One of the best-loved and commercially successful jazz groups ever---THE RIPPINGTONS --- celebrate their 25th Anniversary with BUILT TO LAST. Its their biggest, most ambitious album ever. Rippingtons leader Russ Freeman has challenged himself and his band mates to make an imaginative, hook-filled collection, fronted by the new single Cougars and Gigolos. The mix of music is enticing and sure to please fans and newcomers alike, and includes four bonus alternative versions with full orchestra, adding a further, neo-classical dimension to this career landmark. From orchestrated, widescreen epics, to lyrical, smooth ballads, and high energy, progressive jazz-rock---for once, the title says it all: The Rippingtons and their music are BUILT TO LAST forever.

As the driving force behind the Rippingtons' diverse but instantly recognizable contemporary jazz sound since the mid-'80s, founder, composer, and guitarist Russ Freeman has always drawn from his technical expertise and passion for new hardware and software to fashion rich musical landscapes. On Built to Last, Freeman harkens back to his early film scoring studies to add a powerful orchestral grandeur to the mix. Pushing the envelope like never before, he keeps his trademark melodies at the forefront but draws on the strings to expand the band's core sound to include everything from pop and symphonic rock to classical chamber music, country (he spent much of his adolescence and teen years in Nashville), chill/ambient, electric jazz fusion, and -- in an electrifying move -- even heavy metal, enhancing his own powerful guitar energy with a scorching solo by Zakk Wylde. He complements the 11 main tracks with a simple and beautiful, classical guitar/orchestra-driven reprise of the title track and orchestral takes on four of the collection's most memorable pieces: the electronica-meets-jazz/rock-fusion explosion Fool's Gold, the whimsical and soaring, acoustic guitar-centered Black Oak, a balmy, easy grooving and twangy Hotel Deville, and the hard-rocking title track, which features Freeman on the Ibanez 335, a guitar he hasn't recorded with in over 20 years! While the material at the core of these songs is catchy and simple as per the Ripps' pop/jazz roots, the dynamic and dramatic highs and lows (with often quick and unexpected shifts in gear), stylistic free-for-all approach, and string textures add up to make Built to Last a bold, boundary-stretching start to the Rippingtons' next quarter-century. ~ Jonathan Widran, Rovi

One of the best-loved and commercially successful jazz groups ever---THE RIPPINGTONS --- celebrate their 25th Anniversary with BUILT TO LAST. Its their biggest, most ambitious album ever. Rippingtons leader Russ Freeman has challenged himself and his band mates to make an imaginative, hook-filled collection, fronted by the new single Cougars and Gigolos. The mix of music is enticing and sure to please fans and newcomers alike, and includes four bonus alternative versions with full orchestra, adding a further, neo-classical dimension to this career landmark. From orchestrated, widescreen epics, to lyrical, smooth ballads, and high energy, progressive jazz-rock---for once, the title says it all: The Rippingtons and their music are BUILT TO LAST forever.

The follow-up to the X-Ecutioners' revolutionary debut is well worth the five-year wait. It's bigger, badder, and even more technically proficient than its predecessor, weighing in at 20 tracks constructed from scratches, skits, beat juggles, flares and fades, cuts, pitch plays, studio trickery, and live drums and guitar (played by the DJs). MC performances come courtesy of M.O.P, Kool G Rap, Large Professor, and Pharoahe Monch, and there are DJ collabs with Premier, Dan the Automator, the Beat Junkies, and Triple Threat, as well as an unlikely but successful pairing with Mike Shinoda and Mr. Hahn of Linkin Park fame. It's a quality piece of work, with old- and new-school references liberally scattered throughout (check the updates of Marley Marl's Marley Scratch, Whiz Kid's Play That Beat Mr. DJ, and Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love). A must. --Paul Sullivan

Everything Here Was Built to Break is a collection of out of print and unreleased tracks by the different incarnations of the Panoply Academy. With each new lineup change came a different band name, and Everything Here Was Built to Break runs chronologically backwards from the recent Panoply Academy Legionnaires to the Panoply Academy Corps of Engineers to the earliest, longest stint of the Panoply Academy Glee Club. The various forms of the Panoply Academy have always blended quirky math rock with epic intensity; think the Nation of Ulysses jamming with Sebadoh or Roadside Monument playing with Modest Mouse. The gems of Everything Here Was Built to Break seem to lie with the out of print tracks at the end of the disc. Tracks like The Acquisition (from the Krank Records Songs from the Loosing End comp), Lingo (from the Israfel comp), and Remedial Symmetry (from an Ape Records 7) showcase the band's raw power of angular rhythms in an intense whirlwind. If you are familiar with the Panoply Academy, Everything Here Was Built to Break will be of great interest and will definitely round out your discography. Those unfamiliar with the group may want to discover the Panoply Academy's regular albums first, working from the earliest to the most recent. Secretly Canadian deserves credit for having the good sense to secure and release these hard to find gems for Panoply fans to enjoy. ~ David Serra, Rovi

Built for War is a hip-hop concept album by Philadelphia based emcee Loyal and producer Karl Lazlo. Set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the album tells the story of Loyal; a talented, hardworking emcee struggling against the odds to be noticed in a place devoid of appreciation for the artform. In the midst of his journey, he meets Lazlo, a producer/DJ that provides him with the arsenal of metaphorical weaponry that he needs to survive. Although they face multiple career-threatening trials, they eventually emerge victorious after aligning with some of Philadelphia's most powerful emcees : Reef the Lost Cauze, Burke the Jurke, Capo, & more. Loyal, with his razor-sharp, lyrical style (inspired by greats like Eminem, Big Pun, & DMX) may be great, but combined with the sonic backdrop of Lazlo's beats (reminiscent of Wu-Tang, The Beatnuts, & DJ Premier), he is Built for War with the industry.

(Based on Rock of Ages & The Church's One Foundation). By Joel Raney. For SATB choir and piano with optional rhythm section. Performance/accompaniment CD. Published by Hope Publishing Company

Audio Mixer: Russ Freeman .Liner Note Author: Russ Freeman .Recording information: Surfboard Studios, Marina Del Rey, CA.As the driving force behind the Rippingtons' diverse but instantly recognizable contemporary jazz sound since the mid-'80s, founder, composer, and guitarist Russ Freeman has always drawn from his technical expertise and passion for new hardware and software to fashion rich musical landscapes. On Built to Last, Freeman harkens back to his early film scoring studies to add a powerful orchestral grandeur to the mix. Pushing the envelope like never before, he keeps his trademark melodies at the forefront but draws on the strings to expand the band's core sound to include everything from pop and symphonic rock to classical chamber music, country (he spent much of his adolescence and teen years in Nashville), chill/ambient, electric jazz fusion, and -- in an electrifying move -- even heavy metal, enhancing his own powerful guitar energy with a scorching solo by Zakk Wylde. He complements the 11 m

Michael Janisch is one of the most dynamic, driven, and enthusiastic of the new generation of jazz musicians on the international music scene today. A native of the United States, now living in London, he is a relentless performer and renowned bandleader, whose musicianship and virtuosity on the electric and acoustic basses have made him one of the most in-demand young musicians in the UK and beyond. Michael's debut album, Purpose Built, features 12 original compositions/arrangements (eight compositions; four arrangements); although consisting of divergent styles and grooves, each track is held together with the binding thread of his love for contemporary composition and his fellow musicians' mastery of jazz history and tradition. Recorded at the legendary Systems Two recording studio in Brooklyn, New York, Purpose Built features nine worldclass musicians, representing a cross-section of New York's current crop of young stars alongside some of London's top talent; they are: from the US - Jonathan Blake (drums); Walter Smith III (tenor sax); Jason Palmer (trumpet); Mike Moreno (guitar); Aaron Goldberg (piano); Patrick Cornelius (alto sax); from the UK - Jim Hart (vibes); Paul Booth (saxes); and Phil Robson (guitar).

The Bible continues to be the world's runaway best-seller. But very few people could say just how its seemingly disparate jumble of writings---stories, letters, poems, collections of laws, religious visions---got there. Filling this knowledge gap, How the Bible Was Built clearly tells the story of how the Bible came to be.Penned by Charles Merrill Smith in response to his teenage granddaughter's questions, the manuscript was discovered after Smith's death and has been reworked by his friend James Bennett for a wider audience. Free of theological or sectarian slant, this little volume provides a concise, factual overview of the Bible's construction throughout history, outlining how its various books were written and collected and later canonized and translated.Written in an easy conversational style and enhanced by two helpful appendices (of biblical terms and dates), How th Bible Was Built will give a more informed understanding of the Bible to people of virtually any reading level and any religious persuasion.

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