Blame a meddling music label for Greg Lake’s fortuitous switch to the bass. He says childhood friend Robert Fripp needed a frontman for King Crimson — but Fripp, of course, already played guitar.

I expected Joe Lovano, after an association dating back to 1981, to offer tribute to Paul Motian — the legend who died just two months before the saxist began Cross Culture. Instead, Lovano begins with a sun-drenched burst of joy.

For Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Steven Tyler, there was one moment — one song — that forged their musical bond: The Yardbirds’ version of “Train Kept a Rollin.’”

<<< BACKWARD (“Big Noise, New York”) ||| ONWARD (“Junkie Girl”) >>> *** STEELY DAN SUNDAY INDEX *** Next to Lennon and McCartney, Becker and Fagen is, in my view, the highest quality songwriting partnership in rock.

Drummer Steven Adler has built a fair bit of legend in hard rock circles, but for all the wrong reasons. Adler, you may recall, was the guy who was kicked out of Guns n’ Roses because of his drug problem. That takes some real effort.

For fans of the retired Phil Collins, Paul D’Adamo’s Tell Me Something might be the closest you’ll get to new music. Most of his former solo band is reassembled, and six of the album’s 10 songs were recorded by Collins and Genesis between 1976-85.