The last 3 albums to fall through my letterbox together from Amazon were Adam Holzman and Brave New World, JazzRocketScience, Welcome by Santana, and Livestock by Brand X. One relatively new album, and two from the 70s. I guess I'm in a "Desperately Seeking Fusion" mood. I don't know why I didn't buy JazzRocketScience last year when it came out, but I'm glad I've caught up. It's a really well crafted album, with great tunes and great arrangements. Let's pick out one tune - The Telltale Heart. It has a lovely, circular piano introduction that moves in to a typical Holzman beat and rising and falling themes. Lots of interesting synthesizer noises. The album as a whole is a great example of the current state of jazz fusion. Welcome was a departure for Santana in 1973, moving a step away from Caravanserai in to more subtle Latin territory, and also showing the first fruits of Carlos Santana's collaboration with John McLaughlin. I had forgotten how absolutely excellent Flame-Sky was - it's quite a while since I played my old vinyl album. This is lovely piece in 10/8 time, that is a slow burn from the start, building to a menacing crescendo. It pitches Santana's beautiful guitar sustain against McLaughlin's "Birds of Fire" attack and ferocity. It has great major to minor to major chord changes, and you can feel the flames igniting. It's getting a lot of play on the iPod. Welcome is rather a forgotten classic.Livestock is a fine example showing how well Brand X could play live. It's beautifully recorded, and the ensemble playing is excellent, although Phil Collins drumming just stands out (though Kenwood Dennard plays on some of it). Malaga Virgin shows their light and shade, beautiful melodies and the aggressive codas they could put together.And while we are at it, does anybody remember Desperately Seeking Fusion back in the 80s? They were a short lived, British fusion band, with Tony Remy on guitar, Frank Tontoh on drums and possibly Jason Rebello on keyboards. I saw one of their few gigs in some place I can't remember on the Edgware Road, above a restaurant or some such. They did a great job, but I guess a recording contract wasn't forthcoming, so the members went on to session work and other things. Shame. We need more of this stuff.