Centered around some soundtrack music that Herbie Hancock wrote for Bill Cosby's Fat Albert cartoon show, Fat Albert Rotunda was Hancock's first full-fledged venture into jazz-funk -- and his last until Head Hunters -- making it a prophetic release.

The Police: Sting (vocals, bass); Stewart Copeland (vocals, drums); Andy Summers (guitar).
The career of the Police was planned, controlled and timed to perfection. The three talented individuals probably always knew that they would attempt to conquer the world and then disappear to pursue their own musical interests. This is the second of their five albums and contains two number 1 hits. Both are interesting little vignettes from the mind of Sting; 'Walking On The Moon', where he pleads 'I hope my legs don't break', and 'Message In A Bottle', which has a similarly desperate theme, with Sting observing 'seems I'm not alone in being alone, 100 billion castaways looking for a home'. Sting's theories do still hold water.

The Police: Sting (vocals, bass); Andy Summers (guitar); Stewart Copeland (drums).

For their third album, the Police, now official megastars, began to move away from the new wave-reggae hybrid they introduced on their first two releases.

The Police: Sting (vocals, bass); Andy Summers (vocals, guitar); Stewart Copeland (drums).
The Police brashly asserted themselves on the American pop scene with OUTLANDOS D'AMOUR, their first album. Their distinctive mix of rock and reggae with Sting's jazz-based vocals and slightly punk lyrics was unlike that of any other group.

Ranked #76 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums"
The Police: Sting (vocals, keyboards, bass); Andy Summers (guitar); Stewart Copeland (drums).
In the wake of ZENYATTA MONDATTA's massive success, the Police edged even further away from their earlier reggae leanings, but instead of moving into the mainstream, they continued experimenting with sophisticated textures and exotic rhythms.

The soundtrack to Zappa's "movie about people who do stuff that is not normal" features some of the man's trademark musical madness: quirky shifts of time signatures, style and mood, sterling instrumental work (featuring drummer Terry Bozzio, guitar ace Adrian Belew and '60s Zappa cohort Roy Estrada).

SHIP ARRIVING turned out to be Zappa's highest charting and most popular album of the '80s (its title is based on the album's cover artwork--a drawing by '50s artist Roger Price). The record's unexpected commercial success was due to the inclusion of the popular novelty song "Valley Girl".

In 1985, Sting decided to abandon The Police and flex his musical muscles, assembling a jazz ensemble and setting out on tour to break the barriers between pop and jazz. It is an extremely well done concert set taken from Sting's 1985 European tour.

Zappa's late-'70s/early-'80s period was marked by many personnel changes to his regular touring group. TINSEL TOWN REBELLION documents some of the first live recordings to feature the likes of Steve Vai, Warren Cucurullo and Vinnie Colaiuta, all of whom who would go on to become infamous for their Zappa tenure.