La Düsseldorf is Klaus Dinger's side project after the scission of Neu! in 1975. In this musical adventure, Dinger is accompanied by Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe who also participated to the recording of the third and last Neu! The self titled album "La Dusseldorf" was released in 1976, venturing from avant-garde for concrete noises, manipulated sounds, pre-punk atmospheres. This album has a total disregard for musical convention, the musicians don't hesitate to mix without restriction a bunch of sounds taken from a great variety of musical styles (with pop accents, motoric "electronic" pulses, krautrock weird instrumentals and punk's eccentricity). After this original and diverse collection of experiments, the band recorded their second "Viva" in 1978…

Intermittently on the road as an acoustic duo between gaps in the schedules of their respective ultra-hip fusion bands, Larry Coryell and Steve Khan managed to record several shows and then panned the tape stream to find the nuggets for posterity. There are choices that might have been made out of the fashions of the day, such as the version of Chick Corea's "Spain" that opens the album's first side. Thankfully there are also selections that are here because both guitarists must have realized they were playing magnificently.

Henry Mancini really needs no introduction. His music is as much a part of the twentieth century as rock 'n' roll, the Lennon and McCartney partnership, jazz and the great American songbook. This Vocalion release compiles two albums from the later part of Mancini's more than twenty-year association with the RCA Victor label, and both show that he was more than able to 'get with it' in the funky 1970s. This is borne out in Mancini's Angels (1977), which, of course, is a paraphrase of 'Charlie's Angels', the massively popular US TV show that invited viewers into the glamorous world of a trio of beautiful female private detectives. In 1978 Henry Mancini and his orchestra were back in the studio to record The Theme Scene, another exploration of film and television music…

Troubles, Troubles was originally recorded for Sonet, but is probably better known through its re-release as Lost in the Blues by Alligator. Lost in the Blues was justifiably criticized because of the decision to have Lucky Peterson overdub a bunch of keyboards in order to give it a more "contemporary" (read: more "Alligator") sound. This release is of the original album (with a couple bonus alternate takes) without all the overdubbing, and is a vast improvement over the Alligator version. But how does it stand as an Otis Rush album? It's a very good set – perhaps "comfortable" says it best – recorded with Rush's longstanding band of Bob Levis on rhythm guitar, Bob Stroger on bass, and Jesse Lewis Green on drums (despite what the package says).

Dire Straits is the debut studio album by the British rock band Dire Straits released on 7 October 1978 by Vertigo Records internationally and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album produced the hit single "Sultans of Swing", which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 8 on the UK Singles Chart. The album reached #1 on album charts in Germany, Australia and France, #2 in the United States and #5 in the United Kingdom. Dire Straits was later certified double-platinum in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

In many ways the fifth Judas Priest studio album, "Hell Bent for Leather" (aka "Killing Machine" outside the US) released in the fall of 1978 is the band's definitive album, showcasing all their strengths and epitomizing what this heavy metal group is all about. The album was produced during the period they adopted the "leather & studs" style breaking new ground in heavy metal sound and image. Although gothic themes are present the album isn't truly dark or morbid, the band is as aggressive and brutally intense as ever. The blistering two-guitar attack and shreds of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing will melt your head - the solos have some serious attitude, and by now Rob Halford had established his quite unique, much lower and more menacing, vocal style…

A very cool, very unusual set from late 70s Finland - a keyboard-heavy batch of electronic pop that feels much more like UK work from a few years later - which might make T.T. Oksala way ahead of his time! T.T. plays a range of keyboards and guitar on the record, augmented by bass and drums - and most numbers have this tight, tuneful approach - but one that still allows for plenty of experimental elements too - almost a fusing of earlier prog with an 80s electro pop mode - with all the best bits still left in the middle! Lyrics are in English, which furthers the appeal of the set - and the whole thing almost feels like some of those obscure 80s records reissued recently by Medical Records.

Undoubtedly one of the more adventurous, Area were also a very important band on the seventies Italian prog scene, their first four albums in particular come highly recommended and essential listening to anyone discovering the RPI genre.
In 1978 Area left the independent label Cramps and released their first album for a major, CGD, "1978 Gli Dei Se Ne Vanno, Gli Arrabbiati Restano!" (1978, the gods are going away, the angry people remain). In that year Italian post '68 protest movements were losing strength after ten years of hopes and contradictions and the members of the band, one of the most committed on the Italian scene, went through a period of personal crises too…

Fronted by highly assertive female vocals, this Frankfurt quintet was formed in 1973 by guitarist Pit Hensel and bassist Claus Kniemeyer; musically, they followed in the tradition of Frumpy, Ruphus, Earth & Fire. Between 1976 and 1981, they released four albums of which the first two, "The Boat of Thoughts" (1976) and "An Ocean of Rocks" (1978), are by far considered their best. The subsequent "Rubber Angel" (1979) and in particular "Hart Am Rand" (1981) which features a male singer, are unfortunately not on par with the first two.
Perhaps leaning more towards rock than prog, their music crosses over various musical lines, mixing classic prog elements such as multiple rhythm changes, and straight-ahread rock with a little bit of blues thrown in. Searing guitars dominate the mix but you'll also hear plenty of synthesizer and some fine keyboard solos…

Tania Maria's debut is a mix of hushed bossa numbers and up-tempo, jazz-inflected sambas that show off the prowess of her nine-piece band. "Zé," which belongs to the latter category, is an original tune that begins with Maria's slightly over-the-top scatting and builds into a kickin' samba jam; on "Para Chick," a Tom Jobim instrumental, the group is at its most improvisational, with Maria herself (on piano) dishing out some fine solos; and on the tempo-shifting "Ideias E Ideias," Maria manages to sound like Astrud Gilberto and Ella Fitzgerald within the span of a few chord changes. Though it's heavy on the standard bossa/samba fare, it's also a uniformly solid album and a fine introduction to Maria's catalog.