Best Music: Part 1

Welcome to the first installment of BestMUSIC! We've selected four totally diverse and totally exceptional CD's to review, each with a free download for BestMUSIC readers. You'll find rock, world pop, unplugged metal and smooth jazz below. BestStuff Senior Music Editor Jonathan Todd opens this column with some albums and artists he's intimately familiar with as an executive producer (with Mick Fleetwood on SOMETHING BIG) or as a manager (for Loren Gold, Todd Smallwood and Shankar & Gingger). We hope you uncover new sounds and artists you enjoy. Don't forget to come back in a few weeks for more reviews and more free music.

LOREN GOLD
KEYS
Gemini Sun Records
Pop/Smooth Jazz
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Loren Gold's second CD, KEYS is top notch pop/smooth jazz. This is a pre-release review of KEYS (the CD doesn't hit store shelves or the internet until August 16 th) and BestMUSIC snagged a free download for readers! (CLICK HERE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD OR TO HEAR THE STREAMING SONG)

By day, Loren Gold is the Music Director and keyboardist for the Hilary Duff tour. By night, Loren composes and performs some of America's finest smooth jazz. His style is a unique blending of the melodic pop verse with "hook-ey" chorus, minus the vocalist. Loren's love of performing with Duff seems to ooze over into his solo work bringing solid pop construction through to the smooth jazz genre to literally create a hybrid category we're calling "Pop/Smooth Jazz". Loren's keyboards and a sax "sing" the songs he writes and the result gets under your skin and makes you hum the whole album the following morning!

The production quality of KEYS is exceptional with great care taken during recording and post production. The album moves through moods ranging from happy/peppy to dark/brooding. There's a distinct "euro" influence coming from this all American artist which surprises at every turn. Just when you think a song will go one direction, Loren takes you on a totally different adventure moving from major to minor keys or altering beats and instrumentation. Alphonso Johnson (Weather Report) adds a cool vibe as bassist on 10 of the album's tracks and Mindy Abair (Verve Records/Billboard charting artist) graces the CD with superb sax. Drums by Ron Wikso (Cher , Gregg Rolie) round out the album with an often driving, yet loping backbeat. If you enjoy smooth jazz, this album is a must. If you prefer your songs to be catchy and memorable, but could use a break from vocalists from time-to-time, we highly recommend you give KEYS and Loren Gold a try! For overall song construction, recording quality and for breaking the mold, this album earns the distinction: BestMUSIC.

ACOUSTIC COMPILATION
(Poison, Night Ranger, Scorpions, Cinderella, Queensryche, Tesla, Winger and More)
VH-1 CLASSIC METAL MANIA: STRIPPED
Immortal Records
Acoustic Rock
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METAL MANIA: STRIPPED, proves that a great song is a great song. Take the hard rock metal version you know and love, unplug the guitars, unplug the amps, unplug the keys, yank the bass, swap the huge rock drum sets for a bongo or two, take the reverb off (well, almost all off) the singers and you've stripped the metal. Yet every cut on this way-cool album rings true to fans and may introduce many new listeners to hard rock through this softer journey. Somewhere between pop, soft rock and folk, these unplugged versions of super famous metal songs hold their own and often shine brighter than the originals in this expertly crafted CD. As with all BestMUSIC selections the production and the music are absolutely first rate. The result is an approachable and deeply intimate look into the world of hard rock gone soft.

Jamie Talbot, compilation producer (Immortal Entertainment) comments, "If you look beyond the hairspray and leather pants that many of these metal artists are perhaps best-known for, you find powerful songs that stand the test of time. Many of these hits were written on acoustic guitar or piano and later transformed into more elaborate productions. We believe STRIPPED offers versions of these songs that reveal a warmth and intimacy that allow the melodies and song craft to shine through in a way not widely heard."

STRIPPED is a top notch work and should be applauded for content as well as creativity. We need more music that takes risks and defies the record label gurus relying on formula instead of content. This album earns the distinction: BestMUSIC.

THE MICK FLEETWOOD BAND
SOMETHING BIG
TallMan Records/Sanctuary Records
Rock/Americana/Blues-Rock
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SOMETHING BIG is just that "SOMETHING BIG!" Take the legendary drummer and co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, add Jeremy Spencer and John McVie and you have three fourths of the original Mac (that's the "Blues" Mac, before the addition of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham) reunited on one album. To this amazingly hot trio, add Jackson Browne on a track and another track co written by Carlos Santana. Then throw in a dash of singer Lauren Evans (who MusicTap reviewer Matt Rowe compared to Whitney Houston) and you have a mighty powerful rock and roll gang. The group needed both songs and a singer worthy of ongoing listening and Fleetwood chose longtime friend and veteran producer/signer/songwriter Todd Smallwood to deliver the hooks and tie up the package . . . and he did!

This album was five years in the making. The layering of instrumentation and the deep care for tonal quality, performance, separation and that magical "wall of sound" are testimony to what's still right with music making today. The songs are deeply rooted in a journey through true, honest, early rock and blues-rock. Nothing is gimmicked or faked on this album -- it's the real thing and every song gets better and better as you listen over and over. Possibly most fascinating is that on first listen, this album feels like an old, comfortable friend. The final mixing and mastering of this album was done the old fashioned way -- with both time and expense -- resulting in a sound quality of delicious nuances. "I love percussion," says Fleetwood, "but I'm most deeply fulfilled when I'm working on the music coming together, in editing, in creating the sound. Producing offers those levels of creativity."

The Mick Fleetwood Band manages to come off as both timeless and contemporary, rocking and eloquent, thanks in large measure to Fleetwood's ability to bring out the best in everyone he plays with and his love for the production process. SOMETHING BIG is also a tribute to Emmy nominated Smallwood's skill, musicianship and connection with Fleetwood's vibe. For sheer rock mastery and impeccable songwriting, production and execution this album earns the distinction: BestMUSIC.

SHANKAR & GINGGER
ONE IN A MILLION
Ganesh Music
World/Pop/Rock
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If you enjoy the eclectic, the unpredictable and a true world sound with pop/rock styling, ONE IN A MILLION is really one in a million. The DVD version of this critically acclaimed work (same audio track but in 6 part surround sound) hit the Billboard #1 slot focusing intense attention and admiration for Grammy nominated Shankar and Gingger.

Both are vocalists with a wildly large range of five and a half octaves each, but the bonus is their unique instruments, the 10 string (double) violins. The double bridged violins (there are only two of them in the world) combine with the large vocal range for amazing sounds we mortals have simply never heard before. In fact, the Shankar & Gingger sound is so unusually mystical they were tapped to compose and perform vocals and double violins on Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ, along with composers Jack Lenz and John Debney. Their voices and violins can be heard throughout the movie providing the haunting melodies and sounds that are unmistakably theirs.

ONE IN A MILLION takes you on a fantasy of sounds and emotions which simply can't be compared to other artists' works. The overall message is uplifting and positive punctuated with a "tap your feet" groove that keeps you happy and engaged. There's a rock root in many of the songs highlighted by electronica and hypnotic beats (possibly some of the Indian influence of the composers). The title song (available free for listening or download from BestMUSIC) is a superb example of the duo's style and the catchy vocal hooks. Something between the huge ranges of both the violins and Shankar & Gingger's vocals creates refreshing sonic textures and deserve recognition for opening new vistas of music and soundscapes. This album earns the distinction: BestMUSIC.