Vitamin Enhanced is a 6-disc box set by English psychedelic rock band Ozric Tentacles. It compiles the band's six first recordings, originally released in the 1980s. The first six albums were originally released on cassette, handmade by the band, and only sold at festivals and concerts. In 1993, the albums were transferred to CD, and the compiling box set was first released in November 1994 through the band's independent record label, Dovetail Records. The original pressing was limited to 5,000 copies. Not much later, the box set was withdrawn due to complaints from food company Kellogg’s, since they alleged the design of the box was too similar to their Corn Flakes one. It remains unknown how many box sets were sold before the withdrawal, but since then, the original 1994 box set has become a rare collectors' object…

Although Basie's years with RCA Victor are usually regarded as his weakest, there is still plenty of good music to hear from these years. "Sweets" Edison and Emmett Berry still sparked the trumpet section and tenor saxophonist Buddy Tate and singer Jimmy Rushing were still on board. Perhaps the most interesting feature from these years, though, was the addition of an unknown tenorman who had only recently replaced Illinois Jacquet, a guy named Paul Gonsalves. While there are a few throwaway novelties in this set, there are also some fine performances, both by the band itself and by a small "band within the band".

In the first half of the 1960s, Colpix and Dimension were record-label offshoots of Columbia Pictures; Colpix tended toward teen idols, while Dimension was mainly an outlet for the compositions of the Gerry Goffin/Carole King songwriting team. This 40-song double CD includes all the major hits on the labels by the Marcels, James Darren, Shelley Fabares, Paul Petersen, Little Eva, the Cookies, and Carole King herself, as well as quite a few rarities. Although the compilers have done a thorough job, the jumble of disparate styles – sappy teen-idol pop, rhythm and blues, girl groups, soul, even a garage band – makes for tough end-to-end listening. Several of the sides by Darren and Petersen are unbearably cloying; the ones by Fabares, Teddy Randazzo, and Sandy Stewart are barely any better. The hits by Little Eva and the Cookies, on the other hand, are great dynamic girl-group performances. And some of the rarities are pretty cool – Carole King's odd, almost folk-rockish flop single "He's a Bad Boy," Earl-Jean's original version of "I'm Into Something Good" (covered for a hit by Herman's Hermits), the Girlfriends' "My One and Only, Jimmy Boy" (the best Wall of Sound girl-group record not produced by Phil Spector), the little-anthologized Top Ten soul hit "Hey Girl" by Freddie Scott, rare sides by Lou Christie and Duane Eddy, a silly Beatle parody by Sonny Curtis, and extremely rare (if not terribly good) singles by David Jones and Michael Nesmith before they joined the Monkees.

Neo-prog band Pendragon formed in London during the heady days of punk, but didn't coalesce until 1983, when the band began playing around London and earned a small spot at that year's Reading Festival. The lineup stabilized, after the 1985 album Jewel, around vocalist/guitarist Nick Barrett, bassist Peter Gee, drummer Fudge Smith and keyboard player Clive Nolan. Pendragon recorded the live album 9:15 in 1986 and began to establish a continental fan base the following year. European audiences proved enthusiastic, spawning a contract with the French M.S.I. label; nevertheless, the group was forced to form its own Toff label just to release material in England.

Pressed here onto black vinyl with the original crow etching included, this is the original soundtrack to the 1994 film, the Crow.
Featuring tracks from rock legends such as Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against the Machine and the Cure, this soundtrack is often considered as one of the greatest film soundtracks of all time. The album was met with widespread critical acclaim upon release and charted at no.1 upon release on the billboard 200 chart. The album has since gone on to be certified x3 platinum in the US by the RIAA.

Shadowland´s second CD. A middle 90's point of departure album. Sometimes compared to Steve HOGARTH's MARILLION and clearly influenced by some other neo progressive bands such as ARENA and IQ, "Through The Looking Glass" broke through the progressive scene beautyfully with its awesome mixture of the old prog school and the ravenous and unpredictable mood swings. Breathtaking! SHADOWLAND also speaks up for the unrecognized Dutch bands, proving they can rock alright in spite of the incessant attacks "neo prog" has received. The album itself is pure and modest, much of the instrumentation displayed in here follows a plain line that doesn't lack of distinction. Clive NOLAN plays his trademark keyboards superbly all along the "Through the Looking Glass" experience. "When the World Turns to White" and the self-titled song deserve special attention, the most remarkable suites out of the nine tracked production.

Years of apprenticeship with Albert Collins and John Mayall paid off handsomely for Montoya on this debut effort. Even with help from some famous friends (Debbie Davies, Al Kooper, Richie Hayward [Little Feat], and both former employers), Montoya asserts himself as the focal point. Sadly, this was one of Collins' last studio appearances before his death, playing on the Lowell Fulson-penned "Talking Woman Blues" (commonly known as "Honey Hush"). Although Montoya showcases his massive guitar muscle, it is merely a fraction of the power of his live performances.

Considered by many music historians as one of the most important group out of Germany, Faust were certainly ahead of their time. They took their music to unsuspecting heights somewhere in between Can, Velvet Underground, Neu, LA Dusseldorf or Henry Cow but also much farther and can be considered as founding fathers of the Industrial Rock. Having made their debut in 71 in Hamburg, Faust will never stop their groundbreaking and will be always one step ahead of everybody else including the groups above mentioned and are the prime example of Rock In Opposition (RIO) along with Henry Cow. Faust is definitely not for the faint-hearted person and can only be recommended in small doses because it is very dangerous for the sanity of the average proghead.

Outer Dark displays Bill Laswell's penchant for working out compositional ideas at great length, breaking the 20-minute barrier on both of the album's instrumental pieces. Entirely a studio creation, the music is the result of Laswell's (sounds) collaboration with Robert Musso (engineering, treatments) at Brooklyn, NY's Greenpoint Studios. The duo attempts to shape a composition out of the dark ether on the opening "Chakra." It begins with a buzzing sitar drone (providing the Eastern flavor common in Laswell's music) and strummed guitar emerging from the murk. Disappearing and returning throughout, the elements take on a sort of dizzying paranoia at song's end through their repetition. As for the ether itself, the musical backdrop is a drift of throbbing, amorphous ambience comprised of mildly chilling keyboard washes and tube-like breezes…

The Essential 72-93 is a makeshift best-of, piecing together some of Klaus Schulze's most alluring and interesting electronic offerings. With 14 tracks from over ten albums, this compilation is a generous retrospection into this former Tangerine Dream member's material. Many of his masterpieces are included on this double CD, like the swirling electronic breeze of "Wahnfried 1883" from 1975's Timewind, or the out-of-body atmospheric waves of "Floating" from Moondawn. Also breathtaking is the ten minute synthesized soup of "Ludwig II Von Bayern" off of the monumental X album, and the chilling glaze of "Freeze," a superb example of keyboard artistry as Schulze precipitates an icy climate from basic tonal applications…

Live at the BBC is a 1994 compilation album featuring performances by the Beatles that were originally broadcast on various BBC Light Programme radio shows from 1963 to 1965. The mono album, available in multiple formats but most commonly as a two-CD set, consists of 56 songs and 13 tracks of dialogue; 30 of the songs had never been issued previously by the Beatles. It was the first official release by the Beatles of previously unreleased performances since The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl in 1977 and the first containing previously unreleased songs since their final studio album, Let It Be, in 1970.

Peter Frampton is the eleventh studio album by English singer-songwriter Peter Frampton. Released in 1994, the album, along with three unreleased tracks from 1992's compilation album, Shine On - A Collection, were the artist's only studio releases of the 1990s. The album also features one of the last recordings made by Peter's former bandmate Steve Marriott on "Out of the Blue".

It is usually the big nineteenth-century opera sets that are bought for their singers; but with a line-up of principals such as we have here Handel too is swept into the golden net. Lucia Popp, two years into her career after her Vienna debut, Christa Ludwig, Fritz Wunderlich, Walter Berry: that is a quartet which in its time may have seemed no more than standard stuff, but at this date looks starry indeed. […] The Orfeo, for one thing, is sung in German instead of Italian; it has cuts, though many fewer than the Mackerras recording in English with Dame Janet Baker; it has the solo voices recorded very close indeed (those that are supposedly off-stage are just about where many modern recordings would have them except when off-stage); and the orchestra sounds, to our re-trained ears, big and thick, with the heavy bass-line that used to seem as proper to Handel as gravy from the roast was to Yorkshire pudding.

Although it is easy to stereotype Peter Erskine as a fusion drummer due to his notable work with Weather Report, in reality he is a very flexible percussionist. On his trio session for ECM, Erskine is mostly content to back his sidemen (pianist John Taylor and bassist Palle Danielsson). This CD is actually most interesting for the playing of Taylor who contributes three of the originals and plays in a style not that far from Keith Jarrett

This enigmatic multi-instrumentalist draws from the diverse culture and history of his Mexican homeland, as well as his early experiences playing in progressive-rock bands south of the border. Reyes combines flute, pre-Columbian instruments, and percussion with synthesizers and voice to cast a spell of ritualistic intensity. Like shadows from Mexico's sultry and savage past, his music has a dark quality to it that sometimes scares off the unprepared, but adventurous listeners will find plenty to admire in his evocation of jungles, jaguars, and Aztec rites. Though his albums are often difficult to find, most of his imported releases are well worth the extra effort and expense involved.
Reyes died Saturday, February 7, 2009, of a heart attack at his recording studio in Mexico City, he was 57.