It’s not that often that musicians cross over to public office yet, as the example of Sonny Bono shows, their audience-facing sensibilities allow artists to serve communities not only from the stage. The latest player to expand his expertise is a very concerned person: David Knopfler, a founding member of DIRE STRAITS, who is standing for election to Teignbridge Council, in Devon, England, tomorrow on May 4th. May the force be with him, then!
It’s been a dozen years since the great Gary Moore shuffled off this mortal coil, yet the number of his listeners doesn’t decrease, and 2023 sees quite of few of the Irish guitarist’s albums reissued with just a smattering of bonus tracks attached to each of these. The same can be said of the forthcoming box set “The Sanctuary Years” which will be issued on June 23rd to round up the late artist’s albums released between 1999 and 2004.
While it can’t be said that the on-stage aspect of TIR NA NÓG‘s existence was always ignored by their labels, the fact is that most of the Irish duo’s concert albums are documents of their shows played from the mid-’90s onward. However, recently the archival gates began to open and, hopefully, a historical stream of recordings started with last year’s "Live 1970-'71" will widen into a flood. At least, now there’s a new tape got uncovered and issued.
While the release of “The White Witch – A Symphonic Trilogy” at the end of last year found MAGENTA return on the radar of many a progressive rock aficionados, the Welsh ensemble chose a quieter way to issue a new live album and approach their 25th anniversary without much ado. Which seems weird – given “Reaching For The Moon” that’s available now is very attractive package comprising four discs: two CDs and two DVDs with the same content.
It was a quiet revolution when SHAKTI came into existence in 1974 to draw on John McLaughlin’s experimental and spiritual journey with Miles Davis, MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA and Carlos Santana and Zakir Hussain’s Eastern sensibilities that allowed these artists to make an intrepid foray into a fusion-amplified world music which keeps on giving more than 45 years after the ensemble’s third, and last album “Natural Elements” failed to set the charts on fire. The group didn’t stop then and there, though, carrying on gracing various stages from time to time, occasionally as REMEMBER SHAKTI, yet nothing could surprise their fans more than the news of the band releasing a completely fresh record.
