The second and final of the 'second wave' line-up of 5uus (basically Dave Kerman, Bob Drake and Sanjay Kumar + guests). This is considered by many people to be their best period and I would probably agree.

"Second installment from monster band 5UU's, featuring rock complexity, extraordinary production (by bassist and singer Bob Drake) and high energy precision mixed with eccentric song-writing. People that work this hard are becoming an endangered species. Extraordinary."-Chris Cutler

"At this point it is pretty secure to say that A.C.T had established their own personal way to express their ideas.Their QUEEN-meet-ABBA-meet-DREAM THEATER style is fairly grounded on extremely dense and technical musicianship, which surprisingly contains numerous incredible, striking melodies. Elements of Classical Music, Heavy Metal, Rock Opera and cheesy Pop are combined with generosity and intelligence with most of the tracks being pretty short, but sometimes they are tightly connected to form...

This is a collection of most of the 1984 album “Glass Tube”, which was After Dinner’s first album + some other stuff, plus 30’ of live material by this Japanese new music rock band, who predated the current huge interest in all things "Japan".
Characterized by leader Haco's vocals, this is subtly detailed, almost pastel, progressive Japanese music; they don’t sound like ANYBODY else!

“Can't say I've heard anything quite like this. Truly awesome in its presentation, it's hard not to want to...

This is another famous rarity and it happens to also be a very very nice folk/psych album.

“This is what I want from my psychedelic folk, dreamy fey hippie strumming music. It's great at that. Though, I gotta say a good half of it, is more '60s vocal pop than folky...It's real stars in your eyes niave hippie, which i love. It also really reminds me of folk rock like Lyme and Cybelle, that early Warren Zevon project.
Look if you like Fairport Convention, I'd stay away. IF you want Donovan...

“No, it's not rock, or jazz, blues or funk, or classical. It's...all of them...sort of. I first bought this album in 1976, without having heard a note or read anything about it. I mean, if Jan Akkerman composed and played on it, why would I hesitate? Right? On first listen, I didn't quite know what to make of it. It felt like had just watched some foreign film with a plot that was obviously deeper than what appeared on the surface. The performances were superb and nothing struck me as being predictable....

This is a high-quality pirate edition of two never-reissued, very obscure Krautrock rarities, with ties to Can.

"His first two LPs from 1974 and 1976 on one CD, complete and with all original jacket artwork and lyrics. Now performs as Alex...

"This compact disc contains the full version of the 'Death Of Rock' EP, issued on Shangai Records in 1982. The other four tracks are all previously unreleased material."

"A charming poetic hodgepodge this, allowing the Gong shaman Daevid Allen...

"Geri Allen's earlier 2006 album, Zodiac Suite: Revisited, a fine effort recorded under the banner of the Mary Lou Williams Collective, celebrated the legendary pianist by rescuing one of her major works from obscurity. On Timeless Portraits and Dreams Allen widens her scope, as she is wont to do, to bridge jazz, spirituals, and classical music. She performs lyrical solo pieces and jazz classics, demonstrates the art of the trio with Miles Davis alumni Ron Carter and Jimmy Cobb, backs the exceptional...

''Imagine a classical composer writing a gothic symphony for a multi-faceted electronic musician, who in concert was aided by Mayan musicians, a haunting, often operatic singer, & a psychic intermittently channeling the spirits of the dead - that pretty much sums up this fascinating album.''- Goldmine.

“Atmospheric, evolving, intricate and layered; a suite of fine compositions and carefully crafted sounds. Consistent creation of another place, another time.”

"Laurie Anderson's third proper studio album, coming over five years after 1984's Mister Heartbreak (1986's Home of the Brave was a film soundtrack), is a near-total departure from anything she had done before or, indeed, anything she did after...

"Known best as an experimental guitarist, with his ‘‘Giant’ Sardinian guitar – which has a large mechanical claw stuck to the side of its body (to pluck counter melodies), piano-like hammers operated by pedals (to strike the strings), extra strings crossing the main strings at right angles with yet another set of sitar strings mounted on the body, a rope, a viola bridge - which holds yet more strings - and thirteen pickups and microphones which can separately amplify all the elements, sending them to...

"This disc will play in stereo on a CD player and with film and 5.1 surround sound (or stereo) on a DVD player or computer. The music, as always, is prodigious, sounding like a small band, but played by one person in real time (as the film attests). In this format, you can also see the instrument close-to - a highly rebuilt and extended giant Sardinian guitar - with many sympathetic and extra strings, motor driven hurdy gurdy wheels, whirling strings, springs and other appendages, played, like a cello...

“Nice digital transfer of 24 tracks of early Animals stuff in pristine mono, which is how most of the early sixties stuff was mixed (stereo was an afterthought) and why the sound is so direct and clean. Some of the covers overlap with early Stones material (Talkin' "Bout You, Around and Around, etc.).
For anybody who wants a proper rock'n'roll education this is a good reminder of the environment that spawned later bands like like Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy. The Yardbirds were great but so were the..

This is a high-quality pirate edition of this never-reissued, very obscure Krautrock rarity.

"From 1971. A very strange 'paycheck' project for Conny Plank and Achim Reichel's Gorilla Musik production company. Wonderland-esque German rock with...

"...Reflektor, the Montreal collective's much anticipated fourth long-player and first double-album, moves the group even further from pop culture sanctification with a seismic yet impenetrable 13-track set (at 75 minutes it’s one minute over standard single disc capacity) that guts the building but leaves the roof intact. Going big was never going to be a problem, especially for a band so well-versed in the art of anthem husbandry, and they're still capable of shaking the rafters, as evidenced by the..

The 4th album from the band that I consider to be possibly the finest Italian progressive rock band of the 1970's, & certainly a band in the top tier of all early 1970's progressive bands worldwide! Area combined jazz/rock/stolen ethnic music (mostly from Eastern Europe and the Middle East)/the avant garde and more. Superb playing from all (vocals/organ, guitar, electric piano/synths, bass & drums).
While everyone shines, the vocalist, the late Demetrio Stratos is rightly one of the legends of...

This is uproarious Bulgarian wedding band music, ala Ivo Papposav, performed by Yasko & his crack outfit of alto sax, accordion, keyboards & drums.
If you've never heard Bulgarian wedding music, at its best, it sounds like polkas in insane, always changing time signatures, performed at speed-core tempo. This stuff simply must be heard to be believed! Terrific fun and unconditionally recommended.


''Yasko Argirov, master of clarinet, is a living legend in Bulgaria, but his fame, because...

"Formed 2005 when husband / wife folk duo of Tim and Julie Cole began recording with longtime friend and maverick experimental electronic composer Martin Archer, working with lyrics provided by Keith Jafrate. Work on the band's album has taken over...

Dagmar Krause-vocals
Chris Cutler-drums, electronics
Fred Frith-guitars, keyboards, violin, etc.
This was the 2nd and possibly most successful of the three albums by this immediate offshoot of Henry Cow, as it was recorded AS an Art Bears album (their 1st had been recorded as a Henry Cow album, but half the band objected, so it came out as being by Art Bears).
It’s also their best known album as it was released in the States by The Residents' Ralph label, in the early 80's and at the

“Astral Navigations" is seriously underrated cornerstone album of vintage (1971) psychedelia and acid folk (although this definition is vague, silly and not sufficient).
This album features 2 different bands - "Lightyears Away" (melodic acid folk) and hard rocking "Thundermother". Both bands and this particular album emerged from Musics From Holyground.
Astral Navigations" was a brainchild of larger than life Mike Levon, who produced, recorded and released all albums, and who composed many songs..

One of the greatest and certainly most fun releases of the US new wave scene of the late 70s. This was their first album and everything is in place; the Mosrite surf guitar sound, the rock-solid beat, the chirpy female vocals and Fred's deadpan delivery. Solid as a rock and ten times as much fun!

"Even in the weird, quirky world of new wave and post-punk in the late '70s, the B-52's' eponymous debut stood out as an original. Unabashed kitsch mavens at a time when their peers were either vulgar...

New, digi-pack issue made from the tapes, of this well known group's debut album that isn't the one they are famous for, but is still a good one, for what it is.

"That is a plain warning for everyone out there that this 1970 debut by...

"This classic album was first released in June 1983 by Charisma Records and four months prior to the release of the album "Genesis" and began life as a series of home demos and was completed at Genesis' The Farm studio.
"The Fugitive" featured contributions from Daryl Stuermer on guitars, Mo Foster on bass and drummers Steve Gadd, Tony Beard and Andy Duncan and for the first time Tony Banks sang lead vocals on all of the songs.
"The Fugitive" spawned the singles 'This is Love' and ...

“The second installment of Antal Zalai's complete Bartók violin edition centers on the monumental Sonata for Solo Violin. The work is a landmark of the 20th century where contrapuntal and fugal writing, folkloristic elements, and the unique harmonic and rhythmic language of Bartók fuse into a work of intense expression. The 44 Duos for Two Violins serve as a foil for the Sonata, performed with wit, irony, and folksy color by Zalai and Valery Oistrakh.”

"Battiato's music can jump from neo classical to Italian progressive rock (somewhere between Sensations Fix and Le Orme) to space rock like Gong and on to bizarre tape collages with narration. It all adds up to a fascinating and innovative album with more humanity than you'd expect from this type of experimentation."-Expose/Mike McLatchey.

For me, this is one of his best.