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Not the Beatles, but an incredible facsimile: on their sprawling 27-song debut opus, Music From the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle, the Olivia Tremor Control manage to summon not only the sound of the White Album-era Fab Four, but also the unfettered creativity. The soundtrack to an unmade film about a pair of women named Olivia and Jacqueline and a massive earthquake dubbed the California Demise, the album incorporates a slew of influences and textures (including Beach Boys-flavored pop, psychedelia, Krautrock, noise, and folk-rock) and synthesizes them into a distinct homebrew of shimmering harmonies, guitar drones, backward tape loops, and inventive effects. As an added bonus, the first few thousand copies came with a bonus CD of ambient "dream sequences" -- titled Explanation II -- which, when played simultaneously with the first disc, realizes true quadraphonic sound. Amazing. © Jason Ankeny /TiVo

Marking the release of the remake of Ocean's Eleven, the 1960 Las Vegas caper film starring Frank Sinatra and members of his Rat Pack of friends, Capitol Records issued two Rat Pack albums: a compilation of studio recordings featuring Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr. and this previously unreleased live recording. Between 1960 and 1965 (and briefly in 1988), the three singers performed together off and on, and their stage act has been captured in various media. There is film of their performances in 1960 in Las Vegas during the making of Ocean's Eleven, a recording of their show at a nightclub near Chicago in the fall of 1962 legitimately released in 1999 as The Summit: In Concert, and a videotape of a closed-circuit benefit performance from 1965. In September 1963, preparing for another group film, Robin and the Seven Hoods, the three got together during a Martin engagement at the Sands in Las Vegas, and Sinatra had his record label, Reprise, record the proceedings, but ultimately decided against releasing an album at the time. This is that recording, and much of it will sound familiar to anyone who has encountered other Rat Pack shows. In his liner notes, Bill Zehme quotes Bill Miller, Sinatra's accompanist, as saying that "maybe 30 percent of the act was ad libbed." Miller added, "Usually by Dean," and that sounds right. As usual, Martin begins with comic rewrites of standards, in particular a version of Cole Porter's "I Love Paris" rendered as "I Love Vegas." Sinatra follows with a straight six-song set, and then he and Martin joke it up for a while before giving way to a brief set by Davis. Many of the jokes are repeated from previous performances, but some are new. The key, of course, is the trio's camaraderie, which remains a delight.© William Ruhlmann /TiVo

Probably the most adventurous disc of Blind Guardian's career (and that's saying something with this troupe), A Night at the Opera lives up to its name by channeling Queen's most symphonic arias through a dynamic prog metal background that makes Fate's Warning's most complex licks seem positively pedestrian in comparison with a glorious production that allows every nuance to literally explode from the loudspeakers. As ambitious as this disc is, however, it is similarly difficult to digest. Everything is over the top to the nth degree; every refrain is bolstered with a chorus lifted to the heavens; every song is an overwrought epic overture of garish calls to Valhalla; every moment is a grandiose concerto. By the time you hit the bonus track "Mies del Dolor," the only moment of the disc where Blind Guardian lightens up even a little, the band must be exhausted. No doubt, the listener will be too. © Brian O'Neill /TiVo

This offering presents the multi-faceted talents of the Pointer Sisters -- Anita, Bonnie, June and Ruth -- in a live setting with a full orchestra under the direction of the ladies concertmaster and keyboardist Tom Salisbury. They were the very first pop act given permission to do their proverbial thang at the San Francisco Opera House, which they did on April 21, 1974. While the entire program provides an ample spotlight for the siblings' remarkable vocal prowess, the show commences with a lengthy (seven-plus-minute) instrumental "Overture: Prelude to Islandia." Once they hit the stage the real action begins, led off by a suitably hypersonic reading of Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts." The extended ensemble adds a further dynamic quality to the hot-steppin' bop revival. Hearing the vocalists pull off the performance with such aplomb is a treat for those familiar with the Sisters' similarly blistering take from That's a Plenty (1974), the long-player they were concurrently touring in support of. Fair warning to the uninitiated though, as the Sisters' mercurial delivery is a fast and furious ride and the quartet certainly seem to be having a good time bringing it to life. They continue with two Sisters' originals from That's a Plenty -- the lolloping uptown "Shaky Flat Blues," followed by the rurally-flavored "Fairytale." While admittedly odd in concept, the ostensibly incongruous juxtaposition comes off exceedingly well, no doubt thanks in part to the musical malleability of Salisbury's scoring. They give the cut a warm spoken introduction, inquiring whether attendees "mind if we sing a l'il country music here in the opry (sic) house tonight?" This might be a reference to the Pointer Sisters' recent invitation to the venerable Grand Ole' Opry House, an honor rarely bestowed upon non-genre artists. However, it was fitting as "Fairytale" chalked-up a sizable crossover on both the country and pop singles charts. They reach back to their self-titled debut for a vivacious interpretation of "Cloudburst" and the lush mellow and layered harmonies of "Jada." The moody "Black Coffee" is a highlight, as the emotive torch ballad is given a scintillating workout that easily outshines the studio version. The latter half of Live at the Opera House (1974) is notably grittier with a rousing cover of Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle" that simmers into a churnin' hunk of burnin' blues. The Broadway-derived "Steam Heat" -- taken from the soundtrack to the Pajama Game -- likewise thrives in these environs, even more so than it had on That's a Plenty. Saving the best for last, the Allen Toussaint classic "Yes We Can Can" is a funk free-for-all that prominently features the Sisters' usual quartet of Tom Salisbury (piano/organ/clavinet), Gaylord Birch (drums/percussion), John Neumann (bass) and Chris Michie (guitar). The jam linking to Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff's "Love in Them There Hills" climaxes with the Sisters wailing into a faultless a cappella ending. When Hip-O Select issued their domestic North American edition on CD, the audio was significantly improved by Grammy-winning engineer Gavin Lurssen and the four sides of the double-LP were joined, forming a single, cohesive listening experience. They replicated the original gatefold album jacket as well, adding a nice touch of nostalgia. Live at the Opera House is by all accounts and measures an essential entry from the Pointer Sisters in their prime.© Lindsay Planer /TiVo

Recordings on this, the Guy Garvey-fronted, Mancunian indie act's first live album are culled from two same-day October 2019 performances in a hometown venue at which they first performed in 2001. The Ritz provides an intimate setting in which the band deliver pared-down readings of material from their canon, including tracks from Giants of All Sizes, the studio LP released only days prior to these performances.© James Wilkinson /TiVo

The Vienna Stories title of this release by harpist Anneleen Lenaerts is more personal than thematic. Only some of the pieces are from or about Vienna (although the inclusion of An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314 ("The Blue Danube Waltz") qualifies the collection as Viennese in the end. Lenaerts is the principal harpist of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, where she has become an emerging star of her instrument. At the end of the program, she brings in some of her Philharmonic colleagues as a small string group. This is entirely in keeping with the spirit of the program, which evokes unusually nicely the atmosphere of a salon harp concert of a century or more ago. Most of the pieces are transcriptions of various ages, and Lenaerts contributes a Fantasy on La Bohème by Puccini of her own; it is indeed good to hear a new entry in the operatic paraphrase genre, which any 19th century listener would have taken as natural, but which is mighty rare these days. Listen to the 1914 harp version of Smetana's The Moldau by Hans Trneček, where Lenaerts' clean, liquid runs help establish her as a major player of her instrument. There's an X-factor here in the frequent presence of the harp's lyrical charm, of which any viewer of The Marx Brothers' films is aware but which is sometimes lost in the sheer technical difficulties of the instrument. The sound environment of the Casino Baumgarten in Vienna is appropriate, but Lenaerts is miked too closely, picking up extraneous noise that would have been inaudible to hearers of such a program in 1914. Save for that, a lovely harp recital.© TiVo