Other than four titles from 1949, this CD reissue has tenor saxophonist Harold Land's first sessions as a leader. Teamed up on the West Coast with trumpeter Rolf Ericson, pianist Carl Perkins, bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and drummer Frank Butler, Land shows that hard bop was very much alive in Los Angeles in the late '50s. His tone is cooler and softer than it would become later on, but it was already pretty distinctive. Land performs three of his swinging originals, the original version of Perkins' "Grooveyard" (which became a minor standard), an obscurity by Elmo Hope, and the standards "Speak Low" and "You Don't Know What Love Is." The reissue also adds "Promised Land" to the original program. Fine straight-ahead music.

Little Star: The Best of the Elegants sums up the white doo wop group's career in a dozen tracks, including their first and biggest single, the smash hit "Little Star." Many of their other songs are also in the slow-dance vein of their hit, although songs like "Goodnight," "Still Waiting," and "Get Well Soon" failed to recapture "Little Star"'s magic. Both versions of "Little Boy Blue" and "Please Believe Me" recall Dion & the Belmonts, while "Gettin' Dizzy" and "Pay Day" have a more straightforward rock & roll sound.

Born from Shadows, impressively maintains their position and lays any doubts as to their superiority to rest. The Swedish quartet understands more than any other band how to effectively merge hypnotic melodies with viscous guitar lines. The album's main focus is undeniably the heavy riffs, but occasional digressions into more aggressive realms, where growls and vicious drumming reign. Somber drama and hypnotic darkness! Swedish Doom Metal

Jeno Jandó was born at Pécs, in south Hungary, in 1952. He started to learn the piano when he was seven and later studied at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music under Katalin Nemes and Pal Kadosa, becoming assistant to the latter on his graduation in 1974. Jando has won a number of piano competitions in Hungary and abroad, including first prize in the 1973 Hungarian Piano Concours and a first prize in the chamber music category at the Sydney International Piano Competition in 1977. In addition to his many appearances in Hungary, he has played widely abroad in Eastern and Western Europe, in Canada and in Japan.

Megadeth's 13th studio album sees the band firing on a cylinders and delivering one of their strongest albums in years. The album's 13 tracks capture the band's classic thrash sound and shredding guitar work as well as some of the band's deepest melodies in years. Th1rt3en reunites original bassist David Ellefson with the band and his first appearance on a Megadeth album in over 10 years.

Duke Robillard hits another one out of the ballpark as his 16th album for Stony Plain turns the clock back to the rockin' R&B of the '40s and '50s. Duke Robillard's long and amazingly fruitful relationship with Stony Plain Records has produced some astonishing music - and his latest for the label adds horns and digs deep into the riotous, raunchy, rockin' '40s and '50s R&B that helped launch rock and roll. This is great, honking, squawking, sax and guitar driven music. The early years of R&B saw the making of fabulous American music, and the new CD is proof you can recreate the past, twist it up a bit, make it sound as tough as it used to.
Play Stomp! The Blues Tonight as loud as your speakers go. Oh, yes, and dance!