19-12-2021 FAVTRAX:MiX ~ 33 FAVOURiTE tracks 2002-2006 (2h 45m)

HAPPY WiTH WHAT YOU HAVE TO BE HAPPY WiTH FAVTRAX:MiX ~ 33 FAVOURiTE tracks 2002-2006 (2h 45m)  >>King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Radiohead, King Crimson, Steve Winwood, PJ Harvey, Califone, Cowboy Junkies, Adrian Belew, Ali Farka Touré, The Black Keys<<

 M U S I C  (2h 45m)

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2002-2006

If there is one group that embodies progressive rock, it is King Crimson. Led by guitar/Mellotron virtuoso Robert Fripp, during its first five years of existence the band stretched both the language and structure of rock into realms of jazz and classical music, all the while avoiding pop and psychedelic sensibilities. The absence of mainstream compromises and the lack of an overt sense of humor ultimately doomed the group to nothing more than a large cult following, but it made their albums some of the most enduring and respectable of the prog rock era...

King Crimson 

Happy With What You Have to Be Happy With (Adrian Belew / King Crimson) 3:54

Potato Pie 5:03

from Happy With What You Have to Be Happy With 2002

The relationship between this EP and King Crimson's Power to Believe (2003) long-player mirrors that of the six-track Vrooom (1994) sampler and subsequent full-length release Thrak (1994). The music perfectly contrasts the primarily instrumental and live Level Five (2001) EP by honing in on the latest lyrical contributions from Adrian Belew (guitar/vocals)... This slams headlong into the thrashing title track, which is not too far removed from the angst-ridden alternative metal from the likes of Therapy?, Tool, and Rammstein. In true Belew style, he incongruously twists the subject matter into a sonically aggressive backdrop, cleverly dissecting his craft as a singer/songwriter, exemplified in the lyrics: "And when I have some words/This is the way I'll sing/Through a distortion box/To make them menacing."... This is without a doubt one of the most lyrically poignant and musically refined tunes in the King Crimson repertoire, taking its rightful place alongside tracks such as "One Time" or "Frame by Frame." Belew's vocals hang ethereally over the languid, inspired instrumentation. "Potato Pie" is a moody and dark blues containing angular chord structures as well as some symbiotic fretwork from Fripp and Belew... 

As the leader of Genesis in the early '70s, Peter Gabriel helped move progressive rock to new levels of theatricality. He was no less ambitious as a solo artist, but he was more subtle in his methods. With his eponymous debut solo album in 1977, he explored dark, cerebral territory, incorporating avant-garde, electronic, and worldbeat influences into his music. The record, as well as its two similarly titled successors, established Gabriel as a critically acclaimed cult artist...

Peter Gabriel 

Darkness (Peter Gabriel) 5:51

Sky Blue (Peter Gabriel) 6:37

I Grieve (Peter Gabriel) 7:24

from Up 2002 

Ten years is a long time, especially in pop music, but waiting ten years to deliver an album is a clear sign that you're not all that interested in the pop game anyway. Such is the case with Peter Gabriel, who delivered Up in 2002, a decade after Us and four years after he announced its title. Perhaps appropriately, Up sounds like an album that was ten years in the making, revealing not just its pleasures but its intent very, very slowly... Really, there is no other choice for an artist as somber and ambitious as Gabriel to craft an album as dense as Up; those who have waited diligently for ten years would be disappointed with anything less and, frankly, they're the only audience that matters after a decade. And they're not likely to be disappointed, since this album grows stronger, revealing more with each listen. Initially, it seems to simply carry on the calmer, darker recesses of Us, but this is an uncompromising affair, which is to its advantage, since Gabriel delves deeper into darkness, grief, and meditation... But those serious fans who want to spend time with this will find that it does pay back many rewards.

Radiohead is an English alternative rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK which formed in 1985. The band is composed of Thom Yorke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, beats), Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboard, other instruments), Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals), Colin Greenwood (bass guitar) and Phil Selway (drums, percussion).

Radiohead 

2 + 2 = 5 (Radiohead) 3:19

Sail to the Moon (Radiohead) 4:18

There, There (Radiohead) 5:23

A Punchup at a Wedding (Radiohead) 4:57

from Hail to the Thief 2003 

Radiohead's admittedly assumed dilemma: how to push things forward using just the right amounts of the old and the older in order to please both sides of the divide? Taking advantage of their longest running time to date, enough space is provided to quench the thirsts of resolute Bends devotees without losing the adventurous drive or experimentation that eventually got the group into hot water with many of those same listeners. Guitars churn and chime and sound like guitars more often than not; drums are more likely to be played by a human; and discernible verses are more frequently trailed by discernible choruses... At nearly an hour in length, this album doesn't unleash the terse blow delivered by its two predecessors. However, despite the fact that it seems more like a bunch of songs on a disc rather than a singular body, its impact is substantial. Regardless of all the debates surrounding the group, Radiohead have entered a second decade of record-making with a surplus of momentum.

01-12-2021 FAVTRAX:MiX ~ 33 FAVOURiTE tracks 1998-2003 (2h 36m)

01-12-2021 FAVTRAX:MiX ~ 33 FAVOURiTE tracks 1998-2003 (2h 36m)  >>Portishead, Tindersticks, Sleater-Kinney, St. Germain, Eels, Sparklehorse, Air, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Radiohead<<

 M U S I C  (2h 36m)

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1998-2003

Portishead may not have invented trip-hop, but they were among the first to popularize it, particularly in America. Taking their cue from the slow, elastic beats that dominated Massive Attack's Blue Lines and adding elements of cool jazz, acid house, and soundtrack music, Portishead created an atmospheric, alluringly dark sound. The group wasn't as avant-garde as Tricky, nor as tied to dance traditions as Massive Attack; instead, it wrote evocative pseudo-cabaret pop songs that subverted their conventional structures with experimental productions and rhythms of trip-hop...

Portishead 

Humming (Geoff Barrow / Beth Gibbons / Adrian Utley) 6:34

Cowboys (Geoff Barrow / Beth Gibbons) 5:01

All Mine (Geoff Barrow / Beth Gibbons / Adrian Utley) 4:02

Mysterons (Geoff Barrow / Beth Gibbons / Adrian Utley) 5:42

from Roseland NYC Live 1998

By the end of the '90s, artists realized that CD and CD-R bootlegs of live performances were in high demand, which meant that they could profit by officially releasing certain "special" live performances. Portishead's one-night stand at New York City's Roseland Ballroom, released as PNYC, certainly qualifies as one of those "special" occasions. Performing with a 35-piece orchestra, Portishead runs through selections from its two albums, favoring its second slightly. On the surface, it doesn't seem like the orchestra would add much to the performances, especially since the arrangements remain similar, but its presence makes the music tense, dramatic, and breathtaking... 

Which means, of course, that PNYC is much more compelling and essential than the average live album.

Tindersticks were one of the most original and distinctive British acts of the '90s, standing apart from both the British indie scene and the rash of Brit-pop guitar combos that dominated the U.K. charts. Where their contemporaries were often direct and to the point, Tindersticks were obtuse and leisurely, crafting dense, difficult songs layered with literary lyrics, intertwining melodies, mumbling vocals, and gently melancholy orchestrations...

Tindersticks  

Can We Start Again? (Dickon Hinchliffe) 3:53

If You're Looking for a Way Out (Dickon Hinchliffe) 5:06

Pretty Words (Dickon Hinchliffe) 3:18

From the Inside (Tindersticks) 2:54

from Simple Pleasure 1999

With a title like Simple Pleasure and songs like the disarmingly up-tempo opener "Can We Start Again?," at first listen Tindersticks' fourth proper album seems buoyed by a guarded optimism totally absent from previous outings; dig deeper, however, and it's all a come-on -- frontman Stuart Staples still inhabits a netherworld where nothing is ever simple, pleasure is an illusion, and starting again merely means making the same mistakes yet one more time. Nothing truly changes, which has been Tindersticks' point all along, of course -- hopes are still meant to be dashed and hearts still meant to be broken, and Simple Pleasure is neither the time nor the place to begin pretending otherwise. Staples' songs remain the very essence of romantic despair, stunning in their funereal beauty and devastating in their tormented desperation...

Like many a great band, Sleater-Kinney inhabited their time so thoroughly it took an extended hiatus to realize the extent of their legacy. In many respects, they were the defining American indie rock band of the second half of the '90s, the group that harnessed all the upheaval of the alt-rock explosion of the first part of the decade and channeled it into a vigorous mission statement. It was not incidental that Sleater-Kinney were an all-female band -- prior to S-K, co-leaders Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein both started playing music in Northern Pacific riot grrrl bands and their feminism and queercore roots were deeply embedded in their rock & roll...

Sleater-Kinney 

Hot Rock 3:17

God Is a Number 3:43

A Quarter to Three 4:03

from The Hot Rock 1999

Expectations for Sleater-Kinney's fourth album were stratospheric, with the raging, tuneful feminist catharsis of Call the Doctor and Dig Me Out having garnered near-universal critical raves and outlandish media hype. Afraid of falling into a predictable rut, though, the band bravely pushed its range of expression into more personal, subdued, and cerebral territory on The Hot Rock. That means the record isn't quite as immediately satisfying as its two brilliant predecessors, but it does reward those willing to spend time absorbing its nervy introspection and moodiness. Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein push relentlessly for more complex interplay, both in their vocal and instrumental work; even the gentlest songs might break into unexpected dissonance or take an angular, off-kilter melodic direction... 

24-10-2014 FAVTRAX:MiX ~ 33 FAVOURiTE tracks 1995-1999 (2h 26m)

24-10-2014 FAVTRAX:MiX ~ 33 FAVOURiTE tracks 1995-1999  >>King Crimson, Monster Magnet, Beck, dEUS, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Mick Harvey, Portishead, Lauryn Hill, Tindersticks, Sleater-Kinney<<

 M U S I C  (2h 26m)

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1995-1999

Arguably the definitive exponents of British progressive rock, spurred on by Robert Fripp's innovative guitar work. If there is one group that embodies progressive rock, it is King Crimson. Led by guitar/Mellotron virtuoso Robert Fripp, during its first five years of existence the band stretched both the language and structure of rock into realms of jazz and classical music, all the while avoiding pop and psychedelic sensibilities...

King Crimson 

Dinosaur (Adrian Belew / Bill Bruford / King Crimson / Robert Fripp / Trey Gunn / Tony Levin / Pat Mastelotto) 6:37

Coda: Marine 475 (Adrian Belew / Bill Bruford / King Crimson / Robert Fripp / Trey Gunn / Tony Levin / Pat Mastelotto) 2:41

Walking on Air (Adrian Belew / Bill Bruford / King Crimson / Robert Fripp / Trey Gunn / Tony Levin / Pat Mastelotto) 4:38

from THRAK 1995

...King Crimson returned from a ten-year exile in 1995 with THRAK, their first album since 1984's Three of a Perfect Pair. As with the '80s band, guitarist/ringleader Robert Fripp recruited singer/guitarist Adrian Belew, bassist Tony Levin, and drummer Bill Bruford for this incarnation of his classic band. However, he added to this familiar quartet two new members: Chapman Stick player Trey Gunn and ex-Mr. Mister drummer Pat Mastelotto. Effectively, Fripp created a "double trio," and the six musicians combine their instruments in extremely unique ways. The mix is very dense, overpoweringly so at times, but careful listens will reveal that each musician has his own place in each song; the denseness of the sound is by design, not the accidental result of too many cooks in the kitchen... King Crimson came back in a major way with THRAK, and proved that, even in its fourth major incarnation, Fripp and company still had something to say. High-quality prog.

New Jersey retro-rockers who delivered sludgy, drug-fueled, and feedback-heavy hard rock from their debut in the late '80s. Retro-rock visionaries Monster Magnet spent much of the 1990s struggling against the prejudices imposed upon image and sound by the alternative rock elite...

Monster Magnet 

Dopes to Infinity (Dave Wyndorf) 5:44

Look to Your Orb for the Warning (Dave Wyndorf) 6:32

Ego, the Living Planet (Dave Wyndorf) 5:07

from Dopes to Infinity 1995

Expecting Monster Magnet to change from art-sludge-psych monsters into sweet cuddlebunnies from album to album clearly demonstrates a loss of reason. Wyndorf himself doesn't need to worry about losing his reason in particular, given how psychotically entertaining his band already is, and Dopes to Infinity is about as far apart from Superjudge as the original Siamese twins were to each other. Maybe "Dopeheads to Infinity" would have been the better title, but as the title track fires up into another rampage of excessively flanged guitar, storming lead riff, and steady drum stomp, all criticisms get left behind along with any sort of sanity. Wyndorf's singing is a touch crisper in the mix this time out, while the guitar playing is even more powerfully direct and epic amidst all the space-out swirl and rockets to the moon. ..

One of the most inventive, eclectic figures of the alternative era, the epitome of post-modern chic in an era obsessed with junk culture. Initially pegged as the voice of a generation when "Loser" turned into a smash crossover success, Beck wound up crystallizing much of the postmodern ruckus inherent in the '90s alternative explosion, but in unexpected ways. Based in the underground anti-folk and noise rock worlds, Beck encompassed all manner of modern music, drawing on hip-hop, blues, trash rock, pop, soul, lounge music -- pretty much any found sound or vinyl dug up from a dusty crate -- blurring boundaries and encapsulating how '90s hipsters looked toward the future by foraging through the past...

Beck

Devils Haircut (Beck / James Brown / Phil Coulter / John King / Bernard Purdie / Thomas Scott / Mike Simpson) 3:14

Hotwax (Beck / Alexandra Brown / George Douglas / Monk Higgins / John King / Horace Ott / Bernard Purdie / Mike Simpson) 3:49

Lord Only Knows (Beck / Mike Millius / Don Thomas) 4:15

from Odelay 1996

Unlike Stereopathetic Soul Manure and One Foot in the Grave, the indie albums that followed his debut Mellow Gold by a mere matter of months, Odelay was a full-fledged, full-bodied album, released on a major label in the summer of 1996 and bearing an intricate, meticulous production by the Dust Brothers in their first gig since the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique... Like Mellow Gold, Odelay winds up touching on a number of disparate strands -- folk and country, grungy garage rock, stiff-boned electro, louche exotica, old-school rap, touches of noise rock -- but there's no break-neck snap between sensibilities, everything flows smoothly, the dense sounds suggesting that the songs are a bit more complicated than they actually are... Like a mosaic, all the details add up to a picture greater than its parts, so while some of Beck's best songs are here, Odelay is best appreciated as a recorded whole, with each layered sample enhancing the allusion that came before.

27-08-2021 FAVTRAX:MiX ~ 33 FAVOURiTE tracks 1991-1996 (2h 49m)

27-08-2021 FAVTRAX:MiX ~ 33 FAVOURiTE tracks 1991-1996  >>Massive Attack, Gong, Peter Gabriel, Medeski Martin & Wood, Anekdoten, Helmet, Grant Lee Buffalo, King Crimson, Monster Magnet, Beck<<

 M U S I C  (2h 49m)

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1991-1996

Bristol collective whose combination of dark rhythms, reverb-laden guitars, and atmospheric samples helped pioneer the sound of trip-hop.

Massive Attack 

Daydreaming  (W. Badarou / Robert del Naja) 4:14

Be Thankful for What You've Got 4:09

Five Man Army (Robert del Naja) 6:04

Unfinished Sympathy  (Robert del Naja) 5:08

from Blue Lines 1991

The first masterpiece of what was only termed trip-hop much later, Blue Lines filtered American hip-hop through the lens of British club culture, a stylish, nocturnal sense of scene that encompassed music from rare groove to dub to dance. The album balances dark, diva-led club jams along the lines of Soul II Soul with some of the best British rap (vocals and production) heard up to that point, occasionally on the same track... Flaunting both their range and their tremendously evocative productions, Massive Attack recorded one of the best dance albums of all time.

Anarchic, experimental, and whimsical ensemble originally led by guitarist Daevid Allen, a founding member of the Soft Machine.

Gong 

Shapeshifter (Daevid Allen / Didier Malherbe) 4:43

Hymnalayas (Daevid Allen / Keith Bailey) 7:38

Dog-O-Matic (Shyamal "Banana Ananda" Maitra) 3:00

from Shapeshifter 1992

For their first album of new material in over 20 years, the real Gong (i.e., one led by Daevid Allen and containing a number of players from the classic '60s-'70s period) offer -- well, much of what made them so popular in the first place. There's an impish sense of humor to the lyrics, Gilli Smyth's deeply echoing space whisper, stunning sax and flute work from the criminally underrated Didier Malherbe, and plenty of trademark glissando guitar from Allen himself. Goddesses are invoked, gnomes are mentioned, and rhubarb is eaten, among many other things. Guitarist Steffi Sharpstrings fills what was Steve Hillage's role with plenty of post-punk energy, but really it all revolves around Allen's personality and some stunning music. Time's been kind to Gong. Their pioneering space rock ways found a home with the ambient crowd and their music shows they've listened to what's gone on and incorporated it into their sonic journey, which is part prog rock, part jazz, and part just out there...

Daevid Allen

Theatrical leader of '70s-era Genesis and a bona fide pop star by the '80s despite his experimental, often exotic, material. As the leader of Genesis in the early '70s, Peter Gabriel helped move progressive rock to new levels of theatricality. He was no less ambitious as a solo artist, but he was more subtle in his methods. With his eponymous debut solo album in 1977, he explored dark, cerebral territory, incorporating avant-garde, electronic, and worldbeat influences into his music.
Peter Gabriel 

Come Talk to Me (Peter Gabriel) 7:05

Only Us (Peter Gabriel) 6:32

Digging in the Dirt (Peter Gabriel) 5:18

Kiss That Frog (Peter Gabriel) 5:19

from Us 1992

Six years after earning his first blockbuster, Peter Gabriel finally delivered Us, his sequel to So. Clearly, that great span of time indicates that Gabriel was obsessive in crafting the album, and Us bears the sound of endless hours in the studio... Since the music is so muted, it's no surprise that the album failed to capture a mass audience the way So did, but it's foolish to expect anyone but serious fans to unravel an album this deliberate. Gabriel is as adventurous as ever, yet he is relentlessly sober about his experiments, burying exotic sounds and percussion underneath crawling tempos measured atmospherics -- this is tastefully two-toned music, assembled by a consummate craftsman who became too immersed in detail to make anything but an insular, introspective work... But it takes a lot of spins and patience to get to that point, since this is an album he made for himself, and only those dedicated to the artist will have the patience to decode it.

13-052021 FAVTRAX:MiX ~ 33 FAVOURiTE tracks 1979-1984 (2h 37m)

13-052021 FAVTRAX:MiX ~ 33 FAVOURiTE tracks 1979-1984  >>The Police, Embryo, Alvin Lee, Jean-Luc Ponty, Frank Zappa, Robin Trower, Jack Bruce, King Crimson, R.E.M, David Bowie, The Honeydrippers, Julian Cope<<

 M U S I C  (2h 37m)

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1979-1984

British rock trio with an innovative rock/reggae fusion, superb songwriting, and crossover appeal that shot them straight to international stardom.

The Police 

Message in a Bottle  (Sting)

Reggatta de Blanc (Stewart Copeland / The Police / Sting / Andy Summers)

It's Alright for You (Stewart Copeland / Sting)

from Reggatta de Blanc 1979

By 1979's Reggatta de Blanc (translation: White Reggae), nonstop touring had sharpened the Police's original blend of reggae-rock to perfection, resulting in breakthrough success. .. Whereas their debut got its point across with raw, energetic performances, Reggatta de Blanc was much more polished production-wise and fully developed from a songwriting standpoint... With Reggatta de Blanc, many picked Sting and company to be the superstar band of the '80s, and the Police would prove them correct on the band's next release.

German band mixed Krautrock with an eclectic world beat over a career spanning decades. One of the most original and innovative Krautrock bands, Embryo fused traditional ethnic music with their own jazzy space rock style. Over an existence spanning decades, during which Christian Burchard became the only consistent member, the group traveled the world, playing with hundreds of different musicians and releasing over 20 records.

Embryo 

Strasse nach Asien

Kurdistan

Far East

from Embryo's Reise 1979

"Reise" is the German word for "Travel", and that's exactly what the album has to offer here: a genuine musical journey... to the East. After the band's average jazz/rock/world releases during the second half of the 70's (last good album being 1973's "We Keep On"), EMBRYO's leader Christian Burchard decided to save his baby and brought with him the other members for a long trip, from Middle-East to India. During their journey, they met various local musicians, played jam sessions and recorded tracks in their company...

British blues-rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist who found success fronting Ten Years After before launching a lengthy solo career.

Alvin Lee  

Stealin' (Steve Goulding)

Ridin' Truckin' (Alvin Lee)

No More Lonely Nights (Steve Goulding / Alvin Lee)

from Free Fall 1980

...This band probably should have been called the Lee/Gould band, as former Rare Bird vocalist Steve Gould has at least as much to do with the sound of the band on those first few tracks. About four cuts into Freefall, Lee seems to wake up, and he turns in some really tasty guitar and a nice, energetic vocal on "Stealin'." There are even a few whoops and shrieks thrown in, and that's OK, because the song deserves it. So does "Ridin' Truckin'"... 

17-12-2020 FAVTRAX:MiX ~ 33 FAVOURiTE tracks 1972-1977

17-12-2020 FAVTRAX:MiX ~ 33 FAVOURiTE tracks 1972-1977  >>Chick Corea, King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Gentle Giant, Mikael Ramel, Grateful Dead, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Pat Metheny, Talking Heads, The Clash<<

  M U S I C

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1972-1977

Talented pianist who has a wide palate of influences but was highly important in early fusion and jazz-rock. A masterful jazz pianist, Chick Corea is a celebrated performer whose influential albums have found him exploring harmonically adventurous post-bop, electric fusion, Latin traditions, and classical.

Chick Corea 

Return to Forever (Chick Corea)

What Game Shall We Play Today? (Chick Corea / Neville Potter)

from Return to Forever 1972

The legendary first lineup of Chick Corea's fusion band Return to Forever debuted on this classic album (titled after the group but credited to Corea), featuring Joe Farrell on soprano sax and flute, the Brazilian team of vocalist Flora Purim and drummer/percussionist Airto Moreira, and electric bass whiz Stanley Clarke. It wasn't actually released in the U.S. until 1975, which was why the group's second album, Light as a Feather, initially made the Return to Forever name. Nonetheless, Return to Forever is every bit as classic, using a similar blend of spacy electric-piano fusion and Brazilian and Latin rhythms. It's all very warm, light, and airy, like a soft breeze on a tropical beach...

Arguably the definitive exponents of British progressive rock, spurred on by Robert Fripp's innovative guitar work. If there is one group that embodies progressive rock, it is King Crimson. Led by guitar/Mellotron virtuoso Robert Fripp, during its first five years of existence the band stretched both the language and structure of rock into realms of jazz and classical music, all the while avoiding pop and psychedelic sensibilities. The absence of mainstream compromises and the lack of an overt sense of humor ultimately doomed the group to nothing more than a large cult following, but made their albums among the most enduring and respectable of the prog rock era.

King Crimson 

Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Pt. 1 (Bill Bruford / David Cross / Robert Fripp / Jamie Muir / John Wetton)

Book of Saturday (Robert Fripp / Richard Palmer-James / John Wetton)

Exiles (David Cross / Robert Fripp / Richard Palmer-James)

from Larks' Tongues In Aspic 1973

King Crimson reborn yet again -- the then-newly configured band makes its debut with a violin (courtesy of David Cross) sharing center stage with Robert Fripp's guitars and his Mellotron, which is pushed into the background. The music is the most experimental of Fripp's career up to this time -- though some of it actually dated (in embryonic form) back to the tail-end of the Boz Burrell-Ian Wallace-Mel Collins lineup. And John Wetton was the group's strongest singer/bassist since Greg Lake's departure three years earlier. What's more, this lineup quickly established itself as a powerful performing unit, working in a more purely experimental, less jazz-oriented vein than its immediate predecessor. "Outer Limits music" was how one reviewer referred to it, mixing Cross' demonic fiddling with shrieking electronics, Bill Bruford's astounding dexterity at the drum kit, Jamie Muir's melodic and usually understated percussion, Wetton's thundering yet melodic bass, and Fripp's guitar, which generated sounds ranging from traditional classical and soft pop-jazz licks to hair-curling electric flourishes.

Led by guitarist John McLaughlin, a band whose sophisticated improvisations and high-powered music helped pioneer the jazz-rock fusion of the '70s. One of the premiere fusion groups, the Mahavishnu Orchestra were considered by most observers during their prime to be a rock band, but their sophisticated improvisations actually put their high-powered music between rock and jazz. Founder and leader John McLaughlin had recently played with Miles Davis and Tony Williams' Lifetime. 

Mahavishnu Orchestra 

Birds of Fire (John McLaughlin)

Miles Beyond (John McLaughlin)

from Birds Of Fire 1973

Emboldened by the popularity of Inner Mounting Flame among rock audiences, the first Mahavishnu Orchestra set out to further define and refine its blistering jazz-rock direction in its second -- and, no thanks to internal feuding, last -- studio album. Although it has much of the screaming rock energy and sometimes exaggerated competitive frenzy of its predecessor, Birds of Fire is audibly more varied in texture, even more tightly organized, and thankfully more musical in content. A remarkable example of precisely choreographed, high-speed solo trading -- with John McLaughlin, Jerry Goodman, and Jan Hammer all of one mind, supported by Billy Cobham's machine-gun drumming and Rick Laird's dancing bass -- can be heard on the aptly named "One Word," and the title track is a defining moment of the group's nearly atonal fury...

Acclaimed British progressive rock band noted for their meld of hard rock with classical music and medieval approach to singing. Formed at the dawn of the progressive rock era in 1969, Gentle Giant seemed poised for a time in the mid-'70s to break out of its cult-band status... Somewhat closer in spirit to Yes and King Crimson than to Emerson, Lake & Palmer or the Nice, their unique sound melded hard rock and classical music, with an almost medieval approach to singing.

Gentle Giant 

Playing the Game (Kerry Minnear / Derek Shulman / Ray Shulman)

Cogs in Cogs (Kerry Minnear / Derek Shulman / Ray Shulman)

No God's a Man (Kerry Minnear / Derek Shulman / Ray Shulman)

from The Power And The Glory 1974

...When asked where he thinks ‘The Power and the Glory’ sits in the catalog of 11 albums Gentle Giant released in their 10-year existence, Derek pets his beard with the back of his hand, gazes out a second and says, "I think it’s part of the culmination of what Gentle Giant had become. A band has to go through the same processes as a person. A band is born, has a childhood and then goes into adulthood. I think we became an adult on ‘The Power and the Glory’. It was Gentle Giant becoming adults and the culmination of the best of our musicianship coming together as a band; it was a golden period for the band. Not to say any period before or after was better or worse, but it was a good period in being creative musically while gaining fan acceptance."...