This is a popular section in all the departments, because this is where you find all the very latest releases as well and some others that are still relatively new, but might have been around for a month or so. It’s a data driven sub-department (no reviews) and features a selection of the hottest new release from our main database in this category. This section will be updated on a daily basis, so you’d be best advised to come back in as often as you can to catch the new titles as they go on-line at CD Services. You will note that some titles will have Special Offer Prices - These are not in the ‘Special Offer’ section because they are NEW, but with Pre-Release Offer Prices that will more than likely expire after the first week of being available, when they will revert back to their standard prices. It is always advisable to pre-order New Releases to get the best possible price AND delivery on release day. You will find more New Releases in the ‘Featured New Releases’ section with the added dimensions of extra info and in-depth reviews.

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With guitarist Jeff Kollman on guitars on most tracks, this is decidedly a bassist’s album, as the bass guitar is well up in the mix throughout, showcasing Chown’s dexterity and inventive playing techniques. With additional instrumentation on selected tracks from keyboards and the odd bit of sax, it’s a much more varied album than you might think, but in keeping with a rock and fusion based framework. The guitar is the star, with bass and electric leads giving it rice, across a whole set of supremely tasty compositions. Definitely an album with a decided rock-fusion crossover, this one has plenty in the way of melodies, and plenty good solid rock to get your teeth into.

399504
Weight: 150.00 g

Jeff Kollman, Barry Sparks & Shane Gaalaas unleash a second instrumental rock guitar album under the Cosmosquad banner and it’s every bit as hot as the first, if not hotter, with the band whipping up a veritable storm on most of the tracks. The trio’s music impresses me more each time I hear it - The whole thing has the essence of quality about it – It’s dynamic, well-arranged / produced and played guitar based music in the instrumental rock spectrum. There is so much to hear as electric guitar solos fly, flow, riff and soar, and its all done with such a strength of feeling and passion that the 12 tracks go by almost in a flash. As with all Kollman’s work, melody and contrasts are everything, only this project rocks a lot harder than his solo stuff, but even here the band knows when to take it down a notch. A thoroughly excellent album for all rock guitar aficionados!

740010
Weight: 150.00 g

The extraordinary spectacle of what is essentially a band-played, instrumental rock guitar album, led, composed and arranged by the drummer Nigel Glockler. The result is a fantastic set of instrumentals featuring a band that’s red hot, with every facet produced and played to perfection. From the solid, crisp, tight and powerful drumming, via foundation-building bass, occasional enhancing synth fills, and incendiary electric guitar work that glows hot all the time, this is essentially the sound of dynamic instrumental, melody laden rock at its very best. It will appeal to most fans of the rock guitar genre, from Satriani & Macalpine onwards. It is a quartet that knows how to play with a musician that has a natural flare for composition – It’s music that is varied and consistent within its given framework, and an album that is a joy to hear from start to finish.

825973
Weight: 150.00 g

I’d forgotten that this CD only lasts twenty-four minutes!! – You’d think they’d have put some extra tracks on, or even another album to go on the CD with it, or something, but there you go. As it stands, it’s a great album anyway, with some classic guitar work that strides a tightrope between rock and fusion, always tasty and never over-indulgent, with plenty of solos and synth work to remind you of the glory days of UK in many places, particularly the first album. Mostly instrumental, the tracks are performed and composed with a passion that you know is real, and that passion shines on through like a beacon, with all-round class playing from all the musicians involved. Three of the six tracks feature vocals, from Jack Bruce & Paul Williams, while bass and drum duties come from the capable hands of Jeff Berlin & Chad Whackerman, so it’s an all-star cast that lives up to its reputation.

763660
Weight: 150.00 g

From 1996, this album is now available again. It’s a thirty-seven minute, 12 tracker, that showcases a wide range of the guitarist’s instrumental talent, with a whole plethora of shorter tracks that cover riff-fuelled rock to acoustic delicacy, all performed by the band with the enthusiasm and sense of dynamics that you would expect from such accomplished rock instrumental talent. All of the tracks are melodic, with nothing being flashy or over-the-top. Everything is kept pretty economical, while the guitar work keeps you more than interested throughout. It’s not exactly a rock instrumental CD that is going to knock your socks off, but it’s a good degree more satisfying than many I could name.

735995
Weight: 150.00 g

Recorded at Orion Sound Studios as part of the Baltimore Progressive Rock showcase series, this is live in the studio, in front of an audience, as opposed the concert hall - a sort of USA ‘Radio 1 In Concert’ type of thing. Their last album was a powerhouse while the first was more restrained, using dynamics for effect rather than face-pummelling guitar overload. Here they spend the first six minutes of the first track letting things build, they being one of the finest new rock-based instrumental guitar-bass-drums trios to come out of the USA in a while. Then they let loose, and a slower but decidedly powerhouse passage emerges with some astonishing electric bass work and guitar solos coming to the fore. Layers and textures that recall ‘Split’-era Groundhogs, without the blues elements come to the surface, as in essence, the band choose to follow the path of greater dynamics, as evidenced on the first album, with pieces building intensity and increasing power levels. Sterling ensemble work is on display throughout each of the 8 tracks, with the up-front bass either growling or going all Pastorius oriented and solid, while the guitar work is direct, intricate, melodic and powerful. The whole band produce to perfection, delivering a smoking hot set of instrumentals that number them as way more than a rock, fusion or jazz-rock trio – Quite superb!

767164
Weight: 150.00 g

Doesn’t sound promising, does it? Well, surprisingly, it’s a really rather fine album from a band featuring members of Acid King, Swans & Ritual Device, among others. The highlight of the album are a killer twelve-minute cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘One Of These Days’, where they unleash the guitars and whip up a storm that Floyd could only dream of doing - truly sensational stuff! In addition, there are three different versions of Motorhead’s track: ‘Sister’, as well as a load of instrumentals that feature guitars, feedback, electric bass and drums. In all there are 10 tracks on this CD, and over a playing time of one hour, the band go through a variety of largely quite psychedelic-contemporary affairs, featuring thick riffing to sky-high histrionics, all shrouded in a positive pea-soup of guitars with effects/treatments, but rarely do they lose sight of melody, as such, and structure, certainly.

659284
Weight: 150.00 g

It’s funny, you know – you review all these rock guitar instrumental albums and, quite rightly, praise the gems, often saying how genuinely hot they all are. But then something comes along that simply towers over everything else and becomes a benchmark by which you should, theoretically, judge the others. Only trouble is, when an album is THAT good, you can’t possibly use it as said benchmark otherwise you’d end up with nothing to say about any of it! Now, at this point, you’re expecting me to say that this is that album – the ‘ultimate’ rock guitar album – well, it isn’t  - but it’s close. 12 tracks between just over two and just over five minutes long, mostly testify to a band whose delivery, arrangements and composition are the pinnacle of economy. No note is wasted and no notes are superfluous, yet the result is one astoundingly rock oriented, superbly played, dynamic and blood-rushing album that has guitar work to die for and a rhythm section so fantastic sounding that they deserve to pick up an award for their contribution. A couple of tracks don’t quite carry it off, but mostly this is electric guitar work at its finest - Riffs, solos and rhythms cruising and surging effortlessly forward – Its powerful rather than heavy, although turned up loud enough, it’s heavy and metallic enough for most, albeit somewhat tastier. Overall, as good as it gets really, and if you like quality, variation, range and dynamics in your rock guitar music rather than just full-on force, then this is essential.

741469
Weight: 150.00 g

Dynamic instrumental rock guitar music from the States, and this is the sound of a musician who really knows how to compose a good tune, and here, he proceeds to create 9 of the things on one of those warm-sounding albums where the guitar takes centre stage. The general band interplay from the keyboards, bass and drums is exemplary, but it’s the strong axe-work that towers over everything else. With a sea of vari-paced soaring electric solos, allied to the equally vari-textured backdrops and strong paced rhythms, this is an extremely enjoyable album, mixing rock music to be played over and over again with a more fusion-y feel and tunes to die for.

825961
Weight: 150.00 g

For the second album, the few fusion elements presented on the self-tiled CD have now blossomed into a more early Pat Metheny styled sound, and this may be partly due to the fact that keyboard player Guy Le Blanc from progressive fusion band Nathan Mahl has produced the album. Some passages have a feel of having rock at one end and cosmic John Martyn at the other, and by the later - just take track 4 (‘Somewhere Between Theory & Forgiveness’) for a neat answer to Martyn’s ‘Small Hours’. Another six cracking tracks make up the rest of this album and there are some fantastic tunes and melodies in there too, as well as a wholly stronger approach to the ensemble playing from the other musicians, revealing an even greater sense of light and shade than that of the first album. With guitar work that is largely more tasty than incendiary, this really is a fine follow-up album.

825962
Weight: 150.00 g

11-track solo album from the Cosmosquad bassist, and it turns out to be performed entirely on acoustic guitars! Musically, it’s reliant a lot on layers, which is unusual for an acoustic album, and because of this it often creates the effect of several guitarists playing at any one time. The overall feel is of the California Guitar Trio, so anyone liking them should really get off on this CD. It is totally melodic and, for an acoustic album, it’s remarkably full-sounding throughout, with sections that invoke memories of everything from John Renbourn to Mike Oldfield. Melodic from start to finish, this is a thoroughly competent solo album.

164917
Weight: 150.00 g

Usually a ‘greatest hits’ album by an instrumental rock guitarist would be a bit of a waste of time, because the audiences who like that sort of thing, would have all the normal albums anyway and see no point buying up another album choc full of things they’ve already got! This one is different - For a start, the chances of most of you reading this having more than one of his CD’s is not great. Then there are the CD’s themselves – he’s made some good ones for sure but nothing particularly mind-blowing. However, some bright spark has gathered together what they regard as the cream of his work, and the result is one of the finest instrumental rock-blues-style electric guitar albums you’re going to hear this year – or any year for that matter! This is sensational - Imagine a cross between Stevie Ray Vaughan, Frank Zappa & Joe Satriani, and you’re pretty close, and if you think that comparison is over-the-top, then you only have to listen to this album to hear that not only is that not the case, but if anything, the reality is even greater! It’s one of those cases where the phrase “if you only ever own one instrumental rock guitar album, it’s got to be this one”, rings true, loud and clear. Everything about it – the playing, production, dynamics, writing, soloing, rhythm section, in fact the whole works, is nigh on perfection. This is one instrumental album that will be enjoyed by all - even people who don’t like instrumental albums. Fantastic!

825825
Weight: 150.00 g