Jon Anderson's first project following his departure from Yes was to reunite with the equally airy Vangelis for a collaborative effort as Jon and Vangelis. Short Stories actually marks their second collaboration – the first took place on Vangelis' 1975 album, Heaven and Hell, with the track "So Long Ago, So Clear." The pair returns to that song's successful formula of combining Anderson's otherworldly voice with Vangelis' pithy melodies in a few spots on their debut together, notably for the popular single "I Hear You Now" (which recalls Vangelis' "To the Unknown Man") and the middle section of "Far Away in Bagaad." Otherwise, Short Stories favors amorphous arrangements that feature wisps of melody and little more (a style that has its precedent on Yes' Tormato rather than their own solo work to date).

The guitar experimentation of Adrian Belew and Rob Fetters is top-notch on this record, but the material itself is not. Belew and his backing group of Cincinnati, Ohio-based musicians tend to sound like many other bands. On the first track, "Aches and Pains," the Bears literally break out all the bells and whistles, as those items are incorporated into what seems to be a second-rate Squeeze song. Belew and Fetters do manage to polish up some of the rough spots, however, on songs like "Robobo's Beef," which transforms a distorted electric guitar into what sounds like an electric violin helmed by Jean-Luc Ponty's evil twin brother. The album doesn't lack diversity, as heard on tracks ranging from lullabyes ("Little Blue River") to fusion worldbeat ("Rabbit Manor"), but it does lack fully developed writing. The record is a mixed palette with bits of music that could have made up a beautiful canvas if they were carefully thought out.

Incredibly weird title (many of the songs sport equally bizarre spellings), but a major step back in the right direction for the guitarist, whose dirty, distorted tone won't thrill the purists.
Chicago guitarist Jimmy Dawkins would have preferred to leave his longtime nickname "Fast Fingers" behind. It was always something of a stylistic misnomer anyway; Dawkins' West Side-styled guitar slashed and surged, but seldom burned with incendiary speed. Dawkins' blues were generally of the brooding, introspective variety - he didn't engage in flashy pyrotechnics or outrageous showmanship.

The Rippingtons are a Grammy-nominated contemporary jazz group, founded by guitarist and composer Russ Freeman in 1985. The group has passed the thirty year mark, and continues to innovate. Under Freeman's production, the group has released 22 albums, all of which have attained top 5 Billboard status, with 5 of them reaching #1. Their debut album, "Moonlighting", which Jazziz magazine has called "the number one most influential contemporary jazz album of all time."

Controversial, misunderstood, and underappreciated, Jimmy Giuffre was an unlikely candidate to break as much ground as he did in the art of free improvisation. A swing orchestra veteran, Giuffre made his name as part of the West Coast school of cool jazz, but his restless creative spirit drove him to push the boundaries of texture, dynamic shading, counterpoint, and improvisational freedom in surprisingly avant-garde ways, despite maintaining a cool, cerebral exterior.

German musician Frank Dorittke, aka F.D. Project, is originally a guitarist from the Dinslaken-based band Imagine. He got interested in electronic music around 1991, and became influenced by the music of Tangerine Dream. The versatile and accessible music of F.D. Project is not that simply to depict as it’s influences range from Tangerine Dream to Mike Oldfield, at other occasions keenly blending elements from the Berlin School and guitar riffs. At times it can be melodic and up-tempo, then switching to captivating atmospheric textures and soundscapes.

The second album by Amon Düül II, 1970's Yeti, is their first masterpiece, one of the defining early albums of Krautrock. A double album on vinyl, Yeti consists of a set of structured songs and a second disc of improvisations. It's testament to the group's fluidity and improvisational grace that the two albums don't actually sound that different from each other, and that the improvisational disc may actually be even better than the composed disc. The first disc opens with "Soap Shop Rock," a 12-minute suite that recalls King Crimson's early work in the way it switches easily between lyrical, contemplative passages and a more violent, charging sound, and continues through a series of six more songs in the two- to six-minute range, from the ominous, threatening "Archangels Thunderbird" (featuring a great doomy vocal by mono-named female singer Renate) to the delicate, almost folky acoustic tune "Cerberus"…

Digitally remastered and expanded edition. With her soaring voice and often fiery abandon, the great Aretha Franklin epitomized Soul at it's most Gospel charged. Lithe and sultry, assertive and caressing, knowing and luxuriant, her singing melts down any divisions between Gospel, Soul, Jazz and Blues, bringing an improvisatory spirit even to the most cut and dried Pop material. This quintessential collector's edition contains Franklin's magnificent debut album for Columbia, Aretha (1961), featuring an all star group conducted by Ray Bryant. In addition, we have included eight bonus tracks consisting of hard to find sides from Aretha's early years on the Checker, JVB, and Columbia labels. It serves as the best introduction for anyone wanting to explore Lady Soul's first steps. This is the material upon which Aretha's soul kingdom and unique personal style were built. Soul Jam Records.

Before they were Fleetwood Mac, they were John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Never before heard live performances from 1967. In 1967, before there was a Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood were John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. The four musicians were only together for three months, which makes it even more remarkable that a staunch fan from Holland was able to sneak a one channel reel to reel tape recorder into five London clubs and capture this exciting glimpse into music history. For almost fifty years these tapes have remained unheard until John recently got them and began restoring them with the technical assistance of Eric Corne of Forty Below Records. Corne adds "While the source recording was very rough and the final result is certainly not hi-fidelity, it does succeed in allowing us to hear how spectacular these performances are." Volume 2 showcases three John Mayall originals including the opening track, all-time blues classic "Tears In My Eyes"; "Chicago Line", complete with John McVie bass solo; and "Please Don't Tell", a great example of the power blues The Bluesbreakers were revered for. Thanks to dedicated fan Tom Huissen who took his one channel reel-to-reel tape recorder into various London clubs in 1967, these historical performances were captured for all time.