Yak were a 4 piece instrumental progressive rock band who played between '82 & '84. The line up consisted of Robin Hodder (guitar), SySnell (bass), John Wynn (drums) & Martin Morgan (keyboards). The band stopped playing when jobs took the members to disperate parts of the UK. The material had only ever been recorded in Lo-Fi but Martin was determined that it should not be 'lost'. In 2003 he set about re-recording 8 of the YAK tracks which were released as the "Dark Side of the Duck" album in Feb '04. Following this and enthused with the response, the band re-formed - original line up, but now with Max Johnson on bass. A live EP, "Does Your Yak Bite ?" was released in 2005, and the same line-up released the jam collection "The Rutland Chronicles" the following year.

Someone once said there are two ways of listening to music - with your body and with your mind. When you're hit by the groove, you're listening with your body, compelling you to dance. Engaging with the music in this way is quite different to how you'd respond to, say, Nick Drake or Billie Holiday, where the music seems to deny a physical response.
All of which is a roundabout way of trying to explain what this eternally hip Belgian pianist's album is all about. Opening with a four-to-the-floor drum and bass riff, 'Silver (Who Stole the Groove?)' uses a sample taken from the classic Blue Note album Doin' the Thing (at the Village Gate) by Horace Silver. It becomes a repeated motif as Bert Joris's trumpet, Moulin's Fender Rhodes piano and Christa Jérome's voice weave textures around the hypnotic beat…

The main item in this second volume of Shostakovich film music on Chandos is the popular Suite from The Gadfly, whose “Romance” became an instant hit as the theme from the British TV series Reilly: Ace of Spies (it was well known in Russia long before). This newcomer is certainly exciting and full of contrast and color, with a very dreamy “Romance” and a much brasher treatment of such extravert segments as the “Folk Festival” than we hear on Chailly’s suavely polished Decca recording (to cite the most noteworthy among the competition). The result is arguably more “Russian” in feel, though I wouldn’t give up the playing of the Concertgebouw for any amount of money.

Of all the pioneering country-rock bands of the late '60s, Poco may well have been the one that got the hybrid the most right, at least initially. The group's high-energy, joyous, and infectious songs had none of the artfulness of the Byrds' attempt at fusing rock and country, and none of the cache of hipness that weighed down both the Eagles and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Poco just played and had fun in an unassuming way, at least at the outset, because latter-era Poco is every bit as laden with California cool as the above named bands. This release from England's Beat Goes On Records combines Poco's first two albums in a two-disc set, and it is an inspired (and obvious) pairing, catching the band at its freshest peak in the studio.

This compilation contains 20 of John Lee Hooker's hits, recorded in the `50s and `60s, 68 minutes of music.

Lost Pearls is a collection of out-takes recorded by the rock band Wishbone Ash between 1978 and 1982, released in 2004. Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular albums included Wishbone Ash (1970), Pilgrimage (1971), Argus (1972), Wishbone Four (1973), There's the Rub (1974), and New England (1976). Wishbone Ash are noted for their extensive use of the harmony twin lead guitar format which had been attracting electric blues bands since Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page had played together in the Yardbirds in 1966. Their contributions helped Andy Powell and Ted Turner to be voted "Two of the Ten Most Important Guitarists in Rock History" (Traffic magazine 1989), and to appear in the "Top 20 Guitarists of All Time" (Rolling Stone).

Giovanni Paisiello stands head and shoulders above the other Italian composers of his generation. A pupil of the Neapolitan School, he had a supreme gift for melody, allied with a highly individual style and idiom that foreshadow Haydn and Beethoven. Paisiello’s eight keyboard concertos, written to commission for the nobility, clearly show that he must have been an excellent pianist and harpsichordist. In contrast with the classical poise and restraint of the Second Concerto, the Fourth Concerto is an extraordinary piece, with an opening Allegro comparable to Haydn’s Sturm und Drang works, and a solemn slow movement that can only be likened to the young Beethoven.

Stars And Fishes (2004). The Mediterranean is a wonderful symbol of warmth, and it's the inspiration behind this disc, masterminded by producers Marco Bussian and Jean-Charles Vandermynsbrugge. They provide the music and beats, which shimmer in a lovely heat haze, and bring in vocalists to add some magical singing. Often it works well, as with Ozlem Cetin's "Le Reve Est Mort," or "Conmigo," with Sol Ruiz de Galarreta providing the vocal cords. At times, however, it can veer perilously close to the murky terrain of lounge music, as on "Cosmic Lullaby," where even Clair Dietrich's singing can't rescue something mediocre. However, that's the exception to the rule: the vast majority of this disc positively glows and sticks like a burr in the mind…

Recorded on an off night during a European tour in 1991, this is a warts and all, no overdubs, unplugged session that captures the father and son duo at their most uninhibited. Basically, Carey and Lurrie Bell sat down in a studio in Kouvola, Finland, let the tapes roll for three hours, and this is the result. Why the finished product languished for 14 years in tour manager/co-producer Chip Covington's closet is unclear, but Alligator's long delayed yet welcome 2004 release shows the timeless quality of this deep Delta blues. The songs are sung by both guitarist son Lurrie and harpist dad Carey, and range from well-worn standards such as "Rock Me" (featuring a stunning acoustic guitar solo), "Key to the Highway," and "Five Long Years," to originals that follow established blues patterns…

This UK EM duo is bound to set the scene on fire with their debut disc. Fans of mid 1970s Tangerine Dream will love the pulsing sequences and dense Mellotron which harkens back beautifully to Phaedra and Rubycon. Composed of four extended excursions, each track is a veritable cornucopia of rhythms, flowing Mellotron backdrops and various space plucks and laser flashes of effectual synthetics. The album is not just a TD copy, but uniquely original in its own right.

Before talking to Fazil Say about these performances, I’m not sure that I would have used the word “operatic” to describe them—but from the beginning, I was struck by their conversational quality, by the superbly characterized playing of the solo winds and by the exceptional chamber-music rapport of pianist and orchestra as they toss material back and forth. And while I might not have thought of the word “smiling,” I certainly noticed the high level of wit, both in the playing itself and in the slightly anachronistic cadenza that Say offers for K 467.

Deep Purple survived a seemingly endless series of line-up changes and a dramatic mid-career shift from grandiose progressive rock to ear-shattering heavy metal to emerge as a true institution of the British hard rock community. Once credited in The Guinness Book of World Records as the globe's loudest band, their revolving-door roster launched the careers of performers including Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale, and Ian Gillan…

Wynonna Judd's second album, Tell Me Why, is a more confident and diverse collection than her debut. Drawing from sources as varied as gospel, folk, and blues-rock, Wynonna doesn't necessarily deliver a pure country album, but her blend of roots genres does qualify as a cleverly constructed contemporary country record. The selection of material is first-rate, but what makes Tell Me Why her best solo effort is how she ties all of the songs together with her assured – and surprisingly subtle – vocals.