Ferguslie Park was recorded after a dizzying string of changes in Stealers Wheel - co-founder Gerry Rafferty's exit soon after finishing the group's first LP, his replacement by Luther Grosvenor and the delayed climb of "Stuck in the Middle with You," Rafferty's return, and the firing of all involved and the reduction of the group to its founding duo of Rafferty and Joe Egan. The resulting album, recorded with some nine support players (including ex-Herd members Gary Taylor and Andrew Steele, plus guitarists Joe Jammer and Bernie Holland), conductor/arranger Richard Hewson in support, and Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller producing, is an upbeat if somewhat less focused work than its predecessor - the mix of hard rock ("What More Could You Want") and lean, melodic songs ("Good Businessman") highlighted by lush choruses, and augmented with occasional spacy digressions…

An attempt to document "the next generation of Chicago blues," this is generally a very exciting and successful collection, including The Kinsey Report, Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials, Valerie Wellington, and several more.

This is a remarkable album of duets with fellow jazz guitar virtuoso and educator, Mick Goodrick. There are six standards and six originals which, the producer's liner notes say, 'were all improvised and composed at the very moment I was pushing the record button on my tape machine.' Joe and Mick sound destined to play together, so well do they combine on this album. They push the boundaries with free improvisations and play the standards as well - but in a fresh way.
At times on this album, the two players abandon the convention of one player comping and the other soloing and instead, play in counterpoint - weaving single lines around each other - eg. 'Counterpoint Carnival/Manha de Carnival' and the gripping 'Rare Birds'…

Steamhammer formed in 1968 in the British town of Worthing. The band was made up of several blues and folk band veterans who were interested in playing something new. The band was pulled onto the road almost directly after their inception by blues legend Freddie King, who needed a backing band for his European tour. By spring of the next year, they signed a contract with CBS Records and released an eponymous debut. They mixed their own material with several standards, but failed to find an audience in the over-saturated blues-rock scene. The band did become quite the live sensation, despite a lineup shift that saw original members Michael Rushton and Martin Quittenton leave the band. Their second album was another stab at the same formula, with slightly different results due to new saxophonist Steve Jollife's incredible technical skill…

"101, Milky Way" is a real treasure from Klaus Schulzes musical legacy. It is one of those KS works that absolutely need to be presented to the world, and as such it is part of our obligation to share all of his music with all of you. And of course the genesis of this album - as always - has its very own history: It all began at the end of 2008 with an enquiry from a German film production company asking if Klaus would perhaps create the score for a planned film documentary about computer hackers. In the end, this turned into a complete KS album, from which the director of the documentary film "Hacker" - Alex Biedermann - was only to use small parts as soft background music. With "101, Milky Way", the complete work is now available for the first time - it is a greeting from Klaus' new cosmic home somewhere in the universe.