On his second solo album, Barrett was joined by Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley and Pink Floyd members Rick Wright (organ) and David Gilmour (guitar). Gilmour and Wright acted as producers as well. Instrumentally, the result is a bit fuller and smoother than the first album, although it's since been revealed that Gilmour and Wright embellished these songs as best they could without much involvement from Barrett, who was often unable or unwilling to perfect his performance. The songs, however, are just as fractured as on his debut, if not more so. "Baby Lemonade," "Gigolo Aunt," and the nursery rhyming "Effervescing Elephant" rank among his peppiest and best-loved tunes. Elsewhere, the tone is darker and more meandering. It was regarded as something of a charming but unfocused throwaway at the time of its release, but Barrett's singularly whimsical and unsettling vision holds up well.

This is a specially priced, two-CDs-for-the-price-of-one photo-cube set, loaded with great stuff from Charlie Musselwhite, Koko Taylor, Lonnie Brooks, Johnny Winter, Billy Boy Arnold, Lonnie Mack, and a host of others who have trotted their wares on the label over the years. Besides giving the novice one great introduction to the label (as the music runs from traditional to modern), the big bonus here is a treasure trove of previously unissued tracks from Roy Buchanan (a chaotic version of Link Wray's "Jack the Ripper"); Floyd Dixon (a recut of his Blues Brothers-approved hit "Hey Bartender"); Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland in a marvelous outtake from the Showdown! album ("Something to Remember You By"); and the band that started it all, Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers, with a crazed version of Elmore James' "Look on Yonder's Wall," as sloppy as it is cool.

In the liner notes to this album, Stan Getz comments about how producer Herb Alpert showed him aspects of recording he had never experienced before. In this case, it's how to over-produce without overwhelming a lead soloist, as Alpert loads up this date with synthesizer players, electric instruments, and effects as a backdrop for the ultra-cool tenor of Getz. While not going overboard, it would have been nice to hear this music without the caramel-thick arrangements, leaving just Getz and a rhythm section to play sans the unnecessary sugarcoating. Initially released about a year before Getz passed away, the end result is a lazy and far too sweet group of pieces that muck up romance in a smothering fashion. Where string arrangements can sound beautiful, the sleepy synths on "Waltz for Stan" and echoplexed sax during "Madrugada" and especially the nine-minute ambling "Midnight Ride"…

The 40th Anniversary edition of Jethro Tull’s Minstrel In The Gallery. Original album plus seven bonus tracks (six previously unreleased) and all to stereo by Steven Wilson. The album has been expanded to include the b-side Summerday Sands, several studio outtakes, and alternate session material recorded for a BBC broadcast. The second disc features a live recording of Jethro Tull performing at the Olympia in Paris on July 5, 1975, a few months prior to the release of Minstrel In The Gallery. During the show, the band played songs from several of its albums, including War Child and Aqualung, as well as an early performance of Minstrel In The Gallery.
Minstrel in the Gallery was Tull's most artistically successful and elaborately produced album since Thick as a Brick and harked back to that album with the inclusion of a 17-minute extended piece ("Baker Street Muse")…

With this album from Thomas Köhler and Frank Rothe you get, what you can expect - and a little more. They wanted to "Look forward" and they did. One track with a more complex arrangement, a track in Berlin school style at his best, some sounds maybe coming thru a prisma and an energetic final, this is how the artists see their own album. Journey for more than an hour through epic soundscapes and chilling sequences.