Electric Light Orchestra-Zoom (2001)

The Electric Light Orchestra, published in 2001, "Zoom" which was the first album published after "Balance of Power" fifteen years ago, thus re-floating the group after some fruitful years of its leader Jeff Lynne, who had participated in many projects during all that time.
With the collaboration of Richard Tandy, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Lynne produces, composes, arranges, sings and plays virtually all instruments.
An album that is close to his post-ELO style, highlighting guitars and keyboards, especially in more rock songs like "Alright", "Meting In The Sun", "Easy Money" or "All She Wanted".
But there are also elegant orchestral passages that take us back to the best era of the band like "Ordinary Dream", "Moment In Paradise" or the sober "Strangers On A Quiet Street" or "A Long Time Love".

Hawkwind-X In Search Of Space (1971)

"Hall of the Mountain Grill" was Hawkwind's fourth album and their first to fuse spacey sounds with the acid rock of their earlier work. Recorded during mid-1974 at Edmonton Sundwood Studios in London, it was produced by the renowned Roy Thomas Baker, a regular engineer for bands such as Free, Queen, Journey, Nazareth, and Foreigner, among many others. For this third release, keyboardist and violinist Simon House replaced Robert Calvert, while the rest of the band consisted of Dave Brock (guitar and keyboards), Nik Turner (saxophone, flute, and vocals), Lemmy Kilmister (bass and vocals), Simon King (drums and percussion), and Del Dettmar (keyboards). The new sound is evident in tracks like "The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke)", "D-Rider", and "Paradox", while the acid-tinged rock vein remains present in tracks like "You'd Better Believe It" and "Lost Johnny". However, the complete absence of Robert Calvert's science fiction and fantasy poetry interludes is noticeable. While these don't necessarily detract from the album's final result, they do lack the philosophical spark of his earlier work. Even so, as mentioned at the beginning, this album marked the beginning of a more ambient and progressive style, resulting in an admirable work of the best space rock of the 1970s.

Gurnemanz-No Rays Of Noise (1977)

Gurnemanz were an incredible German band who, influenced by the progressive folk sounds of their British contemporaries Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, and The Pentangle, enjoyed a commendable artistic career, releasing three amazing albums in the 1970s, highly praised by connoisseurs of semi-acoustic folk-rock. They formed in the early 1970s in the German city of Bergheim, when Lukas Wolfgang Scheel (guitar, vocals, mandolin, banjo, lute), Manuela Schmitz (vocals, percussion, and flute), Siegfried Bushuven (double bass), and Wolfgang Riedel (guitar, vocals, and harmonica) came together, along with frequent contributions from keyboardist Georg "Köbi" Köberlein and percussionist Bernie Schacht. Their first two purely acoustic works were released by EMI's German subsidiary label, Electrola: "Fair Margaret and Sweet William" (1972) and "Spielmannskinder" (1975). In 1977 came the band's epitaph, "No Rays of Noise". On this third album, Manuela Schmitz's beautiful voice, with its serene vocal line, fits perfectly into the pastoral and acoustic atmospheres with psychedelic undertones, poetic lyrics, and beautifully dreamlike hippie vibes, all underpinned by a rich and varied musicality featuring acoustic instruments such as mandolins, lutes, kazoos, harmonicas, and flutes.

Bad Company-Burnin´Sky (1977)

The career of the indomitable Bad Company left behind a trail of great classics in the form of generational rock anthems such as "Can't Get Enough", "Ready For Rock", "Rock Steady", "Sweet Lil' Sister", and "Good Lovin' Gone Bad", all of which cemented their status as one of the greatest exponents of hard rock worldwide. In 1977, the band, led by Paul Rodgers and Mick Ralphs, and backed by the formidable rhythm section of Boz Burrell and Simon Kirk, released their fourth album, "Burnin' Sky", showcasing their usual blues-rock sound but with a greater emphasis on the power and vigor of their repertoire. Ralphs's splendid guitar riffs, combined with the powerful bass and drumming of Burrell and Kirke, and adorned by Rodgers's prodigious vocals, result in a magnificent album composed of heavy tracks like "Heartbeat", "Burnin's Sky", "Everything I Need", and "Too Bad", while the bluesy numbers "Morning Sun", "Leaving You", and "Like Water" evoke the earlier Free lineup. Despite not achieving the same level of success as their previous works, "Burnin' Sky" reached number fifteen on the US charts, selling over a million copies worldwide.