Although Dark Tranquillity's albums have tended to be fairly similar to one another, Projector finds the group attempting to broaden their horizons a bit, taking more chances, and more often than not, succeeding. The group in general sounds more mature, and the high level of musicianship is unimpeachable.
Dark Tranquillity is one of the original and most influential melodic death bands to emerge from Sweden in the early 1990s; along with In Flames and At the Gates, they essentially created the explosive subgenre that combined death metal's intensity, progressive, and Gothic experimentation with hooky, melodic, groove-oriented riffs and twin-guitar lead lines. Dark Tranquillity were one of the earliest and most prominent practitioners, as evidenced by their 1993 debut long-player Skydancer…

This is the incredible story of Uther Pendragon, a lost psychedelic band from San Francisco whose music has remained buried until now. Formed in the Bay Area in 1966 as a teen garage group called Blue Fever, Uther Pendragon lasted from 1966 until 1978. During that time, the band went through different names and phases, as their music evolved from garage to psychedelia to hard rock, but the core of the band always remained the same: Mark Lightcap (rhythm guitar, vocals), Bruce Marelich (lead guitar, vocals), and Martin Espinosa (bass, vocals). After finding their ultimate drummer in Mike Beers, the group finally settled on the Uther Pendragon name in the early '70s. But despite being active for all that time and recording at numerous studios (including their own in Palo Alto), Uther Pendragon never released any recordings…

Our Mann Flute (1966). Very groovy work from Herbie Mann - as you might guess from the image on the cover! The set's got a mod sort of 60s feel - hinted at by the title's reference to the Our Man Flint spy movies of the time - and Herbie keeps things tight and soulful throughout - serving up smoking solos over jazzy backings from Jimmy Wisner, Arif Mardin, Oliver Nelson, and Richard Wess. There's definitely a touch of the Atlantic Records soul instrumental sound at times - but we mean that in a great way, with a strong focus on the rhythms as much as the solos.
Impressions Of The Middle East (1967). In a way, this album's very similar to some of the best Verve "groovy experimental" albums from the same period - like some of Cal Tjader's Eastern/Latin work - and it features Herbie playing with a wide range of instrumentation that includes oud, zither, harp, and lots of eastern percussion…

The 15th studio long-player from the progressive rock/AOR legends - and first collection of new material in 16 years - The Prelude Implicit is the first Kansas album to feature new vocalist and keyboardist Ronnie Platt, who replaced founder Steve Walsh after the former announced his retirement in 2014. The 12-track set also marks the studio debuts of keyboard player David Manion and guitarist Zak Rizvi. That's a lot of new blood, but rest assured, The Prelude Implicit is very Kansas-y. Platt's amenable voice is custom made for melodic rock - think Tommy Shaw-meets-Paul Rodgers - and the presence of founding members Phil Ehart (drums) and Rich Williams (guitar), alongside longtime violin/guitar player David Ragsdale and bassist Billy Greer, helps to further ground the proceedings, resulting in something that sounds both familiar and forward thinking…

"Biophilia" is the seventh studio album from the unique artist from Iceland and the first since 2007's "Volta." The themes of the songs have a certain "sci-fi" feel to them, her early performances of the new material were described as "meditation on the relationship between music, nature and technology." The sound is a retreat from the daring if uneven "Volta" and is probably closest to the "Vespertine" sound, with the occasional hint of "Medulla". This album would be closest to Vespertine as a basic description, with the wintry electronic sound replaced by a more serene, slightly warmer sound. Beats are toned down just a bit. Bjork's penchant for wildness and sometimes harsh sounds is toned down even more in favor of the natural beauty of her singing voice. Here she relaxes her vocal eccentricities perhaps more than ever, relying on the natural ability of her "normal" voice.

With the 1980 release of Ace of Spades, Motörhead had their anthem of anthems - that is, the title track - the one trademark song that would summarize everything that made this early incarnation of the band so legendary, a song that would be blasted by legions of metalheads for generations on end. It's a legendary song, for sure, all two minutes and 49 bracing seconds of it. And the album of the same name is legendary as well, among Motörhead's all-time best, often considered their single best, in fact, along with Overkill. Ace of Spades was Motörhead's third great album in a row, following the 1979 releases of Overkill and Bomber, respectively. Those two albums have a lot in common with Ace of Spaces. The classic lineup - Lemmy (bass and vocals), "Fast" Eddie Clarke (guitar), and "Philthy Animal" Taylor (drums) - is still in place and sounding as alive and crazed as ever…

Gino Vannelli is one of the few artists to effortlessly navigate between pop and R&B. With the songs "Walking," "The Surest Things Can Change," and his 1978 classic "I Just Wanna Stop," Vannelli's work is always filled with both skill and passion. After six successful years at A&M he signed with Arista in 1981. Nightwalker is his label debut. During the three years between albums, not only did pop music come into vogue again, but he grew as a writer and singer. This album reflects the change. The dramatic title track has him singing overripe lyrics like "I can't live in this world without love, without you." The powerful "Put the Weight on My Shoulders" has him doing some good vocal riffs. Although most of his albums took a tumble when he decided to pick the pace, Nightwalker is actually better for its faster tracks…

70s work from British blues rock legend John Mayall - done in a Cali style that still holds on to his roots, but gives the music a leaner, funkier style overall! The vibe's a bit like Mayall's record with Allen Toussaint, although John's on his own here - tightly refining his older sound, but never smoothing things down too much - maybe just making a shift from blues to soul, both in the rhythms and production - shifting the way Ben Sidran did at the time, even though Sidran was coming from jazz. Rick Vito provides great guitar on most numbers.

Kenny G's music has always been pop-oriented, so a Greatest Hits collection serves him much better than it would if he were a straight jazz musician. The 17-track collection rounds up all of his pop Top 40 hits and many of his adult contemporary favorites, including "Songbird," "Don't Make Me Wait for Love," "Silhouette," "Forever in Love," "By the Time This Night Is Over," "How Could an Angel Break My Heart," and "Everytime I Close My Eyes." For collectors, there are a couple of non-LP tracks - his Sinatra duet "All the Way/One for My Baby" and "Theme from Dying Young" - plus the previously unreleased "Loving You," "Baby G," and the Michael Bolton duet "You Send Me." While the non-LP cuts are worthy inclusions, the new tracks are marginal and tend to weigh down the lengthy album. Nevertheless, all of Kenny G's hits are here, which makes it an ideal choice for casual fans.

The debut recording from Italy's favorite sons of progressive rock. The band had been appearing as special guests in support of bands such as Procol Harum, Deep Purple, and Yes, in addition to playing several festivals. Their hard work paid off, and the result is this excellent recording. Recorded live in the studio, PFM proved they were every bit as creative and talented as the U.K. bands of the time. Their symphonic prog rock commingles elements of folk, classical, and jazz in a genuine manner. This is achieved by their transcendent and pliant level of musicianship. "Impressioni di Settembre" and the two-part "Dove…Quando" demonstrate the band's ability to create rich harmonies with pop-like melodies. The band can also lay it down pretty heavy, as can be heard on the rocking "È Festa," which turned out to be one of their most requested songs…

Afro Zen Chillout is compiled and mixed by Digital Lama, who blends a fusion of distinctive sounds: ambient, world, acoustic, dub, vocal, downtempo breakbeat and house, interwoven to unite both local and international artists’ unique musical interpretations of the magical African continent. Cell, Vir Unis, Solar Fields, Vibrasphere and many more.

Easily the best album of their official bootleg cover series. The band seamlessly and almost effortlessly transition from track to track as if they had written the album themselves, and in a live setting no less. The second disc contains bonus Pink Floyd songs performed throughout their career including the song, 'Echoes' in its entirety, 'Hey You,' and an awesome simultaneous performance of 'Comfortably Numb' with Queensryche.

Earth Moving was one of the last installments in Mike Oldfield's series of pop experiments, and the record does sound as if the musician was running out of patience with the genre. Many listeners have written off this period, but there were interesting moments that passionate fans still appreciate. Oldfield commits completely to the pop/rock format on Earth Moving by excluding the kind of long intro piece that he often used to kick off other '80s recordings. Instead, the composer puts a sprawling but focused (by Oldfield standards) eight-minute number, "Nothing But/Bridge to Paradise," at the end of this 1989 release. The musician/composer displays a more deft pop hand throughout this offering, which probably isn't such a good thing. The quirkiness of discs like Crisis is exactly what makes them interesting…

Ella Fitzgerald didn't lack for live recording opportunities in the late '50s, which on the surface, would make this first issue of a 1958 Chicago live club date an easy one to pass on. Verve label head Norman Granz recorded her often in the '50s with an eye to releasing live albums, which he did with her shows at Newport in 1957 and Los Angeles' Opera House in 1958 (not to mention another 1958 concert in Rome that was released 30 years later to wide acclaim). Those shows, however, differed widely from this one, which found her in front of a very small audience at Chicago's jazz Mecca Mister Kelly's (Sarah Vaughan's landmark At Mister Kelly's was recorded there four months earlier). Fitzgerald's artistry is basically a given in this situation, but much of the material recorded here was rare and obscure; "Your Red Wagon" had only been released as a single, her delightfully melodic "Across the Alley from the Alamo" never appeared elsewhere…

This is how it came about: Prior to the effort in question, Hammill and Roger Eno chose a key in which to begin, and a specific time at which their performances would start. Then, sitting in their respective studios, miles apart, and with no communication whatsoever, they began to improvise, using various instruments. After one hour exactly, both ceased performing. Eno packed his tape off to Hammill, who then mixed the results together, producing an hour-long master. An experiment that might well have resulted in cacophonous terror actually yielded engaging and extremely palatable results, with a variety of keyboard sounds, Eno's cello, piano, and guitars weaving through the mixture. There is a haunting quality to The Appointed Hour, as well as an underlying harmonic strength that supports repeated close listening.