Rising out of the London pub scene with precisely the kind of loose, frenetic brand of funk which other British bands had signally failed to achieve (let alone perfect), Kokomo then defied even more laws of averages by turning out an album which recaptured their live feel with acres to spare. Bluntly, Rise and Shine! stands as the finest British funk album of the 1970s, a set which counts only Roogalator among its rivals, but squeaks past by virtue of that group's failure to truly get it on in the studio. The opening "Use Your Imagination" has enough funkadelia around its edges to salve the most demanding palate, while "Little Girl" might borrow its vocal arrangements from something slick by Hall & Oates, but nobody told the instruments that.

This is the finest album from Michael Hedges, the man who is responsible for the greatest revolution in solo acoustic guitar playing since Leo Kottke. There are moments on Aerial Boundaries where it seems literally impossible that so much music is coming from one man and his guitar. Attacking his instrument, snapping strings, banging on the fingerboard with his right hand, Hedges plays supremely beautiful music with the technique of a deranged lunatic. It has been said that genius is at least one part madness – although a questionable assertion in general terms – when applied to Hedges and his music, the analogy holds. The songs on Aerial Boundaries are all beautiful and haunting in their own right; and it is this emphasis on composition over technique that makes this such an important recording.

Marc Almond - Tenement Symphony (1991) {Warner 9031-75518-2}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 307 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 113 Mb
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© 1991 Warner Music UK | 9031-75518-2
Art-Pop / New Romantic / Synth Pop / Dance-Pop

Marc Almond's newest label jump resulted in what looked like an ideal creation on paper – two songs produced and co-written by the Grid, the techno duo featuring Almond's Soft Cell collaborator Dave Ball, three more songs worked on with sole surviving Willing Sinner/La Magia member, keyboardist/orchestrator Billy McGee, and a mini-song cycle, "The Tenement Symphony" itself, produced by uber-studio wizard Trevor Horn. But did it work?

Although Chip Taylor is most famous for writing two especially iconic songs, that is only part of the story, as The New York Times wrote: “If you only know him as the as the guy who wrote ‘Wild Thing’ and ‘Angel of the Morning’ — you don’t know him! Chip Taylor is making some of the most distinctive acoustic music around today.” With the release of Fix Your Words, he continues to create timeless, thought-provoking music.

This program brings together a wide variety of Alan Hovhaness’ works including numerous world premiere recordings. These range from the earliest of his band compositions, the processional Tapor No. 1, to more recent chamber pieces such as the gentle barcarole of Vision on a Starry Night. The Ruins of Ani returns us to the tragic location also explored in Hovhaness’ Symphony No. 23 ‘Ani’ (available on Naxos 8.559385), while the Three Improvisations on Folk Tunes evoke dances from the Indian subcontinent. Newly discovered works with percussion include the Japanese-influenced overture to Hovhaness’ opera The Burning House alongside October Mountain, now a classic in its genre.