There is two kinds of music, the good and the bad�



-Louis Armstrong



Powersolo rock like ten men, which says a lot when you consider they�re a trio. It says even more when you take into account that they really don�t solo at all,and that they come from that musical hinterland known as Denmark, where the closest thing to an association with rock is Zeppelin�s �Immigrant Song�.

A generation has grown up without Reference Recordings, which due to a series of business mishaps, had gone silent and not due to a lack of demand for its consistently spectacular recordings and often adventurous titles.

The late Arthur Alexander�s story is reminiscent of Roy Orbison�s. Like Orbison, Alexander passed away on his way to a resurrected career, though Orbison got to see his rebound while Alexander didn�t. He�d quit the music business and was driving a bus whenElektra A&R exec Danny Khan saw Alexander perform in 1991 at New York\\'s Bottom Line in one of the clubs famous "A bunch of song writers sitting around singing" shows and convinced him to go back into the studio.

If you�re not yet familiar with him, Matisyahu is a 28-year-old white, Chassidic Jewish reggae-rapper/rocker from West Chester, Pennsylvania. Now read that over a few more times, do you have a mental picture yet? He dons the traditional dress of The Hasidic Jews, wears a long beard and sounds a bit like �Jr. Gong� Marley. In addition he�s a self proclaimed former-Deadhead, loves Phish and is an adept beat boxer.

There was a time when recordings studios were scenes, and the scenes produced great records, much like bar and club scenes produce great performers.

A throwback to the �60�s British folk scene that produced The Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Shirley and Dolly Collins and dozens of others, Scottish folksinger Alasdair Roberts brings a spare purity to his original folk balladry.



Without sounding precious or contrived, he creates new songs that manage to sound both old and authentic.

Roberts� fourth album shifts 180 degree shift from the dark No Earthly Man, his previous record, which consisted of eight traditional �death ballads.�

Sure, being a shy, self-conscious kid from a rural western town trying to come to terms with life in the big city who constantly yearns for the reciprocity of love to come to fruition, may make it all very easy to cast Jon- Rae Fletcher as the consummate underdog. He even looks the part- tall and sinewy in stature, with a disheveled mane, a goofy grin, and big, thick glasses that may have been popular in the 1950�s; Jon Rae practically begs you to root for him.