Styx ‘Paradise Theater’ Album To Be Released On Limited Numbered Hybrid SACD!
“Styx’s high-water mark…one of the greatest albums in rock history.”
Camarillo, CA – Styx fans rejoice with the release of the band’s critically acclaimed album ‘Paradise Theater’ on limited numbered Hybrid SACD by Marshall Blonstein’s Audio Fidelity. Styx’s 10th album, the 1981 release, ‘Paradise Theater’ was the band’s fourth consecutive triple-platinum album. A resounding success, ‘Paradise Theater’ was their greatest commercial triumph and their only #1 album. It remains one of the best examples of the convergence between progressive rock and AOR which typified the arena rock sound of the top groups of the late-seventies and early-eighties such as Journey, REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick and Kansas.
Styx was a great group of talented musicians – Dennis DeYoung, Tommy Shaw, James Young, Chuck Panozzo and John Panozzo. The album included three Billboard Hot 100 hits, “The Best of Times,” “Nothing Ever Goes As Planned” and “Too Much Time on My Hands” considered among Tommy Shaw’s finest singles ever. Another track, “Rockin’ The Paradise” reached #8 on the Top Rock Track Chart.
The concept album is a fictional account of Chicago’s Paradise Theatre from its opening to closing, used as a metaphor for America’s changing times from the late 1970s into the 1980s.
“…some of the best songs Styx would ever write!”
TRACKS:
A.D. 1928
Rockin’ the Paradise
Too Much Time on My Hands
Nothing Ever Goes As Planned
The Best of Times
Lonely People
She Cares
Snowblind
Half-Penny, Two-Penny
A.D. 1958
State Street Sadie
Deluxe Vinyl Versions Of 5 Classic Amon Düül II Titles And The Long Awaited Release of Their First Album In 20 Years Will Leave You Simply Düülirious!
Los Angeles, CA – On April 29, Cleopatra Records will roll out a series of limited edition deluxe vinyl re-issues of 5 landmark albums by one of the most influential experimental rock bands of all time, iconic German underground music legends Amon Düül II! Each album has been meticulously put together with digitally remastered audio made specifically for these re-issues, 180 gram colored vinyl packaged in glue-on heavyweight chip board jackets, and sequentially numbered. The first 2 re-issues to appear will be the spectacular 1969 debut album Phallus Dei and the hugely influential 1972 classic Wolf City. The following month will see the release of the 1971 double LP Dance Of The Lemmings, followed in June by 2 more – 1973’s Vive La Trance and an extra special lenticular jacket printing of the group’s masterpiece, 1970’s double LP Yeti, which will be limited to just 500 copies.
As thrilling as these extraordinary releases are, what’s more exciting is the long awaited return of this iconic German outfit after a nearly 20-year absence from the music world with a new album, Düülirium! This stunning new album features 3 of the group’s founding members – guitarist John Weinzierl, guitarist/violinist Chris Karrer, and vocalist Renate Knaup – and will be simultaneously released on both CD and vinyl June 10.
“Amon Duul never used to present the same style on their albums,” explains guitarist John Weinzierl. “We like to develop our music into all kinds of directions and sometimes we don’t even know where it’s gonna lead us. We don’t follow a pattern only because it is successful. Since 2000 we’ve used lots of elements of world music, we had eastern influences, ethnological sounds, and of course we never forgot ‘sound painting’.” When asked if there was a concept behind this new album, Weinzierl expounded, “Avoiding industry music, heading for new frontiers.”
Düülirium will be available at all fine music stores, including iTunes, starting June 10.
Eric Clapton’s ‘Journeyman’ Album Feat. George Harrison, Chaka Khan, Daryl Hall, Robert Cray, Phil Collins and others Now Available On Hybrid SACD
“…one of the greatest rock/blues guitarists on the planet!”
Camarillo, CA – Much to the elation of Eric Clapton fans across the globe, Marshall Blonstein’s Audio Fidelity has released Clapton’s ‘Journeyman’ album as a limited numbered edition Hybrid SACD! Eric Clapton is a true legend. ‘Journeyman’ reached #16 on the Billboard album chart and became Clapton’s first solo studio album to go double platinum. Like any of his best albums, there is no grandstanding to be found on ‘Journeyman’…it’s simply a laid-back and thoroughly engaging display of his virtuosity. The album was heralded as a return to form for Clapton, much of it has an electronic sound, mostly influenced by the 1980s rock scene, but it also includes blues songs like “Before You Accuse Me,” “Running on Faith,” and “Hard Times.”
“At the center of it all is Clapton’s guitar work…stinging blues and soaring pop.”
There is an all-star assembly of guests: Dire Straits keyboardist Alan Clark, George Harrison, Chaka Khan, Daryl Hall, Robert Cray, Cecil and Linda Womack, Phil Collins and Gary Burton. Among the highlights are several cuts that feature slide-versus-slowhand guitar dueling with Cray. George Harrison is particularly impressive on his little masterpiece “Run So Far,” playing guitar and singing harmony vocals.
A couple of tracks rank among Clapton’s best from any decade.The strongest commercial single is “Bad Love,” which won the 1990 Best Male Rock Vocal Performance Grammy Award, and reached the No. 1 position on the Album Rock Chart. “Pretending” is a firm mid-tempo rocker that also reached the No. 1 position on the Album Rock Chart and and includes one of his most assured vocal performances ever.
Clapton sounds more convincing than he had since the early ’70s. Not only is his guitar playing muscular and forceful, his singing is soulful and gritty – he seems to have struck the perfect balance between the fiery blues of his youth with the pop flavorings of his later years.
TRACKS:
Pretending
Anything for Your Love
Bad Love
Running on Faith
Hard Times
Hound Dog
No Alibis
Run So Far
Old Love
Breaking Point
Lead Me On
Before You Accuse Me
Produced By Jill Dell’Abate & Russ Titelman
Mastered by Steve Hoffman
at Stephen Marsh Mastering
UK Punk Legends The Deviants Back Catalog Gets Reissued On Gonzo Multimedia
London, UK – Much to the excitement of punk rock fans around the globe, Gonzo Multimedia is reissuing the legendary Deviants back catalog. The Social Deviants were founded by singer/writer Mick Farren in 1967 out of the Ladbroke Grove UK Underground community, featuring Pete Munro on bass; Clive Muldoon on guitar, Mike Robinson on guitar and Russell Hunter on drums. The band shortened their name to The Deviants after Munro and Muldoon left and were replaced by Sid Bishop on guitar and Cord Rees on bass. With the financial backing of Nigel Samuel, the 21-year-old son of a millionaire, whom Farren had befriended, the group independently recorded their debut album ‘Ptooff!’, selling copies through the UK Underground press before it was picked up by Decca Records.
Rees left the band in June 1967 to be replaced by Farren’s flatmate Duncan Sanderson and the band released a second album ‘Disposable’ through the independent label Stable Records. When Bishop married and left the band, Farren recruited Canadian guitarist Paul Rudolph, at the suggestion of Jamie Mandelkau. This band recorded and released the album ‘The Deviants 3’ through Transatlantic Records.
During a tour of North America’s west coast the relationship between Farren and the musicians became personally and musically strained, and the band decided to continue without Farren, who returned to England where he teamed up with ex-Pretty Things drummer Twink and Steve Peregrin Took to record the album ‘Mona – The Carnivorous Circus’, an album interspersed with interviews with members of the UK Hells Angels, before concentrating on music journalism. The three remaining musicians – Rudolph, Sanderson and Hunter – returned to England, and teamed up with Twink to form the Pink Fairies.
In the mid-1970s, Farren was offered a one-off deal by Stiff Records to record an EP, ‘Screwed Up’, which was released under the name Mick Farren and the Deviants. The musicians on this record included Rudolph, former Pink Fairies/Motörhead guitarist Larry Wallis, former Warsaw Pakt guitarist Andy Colquhoun and former Hawkwind drummer Alan Powell. This band, without Rudolph, went on to record the album ‘Vampires Stole My Lunch Money’ and the non-album single “Broken Statue”, both credited to Mick Farren rather than The Deviants.
The Deviants – ‘Barbarian Princes Live In Japan 1999’:
At the end of the 1970s Farren again concentrated on his writing and relocated to New York. He would resurrect The Deviants name for occasional live performances, such as these shows recorded in Japan with long-time friend and collaborator Andy Colquhoun. (To be released on April 28, 2014)
Tracks:
Track Listing:
1. Aztec Calender
2. Eating Jello With A Heated Fork
3. Disgruntled Employee
4. It’s Alright Ma
5. God’s Worst Nightmare
6. Leader Hotel
7. Lennon Song
8. Thunder On The Mountain
9. Lurid Night
10. Dogpoet
The legendary Mick Farren, for nearly forty years their singer and guiding light has stated that The Deviants were originally a community band which “did things every now and then—it was a total assault thing with a great deal of inter-relation and interdependence”. Musically, Farren described their sound as “teeth-grinding, psychedelic rock” somewhere between The Stooges and The Mothers of Invention. The Deviants have been described as a transition between classic British psych and the punk/heavy metal aesthetic of the 1970s.
Andy Colquhoun, long-time Deviants guitarist explained, “It was recorded in LA. It was mostly recorded at some studio up in The Valley”. He went on to explain that there were actually two versions of the original album, and that the Gonzo release included two tracks that originally only appeared in Japan.
Tracks:
The Deviants – Dr. Crow
1. When Dr Crow Turns on the Radio
2. Strawberry Fields Forever
3. The Murdering Officer
4. Taste The Blue
5. Bela Lugosi 2002
6. You’re Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond
7. Diabolo’s Cadillac
8. Song of The Hired Guns
9. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
10. Sold To Babylon
11. A Long Dry Season
12. What Do You Want?
At the end of the 1970s, Mick Farren would resurrect The Deviants name for occasional live performances, such as in February 1984 when he teamed up with Wayne Kramer and Wallis’ band which featured Sanderson and drummer George Butler. This set was released as Human Garbage. In 2002, a new line-up of the band (featuring bassist Doug Lunn, drummer Rick Parnell and vocalist Michael Simmons) released ‘Dr. Crow’.
Farren then continued to perform and record sporadically under the name The Deviants, using a pool of musicians which include Colquhoun and former Blodwyn Pig saxophonist Jack Lancaster. ‘Eating Jello With A Heated Fork’ was released in 1996, credited to Deviants IXVI, followed by 2002’s ‘Dr Crow’. On June 25, 2011, after returning to live in the UK, Farren performed on the ‘Spirit of 71’ stage at Glastonbury Festival with ‘The Last Men Standing’. The band included Colquhoun and the Deviants’ late-1960s rhythm section of Sanderson and Hunter. During a rare performance by The Deviants at The Borderline in Central London on 27 July, 2013, Farren collapsed on stage. He died later in hospital.
This album was originally released in 1999. Critic Dave Thompson writes: “Half live, half-studio Left the Planet bristles with the highest octane intake of new Mick Farren songs in years – and anyone armed with the ‘Barbarian Princes’ live album will already know what that means. The bulk of the album was recorded with Farren’s Deviants lineup of guitarist/bassist Andy Colquhoin and former Motörhead drummer Phil Taylor – itself an aggregation to make your skin crawl. Four live tracks from sundry Terrastock and L.A. shows, however, add a shapeless shadow to any sense of well-being which familiarity might conjure up…the overall mood of the album remains fearful, foreboding, and absolutely poisonous, a kick in the small of the back to propel you into a world which restructures the sound of the rock revolution before the media middlemen tacked their percentage on top – and it proves that some things really can’t be bought or sold. Peace of mind is one of them.”
Tracks:
1: Aztec Calender
2: Gunfire in the Night
3. It’s Alright Ma (I’m only bleeding)
4. God’s Worst Nightmare
5. People are Afraid of Reality
6. Love Among the Zombies
7. Let’s Loot the Supermarket again Like we did Last Summer
8. Yellow Dog
9. Mick Farren has Left the Planet
10 Twilight of the Gods
11. Memphis Psychosis
International Prog Ensemble Sontaag To Release Epic Space Opera
In the grand tradition of high concept progressive rock comes an epic cross-media hybrid where cerebral science fiction meets visceral rock ‘n’ roll. Sontaag’s eponymous debut album has been described as ‘the space opera that Pink Floyd never wrote’, ‘a modern-day Tubular Bells’, ‘a prog-rock War Of The Worlds’, but no reference point or sound-bite nails its seamless combination of space rock, narrative spoken word, and evocative ambience quite as neatly as ‘sonic cinema’. Recorded in New York City and London, co-produced and mixed by Youth (Killing Joke, The Fireman) for Big Life Management, ‘Sontaag’ is a stunning and immersive listening experience. An evolutionary progression combining cutting edge sounds with classic dynamics, adapting the rock experience for today’s digital environment.
Arriving in a landscape where music, books and movies often co-exist on a single handheld device, ‘Sontaag’ represents a seamless fusion of the finest elements of all three.
Sontaag features Richard Sontaag (composition, instruments, concept, co-production) and Ian Fortnam (story, lyrics, voice, concept).
‘Sontaag’ is a cross-generic space rock grand opera: a transcontinental project fast-tracking contemporary music into a cinematic future by refusing to recognize boundaries geographic or stylistic. Imagine stratosphere-scraping Pink Floyd dynamism powered beyond the boundaries and constraints of gravity by the propulsive sonic energy of a visionary Youth production job; a Star Wars saga psychedelicized by the vivid ambient shades of an Orb sound palette.
Sontaag is evolving rock for the cybernautic age and the digital environment by adapting and applying audio-visual and spoken word elements holistically, progressively… super-sonically.
Voyage beyond trad-rock constraints, shame faux modernity with inclusive, multi-dimensional progression and embrace the ever-expanding horizons of cyber-sonic possibility.
Pucker up and kiss… the apocalypse.
SONTAAG: “Sontaag”
Esoteric Antenna EANTCD 1031
Released: 28th April 2014
1. Empyrean
2. The Great Harmodulator
3. Spaceshifter
4. Harmodulation
5. Minor Keys of Anguished Weeping
6. Serena Serenarum
7. Sorush
8. Interstellar Genocide
9. Chokuto
10. Glissandor
11. The Skull-Scraping Caterwaul
12. Aftershock
13. Memoria Tenere
NC Americana Music Artist Tokyo Rosenthal To Host Syndicated Radio Show
Chapel Hill, NC – Rock & Sock Records recording artist, Tokyo Rosenthal, has been selected to host a weekly, syndicated radio show featuring live performances by Americana singer-songwriters. The show, aptly titled “The Tokyo Rosenthal Program”, will be recorded “live to disc” beginning June 5th. Distribution of the program will be worldwide.
The show will emanate from The Pittsboro Roadhouse in Pittsboro, North Carolina before a live audience. Pittsboro is situated adjacent to “The Triangle” of North Carolina which includes Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh.
The format will have “Toke” as the performing host as well as weekly guests from all over the country. Rosenthal likes to say that the program will be akin to the old “Johnny Cash Show” on TV. “I will be opening the show with a couple of tunes before bringing on the guests,” said Rosenthal. “And before the evening is over I’m sure there will be some jamming as well. The highlight of Johnny’s show for me was when he played with Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and his other guests. We’re gonna have some fun like that and we’re going to keep it organic and not over produced.” Tokyo’s touring partner, Daniele Cagnotto, known the world over as Manguss, will be accompanying Toke as well as the guests on occasion.
The Pittsboro Roadhouse has been a major player in North Carolina music for a while and was a natural choice to host the area’s first syndicated radio show.”We’re pleased that Tokyo singled out the Pittsboro Roadhouse as the ideal venue for his new Americana music show,” said owner Greg Lewis. “We’ve been impressed with Tokyo since he first performed on our stage and are pleased that we can partner with him. The show fits right in with Pittsboro’s growth as an exciting center for both the visual arts and live music.”
Stations and networks are signing up now for the one hour weekly broadcast. Those already on board include WCHL (the show’s flagship station in Chapel Hill), CMR Nashville, Wrecking Ball Radio, and The Wildman Steve Network. Over the next several weeks Rosenthal and company will announce the affiliates as well as the weekly schedule of guests. Plans are also in the works for a video version of the show.
Tokyo Rosenthal is an award winning singer-songwriter from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His last album, “Tokyo’s Fifth”, placed high on all the Americana Charts, received critical acclaim, and earned him an honor in Ireland for the song, “Killaloe”. The video of the single, “What Did I Used To Be?’, went “mini viral”. Toke’s next studio release is scheduled for January 2015.
For more information on Tokyo Rosenthal or to become an affiliate or guest on The Tokyo Rosenthal Program please log on to http://www.tokyorosenthal.com
Blues Guitarist Eli Cook To Release New CD Featuring Guest Appearances by Leslie West, Pat Travers, Harvey Mandel, Artimus Pyle, Vinny Appice, Tinsley Ellis, Rod Piazza, Eric Gales and members of Gov’t Mule & Double Trouble
“Eli is on his way!” – Leslie West
Los Angeles, CA – Much to the anticipation of blues music aficionados worldwide, acclaimed blues guitarist Eli Cook will be releasing his new CD titled ‘Primitive Son’ on April 29, 2014 on Cleopatra Records. Making this eagerly awaited release even more exciting is the inclusion of legendary guest artists such as Leslie West of Mountain, Pat Travers, Artimus Pyle (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Harvey Mandel, Eric Gales, Reese Wynans of Double Trouble, Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Ronnie James Dio), Tinsley Ellis, Rod Piazza and Jorgon Carlson of Gov’t Mule! The legendary Son House (1902-1988) was known to say “Blues is a feelin’”. Eli Cook’s music expresses that same raw honesty in a unique blend of contemporary and old-school styles, creating an original sound at the fore-front of modern Blues and Rock.
Says Eli, “ ‘Primitive Son’ is a mix of modern and old-school blues with contemporary topics and an emphasis on lyricism and arrangement in an epic bar-rock format. With production and vibe, much of the material was constructed be a kind of ‘Exile on Main St’ with modern recording and songs, type-of-thing. There are a few more slick production pieces that we pushed in an almost cinematic direction for dramatic effect, and that comes from me being a film score nut. I like creating dynamic arrangements with limited instrumentation.”
“I have heard quite a few guitar players that are young and just starting out. When I was asked to play a track with Eli Cook I wanted to see if there was something there. Believe me when I tell you THERE IS SOMETHING THERE! I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did playing on it. Eli is on his way!” – Leslie West
Eli took up the guitar as a teenager in the Blue Ridge foothills of Virginia. Following the tradition of the great blues men, he performed in churches and late-night gospel revivals with only his acoustic and deep baritone voice, while playing every hole-in-the-wall bar that could handle his electric power trio. Blending the influences of John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Fred MacDowell, Bukka White and Lightning Hopkins with the likes of Clutch, Soundgarden, C.O.C, and Rage against the Machine, he forged a fresh sound, alive with the southern blues tradition.
Eli recorded and released his first two albums between 2004 and 2007: the all-acoustic, original-roots album ‘Miss Blues’ Child’ on the Sledgehammer Blues label, and a heavy blues-rock release ‘ElectricHolyFireWater’. During this time he was invited to open for B.B. King on King’s east coast tour. Since then, Eli has shared the stage with Johnny Winter, Robert Cray, Parliament-Funkadellic, Gary Clark JR, Roomful of Blues and many others. In 2008, Eli released his third self-produced album, ‘Static in the Blood’, a modern R&B/Rock crossover project featuring ornate experimental studio production. The follow up album, ‘Ace Jack & King’, a return to roots-blues and heavy guitars, received critical acclaim. The All Music Guide proclaimed that Eli could be “the best blues singer of his generation.”
In 2013, Eli signed with LA-based label Cleopatra Records to begin work on his 5th studio album, ‘Primitive Son’, featuring guest appearances by rock and blues legends! Now, much to the excitement of Eli’s fans worldwide, the wait is over!
Eli has been earning rave reviews from both critics and fellow blues musicians alike – Tinsley Ellis called him a “triple threat, obviously a great guitarist but also an emotive singer and an innovative songwriter. He’s in the vanguard of young, 21st century blues rockers!”
“I was honored to record for Eli’s new cd. The track is destined for stardom, as is Eli!” – Rod Piazza
Says Eli, “The label was instrumental in getting the guest stars on board, though they did have to approve of the material before agreeing to collaborate. It’s nice when people like Leslie West, Eric Gales and Tinsley Ellis dig your songs and get inspired to rock out on them!”
Watch Eli Cook’s promotional video:
Check out Eli’s upcoming shows:
May 9 Concerts on the Docks, Huntsville, Al
May 10 Slick Willy’s South, Belton, MO
May 11 Nathan P Murphy’s Blues Club, Springfield, MO
May 13 Greens & Blues, Boulder, CO
May 15 Silver Lake Lounge, Los Angeles, CA
May 16 Paladino’s, Tarzana, CA
May 17 Duel Brewing, Santa Fe, NM
May 18 BB’s Jazz, Blues, & Soups, St. Louis, MO
Eli Cook’s ‘Primitive Son’ iTunes pre-order link: http://georiot.co/EliCook – featuring the song “Revelator” available as an “instant gratification” track (meaning that it can be immediately downloaded by anyone who pre-orders the whole album).
Dutch Rock Legends FOCUS Release New Album ‘Golden Oldies’ On April 14, 2014
London, UK – Dutch rock legends Focus will be releasing their eagerly awaited new album on April 14, 2014. Titled ‘Golden Oldies’, the new release features re-recordings of classic Focus tracks, including “Hocus Pocus”, “Sylvia”, “House Of The King” and others. Focus has recently embarked on a world tour in support of their forthcoming album.
Thijs Van Leer explains, “Producing ‘Golden Oldies’ is tricky. Both the die hard Fans and the 2014 Focus-members were having doubts about this enterprise, because we didn’t know if the recent recordings would match the original material, notwithstanding the fact that we had so much fun in doing the session, quick, romantic, virtuoso, full of funny moments & profoundness; But… the final mix turns out to be fantastic and we all are proud to release this album at our earliest convenience!! Halleluya!!!”
With their unique brand of progressive rock, Focus manifested themselves at the start of the ’70s as the most successful and appreciated of all the Dutch pop-rock exports. Fronted by founding member Thijs Van Leer, and best known for their hits “Hocus Pocus”, “House of The King” and “Sylvia”, the iconic Dutch music masters are back with their new album, which is guaranteed to please their legions of fans!
After a comeback in the early 2000’s, the band has gone from strength to strength, with their last studio album ‘Focus X’ still receiving considerable support from music fans across multiple genres. Along with Thijs van Leer on vocals, flute and keyboards, back on the drums is beloved Focus drummer Pierre van der Linden, who joined the group on their second album ‘Moving Waves’ in 1972.
Internationally renowned for his rhythmic skills, Pierre remains a defining factor in the Focus sound. Bassist Bobby Jacobs, who comes from a well-acclaimed Dutch musical family and guitarist Menno Gootjes, who participated in Focus at an earlier stage, complete the band’s current line-up.
Most recently, the group’s 1972 worldwide hit “Hocus Pocus” was featured in the major motion picture ‘Robocop’ starring Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman and Michael Keaton.
Prog Duo Days Between Stations Release Limited Edition Vinyl Of Critically Acclaimed Album ‘In Extremis’
Los Angeles, CA – Much to the excitement of vinyl enthusiasts around the globe, prog duo Days Between Stations have released their critically acclaimed new album ‘In Extremis’ on a limited edition DBL LP!
Says guitarist Sepand Samzadeh, “We put a great deal of emphasis on creating a mood by way of sonic textures. The CD was mastered so that the listener could CRANK THE VOLUME ON THE STEREO. If you really want to hear THE COMPLEXITY OF ALL THE LAYERS AND SONIC TEXTURES, the vinyl record is the way to go.”
Possibly the most anticipated prog release of 2013, Days Between Stations’ sophomore album ‘In Extremis’ was released on May 15, 2013. Boasting an incredible guest line-up of music legends featuring Colin Moulding (XTC), Rick Wakeman (YES), Peter Banks (YES/Flash) Tony Levin (King Crimson/Peter Gabriel) and Billy Sherwood (YES/CIRCA:), Days Between Stations reached a new level of creative artistry on their second release.
Founded in 2003 by guitarist Sepand Samzadeh and keyboardist Oscar Fuentes, the duo named themselves after the cult novel by Steve Erickson and have devoted themselves to, as they say, Art Rock and Post Prog – music that reflects their varied influences, as well as shared disregard for stylistic boundaries. This eclecticism continues apace on ‘In Extremis’. At times the music recalls Peter Gabriel or ‘Duke’-era Genesis (as on the propulsive “Visionary”, which features Sherwood’s multi-layered vocals and Levin’s driving Stick bass work), or an ambient marriage between Pink Floyd and Lisa Gerrard and Debussy (“In Utero”), or even a cross between Ultravox and Marillion and ‘Abacab’-era Genesis (the Moulding-sung “The Man Who Dies Two Times”).
Here’s what the press has raved about ‘In Extremis’:
“The fact that Rick Wakeman, Tony Levin and Peter Banks help create this majestic piece of symphonic prog only made this a stronger contender for prog album of the year.” – Mark Johnson, Sea of Tranquility
“Indeed, Days Between Stations nestles an artsy approach into its repertoire, often contrasting the soloists’ tenacious yet purposeful excursions, and seeded by the leaders’ wide-ranging agenda.” – Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz
“But the late Yes founder (Peter Banks) is just the beginning of the dark-hued wonders to be found on this neo-prog triumph. Accessing an endlessly fascinating palette that also takes in ambient and classically inspired moments, Oscar Fuentes and Sepand Samzadeh brilliantly explore themes of life, and death, and everything in between.” – Nick Deriso, Something Else Reviews
“Here’s an album that deserves a place in everyone’s record collection. The superb artwork and quality of the booklet and packaging makes it a must-buy as opposed to (legal) download, for me at least. Support truly great musicians going out on a limb to bring you truly great, original progressive rock music as good as some of the classics.” – Brian Watson, DPRP
“Days Between Stations have really matured into a first class symphonic prog band with the music created on In Extremis. There are so many wonderful moments where the music takes flight and goes in completely unexpected directions. And that’s one of the things we’ve come to love about prog. In Extremis fulfills all musical expectations in that sense.” – Jerry Lucky
Eric Clapton 1985 Comeback Album ‘Behind The Sun’ Released on Hybrid SACD
“…another great recording…perhaps the most experimental of his career”
Camarillo, CA – Eric Clapton fans are buzzing with excitement over the release of his critically acclaimed 1985 comeback album ‘Behind The Sun’ on limited numbered edition Hybrid SACD on Marshall Blonstein’s Audio Fidelity! The musical climate had changed dramatically from the days Eric Clapton had topped the charts in the ’70s. ‘Behind The Sun’ is not his first album of the decade, but he obviously understood it was time to modernize his sound. After signing with Warner Brothers in 1983, Clapton bounced back on the music charts for the first time in five years, and solidified his return in 1985 with the instant success of ‘Behind The Sun’, his ninth album.
Backed with a line-up of stellar musicians and producers Lenny Waronker, Rod Templeman and Phil Collins, Clapton for the first time in years now had several songs that reached a wider audience, scoring Top 40 hits with “Forever Man” and “See What Love Can Do.” He didn’t abandon his old music, he just blended it more effectively and brought the flavor up to date by mastering the more electronic sound of ’80s radio.
This album also had a heavy soul flavor with a really well produced version of Eddie Floyd’s “Knock On Wood”, and Clapton remained true to the blues with a brilliant eight minute track, “Same Old Blues”, which contains some of his most electric playing of the era.
The sessions featured Toto guitarist Steve Lukather and former drummer Jeff Porcaro, as well as Clapton’s long-time collaborators, drummer Jamie Oldaker, bassist Nathan East and keyboardist Greg Phillinganes. Clapton’s voice had a rich new depth, like whiskey aged to perfection. The recording showcased blistering guitar solos, a high-octane R&B beat and a slick synthesizer-backed production that was well-suited for the pop-rock market – The Guitar God was now serenading to a new generation of admirers and fans alike.
“Back in the spotlight…this comeback album is an underrated classic – Don’t miss out on this gem!”
TRACKS
She’s Waiting
See What Love Can Do
Same Old Blues
Knock on Wood
Something’s Happening
Forever Man
It All Depends
Tangled in Love
Never Make You Cry
Just Like a Prisoner
Behind the Sun
Produced by: Eric Clapton, Phil Collins,
Ted Templeman, Lenny Waronker
Mastered by Steve Hoffman
at Stephen Marsh Mastering
Glass Onyon PR 