From what I could gather on the internet, this is supposedly the best sounding pressing of American Pie. It seems to be the consensus that MFSL fell down on the job with this CD, American Pie has the grand title of being the worst MFSL disc made, and the original vinyl sounds a bit muddy (judging from what others say, I do not own either one). It would seem that Doug Schwartz did it right with the 2003 remaster, no compression used, and not harsh, like many recent remasters can sound.

Godspell, the second musical of the early '70s to be based on the life of Jesus Christ (following Jesus Christ Superstar, which hit the record racks, but not the stage first), was something of a sleeper, opening off-off-Broadway in May 1971, with an original cast album that belatedly became a big success in 1972 after "Day By Day" was released as a single and hit the Top Ten. By then, the show had moved to off-Broadway and was well on its way to a run that would exceed 2,500 performances (and eventually reach Broadway itself). Bell Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, had released that cast album, and the film company quickly put a movie version into production. Happily, composer Stephen Schwartz retained musical control, and the film, other than using various deserted New York City locations as its set, was quite faithful to the stage version. Five of the ten ensemble performers were retained from the original cast, along with all four of the original musicians, and Schwartz produced the music, as he had on the cast album. As such, the soundtrack album offered him the opportunity to improve upon the cast album, and he did. Whether one is a religious person or not, this soundtrack makes you feel good.

Bruce Hornsby and the Range burst onto the music scene at the end of 1986 with the #1 smash "The Way It Is". Hornsby "the other Bruce" immediately became a recognized name on the music scene. Two trademarks of the Hornsby sound was the incredible piano work and what would soon become known as the "Virginia sound". By mid 1988, Hornsby's second album was released. This album, "Scenes From the Southside" does not disappoint. It capitalizes on those two trademarks, but with a much stronger set of sounds - good enough to win my award for 1988 Album of the Year.

Godspell (an archaic spelling of the word gospel) is a 1970 musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since. Several cast albums have been released over the years and one of its songs, "Day By Day" from the original cast album, reached #13 on the Billboard pop singles chart in the summer of 1972. The movie, released in 1973, is the film adaptation of the Off-Broadway musical. Set in modern New York City, the film stars Victor Garber as Jesus and David Haskell as John the Baptist/Judas. John-Michael Tebelak is credited as co-writer of the screenplay and served as the creative consultant, although director David Greene said Tebelak did not write the screenplay. It was filmed in New York from August to November 1972.

"...Nothing Like the Sun" was one of the first fully digital audio recordings (DDD) to achieve multi-platinum status. It is also Sting's biggest selling album yet with worldwide sales of 11 million copies as of 1997.

Diamond Head was not only a solo album for Roxy Music’s supremely talented guitarist but in retrospect a certainly defining groundbreaking recording. In many ways, the creative ideas that wouldn’t or couldn’t fit into the Roxy mold were simply retooled into a precursor of future genres that would soon pop up with vigor.

801 was, of course, the outfit created by Phil Manzanera to fill some of his time during Roxy Music's alleged Sabbatical. Against all the odds, the affair was enchanting and profound in equal measure, an absolute paragon of what can be achieved in this context, given musicians with intelligence, imagination, and sensitivity. Also, in a way, it sums up an era: the one which began, perhaps, with the Soft Machine's first gig and has now peaked as a commercial force. But, hearteningly, the concert never came on like an epitaph; rather, it suggested that there may be much more ground still ripe for exploration than has yet been covered. At the concert's close, I felt that these musicians had successfully proposed their own future, and laid the groundwork for a rewarding, creative longevity stretching far beyond the limits of their status, as an early Seventies commercial phenomenon.

Not only did "The Dream of the Blue Turtles" mark a stark different path Sting took outside of the Police, but it demonstrated Sting's lively persona perhaps for the last time before he became intense and mature. His debut effort may not be his best, yet it is indeed his most energetic and enticing record.

Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) is unique among Brian Eno's 1970s pop albums in that it was recorded by a stable lineup. The core band is Eno, guitarist Phil Manzanara, bassist Brian Turrington and drummer Freddie Smith. There are some guest musicians and back-up vocalists (Phil Collins and Robert Wyatt being the most notorious of the lot) but Tiger Mountain is, for the most part, a guitar/bass/drums album with occasional keyboard contributions by Eno. That such a sonically rich batch of songs was created from this limited instrumentation is, of course, a testament to Eno's talents for producing textures.

I guess this album had a tough time finding an audience back in 1974. A flummoxed Rolling Stone reviewer declared Warm Jets to be "annoying, because it doesn't do anything," and hoped Eno would "attempt to structure his work rather than throw together the first ten things that come to mind" the next time he made an album. It must be that the many years of exposure to whimsy, irony and postmodernity in popular music have conditioned those of us who grew up in the '80s, because all I hear when I play Warm Jets is a creative batch of really good songs.

He remains the most recognizable voice of pop-song savants Supertramp, as '70s a band as there ever was. From their confusing prog-rock beginnings to the moment tunes like "Bloody Well Right" became airplane "radio" favorites fodder, the British band was noted for their novel instrumentation (mostly keyboard in a guitar oriented arena) and sly sense of humor. But it was the high-pitched pleadings of main contributor Roger Hodgson that sent the act into the stratosphere. With choice chart toppers like "Dreamer," "Give a Little Bit," "Even in the Quietest Moments," "Take the Long Way Home," and "The Logical Song," his twee elfin looks and instantly memorable hooks made young girls weep and adolescent males smile. Yet after the Famous Last Words album (and the marginal smash It's Raining Again), Hodgson left Supertramp to forge his own artistic identity. In the nearly three decades that have past since the rather acrimonious split, talk of a reunion—even the cynical, cash grab-oriented type of reformation—has been systematically squashed. Apparently, whatever the group thought it could accomplish sans Hodgson (they have gone on to record a few more albums, mostly to fan indifference) remains solidly in place to this day. Luckily, our Tolkien-esque tunesmith continues to tour and record. Captured as part of a solo jaunt in 2006, Roger Hodgson: Take the Long Way Home—Live in Montreal stands as a wonderful testament to Hodgson's talent and enduring cultural impact.

This is a magnificent show, and I highly encourage anyone who even has a passing interest in either progressive rock or science fiction to check it out.

If, like me, you became a Prog/Symphonic Rock fan after listening to "Tales Of Mystery And Imagination-Edgar Allan Poe" by the Alan Parsons Project, and "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" by Rick Wakeman, you certainly got crazy for getting Jeff Wayne's musical version of "The War Of The Worlds" when it was issued as a double-LP album back in 1978.

Jonn Serrie's return to space music earns five stars.

Jonn Serrie is one of those artists who is able to create music that is both timeless and infinitely luxurious.