Dark-Dark Round The Edge (1972)

"Dark Round The Edge" is another one of those 1970s albums highly coveted by collectors. Of this first and only album by the British band Dark, only about fifty copies were released; most of them ended up with friends and family of the band, and only a few were officially sold. In the mid-2000s, this album was listed as the seventeenth most valuable record of all time, with some collectors paying astronomical sums for an original copy, reaching a price of £2500 on one occasion in the mid-1990s. Dark was a psychedelic rock band founded by guitarist Steve Giles, who, along with drummer Clive Thorneycroft, bassist Ron Johnson, and second guitarist Martin Weaver, recorded a dark and powerful rock album under the production of Alan Bowley. The album featured a strong emphasis on visceral and psychedelic guitar riffs in the purest style of The Jimi Hendrix Experience or Grand Funk Railroad. The album contains powerful hard and heavy blues rock tracks such as "Darkside", "Maypole", "Live For Today", "Cat", and "Zero Time", but despite their enormous quality, they were relegated to obscurity due to poor post-production planning and a complete lack of promotion by the band. Due to the significant demand this album has generated in recent years, it has been reissued several times on vinyl and CD.

Iron Maiden-A Matter Of Life and Death (2006)

Considered by many critics and fans to be one of their most powerful and complex albums, "A Matter of Life and Death" saw the British sextet Iron Maiden continue their exploration of progressive heavy metal with one of their densest and darkest works. Here, the band seems to have attempted to continue the epic sound they had established with their album "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", released almost twenty years prior. That formula consisting of slow intros, dizzying rhythms, sophisticated instrumental developments, great dynamism, and epic grandiosity reappears on this fourteenth album by the group. Composed of a repertoire of songs, most of which exceed six minutes, it is a work as solid as it is enjoyable, despite a sound that may be somewhat inaccessible to the uninitiated. Despite not being a typical concept album, war is the album's central theme, and thunderous sounds appear throughout, as demonstrated by tracks like the complex "Brighter Than A Thousand Suns" and "These Colours Don't Run". More conventional heavy metal is also present in the rock-oriented "Different World" and "The Pilgrim", while "Out Of the Shadows" becomes the album's catchiest and most commercially viable track, standing apart from the intricacies of the other songs. Complex and sophisticated structures return with the memorable "The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg", the impulsive "For The Greater Good of God", and the progressive "The Legacy", the latter a sublime epic with tremendously powerful vocals and instrumentation.

Jean-Michel Jarre-Equinoxe (1978)

After his seminal "Oxigene", Jean-Michel Jarre took a step forward with his next work, "Equinoxe", a more rhythmic and dreamy album that traverses diverse soundscapes. Perhaps not as ethereal as its predecessor, it showcases his more earthly side, like an underwater journey rather than a space voyage. The music shifts throughout the album, from atmospheric soundscapes to more optimistic moments layered with rhythmic electronica, presented in such a way that it becomes extremely enjoyable and frankly addictive. However, Jean-Michel Jarre doesn't break new ground with this work; rather, he manages to articulate his synthesizer-driven, mainstream ideology with a more solid foundation. While maintaining his knack for creating captivating atmospheres and catchy synthesizer flourishes, Jarre's renewed interest in crafting well-developed electronic orchestrations allows him to deliver and portray a greater sense of order, thus placing greater emphasis on the basic melodic lines and their interplay with programmed harmonies and ethereal synthesizer layers. Jarre also takes particular care in using percussive undertones in the programmed arpeggios to enhance certain passages. The sound production also feels a bit louder, which is quite fitting for the nature of this album's repertoire. "Parts I and II" display this tendency quite openly, as do "Parts IV and VII", which are the album's most powerful moments. The exquisite motifs contained in "Parts IV and VII" achieve an almost epic stature, thanks to the constant display of energy and the subtle use of emerging reworkings, such as the strong presence of the solo string section, which definitely helps to build an orchestral feel that seems to float above the electronic textures and effects. "Part V" was the album's single, and it's no surprise, as it's quite catchy and exudes a similar vibe to "Oxygene Part IV", while "Part VI" is essentially a minimalist progression of sequenced chords à la Kraftwerk's "Radio-Activity", establishing a link between "Parts V and VII". Finally, "Part VIII" evokes occasional memories of a bohemian club in Paris (a section that would later be called "Band in the Rain"), before a grandiose reprise of the main theme from "Part V" emerges, closing an album of extraordinary beauty and another huge success for the French musician.

Jean-Michel Jarre-The Concerts in China (1982)

In 1981, Frenchman Jean-Michel Jarre became the first Western musician to perform in China after the communist era of Mao Zedong. His five concerts in Beijing and Shanghai were more of a diplomatic event than a series of musical performances, initiating a kind of political and cultural exchange with France. For the occasion, Jarre deployed a vast array of expensive technological equipment, including state-of-the-art synthesizers, giant screens, multiple projectors, and an innovative laser system. He even composed a series of new pieces inspired by Eastern music, which he performed with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra. To power the enormous equipment, entire neighborhoods in both cities had to be shut down. The concert was projected onto massive visual screens atop some of the tallest buildings in both cities. Musically, Jarre blended passages from his two albums released at the time, "Oxygene" and "Equinoxe", with pieces adorned with traditional Chinese atmospheres that he had composed for the occasion. A year later, the double album "The Concerts In China" was released, featuring material taken from that successful tour of the Asian country. Without a doubt, Jean-Michel Jarre's concerts in China constitute a fundamental part of the history of modern music and represent an enormous human and technical challenge, something the Frenchman would repeat in other colossal concerts later on, such as those held in Paris, London, and Houston, each of which drew more than a million spectators.

The Climax Blues Band-Tightly Knit (1971)

We turn our attention once again to the English band The Climax Blues Band, a popular group that emerged during the height of the British blues-rock craze of the late 1960s. "Tightly Knit", released in 1971, was the third album by this beloved band, led by bassist and singer Pete Haycock, who, along with Colin Hooper, Derek Holt, Richard Jones, Arthur Wood, and George Newsome, were among the leading figures of the movement. In this release, they continue to embrace blues-rock but with a greater degree of eclecticism and more refined instrumentation and production. They also become more accessible to a wider audience, crafting a catchier and more appealing work. Infectious boogie-blues tracks like "Hey Mama" and "Toward The Sun" alternate with purely bluesy cuts such as "Come On In My Kitchen" and "Bide My Time", the jazzy "Who Killed McSwiggin' ", and the blues-rock tour de force "St. Michael's Blues".

Steve Khan-Tightrope (1977)

Greatly admired by his peers, virtuoso guitarist Steve Khan is one of the jazz musicians who has most frequently participated in recording sessions for other artists. In the past, Khan was a permanent or occasional member of legendary groups such as Weather Report, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Steely Dan, Elements, and Caribbean Jazz Project. His impressive resume also includes hundreds of recordings for artists of the caliber of the Becker Brothers, George Benson, Billy Cobham, Aretha Franklin, Bob James, Billy Joel, Lou Rawls, and Grover Washington Jr. On his own, he has released around thirty albums, beginning with "Two For The Road" in 1977, a magnificent duo album with guitarist Larry Coryell, featuring a repertoire of jazz standards. Later that same year, Steve Khan released one of the best jazz fusion/rock albums of the 1970s. On "Tightrope", Khan enlisted various musicians from the New York jazz scene, including the Brecker brothers, Randy and Michael, David Sanborn, Ralph MacDonald, Steve Gadd, David Spinozza, and Will Lee, in addition to Bob James' production. This album is a perfect treatise on jazz fusion, where Khan's virtuosic guitar playing blends seamlessly with the instrumental contributions of all his talented collaborators. The album's repertoire ranges from jazz-funk pieces like "Some Punk Funk" to smooth jazz tracks such as "Darlin' Darlin' Baby (Sweet Tender Love)", as well as the jazz-rock of "Tightrope", the West Coast jazz of "The Big Ones", the elegant melodies of "Soft Summer Breeze", and forays into avant-garde jazz with "Star Chamber".

Warhorse-Red Sea (1972)

“Red Sea” was the second and final release from the British band Warhorse, one of the most promising progressive hard rock bands of the seventies, who had the misfortune of competing with contemporaries like Uriah Heep and Deep Purple, among many other bands of the era. Their leader, bassist Nick Simper, came from the latter, and was, predictably, expelled by Ritchie Blackmore. Even from their impressive debut, this band possessed all the elements for guaranteed success: the raw sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival, the feeling of the Allman Brothers, the magic of Led Zeppelin, and the virtuosity of ELP. Their continued success was a palpable demonstration that with different luck and a better vocalist, they could have gone much further. For this second album, the band still consisted of Ashley Holt on vocals, guitarist Peter Parks, keyboardist Frank Wilson, drummer Mac Poole, and the aforementioned Nick Simper on bass. At the time, there was much debate about why they never achieved the success they deserved. Perhaps part of it was the insufficient promotion by the record company Vertigo, which was more interested in promoting other bands on its roster. However, it's also true, considering the time of its release, that there were dozens of bands then that were competitive and incredibly creative enough to surpass or equal them with their interesting approach, without resorting to the same old clichés. Even so, Wilson's raw and gritty organ, Simper and Poole's firm and precise rhythm section, Parks' sweet guitar harmonies, and Holt's tense and vibrant screams carried the band through the series of high-quality songs that make up this album, as demonstrated by the hard rock tracks "Back In Time" and "Mouthpiece", both with that unmistakable Deep Purple style, the blues rock "Confident But Wrong", the laid-back "Feeling Better", the rhythmic "Sybilla", and the progressive "I (Who Have Nothing)". “Red Sea” would be the culmination of a band that in its early days showed itself to be one of the most precocious formations of the best hard rock, even almost on par with Deep Purple themselves, but for different reasons they did not get past the starting line and fell into complete oblivion, despite creating two fantastic albums that today are considered an essential part of the evolution of proto-hard rock.