Stratovarius

Stratovarius is a Finnish power metal band that formed in 1984. Since their formation, they have released 16 studio albums, 4 DVD and 3 live albums. Along with German bands Helloween, Blind Guardian, and Gamma Ray, Stratovarius is considered one of the leading and most influential groups of the power metal genre. In its history, the band has gone through many chaotic lineup changes and since 1995 there are no founding members of the band that remain. Currently, the longest standing member is singer Timo Kotipelto, who joined in 1994.

Stratovarius was founded as Black Water in August 1984 by singer and drummer Tuomo Lassila, guitarist Staffan Stråhlman, and bassist John Vihervä. Line-up changes soon started to occur, including Timo Tolkki replacing Stråhlman two months later and taking over singing duties as well, and the band expanding to a quintet with the arrival of keyboarist Antti Ikonen the following year. Under this line-up, the band released its first album Fright Night in 1989, with Tolkki acting as sole composer. While various changes of bassist occurred, the band released the albums Twilight Time (1992) and Dreamspace (1994). In 1994, Tolkki decided to stop acting as lead vocalist, with Timo Kotipelto joining the band. After the release of Fourth Dimension in 1995, last remaining founding member Lassila, as well as Ikonen, left the band and were respectively replaced by Jörg Michael and Jens Johansson respectively.

Visions (Haken album)

Visions is the second studio album of progressive metal band Haken. The album was released mostly for the attention of people at ProgPower USA on 17 September 2011, with an official release date set for 24 October 2011.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Ross Jennings, all music composed by Richard Henshall, except where noted.

Reception

Visions received high praise from Sea of Tranquility webzine. It was described as "a staggeringly brilliant example of progressive metal" by Pete Pardo and "probably the final progressive masterpiece of 2011" by Murat Batmaz.

Personnel

Notes

Visions (Clearlight album)

Visions is a progressive rock album by Clearlight, released in 1978 on Celluloid / LTM Records in France. (LTM Records is specified on the cover, but the label says Celluloid Records.)

Clearlight's final album set off in yet another new direction: while previous albums incorporated a new age element blended with other styles, this one is primarily a new age album, reflecting the emergence of new age music as a popular genre. The album is mostly instrumental, but has one song with lyrics and another with spoken word, both in French. Indian instruments such as sitar and tablas are prominent. "Fullmoon Raga" expands upon musical themes from "Master Builder" from Gong's You album, blending Indian music with rock music. The album also incorporates Clearlight's usual psychedelic jazz fusion jamming.

This edition of Clearlight played only one concert (the first since its UK tour in late 1975), at the Olympia in Paris on April 8, 1978, with a variation of the album's line-up: Verdeaux, Malherbe, Lockwood, Mandin, Melkonian and Bouladoux plus Jean-Michel Kajdan (guitar) and Mico Nissim (keyboards). It was badly attended, putting a premature end to the project. This would be the last manifestation of Clearlight until a one-off performance in 1988.

Visions of Dennis Brown

Visions of Dennis Brown (also known as Visions) is a 1978 reggae album by Dennis Brown.

Recording

The album was the first to come out of Brown's second stint with producer Joe Gibbs, with whom he would have his breakthrough international success, and the album played a major part in establishing the dominant position of both Brown and Gibbs in late 1970s reggae. The album mixes roots reggae themes such as economic hardship, African oppression, religion, and politics, with lovers rock material ("Love Me Always") and a cover version of Ray Charles' "This Little Girl of Mine". The album was engineered by Errol Thompson and features veteran musicians Bobby Ellis (trumpet), Vin Gordon (trombone), Herman Marquis (alto saxophone), and Tommy McCook (tenor saxophone).

Release history

The album was originally released in 1978 on the Lightning, Laser, and Joe Gibbs labels. It was reissued on JGML in 1980 and issued for the first time on compact disc in 1989 by Shanachie Records. It was reissued in expanded form in 2006 on the Joe Gibbs Europe label, and reissued again in 2007 on the VP Records subsidiary 17 North Parade.