Most would say Nine Lives, the clever title of the first Aerosmith album in four years, is an understatement – this band has been through so much trouble it's quite surprising that this album was even released at all. Originally titled Vindaloo and set for a July 1996 release date, the album was pushed back time and time again after the band failed to meet Columbia Records' standards. Kevin Shirley replaced Glen Ballard in the producer's seat, and the band re-recorded every song until the album was as perfect as it could get. Well, frankly, it is. When the title track begins with the sounds of meowing mixed in with Steven Tyler's well-known screams, it is so shocking that the listener might suddenly turn it off.

Of all of Frank Zappa's discography, Thing-Fish must be his most controversial, misunderstood, overlooked album. Obviously, it is not a masterpiece, but reducing it to a compilation album with a racist plot distorts the reality. First released as a three-LP set (and reissued on two CDs), this album is the "original cast recording" of a never-produced Broadway show. Working-class joes have been mutated into potato-headed, duck-mouthed creatures by a government experiment gone wrong. They put up a Broadway musical in which reality and fiction become one for two members of the audience. The main character, Thing-Fish, is played by Ike Willis. His thick caricatured Negro accent is directly taken from Amos 'n' Andy's King Fish character. Zappa's intention was not to mock African Americans, but to ridicule the way they are depicted on Broadway, mainly a white male-dominated milieu. Harry and Rhonda, the two audience members drawn into the story by force, are played by Terry Bozzio and Dale Bozzio. Harry will realize he is gay, Rhonda will turn into a briefcase fetishist. Zappa exaggerates the yuppie trends of the mid-'80s (Harry is gay for "career purposes"; Rhonda embodies the ultra-feminist) and slips into the plot concerns about the spread of AIDS being the result of governmental scientific experiments. It's crazy, offensive, barely holding together, but it sure is entertaining. To accommodate the plot, Zappa wrote a couple of new songs and re-recorded a handful of tracks from Zoot Allures, You Are What You Is, Tinsel-Town Rebellion, and Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch with new lyrics. It is definitely for the seasoned fan (the conceptual continuity clues make an integral part of the experience), but more than rehashed material.

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…

Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991 is the sixth studio album by American Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. It was the band's first new studio album since 1977's Street Survivors and the first following a 1977 plane crash that claimed the lives of three members of the band. Lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant and lead guitarist Steve Gaines perished in a 1977 plane crash in Mississippi, and Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991 is the first album to feature their replacements, vocalist Johnny Van Zant and guitarist Randall Hall. It also marks the return of original guitarist Ed King, who parted ways with the band while touring in support of Nuthin' Fancy in 1975. It was also the final Lynyrd Skynyrd album to feature drummer Artimus Pyle, who survived the crash. Guitarist and founding member Allen Collins also survived the 1977 plane crash but died in 1990 from chronic pneumonia.

Kenny G A crossover jazz icon, saxophonist Kenny G has enjoyed phenomenal success across the pop, jazz, and R&B charts for over three decades. Influenced by players like Stan Getz and Grover Washington, Jr., G is known for his lyrical and emotive style, a sound that has garnered a loyal fan base and made him one of the biggest-selling instrumentalists of all time. He initially broke through with 1986's Duotones, which reached the Top Ten on the pop and jazz charts and spawned the hit single "Songbird." He gained yet wider attention with 1992's Breathless, which reached number two on the Billboard 200, topped the jazz charts, and won the Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition for "Forever in Love." G has more than ten number one Billboard Jazz Albums, including 2004's At Last…The Duets, 2010's Heart and Soul, and 2015's Brazilian Nights. With 2021's New Standards, he showcased his compositional skills, writing songs inspired by his love of '50s and '60s traditional pop standards. He emphasized his soft touch with 2023's Innocence, a collection of lullabies.

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…

Pink Floyd Some bands turn into shorthand for a certain sound or style, and Pink Floyd belongs among that elite group. The very name connotes something specific: an elastic, echoing, mind-bending sound that evokes the chasms of space. Pink Floyd grounded that limitless sound with exacting explorations of mundane matters of ego, mind, memory, and heart, touching upon madness, alienation, narcissism, and society on their concept albums of the '70s. Of these concept albums, Dark Side of the Moon resonated strongest, earning new audiences year after year, decade after decade, and its longevity makes sense.

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…

In Concert: Merchants of Cool is a live album by British hard rock band Bad Company. It was recorded principally at The Paramount Theater, Denver, Colorado and The Grove of Anaheim, Anaheim, California, in January 2002. It features hits from both Bad Company and precursor band Free as well as two new studio tracks, "Joe Fabulous" and "Saving Grace".

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.

Love Is is the eighth studio album by Kim Wilde, released in spring 1992. Kim Wilde found herself working with Rick Nowels on this album, the same songwriter who had written for Belinda Carlisle and later for Madonna amongst others. Three of the eleven tracks were produced by him while the remaining eight were produced by Ricky Wilde. The majority of the tracks on this album were co-written by Kim. She'd taken a long hard look at herself, resulting in the song "Who Do You Think You Are?", in which she reflects on how she had behaved through the years in her career. There were more love songs on this album; titles such as "Touched By Your Magic" and "Heart Over Mind" are an indication of the themes of the lyrics.

Accept's creative breakthrough, 1983's Restless and Wild, begins with one of the most unexpected, surprising, and hilarious mock intros ever recorded. Untold thousands no doubt furrowed their brows in confusion at the perky German folk song emanating from their speakers, only to be rudely interrupted by a scratching needle and Udo Dirkschneider's incomparable shriek, as the band launch themselves into the stunning violence of "Fast as a Shark." Not just a thrilling, light-speed juggernaut, the song was probably the last thrash metal prototype waxed in the pre-thrash era (officially inaugurated by Metallica's Kill 'Em All a few months later).

Two CDs. 2021 collection from the Swiss electro/synthpop duo. Contains 41 tracks and all the classics, hits and evergreens from the Zurich sound lab: "Oh Yeah", "The Race", "I Love You", "Bostich", "Vicious Games", but also new fan favorites like "Waba Duba", "Limbo" and "Spinning My Mind".