From the Beginning: Retrospective
Artist: Greg Lake

Let's face it -- no matter how far he gets stylistically from his work with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and he has gotten very far afield from it at times, Greg Lake's fandom is always going to be rooted in his work with the prog rock trio during the 1970s and its various incarnations since. So it's no surprise that the entire first half of this... Read More

The Infinite Desire
Artist: Al di Meola
Community Score: 7.00

With the help of new generations of guitar synthesizers and samplers, The Infinite Desire finds a mature, lyrical, more expressive Al di Meola casting his lot with Telarc, which until the late '90s had concentrated its attentions upon aging acoustic jazzers. Indeed, he makes marvelously musical use of the new devices, creating sensuous, exotic... Read More

Many Worlds Are Born Tonight
Artist: Happy Rhodes

Happy Rhodes' debut is an impressive assemblage that echoes the past glories of David Sylvian, Alison Moyet, and Kate Bush. Given the content, it's likely to fall on very in-the-know ears for current radio trends are unlikely to embrace this diva's eclectic brand of pop music. Where this album fails is not in talent, but in her sometimes, almost... Read More

Wishpool
Artist: Brother Cane
Community Score: 9.00

Seeds proved to be Brother Cane's breakout release, launching a string of hard-rock radio hits. For its sequel, Wishpool, the quartet wisely decided to replicate the sound of Seeds, turning out a set of heavy rockers that have the style of '70s AOR and the production of '90s post-grunge. While it lacks anything as flat-out catchy as "Got No... Read More

Fission
Artist: Jens Johansson

Jens Johansson is joined by, jams with, and fuses expertly alongside his brother, Anders, on serious drums, and guitar virtuosos Shawn Lane and Mike "Sterno" Stern on this release. Sounds too hot, too frenetic, too "in-your-face" jazz-fusion? Not so. Jens structures it all just right. Let's say the backbeat funk keeps the fun upfront in this... Read More

The Very Best of Cozy Powell
Artist: Cozy Powell

Polydor's The Best of Cozy Powell is culled from his early-'80s AOR and hard rock records. This wasn't the best period of Powell's career, suffering from a singular lack of imagination, but it had its moments, all of which are collected here. Even when distilled to this concise collection, these recordings are a bit thin and monotonous, but this... Read More

The Best of Wishbone Ash
Artist: Wishbone Ash

The twin-guitar-jam-infested ramblings of Wishbone Ash are for some the place where British rock and Southern rock meet in an unholy alliance, both influencing the other. This 11-track collection of this British group's best starts features nine classic tracks, plus two previously unreleased versions of a pair of Wishbone Ash favorites. The... Read More

Celtic Collections
Artist: Horslips

This is an ambitious and laudatory effort from K-Tel Records. While most of that label's releases in the Celtic music field centered on the new agey and commercially trendy sector of Celtic music (Altan, Clannad, Phil Coulter, et al.) and failed to represent the artists' body of work properly, this Horslips release actually paints a historically... Read More

Retrospective, Vol. 1 (1974-1980)
Artist: Rush
Community Score: 10.00

Retrospective, Vol. 1 (1974-1980) was designed to replace the double-disc set Chronicles, and it is, in fact, a better compilation than its predecessor. By concentrating on Rush's earliest albums -- from 1974's Rush to 1980's Permanent Waves -- the album draws an excellent portrait of the group's artiest work, leaving their hard rock radio hits... Read More

Tape Head
Artist: King's X
Community Score: 6.00

On their seventh studio album (and first for the Metal Blade label), King's X get back on the right track with Tape Head. Their previous release, 1996's Ear Candy, did indeed contain several superb tracks ("The Train," "Looking for Love," etc.), but was not consistently as great as such past classics Gretchen Goes to Nebraska and Dogman. Maybe... Read More