In October 1990, Lou Reed interviewed Vaclav Havel, playwright, poet, president of the newly emancipated Czechoslovakia, and – surprisingly? – a Velvet Underground fan. During the course of their conversation, Havel handed Reed a book. "These are your lyrics, hand-printed and translated into Czechoslovakian. There were only 200 of them. They were very dangerous to have. People went to jail." Nobody will go to jail for owning Between Thought and Expression, but Reed's lyrics remain dangerous – not, as in Communist Czechoslovakia, for what they are, but for what they say…

An apocryphal tale says Juilliard Music Conservatory-trained musicians Michael Kamen, Marty Fulterman, and Dorian Rudnytsky decided in the late '60s in New York that they could make bigger bucks as rock stars than as classical musicians. The results of this legendary experiment were inconclusive. Forming the New York Rock and Roll Ensemble, they broke with tradition on their first two albums – 1968's self-titled debut and Faithful Friends the next year – by using classical music instruments in rock songs and using rock instruments on classical pieces…

John Cale - Artificial Intelligence (1985) {Beggars Banquet BBL 68CD}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 257 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 101 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 87 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1985 Beggars Banquet | BBL 68CD
Rock / Art Rock / Experimental / Avant-Garde

Though this is still nowhere near prime John Cale, 1985's Artificial Intelligence is a big step up from its predecessor, 1984's weak and sloppy Caribbean Sunset. For the first time in his career, Cale works with a collaborator on each song: Rock journalist Larry Sloman (later to gain a certain measure of fame as the model for the pesky Ratso character in Kinky Friedman's comic mystery novels) wrote the lyrics for all nine songs, with guitarist and co-producer David Young chipping in on two of them.

Louis Lortie completes his survey of the piano concertos of Saint-Saëns with Nos 3 and 5 (the Egyptian), adding the Rhapsodie dAuvergne and Allegro appassionato for good measure. As before, he is joined by Edward Gardner and the BBC Philharmonic.

Billy Taylor - Warming Up! (1961) {Milestone MCD 47103-2 rel 2004}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 449 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 179 Mb
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© 1960-61, 2004 Milestone Records / Fantasy | MCD 47103-2
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop / Piano

Warming Up! collects two trio albums recorded by pianist Billy Taylor in 1960-1961, the first under the same title, the second Interlude. On the first 12 pieces he's joined by bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Ray Mosca, on the later 11, Doug Watkins takes Grimes' place. The similar setup and personnel mean that both albums flow together as a piece, though each carries a separate mood owing to the albums' different conceptions.

The Gossip close Music for Men with a song called "Spare Me from the Mold," but Beth Ditto, Nathan Paine, and Hannah Billie could never be accused of conforming. They were still a relatively underground group when Standing in the Way of Control's passionate mix of punk, soul, and disco became their breakthrough – and they sounded so confident on it, it felt like the mainstream was coming to them rather than vice versa. They've got their own piece of the pop (and pop culture) mainstream now, and Music for Men feels aboveground in the best possible way. Befitting its major-label debut, this is the band's most polished music yet, a balance of Control's ferocity and the sleek remixes of the album's singles, but it's still not slick. Most of Music for Men finds The Gossip sticking to their roots and using their success to get their messages out to as many people as possible. These songs are just as empowering as their earlier work, though they're more subtly defiant.