Winter Songs And Carols by Mary Fahl

WINTER SONGS AND CAROLS is a collection of holiday and winter seasonal songs by singer/songwriter Mary Fahl released October 1, 2019, on the Rimar Records label.  This eleven-track album features Mary Fahl on all vocals, Mark Doyle on guitars, keyboards, bass, and drum programming, Josh Dekaney on hand drums and percussion, and Ally Brown, Shelby Dems, Edgar Tumaiyan, Joe Davoli on violin, plus Kate LaVerne on cello.  I enjoyed this album from start to finish with stellar vocals and amazing musicianship on such tracks as Wexford Carol, What Child Is This, Ave Maria, No End, O Holy Night/Silent Night and so much more.  This is a performance that I will enjoy for a long time and this album was well recorded and produced.  If you are looking for a great album to listen to during this holiday season, this is definitely one you need to check out.  This album is available on CD and digital download from Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, and many other music retailers.  To learn more about this amazing artist and her music, go to her official website https://maryfahl.com/

The Epic Years 1974-1976 by Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf has announced that a new The Epic Years 1974-1976 3CD box set will be released on January 27, 2023, on the Cherry Red Records label.  Steppenwolf was formed in 1967 in LA by John Kay (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Goldy McJohn (organ, piano), and Jerry Edmonton (drums) who were previously members of the Canadian band The Sparrows. They were joined by Michael Monarch (lead guitar) and Rushton Moreve (bass).  The band signed to Dunhill / ABC Records and were propelled to success in 1968 with their classic single ‘Born To Be Wild’ which became even wider known when the track was featured to great effect in the classic 1969 counterculture film Easy Rider.  Over the next four years, the band released eight albums and enjoyed huge success. In February 1972 Steppenwolf disbanded, with John Kay recording a solo album, but by ’74 they had emerged once again and over the next three years they would record three further albums for Epic which acclaimed boxed set of the first era of Steppenwolf’s career, ‘The Epic Years 1974-1976’ gathers together all of these albums, along with two rare bonus tracks.   This twenty-eight-song compilation features such tracks as Gang War Blues, Smokey Factory Blues, A Fools Fantasy, Two For The Love Of One, Just A Thought, Rock N Roll Song, Sleep and so much more.  This is my first time hearing these tracks and I noticed a totally different sound from all the Steppenwolf tracks that I grew up to love,  I was impressed with the performance on this compilation, as well as their great songwriting talent and a superb recording.  This is definitely a collection that you need to take a listen to and I feel that you will enjoy it as much as I did.  This album will be available on CD and digital download from such retailers as Cherry Red Records, Walmart, and many others.

Very Merry Christmas by Williamson Branch

Very Merry Christmas is my third review for Williamson Branch which features Kevin Williamson on guitar, his wife Debbie Williamson on mandolin and vocals, daughters Melody Williamson on fiddle, Kadence Williamson on ukelele bass, and Caroline Williamson on fiddle.  This fourteen-track album of Bluegrass and Country arrangements of Christmas is songs I was familiar with a few I had never heard before.  I enjoyed this album from start to finish with such songs as the title track Very Merry Christmas, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,  Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree, Coal In My Stocking, There’s A New Kid In Town, Grandpa’s Reindeer Revenge and so much more.  This album has a fantastic performance, brilliant musicianship and vocals, and a superb job of recording, arrangement, and production.  This is definitely an album you will want to listen to this Christmas.  It is available on CD and digital download from Spotify, Walmart, Amazon, and many other retailers.

O Holy Night by Dick Eliot

This is my first Christmas review of this year and hopefully not the last. Dick Eliot is an amazing guitarist who continues to perform at a high level well into his 80s. He performed on The Strip in Las Vegas for thirty-seven years and until just recently, had a residence there for fifty-seven years.  His new album O Holy Night features Dick Eliot on guitar, percussionist extraordinaire Johnny Garcia, and the meticulous sound engineering of producer/engineer Gary Tanin, who curated and laid down this sixteen-song opus.  This Christmas masterpiece is a softer Christmas album compared to a lot of albums that blare the Christmas classics.  Among my favorites on this album are What Child Is This? , the title track O Holy Night, Silent Night. White Christmas, I’ll Be Home For Christmas and so much more.  I enjoyed this album from start to finish with a brilliant performance, amazing arrangements, and superb recording and production.  This is definitely a Christmas album you will want to add to your library which will be available in physical format on December 24, 2022, on EliArts Records. For information on the purchase of Dick Eliot recordings please visit http://www.dickeliot.com/

San Francisco by The Beautiful Losers

The Beautiful Losers are an alternative rock duo formed by internationally esteemed professional songwriters Indo-Canadian Raj Ramayya and San Francisco native Brett Boyd. Described as “Indian-influenced electro-acoustic alternative rock and their new album San Francisco is available on November 25, Black Friday 2022. This ten-track album features such tracks as Blinding Sun, Child, Breathing, Stars Above, the title track San Franciso and so much more.  I really like this album with a brilliant performance with amazing vocals and harmonies, superb musicianship, excellent songwriting talent, and a brilliant job of recording and production.  I enjoyed this album from start to finish and looking forward to hearing more from this band.  To order or stream this great album go to Bandcamp, Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, and many other music retailers. For more information about this band please visit: www.thebeautifullosers.net

Lost Masters & Demos by Nazz

Lost Masters & Demos is the long-lost collection of unreleased Nazz studio recordings created by a burgeoning young songwriter/producer by the name of Todd Rundgren which is scheduled for release on December 12, 2022 via the Purple Pyramid Records, a subsidiary of Cleopatra Records, is taken directly from the original master acetates, this box set collects the originally conceived 1968 rough mix of Nazz’s sophomore album “Nazz Nazz” created by Rundgren as he begins to learn the production techniques that made him the highly acclaimed producer he is today.  This forty-three-track compilation also contains unreleased, alternate mixes from 1967-1968 of tracks such as “Hello, It’s Me,” “Open My Eyes” and much more not available anywhere else! Includes a full-color booklet featuring liner notes and rare photos.  Nazz features Todd Rundgren on guitar, Carson Van Osten on bass, Stewkey on vocals and keyboards, and Thom Mooney on drums which features such great tracks as Forget All About It, Under The Ice, Some People, Resolution, Good Lovin’ Woman, Not Wrong Long and so many more.   In addition to a fantastic performance, this compilation showcases brilliant songwriting talent, superb recording, and production.  Anyone that is a Todd Rundgren fan like I am, will want to add this compilation to your music library which will be available on December 2 in Vinyl and CD Format from all music retailers.

Jangle by Fernando Perdomo

Jangle is my 15^th review and June 16, 2022 album by Producer, Singer/Songwriter, and Multi-Instrumentalist Fernando Perdomo on the Forward Motion Records label in which he does it all: vocals, 12 string guitars, bass, drums, and percussion plus writing all the songs, and even produced the album.  This ten-track album of original material showcases his growth as a songwriter and performer with such notable tracks as Girl With A Record Collection, Andrea’s Fault, the title track Jangle, This Can Be You, California Moon and so much more.  This stellar album features a fantastic performance, great songwriting talent, and a spectacular job of recording and production.  If you are a big fan of this artist like I am you will want to listen to this new offering that is available on CD and digital download from Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify, and many other music retailers.  To learn more about this artist go to his official website https://www.fernandoperdomo.com/

Experimental Truth by Dallas Perkins

Experimental Truth is the latest instrumental album by progressive rock guitarist Dallas Perkins released July 30, 2022. Joining Dallas Perkins who plays guitar, bass, and orchestration on this album is Fernando Jaramillo and David “Chili” Moreno on drums and percussion.  Listening to this nine-track album I am blown away by Dallas’s stellar guitar work on such tracks as Beck Street, Deus XM, Monolith, Jagwired and so much more.  This album showcases an amazing performance as well as a spectacular job of songwriting and superb recording and production.  This is an artist I would love to hear his older material as well as anything he does in the future.  This awesome album is available on CD and digital download from Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, and many other music retailers.  To find out his tour schedule, his music, and more, go to his official website https://dallasperkins.com/

The Other Side Of Time by Mary Fahl

Today was a great mail day for me with an excellent package from singer-songwriter Mary Fahl.  I was anxious to start from the beginning with The Other Side of Time the debut solo album from the American singer-songwriter Mary Fahl, released on May 27, 2003, via the Sony Odyssey label.  Upon researching this album I found out Mary performed the theme song to one of my favorite films Gods and Generals with the song Going Home on this album.  This fourteen-track album features so many great songs such as In The Great Unknown, Paolo, the title track The Other Side Of Time, The Dawning Of The Day (which was written in honor of the firefighters who died in the September 11 attacks) and so much more.  I was very impressed and moved by her powerful but beautiful voice, her amazing songwriting talent, her superb performance, and her spectacular job of recording and production.  I recently listened to and reviewed her latest album Can’t Out Of My Head and wanted to hear her earlier work to hear her growth as a performer and a songwriter. She obliged by sending me all her earlier work so now I can start from her beginning as a solo artist and later listen to her even earlier work with the October Project from the mid-1990s.  This is definitely an album you must add to your music library that is available on CD and digital download from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, and many other retailers.  This is an artist that if she ever comes to perform in my area, I will want to see her perform live and possibly get a chance to meet her.  To learn more about this artist, her tour schedule, her music, and more, go to her official website https://maryfahl.com/

Shadows In A Jar by Life On Mars

Shadows In A Jar is the sixth studio album, and next installment of the Life on Mars series from Earl Kayoss and an array of talent including Fernando Perdomo (my fourteenth review including this artist) scheduled for release on November 18, 2022. Kayoss and Perdomo have been working for 8 years to deliver this remarkable project.  Earl Kayoss, a prolific songwriter, wrote all the songs on the album. Joining Kayoss and Fernando Perdomo on the album are Billy Sherwood (Yes) and Denny Seiwell (McCartney and Wings). This thirteen-track album features such works as Ego, Stray Dog, She’s Already Gone, Only One, the title track Shadows In A Jar and so much more.  In addition to an amazing performance, this album shows the great songwriting talents of Earl Kayoss, brilliant musicianship, and a superb job of recording and production.  This is definitely an album you will want to listen to that will be available on CD and digital download from Cherry Red Records, Amazon, Spotify, and many other music retailers.