Jonas Lindberg & The Other Side ~ Miles From Nowhere

This album is FANTASTIC!! Starting off with the first song “Secret Motive Man” starts off the album with a nice bubbly song at a smidge over 7 minutes long. “Little Man” is a little shorter, but is still as sweet. “Summer Queen” is another beauty that lasts over fifteen minutes & lets the band stretch out a bit. The next 3 songs are shorter than “Summer Queen”, but, all are great. Then, finally you get to the title track, “Miles From Nowhere” which span over 25 minutes long, and has guest musician ROINE STOLT on lead guitar. This song does sound more like a Flower Kings song than the rest of the album, but, maybe Roine had some words with Jonas about how this song should sound. I love this whole album. This is progressive, as well as pop, and rock. This may be one of my top picks of the year…and the year just started. The band is Jonas Lindberg on lead vocals, bass, keyboards, guitars & mandolin, Jenny Storm on lead vocals, Simon Wilhelmsson on drums, Calle Stalenbring on lead guitars, Nicklas Thelion on guitars, Jonathan Lundberg on drums, Jonas Sundqvist on vocals, Maria Olsson on percussion, and, Joel Lindberg on guitar. Again, a TOP NOTCH ALBUM! I give this 5 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Animals Re-Imagined by Various Artists

Animals by Pink Floyd is one of my favorite albums of all time, not to mention the fact that it is my favorite album by Pink Floyd. All of the musicians on this album, take you on a different slant, yet, very close to the original. “Pigs On A Wing Part 1” features Nick van Eade of Cutting Crew does the vocals on this while Martin Barre, formerly of Jethro Tull, plays a beautiful acoustic guitar on this song. Following that is “Dogs”, a great epic song weighing in over 16 minute long, features Graham Bonnet of Rainbow is the vocalist, Vinnie Moore of UFO fame plays some great guitar, while Kasim Sulton of Utopia keeps the rhythm section on the bass & Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater plays some great keyboard parts, although I wasn’t a fan of the actual dogs barking vs Pink Floyd’s version with an organ making it sound like dogs barking, and on drums rounding up the rhythm section is Pat Mastelotto of King Crimson. Next up is “Pigs (Three Different Ones)”, which strays a little from the original, but, stills stays true to form with James LaBrie of Dream Theater on the vocals, also Al Di Meola on guitar, Joe Bouchard on bass & Patrick Moraz of Yes & Moody Blues makes some major keyboard moves on this song. The song that sounds the most different from the original would be “Sheep” with Arthur Brown on vocals, Rick Wakeman of Yes & Strawbs on keyboards, Jan Akkerman of Focus on guitar, David J of Bauhaus on bass & Carmine Appice of Vanilla Fudge & many others plays drums. There is some jamming through this song. Last song is “Pigs On A Wing Part 2” (reprise), is done by Jon Davison on vocals & Billy Sherwood on guitar from Yes finish up the album. I didn’t think you could take this album & do any justice on it, but, boy, was I wrong! I give this 5 out of 5 Music Guru stars. I do suggest that you check out the original by Pink Floyd as well as this one.

Various Artists ~ Bongo Boy Homestead Volume 5

Once again, Bongo Boy makes another compilation of mostly singer songwriter songs. from many artists. Some are better than others, but all have great production on their songs. There are 20 sons on 2 CD’s. The bands are E.G. Holmes, Harp & Plow, Clark Ford, Todd Barrow, Blind Lemon Pledge, John Edwin & The Banjodasha Hillbillies, Frank Trousdell, Point Taken, Pete James, Raymond Materick, Junior Burke, Norman Collins & The Tumblers, Gar Francis, and Greg Guba. My favorite songs on this compilation are “Always Be Here For You” by POINT TAKEN & “What The Cat Dragged In” by NORMAN Collins & The Tumblers. This album did have a sort of old country feeling to it. It also had some new country music in it as well. While this was not my favorite album by Bongo Boy, there is enough good music to keep me listening. AS the 2nd album started to wind down, the better music came in. I give this album 3.5 Music Guru stars.

Intelligent Music Project Vl

This album has some great sound to it. If you’ve heard the Intelligent Music Project before, then you know what I’m talking about. You’ve already heard the vocals of John Payne (Ex-Asia), Ronnie Romero (Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group), & Carl Sentence (Nazareth) but this album also has Bobby Rondinelli (Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow, Black Sabbath) & Todd Sucherman (Styx) on drums. This album also features Bulgarian musicians Ivo Stefanov on keyboards, Vasil Vutev on drums & percussion, Ivaylo Zvezdomirov on bass, &Bisser Ivanov on guitars. The album takes a positive note on negative things, with things to cope in today’s challenges. This will give you a positive outlook on life. Everybody on this album does a superb job, as they did in the previous 5 albums. I give this 5 out of 5 Music Guru stars. Give this one a try.

Myles Kennedy ~ Ides Of March

What do I need to say about Myles Kennedy that you don’t already know. The front man for Alter Bridge really put out a decent second album. It has a little bit of everything in it. Rock, prog, blues, pop, soft, hard, you name it, it’s there. Using the same musicians from his first solo album, the band is in fine form. The band is Zia Uddin on drums & Tim Tournier on bass, with Myles on guitar & vocals. The album could be an Alter Bridge album, but there is enough here to say that it isn’t. I give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars. Give this a listen, let me know what you think.

Alan Parsons ~ The Neverending Show Live In The Netherlands

Alan Parsons is a very talented man. Not only did he MAKE the albums “Abbey Road” from the Beatles, “Dark Side Of The Moon” from Pink Floyd & Ambrosia’s debut album, he also did some great albums of his own. This live album includes music going all the way back to Alan’s 1st album “Tales Of Mystery & Imagination (by Edgar Allen Poe)”, it goes through a whole history of the Alan Parsons Project & beyond. There are songs from “I Robot”, “Pyramid”, “Eye In The Sky”,”Ammonia Avenue”, “Vulture Culture”, and others. There are many different singers on this album, as there were on the different albums coming out from Mr. Parsons. This album gave me great joy, as Alan Parsons was a staple in my music listening throughout most of my life. Give this a listen, I think that yoou’ll really enjoy it. I give this 5 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Judy Collins ~ White Bird

This is the first time that I’ve ever really listened to Judy Collins. Of course, I’ve heard the hit “Both Sides Now” which was a big hit for her, but, never really heard other music from her. This album, which she recorded at the age of 81, is wonderful. Her voice sounds wonderful. At 81, she can still hit notes that most people 2o years her senior can’t hit. The songs that she sings, including “Both Sides Now” have been re-done entirely, with a different sound. Songs include “Turn, Turn, Turn”, “Chelsea Morning”, “Blackbird”, a cover of the Beatles song, “Send In The Clowns”, & “Both Sides Now” written by Joni Mitchell, and a big hit for Judy from over 50 years ago. Also, “White Bird”, originally by It’s A Beautiful Day. These are songs that brought joy to Judy Collins, and she really does a great job of bringing in a new generation a chance to hear these gems. I really liked this album & would recommend this to everyone. I give this 5 out of 5 Music Guru stars. I may be listening to more Judy Collins in the future. Give this a listen!!

PAKT

What is PAKT? you may ask? They are a new original experimental band, featuring exceptional musicians such as Percy Jones, Alex Skolnick, Kenny Grohowski, & Tim Motzer. If you’re a fan of bands like Brand X, you will probably like this album, as it fits right in that catagory. The playing is really good. For me to really groove to music, I need a strong melody line. Most of this album doesn’t have that, so for me, I wasn’t grooving to this that much. There were moments that I did like, but, some I didn’t as well. I can only give this 3 out of 5 Music Guru stars. Again, if you’re a fan of bands like Brand X, you will probably like this. Give it a listen & let me know. I’d like to hear your feedback.

Robeone ~ Halos And Dogs

I’m not sure where I would put this CD, in which catagory. It came to me with progressive expectations. There is some stuff going on that may be progressive, but, I think that this really falls under the category of new age. This is all instrumental. There is some very laid back music tracks floating around on this CD, and there is also some upbeat music flowing around as well. Most of the music on the CD didn’t really do that much for me, but the last song titled “Halos” made it all worthwhile. I really liked this song. It was just a piano with some beautiful melodies floating throughout. This would be my favorite song on this album. I may need to listen to this some more, but, as of now I can only give this 3.5 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

The Immediate Family

What do you get when you take 5 great studio musicians, put them all together, to put out an album. One phenomenal album. On guitars you have Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel & Steve Postell. On bass you have Leland Sklar & on drums & percussion, you have Russ Kunkel. Some of these gentlemen played live with Carole King on this year’s Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame awards.These guys have been playing together for a long time. The music is great. The vocals, depending on who is singing, is good. The music was mostly written by these guys as well, which goes to show you that when you hang with the greats, you can pick up on some great things. Some of the tracks on this album were written by Warren Zevon & Jackson Browne, just to name a couple. I would give this album 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars, perhaps more with more listening. Another thing to mention is, there seems to be some breakup songs filled with hurt & pain, however instead of playing slow drawn out ballads, these musicians make the music bubbly & poppy. Give this a listen.