Bill Evans' third and final recording of overdubbed solos differs from the previous two in that he utilizes an electric piano in addition to his acoustic playing. Evans plays quite well on this album (which includes four of his later originals, obscurities by Cy Coleman, Cole Porter and Duke Ellington and "Nobody Else but Me") but the results are less memorable than one might expect for Bill Evans seemed always at his best in trio settings.

It is exactly what it says on the package, a full-fledged concerto that bucks every prevalent musical fashion (1978 was the age of punk, after all) by proving that prog wasn't only alive and well, it was also still capable of startling the unwary listener. With fellow Curved Air refugee Francis Monkman overseeing the orchestra, Way's electric violin has never sounded so adventurous, leading the way through four skillfully planned movements that the composer admits were influenced by Ravel, Bartók, and Prokofiev, but which have a personality all of their own. Certainly Way's Concerto withstands comparison with any other rocker's attempt to blend the classics with more modern disciplines (Keith Emerson's piano concerto was released the previous year), and it was poor promotion alone that prevented Concerto for Electric Violin & Synth from making heavier inroads into the period's consciousness.

Tobacco Road was recorded limited line up live (without audience!) at "Golden Slipper" in Chicago with one on two guitars (Jimmy Johnson, David Matthews), bass (Ike Anderson) and drums (Dino Neal), October 19, 1977. Johnson with a high, soul infected voice sings and plays guitar in the tradition of three kings. He interpreted "Sweet Little Angel", by b.b.of Albert "Breaking Up Somebody's Home"."Look Over Yonder" comes from Elmore James.The title track of "Tobacco road",a classic,is known in versions by the Blues Magoos, Eric Burdon, Lou Rawls, Edgar winter, etc. The 1997 reissue of Storyville Records features four bonus tracks.

Tormato is the ninth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes. It was released on 22 September 1978 on Atlantic Records, and is their last album with singer Jon Anderson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman before their departure from the group in 1980. After touring their previous album Going for the One (1977), the band entered rehearsals in London to record a follow-up. The album was affected by various problems, such as internal disputes over the direction of the music and artwork, and the departure of engineer Eddy Offord early into the sessions, resulting in the group producing the album themselves.

Alvin Lee got itchy feet after some years mainly working in the studio. He’d quit Ten Years After to take a break from endless touring, but the lure of the road drew him back and the result was the ironically titled Ten Years Later that was a splendid platform for the virtuoso guitarist to get his rocks off, once again.

Recorded live outdoors in a Tokyo park in the Summer of 1975 with thousands of fans hanging on every note and word, Otis digs deep and delivers some of the most inspired singing and playing he's ever comitted to magnetic tape. All the performances are of a nice, comfortable lenth with none of the interminable soloing that mars other Rush live sets. This is the one to have.

Pieces of Eight is the eighth studio album by Styx, released on September 1, 1978. Like the band's previous album, The Grand Illusion (1977), it managed to achieve triple platinum certification, thanks to the hit singles "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)" and "Renegade". The band members produced and recorded the album (like their previous three efforts) at Paragon Studios in Chicago with recording engineer Barry Mraz and mixing engineer Rob Kingsland. "I'm O.K." was recorded at Paragon and St. James Cathedral. This would be the last album to be produced at Paragon Studios. The album's cover was done by Hipgnosis. DeYoung stated in the 1991 interview with Redbeard on the "In the Studio" episode that he initially hated the cover but grew to like it as he got older.

Nautilus was a Swiss Band, that combined the talents of Urs Lerch on bass, Dieter Ruf on guitars, Peter Fibich on drums, Ralph Stucki on keyboards, and Christian Bauer on guitars. Ruf, Stucki, and Bauer all contributed to the vocals. They only released two albums (1978's "20,000 Miles Under the Sea" and 1980's "Space Storm"), and not much is actually known about them. This band is a bit of an oddity, given the time period. At a time when prog was on its way out, they decided to record psychedelic, proto-metal inspired, symphonic rock. There is a strong early Uriah Heep component, with touches of John Lord, a smidgen of Genesis, a dash of Black Sabbath, and even some ELO style harmonies. But that's not all. Don't forget the Psychedelic component.

One of the 70’s “unsung heroes”, Liverpool Express were formed by ex- members of Sixties hitmakers The Merseybeats and The Merseys. This is the first time their three studio albums have been issued on CD. Included are the hit singles ‘You Are My Love’ (No.11), ‘Hold Tight’ (No.46), ‘Every Man Must Have A Dream’ (No.17) and ‘Dreamin’’ (No. 40). ‘You Are My Love’ also hit No.39 in Germany. Housed in a clam shell box, each album comes in a cardboard wallet depicting the original LP artwork. The detailed 20 page booklet includes liner notes from “History Of Rock” editor Michael Heatley alongside pictures of all the relevant singles including many rare European issues.

The Banshees debut album has now been Digitally Remastered from the original master tapes and has been expanded with a second disc of early demos, singles and two seminal John Peel Sessions from 1978 and 1979. Contains 1 previously unreleased song , 'Make Up To Break Up', and Previously Unreleased early demos of 'Metal Postcard', 'Suburban Relapse', 'Staircase Mystery', 'Mirage' and 'Nicotine Stain'. As well as featuring the two seminal John Peel Sessions from '78 and '79, Disc 2 also features early demo versions fo songs recorded at The Riverside and Pathway Studios prior to the band signing to Polydor. Also contains the hit singles 'Hong Kong Garden' ( #7 in August 1978 ) and 'Staircase Mystery' ( #24 in March 1979 ).

Vintage live Tull at its 1970s best! "A live extravaganza from the '70s Jethro Tull, this was recorded over several nights in different venues on a portable 8-track tape recorder and transferred to 2" multitrack when I got home after the tours. I had to listen all through to many shows and pick the best live versions. But much of it was, at least, from the concert in Bern, Switzerland where dear Claude Nobs came to introduce the band in his inimitable style. Also featuring on this box set collection is the live concert from Madison Square Garden recorded a few months later and shown live on BBC TV in the U.K. A scary experience for the band as it was, we were told, the first time a live rock concert had been the subject of a live satellite broadcast.

Strife formed in 1971 and were gigging regularly by the end of that year. In February 1972, they recorded a live album at Wall City Club at Quaintways, Chester. It was never released. When an album finally emerged in 1975, it contained the most popular numbers from their stage act. They went on to record a second album Back To Thunder in 1978, featuring Don Airey on keyboards.

West Side Highway reunites Stanley Turrentine with arranger/conductor Claus Ogerman for a funky yet oddly melancholy crossover session that at its best suggests a latter-day interpretation of the tenorist's classic Blue Note dates. Ogerman's bold, dramatic arrangements boast an atypical elegance and restraint that beautifully underline the soulfulness of Turrentine's solos. Even better, the backing vocals that hampered previous LPs are absent here, affording a new spaciousness for the all-star contributions of Eric Gale, Cornell Dupree, Ron Carter, and Hubert Laws. A shame the material is so tepid and predictable, including yet another reading of Turrentine's signature "Sugar" and the jazz perennial "Walkin'."

Digitally remastered two-fer containing a pair of solo albums from the former Traffic member: "Mariposa de Oro" and "Old Crest on a New Wave".
Mariposa De Oro (1978). Dave Mason followed the success of Let It Flow with an album of songs arranged in a manner similar to the folk-pop hits from that he had recently enjoyed, notably "We Just Disagree." So, there was lots of 12-string acoustic guitar strumming and tight choral parts, and Jerry Williams came in to try to write some of the same kind of material…

Eight months after the release of Wake Of The Flood, the Grateful Dead followed up that masterpiece with the second album on their Grateful Dead Records label, From The Mars Hotel. To this day, most of the songs on From The Mars Hotel are played frequently by the band members as they continue to bring the music to the people, and during the Grateful Dead's touring career, more than half of the songs were important parts of their live repertoire. “Scarlet Begonias,” “Ship Of Fools,” and “U.S Blues” arrived on the scene in 1974, with “China Doll” and “Loose Lucy” coming a year earlier, and they all quickly became staples of Grateful Dead live sets for decades, although “Loose Lucy” had a 15 year hiatus 1975-1989. Phil's two songs on the album are often played live these days when Phil performs with his rotating cast of Friends, and these songs, “Pride Of Cucamonga” and “Unbroken Chain” are elicit ecstatic responses. These would be the final two Phil-sung songs on a Grateful Dead studio album. Peaking at #16 on the Billboard Top 200 chart in 1974, the album's terrific batch of new songs and exceptional production had Dead Heads scooping up the album 50 years ago upon its release.