An alter ego (second or different self) is both a close companion to the individual as well as an additional personality. David Orlowsky and David Bergmüller are companions, however, they could hardly be more different. They hail from different musical traditions and the combination of these two instruments have no historical references. When David Orlowsky first discovered a video of David Bergmüller on the internet, he was not aware that he had encountered his musical alter ego. The two met in Berlin and mutually agreed to make music together after just a few shared notes. They became companions, which then became a duo, the duo ultimately becoming an organism. Within this organism, David and David function as opposing and complementary personalities. Together they embark on a journey into unexplored worlds of sound. The clarinet is the voice of bygone times while the lute joins to create polyrhythmic structures allowing both new and old times to flow together in their original compositions. © Warner Classics

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After causing a sensation with their early singles and debut album Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, Dexys Midnight Runners went through an almost total revamp before their second album Too-Rye-Ay was released in 1982. The hard edged, amped up soul revival sound built around a tight as duck feathers horn section, the dockworker chic look, most of the band members...all gone. What remained was Kevin Rowland and his vision of a modern Irish soul music that mixed together horns, traditional instruments, and violins. Pairing that with a new raggle taggle style and an updated lineup that still retained songwriter/trombonist Big Jim Patterson while adding violinist Helen O' Hara as Rowland's new foil, the album retained all the energy of their debut while adding newfound warmth and even more poetry. Of course, it all came together perfectly on the timeless classic "Come On Eileen," a brilliantly wild and wooly song that brilliantly encapsulates everything Rowland was trying to do with this incarnation of the band. This kind of uptempo soul/Celtic/rock & roll fusion makes up a good chunk of the album; tracks like "The Celtic Soul Brothers," "Plan B" and their cover of one of their main musical heroes Van Morrison's rollicking "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile") mix the brittle horns, soothing strings and wall-punch backbeats into a live wire-meets-high wire act with Rowland testifying over the top, joined by his able core of vocalists who chime in to give support and question him along the way. It's almost impossible not to be swept away by the joyous tide of emotion that radiates light like a lighthouse on a murky night. It's music that makes one want to dance, cry, laugh, and tear things up (or down.) The ballads are just as inspiring. Rowland may not be cut from classic balladeer cloth, but he can sell a slow song like few others. He and the band display just the right touch of subtle drama on songs like "All in All (This One Last Wild Waltz)" that make proper use of a backing vocal choir, the poignant and then some "Old," and the truly majestic "Until I Believe in My Soul." That last track features one of Rowland's more inspired vocals, an incredible arrangement that manages to work in both a hard bop interlude and a whistling breakdown, and a chorus one might find in the dictionary under the heading of "rousing." The uptempo tracks get most of the attention -- and they well deserve it -- but one should never forget the power of Dexys when they dial it down and get serious. Too-Rye-Ay is a masterpiece of musical fusion powered by the genius soul of Kevin Rowland, fuelled by the incredible band he assembled, and built to outlast every twist and turn of musical taste and live forever as a true work of living, breathing art.© Tim Sendra /TiVo

With their major-label debut, Save Ferris attempts to distinguish itself from the legions of late-'90s ska-punks by adding a touch of swing, lifted from the Squirrel Nut Zippers, which makes them a novelty. Like their peers, though, they have a tendency to wallow in smirking "irony" -- their ham-fisted cover of Dexys Midnight Runners' "Come On Eileen" is embarrassing, and there's no need for a song called "Spam" -- which may sound good in concert, but it sinks on record. Still, there are a few signs that Save Ferris could break away from the pack. Lead vocalist Monique Powell has energy and charisma, while guitarist/songwriter Brian Mashburn can occasionally write a strong hook, as on "Superspy" or "The World Is New."© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Leonard Bernstein's 1953 musical Wonderful Town, with song texts by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, hasn't had frequent performances and recordings. It has lots of things going for it: one of Bernstein's memorable tunes in "Ohio" ("Oh, why-o, why-o, why ..."), a conga scene that is inadequately motivated but certainly anticipates West Side Story, and an ensemble cast conception that was certainly known to the writers of A Chorus Line 20 years later. It also has some things going against it: the number "One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man" is retrograde even by the dismal standards of musical theater gender relations, and the storyline is a bit random. Bernstein seems to have acknowledged this with his concert version of the score, which showcases his tunes and his up-to-the-minute familiarity with jazz and Latin rhythms while not weighing itself down with the tale. Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra are fine, relaxed performers in this repertory, and they deliver a performance that goes beyond usual symphony-orchestra correctness. One wonders how the topical references to American football, Kiwanis clubs, and the like, go down with overseas performers, but Duncan Rock as Wreck seems comfortable with the latter (sample "Pass the Football") and the lead female vocal duo of Australia's Danielle de Niese and the American Alysha Umphress are fine in the more universal theme of small town girls in the big city. The cast's American accents are impressively consistent, probably more so than they would be in a U.S. production, and the sound from this 2017 live recording at the Barbican keeps everything clear. © James Manheim /TiVo

Richards' second solo album is even more delightfully focused than his first. Highlights include "Wicked as It Seems," "Eileen," and the searing "999." New Rolling Stones albums should rock this hard.© Cub Koda /TiVo

Skid Row waited out the grunge storm and returned in 1995 with Subhuman Race, their strongest and most vicious record to date. Abandoning most of the pop-metal posturing of their early hit albums, Skid Row strip back their music to the basics -- roaring guitars and Sebastian Bach's shriek. It wasn't a hit the size of Slave to the Grind, yet it made an impressive showing, climbing into the Top 40.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo