There is no sound in space, of course, and yet over the years certain conventions have grown up, especially in film, as composers and sound effects people have tried to provide aural equivalents to the sights of stars and planets moving through the void. By now, listeners "know" what space sounds like, and Jonn Serrie's series of albums, some of their material drawn from the soundscapes he has developed for planetarium shows, well represent these impressions. In the slow-moving patterns, bits of melody and rhythm are heard here and there, but most of the music is open-ended: if not formless, it nevertheless employs loose structures in which moods or themes can stretch or be abruptly terminated. Century Seasons is a two-disc compilation in which tracks from earlier Serrie albums have been remixed and woven together to create a lengthy journey through musical space…

Focus' debut album is gentler and more low-key and vocal-oriented than their subsequent efforts; fans of Jan Akkerman's pyrotechnics may be disappointed by his relatively restrained presence, but others may be pleasantly surprised to find a more economic group than they remember. A fair collection of progressive rock tunes without a clear focus, the material is dominated by Thijs Van Leer, often introducing classical sensibilities. But at least as often, it sticks with fairly conventional period folk-rock and blues influences, with occasional jazzy shadings. Akkerman's "House of the King" is the most accurate Jethro Tull imitation ever recorded.

Having taken their oppressive black metal symphonies to their furious zenith with their third effort, My Arms, Your Hearse, Sweden's Opeth began deconstructing their sound on 1999's brilliant Still Life. A logical next step in their evolution, the album finds the band re-examining their unlikely fusion of progressive rock and black metal to highlight the former while staying in touch with the latter. The result is a formidable splicing of harsh, often jagged guitar riffs with graceful melodies, and the increasing use of Mikael Åkerfeldt's "clean" vocals (alternated with his ever-present death growl). This tactic only serves to spotlight the quality of Åkerfeldt's lyrics (a rarity in extreme metal circles) and, in the tradition of prior efforts, Still Life is a full-fledged concept album, which, without going into unnecessary details, centers around a tale of unrequited love for a character called Melinda…

One of the greatest of all female American jazz singers, Anita O'Day shattered the typical "girl singer" stereotype and presented herself instead as a hip jazz musician, and her skills in improvisation cemented her stature among the pioneers of be-bop and the West Coast "cool" school. Presented here is O'Day's classic 1978 album, "There's Only One" featuring Billy Webb (guitar); Al Bruno (guitar); Ed Holtz (piano); Silvio Tucciarone (steel guitar); Johnny Greer (drums) and Eddie Jo Downs (bass). All selections newly remastered.

After the debut album "Frontiera" released in 1972, Procession released their second album for the record label Fonit Cetra in 1974 with a different line up festuring original members Gianfranco Gaza (vocals) and Roby Munciguerra (guitars) plus Maurizio Gianotti (sax, flute) and Paolo D'Angelo (bass). In studio they were helped by some guests musicians like drummer Francesco Froggio Francica (Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno), keyboardist Ettore Vigo (Delirium) and vocalist Silvana Aliotta (Circus 2000). The result was excellent. The overall sound is less raw and aggressive if compared with the previous album and dreamy acoustic atmospheres prevail while lyrics by Marina Comin perfectly fit the music blending dreams and reality.

Three years after his solo album The Wildest Wish to Fly, pop producer and songwriter Rupert Hine came back under the disguise of the pseudo-group Thinkman. The three musicians who accompanied him in interviews and lip-sync performances were actors, the whole project becoming a concept revolving around media manipulation. The Formula, Thinkman's first album, sticks close to this idea (the title track begins with the lines "It's an interview/But it's a second take"). During the early '80s, Hine followed an evolution that led him from disturbing art pop to intelligent but more commercial songs. The Formula is pretty much middle-of-the-road but has a harder edge than the singer's previous LP. Songs like the title track "The Ecstasy of Free Thought" and "The Days of a Champion" are fueled by newly found energy and feature the hook-filled melodies that made Hine an important part of England's '80s pop music…

Another great title that never appeared on CD! The only album of this forgotten Montreal band was released on tiny Gamma label in 1969 and is usually considered as one of the very best Canadian albums from late 60's psychedelic era. It mostly contained a trippy, instrumental music full of swirling organ and fuzz guitar parts, but there were also a space for atmospheric, dreamy ballads sung in a deep voice & for some distinctive, veird and 'jazzy' guitar solos… Anyway, it was a pretty complex and freaky album, which can be described as a stylistic combination of The Doors, Iron Butterfly, Aorta and C.A. Quintet. This CD has been carefully remastered from the original, analogue source and sounds really great!

Jim Kirkwood has been writing Electronic Music since the late 1980's when he stepped back from fronting a black metal band to explore a solo career in instrumental music. He has his own unique style of Gothic EM which moves easily between huge symphonic slabs of music, dark ambience and sequencer driven soundscapes. The music itself, inspired by Gothic and Symphonic Rock and Berlin School Electronica, is quite often a CD in length, moves and shifts in tempo and mood, sometimes dark and sombre, sometimes ethereal and melodic, yet the whole gels perfectly into a single experience that grips the imagination and brings you into a world of dark and exciting beauty.

Recorded in 1964. It seems strange that the music on this CD was not released initially until 1980. Trumpeter Lee Morgan had had an unexpected hit with "The Sidewinder," so his more challenging recordings were temporarily put aside. As it turns out, this was one of Morgan's better sets from the 1960s and he had gathered together quite an all-star cast: altoist Jackie McLean, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Bob Cranshaw, and drummer Art Blakey. They perform "Rigormortis," McCoy Tyner's "Twilight Mist," and three of the trumpeter's originals, including the title cut. The advanced hard bop music still sounds fresh decades later despite its initial neglect.

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton helped lay the groundwork for rock & roll in 1953 with her raw electric blues single "Hound Dog" (later covered by Elvis Presley). The Way It Is finds Thornton performing at an L.A. rock club 16 years later, after the rock revolution she and her peers inspired had effectively usurped the blues as the music of the people. Yet at a time when everyone from Muddy Waters to Buddy Guy was making concessions to the rock market in an effort to stay contemporary, Thornton stuck to her guns. For this concert, she relies on the same gritty, old-school blues sound that made her famous…

Like many Greek bands at that time, Axis relocated to France and soon discarded their pop roots and went progressive big-time with this album. It's a mix of song oriented pop-psych and long complex instrumental journeys. "Axis" begins as a straight up hard-rock album and moves to Canterbury jazz-rock. The keyboards on "Axis" are splendid, they feature anything from fuzz overloaded organ to jazzy electric-piano, to layers upon of mellotron that could have become King Crimson's worst nightmare. One of the finest of all Greek-progressive albums.

Since his 2009 return to regular recording after a ten-year hiatus, trumpeter Herb Alpert has stayed busy releasing albums, some with his wife, vocalist Lani Hall, and others, like 2015's Come Fly with Me, on his own. 80 years old at the time of this release, Alpert has gone from instrumental pop icon of the '60s and '70s to journeyman performer with decades of experience to draw from. Working with a bevy of longtime collaborators including his nephew, programmer Randy "Badazz" Alpert, bassist/guitarist/producer Hussain Jiffry, keyboardist/producer Bill Cantos, keyboardist/guitarist Jeff Lorber, Alpert has crafted a breezy, low-key collection of originals and cover tunes, that nonetheless retains all of the melodic, jazz-inflected style of his classic recordings…

Jonn Serrie proves on Planetary Chronicles, Vol. II a second time that in the genre of space music there are no limits to the imagination. Exploring the universe with Serrie - inner or outer - is like watching a plume of smoke twist and turn in currents of air then gradually disappear. This innovator of space music achieves an otherworldliness on Planetary Chronicles, Vol. II by discovering the uncharted possibilities of the synthesizer. This is not Big Bang Music; rather, it's the quiet exploration of the invisible matter of whatever universe you choose.

In Search of Space strengthened Hawkwind's science fiction-type brand of progressive rock, gaining bass player Dave Anderson and galactic poet extraordinaire Rob Calvert, while losing John Harrison at the same time. The album opens with the mind-numbing galactic haze of "You Shouldn't Do That," a spooky little 15-minute excursion that warps, throbs, and swirls with Dik Mik's "audio generator" and the steady drum pace of Terry Ollis. Then comes the ominous whispering of the title, set to the pulsating waves of Dave Brock's guitar and Turner's alto sax, with Dettmar's synth work laying the foundation. Wonderfully setting the tone, "You Shouldn't Do That"'s improvisational looseness and rhythmic fusion smoothly open up the album into the realm of Hawkwind…

It's hard to believe that "Whiskey Woman" LP was never released on CD! This excellent debut album by the American band was issued in early 1972 on RCA Victor label and is best described as blues-based, very energetic hard-rock inspired by Led Zeppelin, Free & Humble Pie - with catchy, but heavy guitar riffs, solid rhythm section and great vocals. It's worth noting that all tracks were recorded completely live - with a small, invited audience. Unfortunately, the album went almost completely unnoticed, although the band got at least a chance to record their second (and equally good) vinyl. This CD was carefully remastered from the original, analogue source and will surely appeal to the most fans of raw and spontaneous heavy rock!