Hollie and Keith Kenniff, the husband and wife team of Mint Julep, have been hard at work individually over the last few years. Hollie's solo album, The Gathering Dawn, was released last year, and Keith has been busy with his two side projects, Helios and Goldmund. The work Hollie and Keith do individually usually veers toward more ambient, experimental styles, but Mint Julep has always been more of an accessible synthpop act. So it's no surprise that Stray Fantasies, their first album since 2016's Broken Devotion, is a full-fledged return to the retro-leaning, low-key indie dance rhythms of their previous work.

Tubular Bells is the debut studio album by English multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 25 May 1973 as the first album on Virgin Records. Oldfield, who was 19 years old when it was recorded, played almost all the instruments on the mostly instrumental album.
The album initially sold slowly, but gained worldwide attention in December 1973 when its opening theme was used for the soundtrack to the horror film The Exorcist (1973). This led to a surge in sales which increased Oldfield's profile and played an important part in the growth of the Virgin Group. It stayed in the top ten of the UK Albums Chart for one year from March 1974, during which it reached number one for one week. It peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200, and reached the top position in Canada and Australia. The album has sold over 2.7 million copies in the UK and an estimated 15 million worldwide.

QE2 is the sixth studio album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1980 on Virgin Records. The album was named after the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2.
The album contained both original Oldfield compositions as well as two cover version of pieces recorded by other bands ("Arrival" by ABBA and "Wonderful Land" by The Shadows).
Though only reaching number twelve on the German album charts, the album became the best-selling album of 1981 in Germany.

Работа над альбомом велась в период с апреля по ноябрь 1982 года на студии Westlake Recording Studios в Лос-Анджелесе. Продюсированием занимались Куинси Джонс и сам Джексон. Всего в альбоме девять треков, четыре из них были написаны самим певцом. Все семь синглов, выпущенных из Thriller, попали в топ-10 чарта Billboard Hot 100. На три из них были сняты музыкальные видеоклипы. Эта пластинка позволила Джексону сломать расовые барьеры в поп-музыке: видео на песни «Thriller», «Billie Jean» и «Beat It» попали в регулярную ротацию на MTV. Альбом был одним из первых, использующих музыкальные видео в качестве успешного инструмента продвижения. Всего за год Thriller стал самым продаваемым альбомом всех времён и остаётся таковым до сих пор.

Crises is the eighth studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 27 May 1983 on Virgin Records. It marked the continuation of Oldfield's change in musical direction that had started with his previous album Five Miles Out (1982), signified by more commercial and straightforward rock and pop songs. The album contains the hit singles "Moonlight Shadow" featuring Maggie Reilly on lead vocals and "Shadow on the Wall", sung by Roger Chapman. Oldfield supported the album with the Crises Tour across Europe in 1983 that featured most of the musicians that played on the album.

Thriller — шестой студийный альбом американского музыканта Майкла Джексона. Выпущен на лейблe Epic Records 30 ноября 1982 года, через три года после выхода предыдущего коммерчески успешного и положительно принятого критиками альбома Джексона Off the Wall. Thriller записан в таких жанрах, как поп, рок, постдиско, ритм-н-блюз и фанк.

HIStory: Past, Present and Future Book I - девятый студийный альбом американского автора-исполнителя Майкла Джексона. Релиз в Европе состоялся 15 июня, а в США — 20 июня 1995 года на лейбле Epic Records. HIStory представляет собой двухдисковое издание: на первом компакт-диске представлена компиляция из 15 известных хитов музыканта, на втором — новый материал. Новые композиции выдержаны в жанрах фанка, блюза, ритм-н-блюза, хип-хопа, госпела, рока, индастриала и песни протеста, а также в стиле классического кроссовера. В текстах песен Джексон затрагивает широкий спектр социальных проблем: расизм, материализм, коррупция, искажение событий средствами массовой информации, проблемы экологии и другие.

Dangerous features catchy pop hooks and choruses while also introducing underground sounds to a mainstream audience. The album's tone is noted by critics as gritty and urban, with sounds including honking horns, sliding chains, swinging gates, breaking glass, crashing metal. Throughout the album Jackson also implements beatboxing, scat singing, and finger snapping. The album is considered an artistic change for Jackson, with his music focusing to more socially conscious material, and a broader range of sounds and styles.

Script for a Jester's Tear is the debut studio album by British neo-progressive rock band Marillion, released in the United Kingdom on 13 March 1983 by EMI Records. The album reached number seven and spent 31 weeks in the UK Albums Chart, eventually achieving a platinum certificate, and produced the Top 40 single "He Knows You Know" and the Top 20 single "Garden Party".
Script for a Jester's Tear is the only studio album by Marillion to feature the band's original drummer and founding member Mick Pointer, who was dismissed following the album's UK tour. In Martin Popoff's 2016 biography of Yes, the album is credited with being part of a "new wave" of British progressive rock which also helped to give a second life to earlier bands.

MINIMUM VITAL is certainly amongst the most original bands from the Eighties Progressive rock scene: twin brothers Thierry & Jean-Luc PAYSSAN mix art-rock influences from YES, an amazing virtuosity coming from jazz-rock fusion, many innovations and a deep mark from medieval and southern European traditional musics. From these diverse elements, MINIMUM VITAL built a style with a huge identity and originality. "Envol Triangles/Les Saisons Marines" includes their first cassette (1985) with a wonderful, clear and animated flute, and their first LP (1987) where their music startles with creativity. "Sarabande" (1990) integrates the same elements: musicality, virtuosity, harmonic research and melodical impact, and reflects the strong personality of the band, which reaches here the same level as the "masters" YES and CAMEL, thanks to this elaborated and innovative Progressive rock. "La Source" (1993) sees the inclusion a female singer using a language of her own melting Latin, Portuguese and Southern French dialect and which gives to their music still more originality and emotion. MINIMUM VITAL was the star of the second ProgFest in Los Angeles. On the live video "Les Mondes De...", pieces from their three albums appear as well as unreleased tracks. They impose live their subtle music full of emotions and sensations, with a very creative production, now available in both PAL and NTSC format. "Esprit D'Amor" (1997) is certainly the most original expression from the Progressive rock field of the last ten years ! The warm voices and the happy, energetic and direct Progressive rock music possess a huge musical charisma. The tracks are immediately appreciated and remain in our mind, thanks to their melodical and emotional impact. "Au Cercle De Pierre..." (1997) allows the listener to appreciate the charisma and the energy of the band on stage. The CD includes twelve tracks, (Including two unreleased ones), completed by an interactive track with biography, music and video. The live titles are magnified due to the fact that the versions are very different from the studio ones for some of them. Not to be missed !

MINIMUM VITAL is certainly amongst the most original bands from the Eighties Progressive rock scene: twin brothers Thierry & Jean-Luc PAYSSAN mix art-rock influences from YES, guitar parts as fluid as Mike OLDFIELD's, an amazing virtuosity coming from jazz-rock fusion, many innovations and a deep mark from medieval and southern European traditional musics. This French band has built its own style, marked by a huge identity and originality, and is now recognized as a reference in itself. ""Envol Triangles/Les Saisons Marines"" gathers the first audio-Cassette (1985) and the first vinyl (1987). Beautiful album recorded on the Musea label, ""Sarabandes"" (1990) reflects the strong personality of the band. MINIMUM VITAL is not far from equalling masters such as YES or CAMEL. ""La Source"" (1993) sees the inclusion of female singer Sonia NEDELEC and her counterpart Jean-Baptiste FERRACCI. They use a language of her own, melting Latin, Occitan (A dialect from the South of France) and Portuguese. The live video ""Les Mondes De..."" allows to understand better the strange attraction that charmed the American audience, reputedly very demanding, during the 51 minutes that the Los Angeles' ProgFest 1994 performance lasted. It comprises pieces from the three first albums, as well as unreleased tracks. ""Esprit D'Amor"" (1997) is a complete renewal of the genre, letting the usual apart. ""Au Cercle De Pierre..."" (1997) allows the listener to appreciate the charisma and the energy of the band on stage. The CD includes twelve titles, two of them being unreleased (One studio track), and is completed by a multimedia part (With biography, music and video). After a seven-year silence, so hard to stand even with the VITAL DUO experience, MINIMUM VITAL is eventually back with a new studio opus. ""Atlas"" (2004) continues the same way, bettering its style. The seventh opus ""Capitaines"" seems to be back to the source (Pun intended !). Sometimes instrumental, often sung, these nine pieces are faithful to MINIMUM VITAL's own musical style. With a strong work on percussion, including unusual and ethnic sounds, the band succeeds in creating a well-balanced music, melodious, including tracks among the best the band composed so far, like ""Capitaines"", ""La Croix De Bourghi Bandô"" or ""La Route"". A timeless music, composed and played with a strong desire for perfection. ""Chapître 3"" (Musea Parallele, 2012) is the first DVD ever published by the band, captured live March 4th, & 5th, 2011, at Begles' Mussonville Chapel. The two brothers are busy playing guitars, keyboards and percussions on the six titles featured here. Far from being lost, Thierry & Jean-Luc PAYSSAN, accompanied by bass player Eric REBEYROL, perform top-notch music with class and elegance. Three other compositions, recorded in February 2012, are featured as bonus. Be sure that this third chapter opening shall be as thrilling as the previous ones !

One year after his great debut album The Lights Of A Distant Bay, the Polish musician Kamil Konieczniak (keyboards, guitars, bass, loops) surprised me again with a fine album called Soul's Inner Pendulum (2009, see review), both released under the moniker of Moonrise. Especially for people who like neo-progressive rock this album feels like a warm bath. Beside Konieczniak the strong and high-levelled compositions on this second album were recorded by the fabulous Millenium singer Łukasz Gall, saxophonist Dariusz Rybka, guitarist Marcin Kruczek and drummer Grzegorz Jakiela.

Milestones - is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis, recorded with his "first great quintet" augmented as a sextet. It was released in 1958 by Columbia Records.[

В 1983 году, вскоре после издания альбома Another Perfect Day гитарист Брайан «Роббо» Робертсон покинул группу. Чтобы найти ему замену Лемми устроил прослушивание, после которого в состав Motörhead вошли сразу двое музыкантов: Фил Кэмпбелл и Мик «Würzel» Бёрстон. Первоначально планировалось найти только одного гитариста, но когда Лемми услышал как Кэмпбелл и Берстон играют вместе, не удержался и пригласил обоих. Позднее, в 1984 году, из группы ушёл ударник Фил «Philthy Animal» Тейлор и, по рекомендации Кэмпбелла, был заменён Питом Гиллом, экс-барабанщиком Saxon. Лейбл Bronze Records, опасаясь, что новым составом группе будет сложно поддерживать популярность потребовал чтобы группа выпустила сборник. Узнав об этом Лемми настоял, чтобы в альбом вошли несколько новых песен. В итоге были записаны пять новых композиций, четыре из которых были изданы на альбоме (пятая, «Under the Knife», издавалась как бонус-трек): «Snaggletooth», «Steal Your Face», «Locomotive» и «Killed by Death», которая вышла синглом, став первым синглом группы, записанным в новом составе.

Очередные два года позади и очередной новый альбом Motorhead выходит в свет… Похоже, это уже что-то совершенно незыблемое и вечное, как смена времен года. Работоспособность просто поражает! Ведь, не далее как в 2004 году, эти, уже далеко не молодые музыканты, выпустили просто-таки дышащий свежестью и интересом великолепный альбом “Inferno”. После такого убийственного релиза все многочисленные поклонники, конечно же, встали на уши, и выход восемнадцатой студийной работы “Моторов”, которая получила мрачноватое название “Kiss Of Death”, ожидался ими (и мной, конечно же, тоже) с большим нетерпением.