Alive Naturalsound
Picture a warehouse full of mellow West Coast country-rock LPs from the 1970s. Imagine all those records being loaded into a gigantic “Star Trek”-style transporter and beamed to Alive Naturalsound Records in Burbank — where a malfunction causes them to rematerialize as a single platter called “Pacific Surf Line,” by a new group called GospelbeacH.
Liaison
Ever since the collaboration between Jon Anderson and Jean-Luc Ponty was announced as a Kickstarter project last summer, prog and fusion fans have been anxious to hear how these icons would sound together. The end result far and away exceeds anyone’s expectations.
Landslide
Slide guitar has more of a presence on “Mississippi Moderne” than on Webb Wilder’s other albums — perhaps because Nashville session player Bob Williams, who’s been co-guitarist since 2007 but played on just three songs off 2009’s “More Like Me,” is fully incorporated this time around.
Grandpa Raccoon
Even serious Youngbloods fans may have had a hard time keeping up with Lowell Levinger (the artist almost formerly known as Banana) since that group disbanded 42 years ago.
Louisiana Red Hot
Colin Lake traded in the Pacific Northwest for the Deep South, relocating from Portland, Ore., to New Orleans and finding a mentor in musician Eric Lindell. “One Thing That’s for Sure” is Lake’s second post-migration album, continuing his metamorphosis into a notable blues/soul/R&B singer-songwriter who excels on slide and lap steel guitar.
