YES
on Rhino / Elektra
|
Ferenzik
on RRAXXO
|
Todd Rundgren VS. Utopia
on Castle / Sanctuary |
LABEL
SPOTLIGHT
FEBRUARY
/ MARCH 2003 MUSIC & RECORD LABEL SPOTLIGHT
13th
FLOOR MUSIC -
Boston-born, Hong Kong-based guitarist Ken Rose steps out in
style with his debut CD Slow Poke. Having studied with Jim
Hall, John Abercrombie and John Scofield, Rose certainly has the background
and he makes good use of it on Slow Poke. For atmospheric,
smokey-room jazz guitar vibes, it doesnt get any better than
Slow Poke. Among the originals on the CD are Rose covers of
MJQ founder John Lewis and the legendary Thelonious Monk.
Featuring musical combinations like the guitar / bass duo, guitar
trio and quartet sound, the 48 minute CD features Rose united with
fine players including his brother Steve Rose (drums) and John
Turner (double bass). One of the outstanding new players on the
jazz guitar scene, Rose effortlessly amazes with Slow Poke. http://cdbaby.com/cd/kenrose
AGGREGATE RECORDINGS - Raising the spirit of vintage fusion
guitar icons like Frank Zappa, John McLaughlin and Allan Holdsworth,
NYC-based guitarist / composer Rob Sbar achieves a rare blend
of musical styles on his 2002 instrumental CD Wagon Wheels And
Atom Bombs. Sbars deft guitar pyrotechnics are
expertly balanced in the studio by Erik Feder (drums) and Matt
Schaefer (bass). Not only is Sbar is gifted guitar virtuoso but
he is also a wonderful storyteller who wrote a series of extensive,
freewheeling dissertations in the 15 page booklet while he also designed
the ultra bizarre CD cover art. Influenced by artists as diverse as
John Coltrane and Sonic Youth, hes studied with modern fretboard
masters like Scott McGill and Greg Howe and on Wagon Wheels And
Atom Bombs he arrives with his own interesting new twist on the
latest fusion guitar sound. A masterful electric guitarist, music
teacher, arranger and composer whos equally versed in jazz,
avant gard and hard rock, Sbar is off to a wonderful start on his
kinetic debut CD.
www.rob-sbar.com
COLLECTORS CHOICE MUSIC - The 80s are well represented
with a 2002 Collectors Choice reissue of Arrive
Without Travelling / Ever After a CD that pairs
two late 80s albums from The Three OClock, the
L.A.-based pop group that featured singer-songwriters Michael Quercio
and Gregg Gutierrez. The Three OClock sounded pretty
much in the spirit of 80s groups like The Bangles with a little
bit of Dire Straits and their single disc two-fer CD reissue on CC
features 22 tracks along with extensive liner notes from 2002. Another
excellent 2002 Collectors Choice CD reissue is the first, self-titled
1972 album from Jo Jo Gunne. Featuring the music of Spirit
vocalist Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes, the
self-titled Jo Jo Gunne remains a fabulous album that
reinvented Fergusons pioneering work with Spirit. Collectors
Choice has also reissued a CD of the second Jo Jo Gunne album, Bite
Down Hard. On another Ferguson related note, CC have
released Jays 1977 solo album Thunder Island.
Featuring production by engineer genius Bill Szymczyk,
Thunder Island finds Ferguson in the company of top players
like guitar legend Joe Walsh and Joe Vitale. Excellent
liner notes lends further weight to this vital CD reissue. After
amazing audiences with his work with Tom Verlaine in downtown NYC
pop legends Television, NYC rocker Richard Lloyd released his
solo debut, Alchemy in 1979, and the album was reissued
on CD in 2002 on Collectors Choice. Having also worked with
pop giants like Matthew Sweet, Lloyds music and guitar playing
is ripe for rediscovery. Fans of The Byrds will be interested
in hearing the Collectors Choice reissue of No Other,
the 1974 solo album by Byrds founder Gene Clark.
Compared to the other members in The Byrds, Clark was the mysterious
one. After one listen, its apparent that No Other is
essential listening for both Byrds and Clark fans. Described as Clarks
self-styled Sgt. Peppers, the album features an incredible
production that traces back to the 60s and Clarks pioneering
work with The Byrds.
www.geneclark.com
/ www.collectorschoicemusic.com
FREE ELECTRIC SOUND - One of the best of the new jazz fusion
CDs to emerge during the early 2000s, Controlled By Radar
from McGill Manring Stevens pools the talents of fretboard
ace Scott McGill, bass legend Michael Manring and drummer
Vic Stevens. In his April 2002 interview with 20th Century
Guitar McGill spoke of his appreciation of guitar legends like fusion
pioneer John McLaughlin and classical virtuoso Andres Segovia and
on their 2002 MMS release on Free Electric Sound McGill and
his counterparts get it all together on a altogether captivating double
CD set. Topped off by freaky cover art, the double CD is split into
two partsthe Right Brain disc displays some truly electrifying
fusion while the Left Brain half contains a mix of subtle and
uniquely atmospheric acoustic sounds. The chemistry of these top players
is truly remarkable and theres never a dull moment throughout
the two discs. For fans of inventive jazz-rock sounds, Controlled
By Radar is an album to hear. www.lasercd.com
GENTRY AVENUE PRODUCTIONS - Featuring the talents of George
W. Mahn III, Sanctuary is the debut CD from the
Dallas-based guitarist and his group Vertical Leap. Mahn performs
all the electric and acoustic guitars here ably assisted by bassist
John Adams. Mahns sound is well executed and at various
times he echoes influences like prog-rockers like Justin Hayward and
Mike Oldfield. The ten track all original lineup includes five vocal
tracks and five instrumentals that again echo Oldfields work
as well as the atmospheric sounds of noted film composer Angelo Badalamente.
Sanctuary is a fine introduction Mahns rising musical
prominence. www.gentryave.com
LYALL STEEL - An outstanding tribute album praising the music
of The Beatles, Revolutions is the 2002
CD from Canadian acoustic guitarist Lyall Steel. Steel hails
The Fab Four in his liner notes while his choice of material is also
quite impressive. From the CD opener, Come Together to
covers of You Cant Do That, Lady Madonna,
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and a choice cover of the
George Harrison Revolver favorite Love You To,
Revolutions offers proof that even on a solo acoustic guitar
these timeless melodies are still among the greatest ever written.
Steels savvy finger-style acoustic playing and choice of material,
all the way down to the Beatle-esque cover art and design of the CD
makes Revolutions a class act all the way. www.lyallsteel.com
MOTOWN
- When Little Stevie Wonder took the pop charts by
storm with his Fall 1965 AM radio hit Uptight (Everythings
Alright) it became apparent that he was no mere here today gone
tomorrow singer. Well thats exactly what happened and Wonder went
on to more or less define the finest R&B pop that Tamla Motown
had to offer. Just one of the many great Motown artists of the 60s,
Wonder was the one, over the decades, that really went on to attain
superstar status. Released on CD by Motown / UTV Records
in late 2002, The Definitive Collection compiles 21 of
Stevies biggest hits from 1963s Fingertips Part 2
all the way to his huge 1985 hit Part Time Lover and overall
paints the soul pop icon as a unique part of American pop culture.
www.motown.com /
www.utvrecords.com
RHINO / ELEKTRA ENTERTAINMENT - With the Yes catalog
shifting to Elektra Records, Rhino and Elektra team
up for early 2003 reissues of the first four Yes albumsYes
(July 1969 - six bonus tracks), Time & A Word (November
1970 - four bonus tracks), The Yes Album (March 1971
- three bonus tracks) and Fragile (January 1972 - two
bonus tracks). These rock classics were reissued several different
times on CD but these 2003 Rhino reissues are the best sounding and
most comprehensive yet. The brilliant sound quality befits albums
of this stature and just as impressive are the detailed CD booklets
which feature an abundance of color and b&w photos and complete
lyric sheets for each album. Perhaps the most intriguing thing here
are the bonus tracks featured on each title. Highlights of the bonus
tracks include a rarely heard studio version of the Steve Howe
solo acoustic piece The Clap from The Yes Album,
in addition to single versions, early versions and original
mix versions of various tracks featured on each album. Another clear
highlight is the previously unreleased early rough mix version of
Roundabout on Fragile. Rhino / Elektra plans to
release another seven Yes reissues during 2003. www.rhino.com
/ www.nfte.org
RRAXXO - Best known for his work with Todd Rundgren, multi-instrumentalist
Ferenzik, aka John Fernezik, is also quite an excellent singer-songwriter,
keyboardist and guitarist in his own right. That fact is best evidenced
by hearing his excellent 2000 album Zero Points For Zeus,
released on his own label RRAXXO. Featuring great players
like Chico Huff (bass) and Prairie Prince (drums), Zero
Points For Zeus sounds Rundgren-inspired and several pop jewels
like the lead off track Waiting In The Dark and Electric
Sleeping Beauty border on the sublime. Another Rundgren connection
on Zero Points For Zeus is that the album features Ferenziks
cover of Todds early Nazz track Some People.
Also worth checking out from Ferenzik are Wheel Of Mesh (1997)
and his outstanding instrumental rock fusion albums Devils
Playground (1995) and Wild Man Of Borneo (1990).
www.ferenzik.com
SANCTUARY RECORDS - London-based Sanctuary Records and
their affiliate Castle Records did a great job between 99
and 2001 reissuing all of Todd Rundgrens solo albums
as well as all the Utopia albums that were originally released
on Bearsville Records complete with detailed liner notes. Its
also worth noting a couple of excellent Rundgren CD compilations on
Sanctuary / Castle including the 2001 double disc Todd Rundgren
VS. Utopia - Their Greatest Hits. Disc one of the double
CD set features 15 certified Rundgren gems including favorites like
I Saw The Light, Real Man and Love Of
The Common Man while disc two features 13 tunes Todd recorded
with his prog-rock outfit Utopia. Rundgrens vision of Utopia
began with the 1974 release of Todd Rundgrens Utopia and
the group went on to record a number of musically complex albums including
1977s RA and the groups self-styled, 1980
Beatles-inspired album Deface The Music. Although
its going on 20 years since Todd and Utopia have released any
new studio sounds, Rundgren continues on as one of the true innovators
of pop music. Another fine Rundgren collection on Castle / Sanctuary
is the double CD set Go Ahead. Ignore Me - The Best
Of Todd Rundgren. Somewhat more comprehensive than
Todd Rundgren VS. Utopia, Go Ahead, Ignore Me
focuses more upon Rundgrens prodigious solo career while
also touching on some of his better known Utopia hits such as 1977s
Love Is The Answer. Both of these double disc sets feature
sparkling remastered sound while the liner notes are quite detailed
in both cases clearly making them of interest for Rundgrens
many fans. All the titles in Rundgrens remastered catalog on
Sanctuary and Castle (who are now in the midst of reissuing the acclaimed
Todd Rundgren Bootleg Series) are available from
the enormous catalog of ImportCDS.com www.ImportCDS.com
SONY LEGACY - That instantly recognizable Santana guitar sound
is all over The Essential Santana, a 32 track
double disc set released several months back on Colombia Legacy. Covering
twenty years of music recorded by guitar legend Carlos Santana
and the many great players in the Santana group and all
those early great albums like Santana, Abraxas,
Santana III and Caravanserai, the
double disc set is fleshed out by tracks from late 70s Santana
album classics like Barboletta (1974), Festival
(1976), Moonflower (1977) all the way to the
set-closing title track from the John Lee Hooker album The
Healer, and the title track composed by and featuring
Carlos. www.legacyrecordings.com/santana
Another required listening Legacy release from 2002 is The Essential
Heart. Kicking off with Hearts 1975 smash Crazy
On You, the double disc CD on Epic Legacy features all
their big 70s hits like Barracuda and Magic
Man, covers the 80s MTV years (and their brilliant 1987
pop torch song Alone) landing in the 90s with The
Road Home (1994 - a live album produced by Led Zeps John
Paul Jones) and Desire Walks On (1993). If ever there was a
group made for MTV videos Heart was it and that sentiment is
well summed up by Heart co-founder Ann Wilson who in the liner
notes adds, All of a sudden you had to be not only actresses,
but you had to look like hot models and be perfect in everyway. They
hit us like a truckload of turkeys, basically. Big hair, scintillating
female vocals and fiery guitar-based pop torch songs. Its all
there with fitting liner notes and a nice thank you note from Ann
and her sister and Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson. www.legacyrecordings.com/heart
- www.annandnancy.com
www.capitolrecords.com/heart
SPMB - A new album by a new artist, Lions On The Beach is
the debut CD from U.K. multi-instrumentalist Simon Wolfe. A
fine guitarist and keyboardist, the album paints a broad palette of
trance-inducing sounds incorporating influences like John Barry (check
out the CDs cool Harry Nilsson sample), Pink Floyd and The Chemical
Brothers. Wolfe adds in some Floydian vocal touches to his mostly
instrumental drum and bass groove. Cinematically influenced chill-out
trance vibes abound and lets hope Wolfe has the opportunity
to release further editions. www.CDbaby.com/simonwolfe
SEAN MERCER - Hes been playing guitar since he was a kid
back in his native South Africa and after hearing his solo album its
obvious that its paid off for guitarist Sean Mercer. Mercers
solo debut Electric Storm is filled with a dozen blazing guitar
instrumental tracks that sound quite inspired by legends like Steve
Vai and Tony MacAlpine. Mercer sets his Kramer Guitars on fire on
Electric Storm and the result is superbly composed and performed
instrumental guitar album that combines muscular hard rock playing
with thought-provoking, neoclassical compositions. He receives support
from a number of players, but the center spotlight is clearly on Mercers
soaring electric guitar performance. www.seanmercer.com
TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS - One of the classic rock-flavored minimalist
recordings from 1972, Outside The Dream Syndicate paired
60s composer Tony Conrad with the German art-rock group
Faust. A fascinating, hypnotic instrumental album that pairs
Conrads minimalistic, droning violin sounds with the throbbing
rock pulse of avant-rock visionaries Faust, Outside The Dream Syndicate
was reissued in 2002 on Table Of The Elements as a 30th
Anniversary double disc set, remastered and lavishly restored with
an albums worth of unreleased music and a 32 page CD booklet
with expansive, insightful liner notes that puts Conrads musical
history and Outside The Dream Syndicate specifically into
a unique historical context. Similar in style to some of the work
of trendsetting minimalist composers such as John Cale (after The
Velvet Underground), LaMonte Young and Terry Riley as well as German
art-rock groups such as Can and even Kraftwerk, Outside The Dream
Syndicate remains a thoroughly unique pairing of two formidable
musical forces and the net result still startles, mesmerizes and intriques.
Perhaps its best summed by Tony Conrad himself who in the liner
notes adds, And its a music that keeps coming around,
renewing itself with each new generation. It has never lost the quality
of rediscovery. www.tableoftheelements.com
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