one. Although not as good, perhaps, as the originals, this did bring them up to date with his current sound style. Just about all the favorites are here (except "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," which hadn't been recorded yet when this set was put together and appears on Lightfoot's second volume of Gord's Gold), making this a good general overview of a strong talent. When Warner transferred the double LP to CD, "Affair on 8th Avenue" was dropped from the program to make the set fit on a single disc. Randy Newman arranged the orchestration on "Minstrel of the Dawn," by the way.

No one expected the success of Dream Weaver when it was released, but it sailed to the top of the charts, and with good reason. Backed with only drums and a wide assortment of keyboards, Gary Wright crafted instantly recognizable tunes such as the title cut and "Love Is Alive," which caught on and remain staples of classic rock stations around the U.S. All very revolutionary and new at the time, Dream Weaver hasn't lost any of its magic over time.

The Scorpions' third release, In Trance, continues to display their high-energy music, which is impossible to ignore. With the eyebrow-lifting "Dark Lady" as the opening track, the album immediately captures the listener's attention and keeps it all the way until the end. The interesting title track is clearly the best song of the album, but singles such as the fast-paced "Robot Man" and the hard-rocking "Top of the Bill" also stand out as highlights. Excellent singing and powerful music make this the best Scorpions recording working with Uli Jon Roth.

Altona is a German band, founded in 1971 in Hamburg suburbs as reincarnation of krautrock band Thrice Mice. Dropping former band's classical edge in preference for a jazzier front on their debut, Altona played a lively fusion that crossed many boundaries, but kept the Blodwyn Pig feel that dominated the early Thrice Mice recordings. Mixing excellent early jazz fusion with psychedelic rock elements album's music is a real gem. In contrast, their second album Chickenfarm saw a mellowing of style, to funky edged jazz-rock with blues and soul tendencies, and an indistinctive Anglo-American type brassy-rock sound. A few Altona members later reappeared in the obscure band Dirty Dogs.

These music students from the city of Bonn made forays into various musical styles. Listening to tracks as diverse as the title track, which is a psychedelic masterpiece in the Pink Floyd vein, the heavy "Rock 'n' Roll Chillum", the blues "Stranger In Your Town" or the slightly shallow "Last Night In Verona" you realize they really know their job. The tracks were recorded in 1975 in the posh London Decibel studios and planned for release on LP but nothing came of it. Twilight’s only releases were two singles on New Blood. The label’s documents, which had been acquired by a collector, were the starting point for tracking down the band as well as the master tape, which they have carefully kept safe until today. By the way, after leaving Twilight, guitarist and singer Volkmar Kramarz joined Arktis and later took over a WDR radio programme. 28-page color booklet.

Your Mamma Won't Like Me is the third studio album by Suzi Quatro. Released in 1975, the album marked a change in the hard rock sound from the singer's previous albums Suzi Quatro and Quatro, instead displaying a more funk oriented rock sound. The title track reached No. 31 on the UK singles chart in February 1975. The album's second single, "I Bit off More Than I Could Chew", also reached the charts, peaking at 54 in the UK charts. "Michael" also had limited promotion, being released as a single in some territories, including Australia where the song reached the top 100.

The Who by Numbers functions as Pete Townshend's confessional singer/songwriter album, as he chronicles his problems with alcohol ("However Much I Booze"), women ("Dreaming From the Waist" and "They Are All in Love"), and life in general. However, his introspective musings are rendered ineffective by Roger Daltrey's bluster and the cloying, lightweight filler of "Squeeze Box." In addition, Townshend's songs tend to be underdeveloped, relying on verbosity instead of melodicism, with only the simple power of "Slip Kid," the grace of "Blue Red and Grey," and John Entwistle's heavy rocker "Success Story" making much of an impact.

This is a classic encounter in the Original Jazz Classics series. Pianist Count Basie (in his best-small group outing of the 1970s) and tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims were mutually inspired by each other's presence and, with the tasteful assistance of bassist John Heard and drummer Louie Bellson, they can be heard playing at the peak of their creative powers. Every listener interested in swinging jazz should pick up this disc, if only to hear these hard-charging versions of "I Never Knew," "It's Only a Paper Moon," and "Honeysuckle Rose." A gem, and essential music.

Memphis Slim was immensely proud of this album, the first he ever made in his home state of Tennessee. It was recorded at Wayne Moss' Cinderella Studio, a converted garage in Madison, a suburb of Nashville perched between two lakes, in February of 1975. Backed by seven of the area's top session men led by harmonica ace Charlie McCoy, Slim sounds perfectly at home with pedal steel guitar and clavinet. This chapter in Memphis Slim's career combines elements of country and Southern rock with the funky big blues revue sound of the mid-'70s, as background female soul vocals were added later during follow-up production in Bogalusa, LA. The lead singer was Geraldine "Sister Gerry" Richard of Baton Rouge. What you encounter here is much different from Slim's earlier gutsy Arkansas/Mississippi/Chicago piano persona…

The third new studio album of Paul Simon's post-Simon & Garfunkel career was a musical and lyrical change of pace from his first two, Paul Simon and There Goes Rhymin' Simon. Where Simon had taken an eclectic approach before, delving into a variety of musical styles and recording all over the world, Still Crazy found him working for the most part with a group of jazz-pop New York session players, though he did do a couple of tracks ("My Little Town" and "Still Crazy After All These Years") with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section that had appeared on Rhymin' Simon and another ("Gone at Last") returned to the gospel style of earlier songs like "Loves Me Like a Rock." Of course, "My Little Town" also marked a return to working with Art Garfunkel, and another Top Ten entry for S&G. But the overall feel of Still Crazy was of a jazzy style subtly augmented with strings and horns…