Maybe the only album we've ever seen from Henny Vonk - a jazz singer with a Dutch name, but a style here that's right up there with some of the hipper American singers of the period - especially those who know how to move on the hipper currents of the spectrum! At some level, Henny's got a way of stretching out her words while inflecting them, with a vibe that's reminiscent of Sheila Jordan - but overall, Vonk's maybe a straighter jazz singer, too - but one with a nicely sensitive vibe, as her vocals are balanced out with the introspective piano work of Rov Van Den Broeck. The rhythm duo adds a nice current of soul from time to time - with Clint Houston on bass and Billy Higgins on drums - and many cuts have new lyrics written for the album.

Octopus from Norway (don't be confused to countless bands with same name) was and is an obscure prog band gone unnoticed in prog circles. They released only one album in 1981 named Thaerie Wiighen (taken the name from a hero from literature of famous norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen). There is not much to find about this band or when they were disbanded. The music offered is pretty good all the way, symphonic prog with a nordic feel very similar in places with Bo Hansson releases , with some spacey moments here and there with an Eloy atmosphere, lots of instrumental sections aswell. Excellent are the keyboards passages very reminescent of Rick Wakeman or Genesis, some parts remind of Kerrs Pink. All in all a very solid album gone under the radar, definetly worth checking.

The two twin-albums “DisConnected” and “Connected” shows us a Remy who has matured in his music and who has developed a style of his own. And an impressive style it is. Using both classic instruments like the VCS3 (I and II) and the Memorymoog as well as modern equipment, he brings us music that will appeal to a lot of electronic music fans. He combines excellent sequences, great atmospheres, well-constructed rhythms and nice solos. A great example of this is the track “Ages” from “DisConnected” which shows Curly Quazar on electric guitar. Remy is a master of the sequence: “The Missing Part” from “Connected” clearly indicates this.

Nina Simone Sings the Blues, issued in 1967, was her RCA label debut, and was a brave departure from the material she had been recording for Phillips. Indeed, her final album for that label, High Priestess of Soul, featured the singer, pianist, and songwriter fronting a virtual orchestra. Here, Simone is backed by a pair of guitarists (Eric Gale and Rudy Stevenson), bassist (Bob Bushnell), drummer (Bernard "Pretty" Purdie), organist (Ernie Hayes), and harmonica player who doubled on saxophone (Buddy Lucas). Simone handled the piano chores. The song selection is key here. Because for all intents and purposes this is perhaps the rawest record Simone ever cut. It opens with the sultry, nocturnal, slow-burning original "Do I Move You," which doesn't beg the question but demands an answer: "Do I move you?/Are you willin'?/Do I groove you?/Is it thrillin'?/Do I soothe you?/Tell the truth now?/Do I move you?/Are you loose now?/The answer better be yeah…It pleases me…." As the guitarists slip and slide around her husky vocal, a harmonica wails in the space between, and Simone's piano is the authority, hard and purposely slow.