Rockhard

If Four Was One is the 1996 album by T.J. Kirk, whose premise is to bring together the music of Thelonious Monk ("T"), James Brown ("J"), and Rahsaan Roland "Kirk", with a little bit of inspiration from Prince in their version of "Rockhard In A Funky Place". This was their second and last album for Warner Bros. Records before they moved to Ropeadope.

Over the course of their now-three full-lengths, Norwegian heavy rockers Spidergawd have established a pervasive sense of duality. Beginning with their self-titled debut (review here) in 2014, the Trondheim four-piece have presented material that’s progressive and thoughtful, and yet tossed off quickly by the band in almost manic fashion as they move forward to the next thing. That debut? Recorded live at the band’s fifth rehearsal, reportedly. The follow-up, Spidergawd II (review here), arrived correspondingly early in 2015 and fleshed out the already-cohesive approach. Highlighted by flourishes of psychedelia while maintaining the core of high-level songcraft the first record established, it seemed even more intentional in its construction. Spidergawd III — or just III, depending on how you want to read it — is no less a step forward and it arrives topped with a similar-style of artwork through the same labels, Stickman Records and Crispin Glover Records, with eight tracks that relentlessly move Spidergawd ahead of where they were sound-wise while also providing a high-quality listening experience.

The Black Album is the 1987 album by Prince. It was originally meant for release in December 1987 as the follow up to his Sign 'O' The Times album, what would have been his second album that year, until Prince had a change of heart, feeling he didn't want to share that level of darkness with people. He made a new album in place of it called Lovesexy and only using one song from The Black Album for it. Once Prince was "The Artist Formerly Known As", he was comfortable with releasing it but only for a limited time. Warner Bros. released it on 22 November, 1994 and was in print for only a year before being pulled from shelves.