Marc Cohn - Marc Cohn (1991)

Marc Cohn is one of the finest debut albums of the 1990s, and it brought adult piano pop back to the radio. Every song is well-crafted, and Cohn's singalong choruses, introspective lyrics, and vocal stylings reveal his '60s soul and '70s singer/songwriter influences. His voice is rich, but has a roughness that adds emotion when stretching to the upper end of his range while remaining subtle at the lower end. Marc Cohn shows himself to be an accomplished and versatile songwriter, from the uplifting gospel opener "Walking in Memphis," the hit for which he is widely known, to the concluding love letter "True Companion." Cohn has a great ear for melody and a keen eye for detail that immediately grab your attention and reward the listener with repeated plays. The album's highlight, "Silver Thunderbird," is a prime example of Cohn's ability to combine storytelling with an unbelievably catchy chorus. It is not surprising that the songs played on piano work better than those written for guitar; however, the album is surprisingly consistent, even for a debut. This album is worth checking out for any listener who wonders where the tuneful pop and soul of the Big Chill era went.

Siloah - Siloah (1970)

Siloah were a German progressive psych / folk band in the vein of Kalacakra, Langsyne and others "curiosities". A collective hippie musical tribe largely inspired by mysticism, LSD and sexadelism. Their music features a heavy use of stoned vocals (in English), mantric like guitar parts, flute, "ethnic" percussions. Their first drugged item released in 1970 offers a dangerous and imaginative ocean of trippy, perpetual jammings. A bombastic psychedelic explosion in the mood of the best german prog folk releases. The atmospheres are beautifully "acoustic", sometimes dreamy and ethereal but never away from krautrock "primitive" sound. One year later they release an other highly psychedelic item with now more emphasis on keyboards parts. Both records have been re-issued in CD in 1993 on the Lost pipedream label. Today their discography is available at "Garden of delight". An achieved musical experience and a beautiful "acid" folk trip that can ravish fans of krautrock.

Sweetwater - Sweetwater (1968)

Collector's Choice Sweetwater is the only Sweetwater album to feature Nanci Nevins on vocals throughout, and it's hard to get a grip on. Sometimes it's attractive Californian folk-pop-psych not too far removed from the Mamas & the Papas, as on "Through an Old Storybook"; sometimes it's trying for a rock-Baroque-classical-jazz fusion, although the material doesn't match the ambitions of the arrangements. Whether intentionally or otherwise, Nevins' vocals often recall those of Grace Slick, though she isn't as good. On "My Crystal Spider," they seem to be going for a far-out psychedelic sound; the ascending and descending bit of harsh electronics in the middle sounds uncomfortably close to effects employed, earlier and to more effective use, by the United States of America on "Hard Coming Love." When bands, even on their first album, make multiple comparisons to more renowned acts so inevitable that these form the bulk of a review, it's a good indication that the musicians were not in the same league as those they were trying to emulate.

Ktzat Acheret - Nonames (1973)

I would like to recommend one of the better progressive rock bands that was ever created. The Hebrew name of the band is Kzat Aheret (in English this translates to "A Little Different"). But besides the Hebrew name, on the album cover, there is one more name - "Nonames". They are a band that was created in Israel in 1974, by a three very talented musicians and composers; Shem-Tov Levi-flute and voices [mainly], Shlomo Ydov-guitars and voices [mainly], Shlomo Gronich-keybords and voices [mainly]. I write "mainly" because they played many more instruments like drums and string instruments. A very astonishing band for Israel in those days. They were experienced in many progressive styles, like a very sophisticated psychedelic style, with classical and extravagant improvisations and forms, with melodic and dissonant melodies, and with a theatrical style of humor in many episodes, and sometimes were influenced with their own folk music. They used great orchestration. They released their only album in '74 and published many singles. -- Dickmann Ofer (Israeli progressive rock)

*****

By 1973 Israel was involved in the terrible Yom Kippur war, this was a traumatic event for the Israeli nation. After the war, many artists tried to express the trauma. Gronich teamed up with Shlomo Ydov and assisted by several session musicians they recorded a brilliant album under the name Nonames/Ktzat Acheret (A Bit Different). This album reflected some of the pain and anguish of the Yom Kippur trauma and was very varied musically. At this stage strong influence of groups such as Gentle Giant and Mahavishnu Orchestra was reflected in their music, but they added a dose of jazz, classical, avant-garde, Middle-Eastern music and Balkan rhythms and a certain sense of humor. it had many highlights including the 3 instrumentals Shemi's Piece and Quinta which sounded like a symphonic version of Italian band Area and 204 that sounded like Gentle Giant on avant-garde pills, Two Chinese, The Little Prince and Pink Skies. This album is an essential masterpiece of Israeli prog. The band split due to Gronich's departure to USA.

Joe Bonamassa - Transilvania - Milano (2007)

Guitar mastermind Joe Bonamassa, a young player with the childhood dream of playing music similar to legends like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix, was 22 when he inked a deal with Epic. Hailing from Utica, New York, Bonamassa could play the blues before he could drive a car. He first heard Stevie Ray Vaughan at age four and was instantly taken by Vaughan's high-powered playing. At age eight, he opened for B.B. King, and at age 12, he was playing regularly around upstate New York. It was soon thereafter that Bonamassa hooked up with the band Bloodline, which featured other musicians' sons: Waylon Krieger (Robby Krieger's son), Erin Davis (Miles Davis' drummer kid), and Berry Oakley, Jr. (son of the Allman Brothers bassist). Bloodline released a self-titled album, but Bonamassa wanted to move on. In summer 2000 he guested for Roger McGuinn on Jethro Tull's summer tour, later releasing his debut solo album, A New Day Yesterday. Produced by longtime fan Tom Dowd, the album marked a move toward a more organic and rock-sounding direction. He put together a power trio with drummer Kenny Kramme and bassist Eric Czar and hit the road to support the album.

Upon returning from the road, he hooked up with Dowd to record the muscular and sweeping studio disc So, It's Like That and released a document of the tour, A New Day Yesterday Live. The following year, Bonamassa put out Blues Deluxe, featuring nine cover versions of blues classics alongside three originals. The muscular You & Me appeared in 2006, followed by the more acoustic-tinged Sloe Gin in 2007. A year later, Bonamassa released the two-disc live album Live from Nowhere in Particular, followed in 2009 by The Ballad of John Henry. Late in 2009 he released the DVD Live from the Royal Albert Hall with guest spots from Eric Clapton and Paul Jones. In 2010, the guitarist released his first disc for the Premier Artists label, Black Rock, featuring a guest appearance by B.B. King. It was followed by the debut album from Black Country Communion, a blues-rock supergroup that put him in the company of bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, drummer Jason Bonham, and keyboardist Derek Sherinian. Bonamassa, ever the overachiever, released his earthy Dust Bowl in March of 2011, followed by Black Country Communion's 2 in June and by his unique collaboration with vocalist Beth Hart on a searing collection of soul covers entitled Don't Explain in September.

In May of 2012, Bonamassa released Driving Towards the Daylight. The album reunited the guitarist with producer Kevin Shirley, who brought in Aerosmith's Brad Whitford to play rhythm guitar on the 11 tracks. Driving Towards the Daylight was a significant blues hit -- it topped the Billboard blues chart and debuted at number two on the overall British chart -- and Bonamassa didn't slow down. Early in 2013, he released a live CD/DVD set called An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House and prepared SeeSaw, a studio album of classic covers with vocalist Beth Hart. SeeSaw was released later in 2013, and Bonamassa and Hart followed it up with Live in Amsterdam in March of 2014. After the release of SeeSaw, Bonamassa returned to the studio once again with producer Shirley to record what would be his 11th solo studio album. As a thank-you to his fans for their continued support, Bonamassa announced that the album would be his first release to feature entirely original material. Different Shades of Blue appeared in the fall of 2014, featuring 11 new songs co-written by Bonamassa with various veteran Nashville songwriters. Another busy year followed in 2015, with Bonamassa playing on Mahalia Barnes' Betty Davis tribute Ooh Yea! The Betty Davis Songbook and releasing two separate live collections: Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks in the spring and Live at Radio City Music Hall in the fall.

Returning to Nashville, he recorded his studio follow-up to Different Shades of Blue, working with many of the same songwriters who'd appeared on that 2014 album. Blues of Desperation appeared in March 2016. Another live recording, Live at the Greek Theatre, which celebrated the work of blues legends such as B.B. King, Freddie King, and Albert King, followed that summer. At the beginning of that year, Bonamassa headed out on an all-acoustic tour that saw him performing some of his best-known material in a new way. The tour included two nights at the legendary Carnegie Hall in New York that were filmed and recorded for prosperity. The performances saw him backed by a full band alongside the likes of guest musicians Chinese cellist and erhuist Tina Guo and Egyptian percussionist and composer Hossam Ramzy. The recording, Live at Carnegie Hall: An Acoustic Evening, was released in mid-2017. Bonamassa re-teamed with Beth Hart for Black Coffee, an album of covers that was released in January 2018. Also that year, he delivered British Blues Explosion, a live album recorded during a five-show run at the Royal Navy College in London, in which he performed covers from his top three British influences: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page.

Vangelis - 1492 - Conquest Of Paradise (1992)

Vangelis is best known to many music fans for his film soundtracks. His score for Hugh Hudson's "Chariots of Fire" (1981) made quite a splash in its time; nowadays, however, his soundtrack music for Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" (1982) is probably best-known and most highly regarded. Vangelis worked with Scott again on the 1992 film "1492: Conquest of Paradise," one of two films released that year in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage across the Atlantic. Even if "1492" the soundtrack does not quite reach the heights that Vangelis achieved in "Blade Runner," it still provides tuneful, anthemic music of the kind for which Vangelis is known. If you like Vangelis's work on film scores, or if you are a fan of the film "1492," you should enjoy this soundtrack.

The Pogues - Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah (1990)

A relentless, Motown-styled raveup, "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" was one of The Pogues finest moments and one of their hardest rockers. It was a British hit in 1988, yet it took two years for an EP of the same name to appear. The EP is one the group's most rock-oriented efforts -- it even features a version of The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women" -- but it's not entirely successful, with the noticeable exception of the title track.