In the recesses of my chrome and iron 80s heart, I have endless affection for early Fates Warning albums like The Specter Within and Awaken the Guardian. They just don’t make classy, traditional metal like that anymore and I wish more retro noodle heads would turn their gaze back to that golden era of metal and give it a go.

This set, made in 2007, is the last studio recording Joe Zawinul worked on before his death. It places the great Austrian pianist/composer in front of a mixed-genre chamber orchestra led by young Estonian classical conductor Kristjan Jarvi, and concentrates on the music of Zawinul's later years with his Syndicate, rather than the more famous two-decade reign of Weather Report. The dressing of jazz, improv or fusion ideas in classical music's graceful robes often does few favours to any of the contributing genres, but this is an exception: sustaining the Syndicate's headlong energies while enhancing passing melodic ideas that the erudite Zawinul would sometimes casually toss out.

Fans of Kristjan Jarvi’s Absolute Ensemble and their previous recordings Absolute Zawinul and Absolution will get the chance to wallow in the splendid sounds of Arabian Nights Live at Town Hall NYC come August 10th. Set for release on the Enja Records label, Arabian Nights is a sumptuous, exotic fusion where classical, jazz, world and Middle Eastern music meet in a kaleidoscopic melange of pure goodness. The Absolute Arabian Nights Project flowered out of a post-September 11th memorial concert performed as part Musikfest Bremen in Bremen, Germany. UNESCO Artist for Peace and musician Marcel Khalife, musician Bassam Saba, composer and musician Dhafer Youssef and composer and musician Daniel Schnyder teamed up with Krisjan Jarvi and the Absolute Ensemble to create “an honest, apolitical statement of peace and unity in the music world” with the Absolute Arabian Nights Project. The project grew to fruition in 2007 with a performance at New York City’s Town Hall as part of the Not Just Jazz Series.

Recorded live at Stage College, Towson, Maryland on October 16th, 1979.

Distant satellites is the culmination of everything Anathema been working up to so far in our musical path. It contains almost every conceivable element of the heartbeat of Anathema music that it is possible to have. There is beauty, intensity, drama, quietude, and extra musical dimensions that the band have previously only hinted at. All built on the song writing chemistry of Daniel, John and Vincent - and the haunting voice of Lee Douglas.