11.05.2017.

FANNY - First Time In A Long Time: The Reprise Recordings (2002)

Upon signing hard rock combo Fanny in 1970, Warner Bros. claimed their new acquisition was the first all-female rock band -- a statement far from the truth, of course, but as one of the first self-contained female groups to land on a major label, they were an important harbinger of things to come. Fanny formed in California under the name Wild Honey, teaming singer/guitarist June Millington, her bassist sister Jean, keyboardist Nickey Barclay, and drummer Alice de Buhr. (The Millingtons and de Buhr had previously played in a Sacramento garage band called the Svelts.) With Wild Honey signing to Reprise, the new name Fanny was sested to producer Richard Perry by no less than ex-Beatle George Harrison; though a relatively innocuous term in the band's native United States, its more scandalous meaning overseas was only known to the group much later on.

Fanny's self-titled debut LP appeared in 1970, earning radio airplay for its cover of the Cream favorite "Badge." The title track from their 1971 follow-up Charity Ball was the group's first Billboard chart hit, although they enjoyed greater commercial success in the U.K., touring in support of Jethro Tull and Humble Pie. (They were also banned from performing at the London Palladium on the grounds they were "too sexy.") After contributing as session players on Barbra Streisand's self-titled 1971 album, Fanny issued Fanny Hill a year later, but following 1973's Todd Rundgren-produced Mother's Pride, June Millington and de Buhr left the group. Millington was replaced by guitarist Patti Quatro, formerly of the Pleasure Seekers and sister of another pioneering female rocker, Suzi Quatro. De Buhr's spot was first taken by Brie Howard, who had also played in the Millingtons' pre-Wild Honey band, although she was soon replaced by Cam Davis. The reconstituted lineup landed with Casablanca for a disappointing final album, 1974's Rock'n'Roll Survivors, before dissolving. The Millington sisters later recorded as solo artists before reuniting as the Slammin' Babes, while Barclay later toured as part of Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen troupe and in 1976 issued a solo LP, Diamond in a Junkyard. De Buhr, meanwhile, also remained in the music industry, at one time working as a retail marketing coordinator for A&M; -- where she was assigned to promote the Go-Go's, one of the bands for whom Fanny clearly paved the way.

It's amazing that this four-CD box set exists in the first place, considering not only that Fanny never had a Top 100 album, but that they've never had a particularly big cult following either. But here it is, albeit in a limited edition of 5,000 (sold in North America only). And all the stops were certainly pulled to assemble material, including not only all four of their early-'70s Reprise albums, but dozens of extras, many of them unreleased. Non-LP singles, single-only versions, home and studio demos (the earliest of them dating from July 1969, when they were still known as Wild Honey), alternate versions, outtakes: they're all here. Plus there's more: the tracks on the Canadian version of their debut album (which included three alternate versions never released elsewhere, as well as some cuts that only came out in the U.S. as non-LP singles) that didn't make it onto the U.S. configuration; seven songs from an April 1973 Philadelphia concert; four tracks from a live April 1972 Cleveland performance; six cuts from a demo session for the Mother's Pride album; even four Reprise radio commercials. Not to mention a 52-page booklet with extensive interview quotes from June Millington, Jean Millington, and Alice de Buhr. By definition any serious fan of any act is going to be pleased with such thoroughness. But all the bells and whistles don't act as convincing evidence that Fanny were any more than an ordinary, at times mundane, early-'70s rock band, leaving aside their pioneering status as an all-woman group on a major label that played their own instruments and wrote most of their material. The loads of non-LP and unreleased material aren't all that different than from what ended up on the four proper albums, though sometimes they show a more explicitly soul direction, as on the cover of Maxine Brown's "One Step at a Time" and the unreleased take of the Supremes' "Back in My Arms Again." The live recordings do prove that the band could rock convincingly and tightly on stage, and the fidelity on those is decent, though on the Cleveland cuts in particular it probably wouldn't have been judged up to release standard. Some of the demos are a mite folkier and more singer/songwriter-oriented than the albums, though that might be due more to the more basic arrangements than the material. Note that this doesn't include absolutely everything Fanny did; there's nothing from their post-Reprise album for Casablanca, and an archival live album of 1972 stuff done in Cleveland contains music not on this box.

CHRIS YOULDEN - Nowhere Road (1973) & Citychild (1974)

Best known for having replaced Bryce Portius as one of Savoy Brown's original lead singers, during his tour of duty with the band Chris Youlden rivaled Kim Simmonds in serving as the band's focal point. In addition to being blessed with a voice that was perfectly suited for the band's bluesy rock moves, his reputation wasn't hurt by his onstage attire - often a bowler and monocle, or a tux. It also didn't hurt that Youlden was a capable writer, responsible for penning roughly half of Savoy's classic early-'70s material.

Unhappy with Savoy Brown's constant touring and drift towards what he considered to be mindless boogie, in May 1970, Youlden tendered his resignation. He effectively vanished for the next three years, unexpectedly reappeared in 1973 signed by London Records as a solo act (coincidently Savoy Brown's label). Produced by Barry Murray, 1973's "Nowhere Road" was notable for the fact it bore little resemblance to his Savoy Brown catalog. With Youlden penning all eleven tracks, material such as 'Chink of Sanity' and 'Mama Don't Talk So Loud' retained a bluesy base, but injected a distinctively sinewy funky edge into selections such as the title track (boasting a great guitar solo), 'One October Day' (with some tasty horns) and the blazing 'Cryin' In the Road'. Chris Spedding and Fleetwood Mac guitarist Danny Kirwan provided sterling support throughout. A commercial disappointment, the set barely charted, peaking at #210. (Sporting one of the year's ugliest covers certainly didn't help sales.) The lack of sales was unfortunate since Youlden's instantly recognizable voice remained in prime form. Without wanting it to sound like hype, had Savoy Brown recorded an album this good, they would've been stars ...

10.05.2017.

BILL WYMAN - The Bill Wyman Compendium (Complete Solo Recording) [2001]

William George "Bill" Wyman is an English musician, record producer, songwriter and singer. He was the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band The Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1993. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. He has worked producing both records and film, and has scored music for film in movies and television.

Wyman has kept a journal since he was a child after World War II. As an author, he has written seven books, which have sold two million copies. Wyman is also a photographer, and his works have displayed in galleries around the world. Wyman's lack of funds in his early years led him to create and build his own fretless bass guitar. He became an amateur archaeologist and enjoys metal detecting; The Times published a letter about his hobby.[citation needed] He designed and marketed a patented "Bill Wyman signature metal detector", which he has used to find relics in the English countryside dating back to the era of the Roman Empire. As a businessman he owns several establishments, including the Sticky Fingers Café, a rock and roll themed bistro serving American cuisine, which first opened in 1989 in Kensington.

09.05.2017.

JOHN FAHEY - Livel In Tasmania (1981) & The Legend Of Blind Joe Death (1996)

John Aloysius Fahey (1939 – 2001) was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who played the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitive Guitar, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the self-taught nature of the music and its minimalist style. Fahey borrowed from the folk and blues traditions in American roots music, having compiled many forgotten early recordings in these genres. He would later incorporate classical, Portuguese, Brazilian, and Indian music into his ouvre. He spent many of his later years in poverty and poor health, but enjoyed a minor career resurgence with a turn towards the more explicitly avant-garde, and created a series of abstract paintings during the last years of his life. He died in 2001 from complications from heart surgery. In 2003, he was ranked 35th in the Rolling Stone "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" list.

08.05.2017.

DAVID BOWIE - David Live: David Bowie at the Tower Philadelphia [2005 Mix] (2017) & No Plan [EP] (2017)

The supporting tour for Diamond Dogs was supposed to be a theatrical extravaganza, yet as he headed out on the road, David Bowie became infatuated with Philly soul and changed his entire approach to reflect his new interest, as well as his backing band in the process. As a result, the double-album David Live captures Bowie in transition, as he moves from glam rock to plastic soul. The set list draws heavily from Ziggy Stardust-era songs, yet there are a few surprises, like a stilted cover of "Knock On Wood" and an inspired version of "All the Young Dudes," a song Bowie gave Mott the Hoople. Since Bowie's attempts at soul are a little awkward at this stage, David Live is primarily of interest as a historical document, yet there's enough good material to make it worthwhile for fanatics.



Released on the year anniversary of David Bowie's final album, Blackstar, No Plan contains the last recordings Bowie ever completed. This amounts to three songs, all written for his Lazarus musical and recorded during the Blackstar sessions. To round out this meager selection - and to underscore its connection to Lazarus - No Plan opens with the version of "Lazarus" from Blackstar before running through the new numbers. "No Plan" is a gorgeous, moody midtempo cut with a soulful undercurrent, "Killing a Little Time" is its opposite, offering dense dissonant guitar and a spiderweb of rhythms, and "When I Met You" closes out the proceedings with a glance back toward the sound of Scary Monsters. If these songs don't feel like a surprise - they're very much worthy outtakes from Blackstar - they nevertheless provide a bittersweet coda to Bowie's 21st century comeback.

07.05.2017.

Dear friends!

The Willard's Wormholes blog is dead (and rest in peace!) and we all have to respect Willard, his hard work and finally his last will (wish).

Dear friends, please, do not share his information or abuse his name here. He deserves it. I promised him that it would not happen again here in our shoutbox.

RESPECT!

Z

WILLIE NELSON - God's Problem Child (2017)

God's Problem Child, released on April 28, 2017, is the 61st studio album by singer-songwriter Willie Nelson. The album features new songs co-written by Nelson and producer Buddy Cannon. Using their frequent method, Cannon and Nelson wrote the songs exchanging the lyrics in text messages, while Nelson later recorded his vocals in the studio. The review aggregator website Metacritic reports that that the album has received "universal acclaim". The title track was written by Jamey Johnson and Tony Joe White, and features vocals by Leon Russell in one of his last recordings. Alison Krauss provides background vocals on the tracks "True Love" and "Little House on the Hill". The original album title, I'm Not Dead, refers to the recurrent hoaxes announcing Nelson's death. "Delete and Fast-Forward" describes Nelson's view on the 2016 United States elections. The release includes a song written by Cannon's mother, Lyndel Rhodes. It also includes "He Won't Ever Be Gone", a tribute to Merle Haggard written by Gary Nicholson. Seven tracks on the album are written by Nelson and Cannon. Along side traditional music retailers, the release was made available for pre-order on the website PledgeMusic along with promotional merchandise.

Allmusic awarded the album four stars out of five. The review noted an improvement in Nelson's voice, compared to his releases of 2016. Uncut rated the album eight out of ten, and favored Nelson's songwriting, while it called the single "Still Not Dead" one of Nelson's "modern masterpieces". Pichfork summed up the album by calling Nelson "(a) cosmic joker contemplating mortality with endearing humor and touching honesty".

THE DOORS - The Doors (1967) [50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, 2017]

50 years ago in 1967, The Doors broke through to the other side for the first time with its eponymous debut on Elektra Records. The Doors would go on to sell millions of copies and made stars of John Densmore, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, and Jim Morrison. Today, the album is widely considered to be one of the all-time-classic rock and roll debuts.

Packaged in a 12 x 12 hardcover book, The Doors (1967) [50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition] includes a remastered version of the album’s original stereo mix, available on CD for the first time in a decade and remastered for the first time in nearly 30 years. The album’s original mono mix was also remastered for this set and is making its CD debut here. An LP-version of the mono mix is also included. The third disc features live performance from The Matrix in San Francisco recorded just weeks after The Doors was released. Music journalist David Fricke provides detailed liner notes for the set, which includes a selection of rare and previously unseen photographs. The Doors (1967) [50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition] offers a rare opportunity to hear the band on the verge of superstardom with live performances recorded during a March 7, 1967 show at the Matrix in San Francisco. The Matrix recordings heard on this deluxe edition were sourced from the recently discovered, original tapes, previously thought to be lost. The Matrix recordings originally released in 2008 were from a third-generation source, so the sound quality of the versions debuting here is second to none. Packed with electrifying performance, the disc contains live versions of eight tracks on The Doors, including “Twentieth Century Fox,” “The Crystal Ship” and “Back Door Man.”

06.05.2017.

V.A. - Can You Dig It: The Music And Politics Of Black Action Films 1968 - 1975 (2009)

‘Can You Dig It?’ charts the rise of ‘Black Action Films’ from 1970-75. It comes as a double-CD collection of the stunning music from these films. The vinyl is on two monster loud separate double albums. The Black Action Films of the early 1970s gave the Hollywood industry its first African-American cinema – actors, directors, cameramen, editors and writers. These films discussed aspects of the African-American experience in the form of entertainment. Storylines interwove post-civil rights revolution with action stories, many involving pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers or private detectives.

The films also featured the finest funk and soul black music of the time as stars such as James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Willie Hutch and Roy Ayers produced some of their finest work, with film budgets allowing for the addition of huge orchestral arrangements by jazz legends such as Quincy Jones, Johnny Pate and JJ Johnson. In the early 1970s, Black Action Films exploded into the cinema with three extremely successful films – ‘Shaft’, ‘Super Fly’ and ‘Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song’. The most profound statement of these films was their actual existence – black actors and black directors entering the previously closed Hollywood film industry. Black Action Films were a representation of politically everything that had gone before and stylistically of everything that was current. Civil rights, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Black Power, Black Panthers, Vietnam sit alongside the criminal worlds of policemen, private investigators, bail bondsmen and the criminals, drug dealers, pimps and hustlers that they parole. ‘Can U Dig It?’ brings you everything you always wanted to know about black action films. This is an essential Soul Jazz Records release!

ROBERT CRAY - Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm (2017)

Continuing his revived collaboration with producer Steve Jordan -- the pair first worked together on 1999's Take Your Shoes Off, then reunited on 2014's In My Soul -- Robert Cray headed to Memphis to cut his 18th studio set with members of the legendary Hi Rhythm Section. Setting up shop at Royal Studios, Cray got to work on a handful of originals and a collection of covers, not all of them strictly related to Memphis. In particular, Cray pushes swamp rocker Tony Joe White and "5" Royales leader Lowman Pauling, cutting two songs from each writer. These sit alongside a pair of tunes from Sir Mack Rice (the author of "Mustang Sally"), a version of Bill Withers' "The Same Love That Made Me Laugh," and three originals by Cray, so the album casts its net wide but unites these various styles and eras through the prism of sleek Memphis soul. Jordan evokes the smooth, soulful shimmer of Hi at its peak, but the record never seems studied or an exercise in nostalgia; there's an elegance to the grooves that seems effortless. "The Way We Are," a Cray original, simmers like Al Green but most of the album is funkier, reaching an apex with both "You Must Believe in Yourself" and the cooking "Don't Steal My Love," which happens to be graced by a cameo from its author, Tony Joe White. His appearance underscores how Robert Cray has gotten a lift from his new collaborators: supported by the Hi Rhythm Section he sounds livelier and grittier than he has in years, and that passion serves as a nice counterpoint to the smooth grooves on Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm.

TRACKS: 01. The Same Love That Made Me Laugh 02. You Must Believe In Yourself 03. I Don't Care 04. Aspen, Colorado 05. Just How Low 06. You Had My Heart 07. I'm With You, Pt. 1 08. Honey Bad 09. The Way We Are 10. Don't Steal My Love 11. I'm With You, Pt. 2

JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR - Wild (2016) [Deluxe Edition]

Dave Stewart got it right when he saw a great guitarist about to break out in this young lady, and he took her on tour. The blues ran rampant through her British veins. At 16 years of age, Joanne Shaw Taylor began a career that is still taking shape on her fifth record, Wild, two decades later. Enter Bonnie Raitt and Jeff Buckley, in 2016, her style evolves into a mix of rock and roll through the eyes of a woman that has a lot to say.

Joanne, in fact, never considered herself to be strictly a blues artist, despite recognizing that it is one of her major influences, and as a kid she listened to Robert Johnson. On the altar of her outstanding idols is, of course, Stevie Ray Vaughan, an inevitable reference to almost all great guitarists, but also Free, Paul Kossoff, Gary Moore, Clapton...She makes clear that she's not trying to set a trend, nor open borders, but just do it right, enjoy herself as a songwriter, and go down in music history as a singer/songwriter. That´s it. She doesn't want to just be the “new face of blues”. As lovely as it is.

TRACKS: 01. Dyin' To Know 02. Ready To Roll 03. Get You Back 04. No Reason To Stay 05. Wild Is The Wind 06. Wanna Be My Lover 07. I'm In Chains 08. I Wish I Could Wish You Back 09. My Heart's Got A Mind Of It's Own 10. Nothin' To Lose 11. Summertime 12. Sleeping On A Bed Of Nails 13. Your Own Little Hell

05.05.2017.

CAROLE KING: 1970-1976

While the landmark Tapestry album earned her superstar status, singer/songwriter Carole King had already firmly established herself as one of pop music's most gifted and successful composers, with work recorded by everyone from the Beatles to Aretha Franklin. Born Carole Klein on February 9, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, she began playing piano at the age of four, and formed her first band, the vocal quartet the Co-Sines, while in high school. A devotee of the composing team of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller (the duo behind numerous hits for Elvis Presley, the Coasters, and Ben E. King), she became a fixture at influential DJ Alan Freed's local rock & roll shows; while attending Queens College, she fell in with budding songwriters Paul Simon and Neil Sedaka as well as Gerry Goffin, with whom she forged a writing partnership.



In 1959, Sedaka scored a hit with "Oh! Carol," written in her honor; King cut an answer record, "Oh! Neil," but it stiffed. She and Goffin, who eventually married, began writing under publishers Don Kirshner and Al Nevins in the famed pop songwriting house the Brill Building, where they worked alongside the likes of Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and countless others. In 1961, Goffin and King scored their first hit with the Shirelles' chart-topping "Will You Love Me Tomorrow"; their next effort, Bobby Vee's "Take Good Care of My Baby," also hit number one, as did "The Loco-Motion," recorded by their babysitter, Little Eva. Together, the couple wrote over 100 chart hits in a vast range of styles, including the Chiffons' "One Fine Day," the Monkees' "Pleasant Valley Sunday," the Drifters' "Up on the Roof," the Cookies' "Chains" (later covered by the Beatles), Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman," and the Crystals' controversial "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)."



King also continued her attempts to mount a solo career, but scored only one hit, 1962's "It Might as Well Rain Until September." In the mid-'60s she, Goffin, and columnist Al Aronowitz founded their own short-lived label, Tomorrow Records; Charles Larkey, the bassist for the Tomorrow group the Myddle Class, eventually became King's second husband after her marriage to Goffin dissolved. She and Larkey later moved to the West Coast, where in 1968 they founded the City, a trio rounded out by New York musician Danny Kortchmar. The City recorded one LP, Now That Everything's Been Said, but did not tour due to King's stage fright; as a result, the album was a commercial failure, although it did feature songs later popularized by the Byrds ("Wasn't Born to Follow"), Blood, Sweat & Tears ("Hi-De-Ho"), and James Taylor ("You've Got a Friend"). Taylor and King ultimately became close friends, and he encouraged her to pursue a solo career. Released in 1970, Writer proved a false start, but in 1971 she released Tapestry, which stayed on the charts for over six years and was the best-selling album of the era. A quiet, reflective work that proved seminal in the development of the singer/songwriter genre, Tapestry also scored a pair of hit singles, "So Far Away" and the chart-topping "It's Too Late," whose flip side, "I Feel the Earth Move," garnered major airplay as well. Issued in 1971, Music also hit number one, and generated the hit "Sweet Seasons"; 1972's Rhymes & Reasons reached number two on the charts, and 1974's Wrap Around Joy, which featured the hit "Jazzman," hit the number one spot.



In 1975, King and Goffin reunited to write Thoroughbred, which also featured contributions from James Taylor, David Crosby, and Graham Nash. After 1977's Simple Things, she mounted a tour with the backing group Navarro and married her frequent songwriting partner Rick Evers, who died a year later of a heroin overdose. Pearls, a collection of performances of songs written during her partnership with Goffin, was released in 1980 and was her last significant hit, and King soon moved to a tiny mountain village in Idaho, where she became active in the environmental movement. After 1983's Speeding Time, she took a six-year hiatus from recording before releasing City Streets, which featured guest Eric Clapton. In 2001, she returned with Love Makes the World, a self-released disc on her own Rockingale label. Four years passed before her next record, The Living Room Tour, a double-disc set documenting her intimate 2004-2005 tour that found her revisiting songs from throughout her career with only her piano and acoustic guitars as accompaniment.



King joined longtime friend James Taylor for a co-starring show at L.A.'s famed Troubadour venue in 2007, and the pair followed it with several more shows, resulting in the Live at the Troubadour release in 2010. King released her first-ever Christmas album, A Holiday Carole, through the Hear Music/Concord Music Group on November 1, 2011. In 2013, King received a remarkable show business accolade -- her life became the basis for a Broadway musical, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, which followed her professional and personal life in the '60s and '70s. The show opened on Broadway in January 2014, with a score dominated by King's hit songs, and an original cast album appeared the following May. The next year, King was a Kennedy Center Honoree, and in 2016 she played the entirety of Tapestry at the British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park.

04.05.2017.

J.J. CALE: 1971-1983

With his laid-back rootsy style, J.J. Cale was best known for writing "After Midnight" and "Cocaine," songs that Eric Clapton later made into hits. But Cale's influence wasn't only through songwriting -- his distinctly loping sense of rhythm and shuffling boogie became the blueprint for the adult-oriented roots rock of Clapton and Mark Knopfler, among others. Cale's refusal to vary the sound of his music over the course of his career caused some critics to label him as a one-trick pony, but he managed to build a dedicated cult following with his sporadically released recordings. Born in Oklahoma City but raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Cale played in a variety of rock & roll bands and Western swing groups as a teenager, including one outfit that also featured Leon Russell. In 1959, at the age of 21, he moved to Nashville, where he was hired by the Grand Ole Opry's touring company. After a few years, he returned to Tulsa, where he reunited with Russell and began playing local clubs. In 1964, Cale and Russell moved to Los Angeles with another local Oklahoma musician, Carl Radle.



Shortly after he arrived in Los Angeles, Cale began playing with Delaney & Bonnie. He only played with the duo for a brief time, beginning a solo career in 1965. That year, he cut the first version of "After Midnight," which would become his most famous song. Around 1966, Cale formed the Leathercoated Minds with songwriter Roger Tillison. The group released a psychedelic album called A Trip Down Sunset Strip the same year. Deciding that he wouldn't be able to forge a career in Los Angeles, Cale returned to Tulsa in 1967. Upon his return, he set about playing local clubs. Within a year, he had recorded a set of demos. Radle obtained a copy of the demos and forwarded it to Denny Cordell, who was founding a record label called Shelter with Leon Russell. Shelter signed Cale in 1969. The following year, Eric Clapton recorded "After Midnight," taking it to the American Top 20 and thereby providing Cale with needed exposure and royalties. In December 1971, Cale released his debut album, Naturally, on Shelter Records; the album featured the Top 40 hit "Crazy Mama," as well as a re-recorded version of "After Midnight," which nearly reached the Top 40, and "Call Me the Breeze," which Lynyrd Skynyrd later covered. Cale followed Naturally with Really, which featured the minor hit "Lies," later that same year.



Following the release of Really, J.J. Cale adopted a slow work schedule, releasing an album every other year or so. Okie, his third album, appeared in 1974. Two years later, he released Troubadour, which yielded "Hey Baby," his last minor hit, as well as the original version of "Cocaine," a song that Clapton would later cover. By this point, Cale had settled into a comfortable career as a cult artist and he rarely made any attempt to break into the mainstream. One more album on Shelter Records, 5, appeared in 1979 and then he switched labels, signing with MCA in 1981. MCA only released one album (1981's Shades) and Cale moved to Mercury Records the following year, releasing Grasshopper.



In 1983, Cale released his eighth album, 8. The album became his first not to chart. Following its release, Cale left Mercury and entered a long period of seclusion, reappearing in late 1990 with Travel Log, which was released on the British independent label Silvertone; the album appeared in America the following year. 10 was released in 1992. The album failed to chart, but it re-established his power as a cult artist. He moved to the major label Virgin in 1994, releasing Close to You the same year. It was followed by Guitar Man in 1996.



Cale returned to recording in 2003, releasing To Tulsa and Back in 2004 on the Sanctuary label and The Road to Escondido, a collaborative effort with Clapton, in 2006 on Reprise. Roll On appeared in 2009 on Rounder Records. A CD/DVD set drawn from sessions Cale recorded with Leon Russell on keyboards in 1979, In Session at Paradise Studio, appeared early in 2013. In July of that year, Cale died of a heart attack in a hospital in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California; he was 74 years old.

IMELDA MAY - Life. Love. Flesh. Blood (2017)

Life. Love. Flesh. Blood is the fifth studio album recorded by Irish singer Imelda May. It was released on 7 April 2017, through Decca Records, as a follow-up to Tribal (2014). May collaborated with American musician T Bone Burnett on the record, who was the sole producer on the album. Throughout the creative process, May received guidance from U2 vocalist Bono. The album followed May's divorce from guitarist Darrel Higham, which influenced many of the lyrical themes featured on the record. Life Love Flesh Blood features soft rock and acoustic styles, which differed significantly from her previous rockabilly genre. Commercially, the album peaked at number two on the Irish Albums Chart (IRMA), prevented from reaching number one by Ed Sheeran's album ÷. Three singles have been released from the album: "Call Me", "Black Tears", and "Should've Been You". The album also features guest appearances by pianist Jools Holland and guitarist Jeff Beck. May is scheduled to embark on an international tour in May 2017, in support of the album.

03.05.2017.

TIM BUCKLEY - Wings: The Complete Singles 1966-1974 (2016)

Tim Buckley was a singularly gifted singer and songwriter, but his body of work seems to defy the traditional logic of a single-disc career-spanning anthology. Buckley was a creatively restless artist, and he jumped from solo acoustic purity to folk-rock to psychedelia to jazz to R&B; to purposefully scuzzy rock in the course of a recording career that lasted just eight years. The beauty and strength of his voice and his skills as a songwriter were the sole unifying threads in his discography, and many fans will even argue about those when it comes to his final three albums. 2001's Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology comes closest to capturing the artist's many facets, in part because it's a two-disc set that takes the time to examine his catalog with real scope, but Omnivore Recordings has taken a novel approach to summarizing Buckley's work with Wings: The Complete Singles 1966-1974. This collection features 21 songs that were released as single sides during Buckley's lifetime, including one unreleased track that was intended to be the B-side to a 1967 45 that never saw the light of day. The previously unheard number, "Lady, Give Me Your Key," is a gem, a lovely exercise in Baroque folk-rock that certainly justifies the release of this collection, as well as the inclusion of classic tunes like "Morning Glory," "Once I Was," "Aren't You the Girl," and "Pleasant Street." But Wings also confirms one bit of conventional wisdom about Tim Buckley: he thought in terms of albums, not singles, and as good as most of these tracks are, they sound a bit too ornate to have been pop radio favorites in their day. One senses the labels who released these tracks were grasping at straws choosing which might miraculously please a radio programmer. This set also passes on some of Buckley's best known songs because they were never released in 7" format (most notably, "Buzzin' Fly" and "Song of the Siren"), and three of his albums -- 1969's Happy Sad, 1970's Lorca, and 1970's Starsailor -- are completely unrepresented. However, while 1973's Sefronia is generally considered a botch, Buckley's cover of Fred Neil's "Dolphins" is here to show the album had a hidden gem, and the R&B; raunch of "Move with Me" and "Wanda Lu" plays better here than in the context of the albums where they were first released. Wings doesn't do better than most Tim Buckley collections in making sense of his fascinating, sometimes contradictory songbook, but it does bring together an hour of good to brilliant songs from a one-of-a-kind artist, and the set includes an interview with Buckley's friend and writing partner Larry Beckett that lends some welcome insights into how these recordings came to be. - allmusic.com

TRACKS: 01. Wings 02. Grief In My Soul 03. Aren't You The Girl 04. Strange Street Affair Under Blue 05. Once Upon A Time 06. Lady, Give Me Your Key 07. Morning Glory 08. Knight-Errant 09. Once I Was 10. Pleasant Street 11. Carnival Song 12. Happy Time 13. So Lonely 14. Move With Me 15. Nighthawkin' 16. Quicksand 17. Stone In Love 18. Dolphins 19. Honey Man 20. Wanda Lu 21. Who Could Deny You

VAN MORRISON - The Authorized Bang Collection (2017)

A deluxe three-CD set, Van Morrison - The Authorized Bang Collection, is the first official comprehensive anthology ever assembled chronicling Morrison’s musical output during his brief association with Bang Records. The label founded by legendary American producer/songwriter Bert Berns – whose writing credits include “Twist and Shout,” “Cry to Me,” “Piece of My Heart” and “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love,” as well as “Here Comes The Night,” a #2 U.K. breakout hit for Them - Van Morrison’s early group - in March 1965. According to a press release, “All songs on Disc One - The Original Masters and Disc Two - Bang Sessions & Rarities were produced and directed by Berns. Disc Three - Contractual Obligation Session presents for the first-time as an official release - and in its best-sound quality ever–one of the most raw, honest and in-the-moment studio performances of Van’s storied career.”

Disc One - The Original Masters presents original stereo mixes of recordings for the first time on CD - including “Brown Eyed Girl” - first released on Bang 12” vinyl LPs: Blowin’ Your Mind! (1967) and The Best of Van Morrison (1970). Disc One also features the highly-prized original mono mixes of “Beside You” and “Madame George” - first issued on T.B. Sheets (1973) - and “Chick-A-Boom,” a Van Morrison/Bert Berns composition recorded in New York in 1967 and released as a Bang single. The Original Masters closes with the rare demo version of “The Smile You Smile,” previously available on Legacy’s 1991 compilation, The Bang Masters.

Disc Two - Bang Sessions & Rarities includes the much sought-after original edited mono single mix of “Brown Eyed Girl” and the original mono single mix with backing vocals for “Ro Ro Rosey,” in addition to previously unissued studio takes of “T.B. Sheets,” “Midnight Special,” “Beside You” and some insightful outtakes of “Brown Eyed Girl.”

Disc Three - Contractual Obligation Session presents 31 short songs that have been widely bootlegged as Morrison’s contractual obligation demos for Bang. “These songs show Morrison’s incredible humor and give some insight into the frustrating close of his relationship with the label. They are included here for the sake of completeness and to finally officially close the chapter on Van’s 1967 New York City recording sessions,” writes Andrew Sandoval in his liner notes for the set. A Grammy-nominated producer and engineer, Sandoval compiled and curated the material on Van Morrison - The Authorized Bang Collection.

In his own notes for this collection, Van Morrison wrote, “Bert Berns was a genius He was a brilliant songwriter and he had a lot of soul, which you don’t find nowadays.”

02.05.2017.

PINK FLOYD - Delicate Sound Of Thunder (1988) [2016] & Echoes, The Best Of Pink Floyd (2001) [2016]

In one respect, it's hard to fault David Gilmour for retooling Pink Floyd as a neo-oldies act with Momentary Lapse of Reason, since Roger Waters took the band over the brink with his obsessive, nonmusical The Final Cut. Fans were eager for an album that sounded like classic Floyd, which is what Momentary Lapse was. But what they really thirsted for was a live spectacle from Floyd, where they could hear the old tunes and see all the old stunts. That's what they got on the 1987/1988 Pink Floyd world tour, which is documented on the double-disc set The Delicate Sound of Thunder. Gilmour's reunited Floyd was intent on recreating the sound and feel of classic Floyd, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the oldies feel like the classic records, only with Gilmour taking each vocal. He and Floyd deliver well, but this is a recreation that makes less sense on record than it did on-stage, where the nostalgia was justified. Here, it feels passable but never compelling. This is professional, competent, and, often, even enjoyable music, yet, like many souvenirs, it never once feels necessary.

Delicate Sound of Thunder is a double live album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd which was recorded over five nights at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York in August 1988 and mixed at Abbey Road Studios in September 1988. It was released on 22 November 1988, through EMI Records in the United Kingdom and Columbia Records in the United States. This is a 2016 reissue on Pink Floyd Records.



Being the quintessential album rock band, Pink Floyd hasn't had much luck with "best-of" and "greatest-hits" compilations, like A Collection of Great Dance Songs and the bizarro follow-up, Works. Since both of those were released in the early '80s (and time travel being unavailable even to Pink Floyd), they obviously left out any tracks from the post-Roger Waters era albums. While countless hours in dorm rooms have been spent laboring over whether or not the post-Waters recordings should even be considered the "real Floyd," the later albums nonetheless stand as a further progression in the band's evolution and warrant recognition. The 2001 release Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd does just that, sequencing the tracks non-chronologically in an effort to place more emphasis on the individual songs as opposed to the era they're from. Unfortunately, the effect is rather jarring when the songs transition from the clinical mid-'90s sound of "High Hopes" directly into the psychedelic groove of the much earlier "Bike." Interestingly, as is the case with most of their albums (but a rarity in "hits" compilations), most of the tracks fade into one another; the hum of "Keep Talking" segueing into the bleating of "Sheep," making for an intriguing listen from one song to the next.

There are many highlights on this collection: the inclusion of the Floyd holy grail "When the Tigers Broke Free," a sweeping Waters military dirge that has only appeared in the film The Wall, and the fascinating "Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 1-7," which has never before been released without the break in the middle (but conspicuously missing parts eight and nine). The confusing inclusion of "The Fletcher Memorial Home" (possibly just to cover something from The Final Cut) and three songs from the decidedly mediocre Division Bell stand out as obvious head-scratchers, making the die-hard Pink Floyd fan wonder if compiler James Guthrie was really clear on what this album should represent. Guthrie's job was unfortunately doomed from the start; since Pink Floyd's strength has always been in the band's rich, sprawling albums, listening to selections cut and chopped from here and there makes it almost like watching three-minute segments from Citizen Kane, Gone With the Wind, and Apocalypse Now, knowing full well that they hold together much better as whole works. Still, Echoes is nearly the best possible assembly of the band's individual songs one could hope for, and collectors and completists should be overjoyed. That being said, anyone just getting into this group's fascinating sound would be much better off starting with Dark Side of the Moon, then working forward, then backward from there: the time honored system of hungrily consuming the Pink Floyd catalog that has stood for generations.

JOHN MELLENCAMP - Sad Clowns & Hillbillies (2017)

Occupying the space where Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Billy Joel converge, over the decades John Mellencamp has honed a sort of everyman Americana, representing a more heartening type of populism. Sad Clowns & Hillbillies, his 23rd album and a collaboration of sorts with Carlene Carter (daughter of June), continues this tradition in part – most obviously with Easy Target, a rather elliptical meditation on the lie of post-racism that owes a significant debt to Desire-era Dylan. Carter and Mellencamp have worked together before, including on his score for Meg Ryan’s second world war drama Ithaca, and offcuts from that project (including the suitably saccharine Sugar Hill Mountain) surface here, as do some from Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, the musical he made with Stephen King. It makes for an album that is not particularly consistent in sound or even sentiment – the worthiness of Easy Target is matched with half-of-the-title track Sad Clowns, a patronising and crankily retro missive on chivalry.

TRACKS: 01. Mobile Blue 02. Battle Of Angels 03. Grandview 04. Indigo Sunset 05. What Kind Of Man Am I 06. All Night Talk Radio 07. Sugar Hill Mountain 08. You Are Blind 09. Damascus Road 10. Early Bird Cafe 11. Sad Clowns 12. My Soul's Got Wings 13. Easy Target

01.05.2017.

Captain Willard and His Wormholes

For those who may be interested, here is an insight into the demise of Willard's Wormholes.

THE MOON - Without Earth (1968) & The Moon (1969) [2002]

Moon were a sort of second-tier supergroup in the late 1960s, led by pianist and songwriter Matthew Moore, drummer and producer Larry Brown (late of the Bel-Aires and Davie Allan & the Arrows), and ex-Beach Boy David Marks on guitar, with Andy "Drew" Bennett on bass (Bennett was replaced by the time of the group's second album by David Dawson, formerly of Hearts & Flowers). For all that pedigree, though, Moon received little support from their label, Imperial Records, and the group's two albums, 1968's Without Earth and 1969's Moon, went virtually unheard when they were released. Fans of period pop psychedelia found the albums irresistible, however, and the group has enjoyed a kind of low-key cult status ever since, leading to Rev-Ola's reissue of both albums on one CD, along with a handful of bonus tracks that include a couple of mono 45 mixes and three tracks from Moore's pre-Moon band, Matthew Moore Plus 4. Sounding a bit like a low rent version of the Zombies or the Left Banke, it is easy to see why fans of baroque-'60s pop are so enamored of Moon, but like many bands from the era who fell under the influence of the Beatles, the absence of strong songs and melodies all too often renders the heavily phased and string-laden arrangements forgettable as soon as the next track begins. Not that the group doesn't get close to pop-psych heaven here with songs like "Someday Girl," the goofy, sitar-laced "Brother Lou's Love Colony," or the ultra-Beatlesque "Give Me More" (all from Without Earth), it's just that the swirl of the arrangements can't hide the fact that none of these songs are particularly front line. The songs from the second album, Moon, fare better, as Brown (both albums were recorded at his Continental Sounds studio) cuts back a bit on the orchestration and Moore simply delivers better material, like the haunting, beautiful "Lebanon" or the intriguing "Life Is a Season," which has Moore singing lines like "comprehension wields the sword that kills the fear" with agile, melodic ease. Also worth mentioning is the reincarnation revenge song "Pirate," which has a plot line so bizarre that it can't help but be memorable. When all is said and done, one wishes Moon had gotten a crack at a third album, since they were clearly inching toward the kind of uniqueness that might have allowed them to rise above their influences.

AMEN CORNER - Round Amen Corner (1968) [2012]

Featuring their British hits "Bend Me, Shape Me" and "Gin House Blues," Amen Corner's debut album was the work of a band who didn't either really fit into any of the trends of the late '60s or qualify as one of the era's more innovative or interesting groups. They were accomplished at what they did, however, which was offer a mix of blue-eyed soul-rock and British pop. Built around the distinctive high vocals of Andy Fairweather Low, they also had (unlike most British bands) a horn section, as well as a distinguished instrumentalist in organist Blue Weaver. The album was an erratic affair, dragged down by a cover of "Love Me Tender," a sort of vaudeville-ska hybrid in "Judge Rumpel Crassila," and some rather uninspired choices of material to interpret, like "Let the Good Times Roll" and Andy Williams' "Can't Get Used to Losing You." On the other hand, they ripped through straight-ahead blue-eyed soul like "Our Love (Is in the Pocket)" with flair, and "Something You Got" was almost like a U.K. equivalent to late-'60s Stax deep soul ballads. It offered barely any original material, a shame as a couple B-sides of the period with Fairweather Low compositions showed the kind of psychedelic pop-influenced writing more akin to a band like the late-'60s Small Faces. Fortunately, the 1990 CD added those B-sides, "Nema" and "I Know," as bonus tracks, along with two other cuts from 1967-1968 singles, "Satisnek the Job's Worth" (the B-side of "Bend Me, Shape Me") and the small British hit single "The World of Broken Hearts."

TRACKS: 01. Bend Me, Shape Me 02. Judge Rumpel Crassila 03. Love Me Tender 04. Our Love Is (In the Pocket) 05. Something You've Got 06. I Am an Angel (But I Can't Fly) 07. Expressway (To Your Heart) 08. Good Times 09. Let the Good Times Roll Feel So Good 10. Can't Get Used to Losing You 11. Lost and Found 12. Gin House 13. I Don't Want to Discuss It and Amen 14. I Know 15. The World of Broken Hearts 16. Nema 17. Satisnek the Job's Worth 18. High in the Sky 19. Run, Run, Run

29.04.2017.

WATERMELON SLIM - Golden Boy (2017)

Bill "Watermelon Slim" Homans has built a remarkable reputation with his raw, impassioned intensity. HARP Magazine wrote "From sizzling slide guitar...to nitty-gritty harp blowing...to a gruff, resonating Okie twang, Slim delivers acutely personal workingman blues with both hands on the wheel of life, a bottle of hooch in his pocket, and the Bible on the passenger seat." Paste Magazine writes "He's one hell of a bottleneck guitarist, and he's got that cry in his voice that only the greatest singers in the genre have had before him."

The industry agrees on all fronts. Watermelon Slim and his crack touring band The Workers have garnered 17 Blues Music Award nominations in four years including a record-tying six in both 2007 & 2008. Only the likes of B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Robert Cray have landed six in a year, and Slim is the only blues artist in history with twelve in two consecutive years. In Spring 2009 he was the cover story of Blues Revue magazine. Two of Slim's records were ranked #1 in England's MOJO Magazine's annual Top Blues CD rankings. Industry awards include The Independent Music Award for Blues Album of the Year, The Blues Critic Award and Canada's Maple Blues Award for International Artist of the Year for 2007. Slim has hit #1 on the Living Blues Charts, top five on the Roots Music Report and debuted in the top ten in Billboard. One of Slim's most impressive industry accolades may be the liner notes of The Wheel Man eagerly written by the late legendary Jerry Wexler who called him a "one-of-a-kind pickin' n singing Okie dynamo."

TRACKS: 01. Pickup My Guidon 02. You're Going To Need Somebod.. 03. WBCN 04. Wolf Cry 05. Barretts Privateers 06. Mean Streets 07. Northern Blues 08. Cabbagetown 09. Winners Of Us All 10. Dark Genius

ERIC BIBB - Migration Blues (2017)

Eric Bibb is back in style. Master of acoustic guitar, master story teller, his new album Migration Blues stands firmly rooted in Americana history and handles contemporary migration with equal conviction. With his committed address to current day migration he shows that he is more than a follower of those musicians who addressed injustices in the past, he continues in their footsteps and is as worthy in this as any of them. It is only fitting that he tributes Woody Guthrie with ‘This land is your land’. The album is Eric Bibb at his best: understated yet excellent acoustic guitar underlying masterful storytelling and commanding performance. The opening song of the album, ‘Refugee moans’, held a rough blues joint audience completely spellbound when Eric did an a cappella version during a recent concert. The musical grace of Eric Bibb lifts this album beyond pure blues. The listener can hear and feel the signs of hope along the way. This album deserves as wide an audience as possible for both the music and the message.

TRACKS: 01. Refugee Moan 02. Delta Getaway 03. Diego's Blues 04. Prayin' for Shore 05. Migration Blues 06. Four Years, No Rain 07. We Had To Move 08. Masters of War 09. Brotherly Love 10. La Vie C'est Comme Un Oignon 11. With a Dolla in my Pocket 12. This Land is Your Land 13. Postcard From Booker 14. Blacktop 15. Mornin' Train

HENRIK FREISCHLADER - Blues for Gary (2017)

Henrik Freischlader is a German blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, and autodidactic multi-instrumentalist from Wuppertal, Germany. He has been the supporting act for Joe Bonamassa, B.B. King, the late Gary Moore, Peter Green, Johnny Winter and other blues legends. A tour with his friend and fellow musician Joe Bonamassa gave the young artist the opportunity to play in front of a bigger audience. Through numerous shows all over Europe, amongst them, performances with legends such as BB King, Peter Green, Gary Moore, and Johnny Winter, Henrik has gained a steadily increasing number of fans. Today, the German singer & guitarist is one of the most sought-after musicians of his genre worldwide.

Henrik Freischlader's homage to Gary Moore. He got the support of Gary's former band, Vic Martin (bass) and Pete Rees (Hammond organ), as well as numerous other musicians, including Moritz Meinschäfer, Gary's brother Cliff Moore, Harrisen Larner-Main, Linda Sutti, Ben Poole, Mike Andersen, Romi, Zsolt Vámos and the Royal Street Orchestra.

TRACKS: 01. The Prophet 02. The Messiah Will Come Again 03. Blues for Narada 04. Intro 05. Where Did We Go Wrong 06. Where Are You Now 07. Jumping At Shadows 08. With Love (Remember) 09. Johnny Boy 10. Parisienne Walkways

28.04.2017.

CREAM - Those Were The Days (1997)

Although Cream were only together for a little more than two years, their influence was immense, both during their late-'60s peak and in the years following their breakup. Cream were the first top group to truly exploit the power trio format, in the process laying the foundation for much blues-rock and hard rock of the 1960s and 1970s. It was with Cream, too, that guitarist Eric Clapton truly became an international superstar. Critical revisionists have tagged the band as overrated, citing the musicians' emphasis upon flash, virtuosity, and showmanship at the expense of taste and focus. This was sometimes true of their live shows in particular, but in reality the best of their studio recordings were excellent fusions of blues, pop, and psychedelia, with concise original material outnumbering the bloated blues jams and overlong solos.

Those Were the Days is an ambitious four-disc, 63-track box set that divides Cream's career into two halves. The first two discs feature every studio track the group ever released, plus a handful of unreleased cuts, alternate takes, and rarities. The other two discs are devoted to live material, which is segued together in an attempt to recreate the "ideal" Cream concert. It's a remarkably comprehensive collection, complete with an extensive booklet and remastered sound, yet it doesn't reveal any new insights about Cream, nor does it offer any invaluable rarities. Therefore, it's only for die-hard collectors or listeners wanting to acquire the entire Cream catalog at once; casual fans will be satisfied with individual albums or greatest-hits collections.

27.04.2017.

RUTHIE FOSTER - Joy Comes Back (2017)

Like 2014's Promise of a Brand New Day before it, the title of Ruthie Foster's 2017 album Joy Comes Back promises something optimistic. Joy Comes Back does just that but from an entirely different angle. Between the two records, Foster separated from a long-term partner, and she coped by settling down in her hometown of Austin, Texas, recording the new album with her friend, producer Daniel Barrett. A crew of sympathetic musicians - including guitarist Derek Trucks, drummer Joe Vitale, and Warren Hood, among several others - swung by the studios and helped Foster record nine covers and an original. Foster casts her net wide, dredging up classic blues from Mississippi John Hurt ("Richland Woman Blues"), contemporary country from Chris Stapleton ("What Are You Listening To?), and classic heavy metal from Black Sabbath ("War Pigs"), but what unites the album is the warm, supple energy of the band and Foster's aching ease. She may have been through the ringer recently, but she's choosing to be positive - or, as she sings on Shawnee Kilgore's "Abraham," "When I do good/I feel good" - and that gives Joy Comes Back a relaxed richness that's quite restorative.

26.04.2017.

FLEETWOOD MAC - Tango In The Night (1987) [3CDs Box Set, 2017]

Tango in the Night is the 14th studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac. Released in April 1987, it is the fifth and to date last studio album from the band's most successful line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood.

Produced by Buckingham with Richard Dashut, Tango in the Night began as one of Buckingham's solo projects, but by 1985 the production had morphed into Fleetwood Mac's next album. It contains several hit singles, including "Big Love", "Seven Wonders", "Everywhere", and "Little Lies". The distinctive cover art for the album was a painting by Australian artist Brett-Livingstone Strong which was hanging in Buckingham's home. The painting is a homage to the 19th Century French painter Henri Rousseau, emulating his colorful jungle theme works such as The Snake Charmer and The Repast of the Lion. It was also used as the cover of "Big Love", the album's first single. The album has sold over 15 million copies worldwide. In March 2017, remastered deluxe editions of Tango in the Night were released, the first a double-CD set and the second a 3CD/1DVD/1LP boxset.

THE BEATLES - Abbey Road And Beyond [6 CD Box Set] (2016)

This six disc anthology features the very best of The Beatles in the studio, on the road and on the airwaves from 1962-'66. It is the perfect illustration of how The Beatles evolved as writers and performers and created a musical phenomenon which has never been equalled.

Disc 1 - The Lost Decca Tapes
The Beatles' audition for Decca Records in 1962 is the most notorious recording session in the history of popular music. Features an exclusive interview with Pete Best, which provides unique insight into the Decca sessions and the events which led to his sacking.

Disc 2 - The Lost Abbey Road Tapes 1962-'64
The best of the alternative takes of the Beatles songs which were recorded during the legendary Abbey Road Sessions. Your chance to hear history in the making.

Disc 3 - The Lost BBC Tapes And Much More
During 1963-'64 the impact of radio & TV broadcasts around the globe fuelled the global Beatlemania phenomenon. These rare recordings feature a string of hits performed during live broadcasts in the UK & Sweden.

Disc 4 - New York, Miami And Philadelphia: The First And Second US Tours
Featuring performances from 1964 broadcasts on the Ed Sullivan and Miami. Also featuring the previously unreleased concert recording from the Philadelphia Convention Hall during the Beatles second visit to the USA.

Disc 5 - Blackpool And Paris: The Legendary Broadcasts
The 2 live to air performances from Blackpool in1964-'65 have long been the holy-grail for Beatles fans. Also featuring the re-mastered recording of the Show from the Paris Palais Des Sports in 1965.

Disc 6 - Australia And Japan
Features two shows by the Beatles as they continued their quest to take Beatlemania to fans around the globe.

25.04.2017.

THE MOODY BLUES - Time Traveller (1994) [5 CDs Box Set]

“Time traveller” is an essential 4 CD plus bonus live CD collection. After opening with some early singles and rarities, all the albums from “Day’s of future passed” right through to “Keys to the kingdom” are well represented. Also covered is Hayward and Lodge’s lost Moody Blues album “Bluejays”. For the six magnificent albums from “In Search of the Lost chord” to “Seventh Sojourn” , there is 25 to 30 minutes of music from each, representing up to 75% of the original albums. “Bluejays” is also afforded a similar amount of space, meaning that only a couple of tracks are missing. It is entirely right that greater focus is placed on these albums, since they represent the golden era of the band. For the remaining albums, including “Days of future passed”, the allocation is 12 to 15 minutes apiece. The track are presented in the order they appeared on the albums, thus retaining much of the continuity they contained. While the selection of tracks for any compilation is necessarily a subjective process, the compliers here have generally dropped tracks which would widely be considered to be the (marginally) weaker ones on each album. The magnificent “Have you heard” suite is present in full, and even albums such as “On the threshold of a dream”, which flow seamlessly from start to finish, do not appear to be significantly diluted by the omission of the odd track. “Time traveller” thus serves to gather in pretty much all the Moody Blues best work into one perfect package. Yes there will be the odd track which people will question the absence of, but the CDs flow together seamlessly. Justin Hayward’s solo outing “Forever Autumn” is also included, but it’s the poorly edited single version. The “Blue guitar” single (sometimes credited to Justin Hayward, sometimes to Hayward and Lodge, and sometimes to “The Bluejays”) is here too, along with a further couple of more recent non-album tracks. The bonus CD contains some tracks from the band’s “Red Rocks” concert which did not originally appear on the live album of that name (they are included on the recently released 2 CD “Deluxe” version, and the DVD of the concert).

24.04.2017.

FREEDOM

A spin-off of Procol Harum, Freedom was formed by guitarist Ray Royer and drummer Bobby Harrison. Both of them were in Procol Harum's lineup at the outset for their debut "A Whiter Shade of Pale" single, but were ousted almost immediately when Procol singer, Gary Brooker, enlisted his former bandmates from the Paramounts, Robin Trower and Barry Wilson, as replacements. Freedom's early sound, perhaps unsurprisingly, echoed Procol Harum's in its prominent use of organ and piano, as well as heavy rock guitar, and like Procol Harum's early records, captured late British psychedelia as it was starting to inch toward progressive rock.



Freedom wasn't a Procol Harum clone, though, with a somewhat poppier take on psychedelia that was closer to Traffic than Procol Harum. Their initial lineup only released two singles in 1968 before breaking up, also recording a soundtrack for an obscure Italian film by Dino De Laurentis, Attraction/Black on White. The soundtrack LP was given a limited release in Italy -- so limited, in fact, that the group members themselves were unaware that it had come out. Recorded with noted future producers Eddie Kramer and Glyn Johns engineering, this was reissued on CD in 1999, and is actually a pretty good if derivative slice of late-'60s British psychedelia.



In 1968, Harrison decided to reorganize the band completely -- in fact, so totally that he was the only remaining original member. More albums came out in the late '60s and early '70s which, in keeping with overall British rock trends of the period, were in a much heavier, hard, bluesier style. These were middle-of-the-pack, or a little lower than the middle-of-the-pack, efforts with nothing to make them stand out from the crowd in a clogged field. They did get to tour the U.S. as support for Black Sabbath and Jethro Tull, and broke up in 1972 after some personnel changes. Harrison became the lead singer in the little-known Snafu, while guitarist Roger Saunders, from the later incarnation of the band, did some session work, joined Medicine Head, and played in Gary Glitter's group during the '80s. - allmusic.com

23.04.2017.

CHICKENFOOT - Best + Live (2017)

Formed in 2008, the hard-rocking "supergroup" Chickenfoot features the talents of vocalist Sammy Hagar (Van Halen, Montrose), bass player Michael Anthony (Van Halen), drummer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), and guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani. Formed out of a series of impromptu jams at Hagar's club, Cabo Wabo Cantina, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, the band made its live debut at a 2008 Hagar solo show in Las Vegas before deciding to take its signature blend of high-energy rock & roll, funk, blues, and roots rock into the studio. Chickenfoot released its eponymous debut album in 2009, followed by a worldwide tour. The live Get Your Buzz On DVD arrived in 2010, followed by the band's second studio album, Chickenfoot III, in 2011. A limited-edition live album, LV, appeared in 2012. In 2017, the band delivered the collection Best + Live, which featured one new song ("Divine Termination"), representative selections from both studio albums, and live tracks taken from the Get Your Buzz On DVD.

22.04.2017.

THE AYNSLEY DUNBAR RETALIATION - Dr. Dunbar's Prescription (1969) + Blue Whale (1970) [2on1, 2004] & To Mum From Aynsley And The Boys (1969) + Remains To Be Heard (1970) [2006]

Of the numerous British blues-rock bands to spring up in the late '60s, the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation was one of the better known, though solid reception on tours did not translate into heavy record sales. Musically, the group recalled John Mayall's Bluesbreakers during the 1966-1967 era that had produced that group's A Hard Road album, though with a somewhat more downbeat tone. The similarities were hardly coincidental, as the band's founder and leader, drummer Aynsley Dunbar, had been in the Bluesbreakers lineup that recorded the A Hard Road LP. Too, bassist Alex Dmochowski would go on to play with Mayall in the 1970s, and guitarist Jon Morshead was friendly with fellow axeman Peter Green (also in the Bluesbreakers' A Hard Road lineup), whom he had replaced in Shotgun Express.

Though he was only 21 when he formed the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, the drummer had already played with several bands of note in both his native Liverpool and London. Stints in several Merseybeat groups had culminated in his joining the Mojos, and Dunbar played on a couple of singles by the group, though these were cut after their British chart hits. Shortly after leaving the Mojos, he did his stint with the Bluesbreakers, after which he played for a few months in the Jeff Beck Group, also appearing on their 1967 single "Tallyman"/"Rock My Plimsoul." Wanting to lead his own band, in mid-1967 he formed the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, joined by Morshead, who'd previously been in the Moments (with a pre-Small Faces Steve Marriott), Shotgun Express, and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates; singer/guitarist/keyboardist Victor Brox, who worked for a while with British blues godfather Alexis Korner; and bassist Keith Tillman. Shortly after forming, however, Tillman left to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, replaced by Dmochowski, who'd played in Neil Christian's Crusaders and Winston's Fumbs.



The band's first single, 1967's "Warning"/"Cobwebs" (the A-side of which was covered by Black Sabbath), was released on the Blue Horizon label, though their four LPs would appear on Liberty. (A 1967 recording credited to the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation that was issued on the compilation History of British Blues, Vol. 1, "Stone Crazy," is not the original lineup, but Dunbar playing with singer Rod Stewart, guitarist Peter Green, and bassist Jack Bruce.) Though their records received some positive press, and the band toured heavily (including six weeks in the United States in early 1969), they didn't crack the LP charts. With the addition of keyboardist Tommy Eyre, they expanded to a five-piece for their third album, the John Mayall-produced To Mum, from Aynsley and the Boys, on which they added some mild jazz and R&B; ingredients. In late 1969, however, the group split up, Dunbar and Eyre forming the short-lived jazz-rock band Aynsley Dunbar's Blue Whale. At the request of management, a fourth album, Remains to Be Heard, was posthumously compiled, in part using outtakes from To Mum, from Aynsley and the Boys. Dunbar appears on only four of the ten tracks, however, and the remaining half-dozen songs include some vocal and instrumental contributions from musicians not in the band, making for an anti-climactic and unrepresentative final release.

Dunbar had by far the most impressive career after the demise of the group, going on to play with Frank Zappa, Journey, and Whitesnake. In addition to playing with Mayall, Dmochowski subsequently worked with Morshead in Heavy Jelly, as well as doing sessions with Zappa, Graham Bond, and Peter Green.

21.04.2017.

PROCOL HARUM - Novum (2017)

Novum is Procol Harum s thirteenth studio album, their first since The Well s On Fire in 2003, and is released in the band s fiftieth anniversary year. Kicking things off with the huge and ongoing success of their debut single A Whiter Shade Of Pale , Procol Harum went on to help define the progressive rock genre in the early seventies whilst at the same time embracing their roots in blues and soul. Novum sees a new lyrical direction for Procol Harum with the songs all featuring words by Pete Brown, most famous for his songwriting collaboration with the members of Cream. This has given a different feel to the songs, retaining the thought provoking content for which the band has always been known but with a different slant and elements of humour. As ever, the music and musicianship within the band is of the highest level and this long-awaited collection of brand new songs is sure to be devoured greedily by Procol Harum s devoted fanbase.

"Our last studio album is released in 2003, and as Procol Harum turns 50 in 2017, we needed something special, and as a result we got a new album with new songs from the band that have been together for 10 years. And producer Dennis Weinreich (Dennis Weinreich) contributed to the album, which I think is the best in Procol Harum history. "Just listen!" - says Gary Brooker.

20.04.2017.

RAY DAVIES - Americana (2017)

The Kinks frontman has been celebrated as rock and roll royalty for years, but Queen Elisabeth made it official when she knighted him in December. It’s an honor Davies unarguably deserves. For more than 50 years, he’s been England’s great social satirist and commentator. If The Kinks are pop music’s quintessential British band, then Davies is by extension its quintessential British songwriter. Even today, Davies, now 72, is defined largely by his homeland. So when it was announced that his new solo record would be called Americana, it felt like something carved out of alternative history. But it’s real, and it’s a record as good as its premise is enticing. Almost a decade after the release of his last record, 2008’s Working Man’s Cafe, Davies comes out of hibernation for one of his most wily and enthused solo outings yet. The record acts as a musical companion to his memoir of the same name, revealing a fascination with the States that runs deeper than fans might have ever thought.

“Americana is such a big story,” Davies said in a video interview promoting the new record’s release. True enough, much of Americana plays like a celebration of American myth. Davies’ view of life across the pond is one conjured through a fascination with old western movies, the open road, and other distinctly American imagery. With the able support of alt-country mainstays The Jayhawks as his backing band, the record’s 15 tracks delve deep into the folklore. Davies wastes little time shaping his narrative on the record’s title track, regaling listeners with fantasies of roaming buffalo, school-boy romances, and living in the land of the free.

TRACKS: 01. Americana 02. The Deal 03. Poetry 04. Message from the Road 05. A Place in Your Heart 06. The Mystery Room 07. Silent Movie 08. Rock ‘N’ Roll Cowboys 09. Change for Change 10. The Man Upstairs 11. I’ve Heard That Beat Before 12. A Long Drive Home to Tarzana 13. The Great Highway 14. The Invaders 15. Wings of Fantasy

DENNY DOHERTY - Watcha Gonna Do (1971) & Waiting For A Song (1974)

Denny Doherty, the voice of numerous Mamas & Papas hits such as "California Dreamin,'" and "Monday, Monday," has been one of the greatest and most underrated lead vocalists of the rock era. While he had not completely explored the area of songwriting during his fame with the Mamas & Papas, he was the one member of the group who was truly at loose ends after the groups' demise in the late 1960s. While perhaps a contractual obligation, his first solo album has numerous charms. The record has a loose, party-in -the-studio feel, and much of that adds to the overall effect of this slightly country-oriented platter. Tracks such as "Gathering of the Words" and "Don't You Be Fooled" are quite remarkable, and show Doherty to be a sensitive artist in the singer/songwriter vein. A remake of "Got a Feelin'" features Doherty's world-class talent as a vocalist as well. The album's closer, a medley of "Here Comes the Sun" and "The Two of Us" ends the record in grand style, with Jimmie Haskell's exquisite string arrangement taking the listener into a wonderful and warm place.



After a lackadaisical country-rock album in 1971 and a Mamas & the Papas contract-fulfilling reunion disc later that year, Denny Doherty laid low for a couple years before issuing this obscure effort. Waiting for a Song is a rather depressing record, Doherty being mired in melancholia more or less from beginning to end. The title of "Give Me Back That Old Familiar Feeling," paired with the album's title, provide the intertwined recurring lyrical themes: Doherty as the lost artist looking for a song to sing and a reason to live -- the concepts becoming interchangeable after a while -- and continually looking to the past for fear of looking forward. This motif is underscored by the presence of his former bandmates, Cass Elliot and Michelle Phillips, on backing vocals throughout the record. Their harmonizing voices are in fine form, but the arrangements are far less novel than those from the group's heyday, and Doherty doesn't hit notes as brightly with his tenor as he once did. Less-than-stunning material and poor distribution rendered this album an instant obscurity, though collectors and Doherty fans were delighted by its reissue on the Varese Vintage imprint in 2001. In hindsight, the record is remarkable for its naked honesty, Doherty making little secret, either in the tunes or in the liner photos, of how much of a wreck he is, but on its own merits, Waiting for a Song is too much of a buzzkill to tout unreservedly. Highlights include the minor AC hit "You'll Never Know" and the Larry Weiss-penned ballad "Lay Me Down (Roll Me Out to Sea)."

19.04.2017.

GUITAR SHORTY - 1991-2001

When he's not turning somersaults, doing backward flips, and standing on his head - all while playing, of course - Guitar Shorty is prone to cutting loose with savagely slashing licks on his instrument. Live, he's simply amazing -- and after some lean years, his latter-day albums for Black Top, Evidence, and Alligator have proven that all that energy translates vividly onto tape.



Born David Kearney on September 8, 1939, in Houston, TX, he started playing guitar at an early age. His early influences included fellow blues guitar slingers B.B. King, Guitar Slim, T-Bone Walker, and Earl Hooker. By the time he was 17, Kearney was already gigging steadily in Tampa, FL. One night, he was perched on the bandstand when he learned that the mysterious "Guitar Shorty" advertised on the club's marquee was none other than him! His penchant for stage gymnastics was inspired by the flamboyant Guitar Slim, whose wild antics are legendary. In 1957, Shorty cut his debut single, "You Don't Treat Me Right," for Chicago's Cobra Records under Willie Dixon's astute direction. Three superb 45s in 1959 for tiny Pull Records in Los Angeles (notably "Hard Life") rounded out Shorty's discography for quite a while. During the '60s, he married Jimi Hendrix's stepsister and lived in Seattle, where the rock guitar god caught Shorty's act (and presumably learned a thing or two about inciting a throng) whenever he came off the road. Shorty's career had its share of ups and downs - once he was reduced to competing on Chuck Barris' zany Gong Show, where he copped first prize for delivering "They Call Me Guitar Shorty" while balanced on his noggin.



Los Angeles had long since reclaimed Shorty by the time things started to blossom anew with the 1991 album My Way or the Highway for the British JSP logo (with guitarist Otis Grand in support). From there, Black Top signed Shorty; 1993's dazzling Topsy Turvy, 1995's Get Wise to Yourself, and 1998's Roll Over, Baby were the head-over-heels results. In 2001, the appropriately titled I Go Wild was released on the Evidence label, proving that Guitar Shorty had no intentions of slowing down, as he clearly remained a master showman and lively blues guitarist. Watch Your Back appeared in spring 2004. A single-disc overview of his career, The Best of Guitar Shorty, appeared from Shout! Factory in 2006, as well as a new studio album, We the People, from Alligator Records. A second Alligator release, Bare Knuckle, appeared early in 2010.

Guitar Shorty @ 8th Zagreb International Blues Festival in Zagreb, Croatia, 05/27/2017

18.04.2017.

DAN PATLANSKY - Dear Silence Thieves (2014) & Introvertigo (2016)

The word “legend” is loaded with meaning – especially when one thinks of Blues-legends. It conjures up images of seasoned older players that have been touched with a rare gift, and whose talent has been salted through the onslaught of years in the music business. To achieve legend-status as a Blues-musician at the age of 30 is almost unheard of. Enter Dan Patlansky – an artist who shares the muse that touched Hendrix, Zeppelin and Stevie Ray Vaughan. What Dan Patlansky can do with a six-string Fender Stratocaster at the age of 30, most critically acclaimed guitarists will never quite achieve in a lifetime.



Dan Patlansky is a conglomerate of charisma, charm and musical genius - and all of this comes wrapped up in an unassuming, startlingly attractive package that bespeaks his Judeo-Spanish heritage. And yet, he doesn’t seem to realise the extent of his tactile appeal – both on stage and in person. Humility suits him well and is as much an extension of his being as his Fender. There are no airs and graces here – just sincerity and an incredible musical talent. In only a little over a decade on the music scene, Dan Patlansky has become one of the busiest and most respected blues artists to ever come out of South Africa. His music can best be described as vacillating between slick, soulful blues and the renegade psychedelic angst and raw emotion of Hendrix and Zeppelin – fire encased in ice...if you will.

17.04.2017.

RITA CHIARELLI

Rita Chiarelli is one of the most exciting singers in Canada. Her unique blend of rock and blues has been compared favorably to Bonnie Raitt, Melissa Etheridge, and Susan Tedeschi. In 2000, she was named the "top blues singer" at Canada's Maple Leaf Awards.



The world's discovery of Chiarelli comes after years of her paying dues. Singing with Hamilton, Ontario-based group Tempest at the age of 15, she toured throughout North America with a nine-piece R&B; band, Battleaxe, after graduating from high school. Chiarelli continued to sharpen her chops as a member of Toronto-based rockabilly pioneer Ronnie Hawkins' group. After a year, however, she moved to Italy, where she worked as a studio vocalist for six years. Returning to Canada in the late '80s, Chiarelli had her first success when her tune "Have You Seen My Shoes?," which was featured in the film Roadkill. Releasing her debut album, Road Rocket, in 1992, she took things a step further with her second effort, Just Gettin' Started, three years later. Produced by Jane Siberry-producer John Switzer, the album showcased Chiarelli's hook-laden songwriting, with all but one song -- a cover of Elvis Presley's "Love Me" -- original. Long John Baldry covered Chiarelli's song, "Midnight in Berlin," on his 1996 album Right to Sing the Blues. Breakfast at Midnight, released in 2001, includes such guests as ex-Band keyboardist Richard Bell and guitarist Colin Linden.



Over the past decade Rita Chiarelli has won every major Canadian blues award, including multiple Maple Blues awards, CBCs Great Canadian Blues Award, Toronto Independent Music Awards, Hamilton Music Awards, Manitoba Blues Society and the Hamilton Blues Society's Lifetime Achievement Awards. Most recently Rita was awarded the prestigious Maple Blues 'Blues With A Feeling Award' for Lifetime Achievement.



Showing no signs of slowing down, Chiarelli continues to tour incessantly in North America and Europe and intends to spend more time performing in the U.S. over the next few years.

16.04.2017.

ALLAN HOLDSWORTH - Against The Clock: The Best Of Allan Holdsworth (2005)

Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 16 April 2017) was a British guitarist and composer. He released twelve studio albums as a solo artist and played a variety of musical styles spanning a period of more than four decades, but is best known for his work in jazz fusion.

Holdsworth is noted for his advanced knowledge of music, through which he incorporated a vast array of complex chord progressions and intricate solos; the latter comprising myriad scale forms often derived from those such as the diminished, augmented, whole tone, chromatic and altered scales, among others, resulting in an unpredictable and "outside" sound. His unique legato soloing technique stems from his desire to originally play the saxophone, but having been unable to afford one he thus intentionally utilised the guitar in order to make it sound like a different instrument. He also become associated with playing an early form of guitar synthesizer called the SynthAxe, a company which he endorsed in the 1980s.

Holdsworth has been cited as an influence by such renowned rock, metal and jazz guitarists as Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Greg Howe, Shawn Lane, Richie Kotzen, John Petrucci, Alex Lifeson, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Yngwie Malmsteen, Michael Romeo, and Tom Morello. Frank Zappa once lauded him as "one of the most interesting guys on guitar on the planet", while Robben Ford has said: "I think Allan Holdsworth is the John Coltrane of the guitar. I don't think anyone can do as much with the guitar as Allan Holdsworth can."

On April 16th 2017 Allan Holdsworth's family posted a public announcement of Holdsworth's untimely death. Cause of death was not mentioned. - RIP

GROUNDHOGS - Thank Christ For The Groundhogs: The Liberty Years 1968-1972 (2010)

The Groundhogs were not British blues at their most creative; nor were they British blues at their most . They were emblematic of some of the genre's most visible strengths and weaknesses. They were prone to jam too long on basic riffs, they couldn't hold a candle to American blues singers in terms of vocal presence, and their songwriting wasn't so hot. On the other hand, they did sometimes stretch the form in unexpected ways, usually at the hands of their creative force, guitarist/songwriter/vocalist T.S. (Tony) McPhee. For a while they were also extremely popular in Britain, landing three albums in that country's Top Ten in the early '70s. The Groundhogs' roots actually stretch back to the mid-'60s, when McPhee helped form the group, naming it after a John Lee Hooker song (the band was also known briefly as John Lee's Groundhogs). In fact, the Groundhogs would back Hooker himself on some of the blues singer's mid-'60s British shows, and also on an obscure LP. They also recorded a few of their very own obscure singles with a much more prominent R&B;/soul influence than their later work.

In 1966, the Groundhogs evolved into Herbal Mixture, which (as if you couldn't guess from the name) had more of a psychedelic flavor than a blues one. Their sole single, "Machines," would actually appear on psychedelic rarity compilations decades later. The Groundhogs/Herbal Mixture singles, along with some unreleased material, has been compiled on a reissue CD on Distortions.

After Herbal Mixture folded, McPhee had a stint with the John Dummer Blues Band before re-forming the Groundhogs in the late '60s at the instigation of United Artists A&R; man Andrew Lauder. Initially a quartet (bassist Pete Cruickshank also remained from the original Groundhogs lineup), they'd stripped down to a trio by the time of their commercial breakthrough, Thank Christ for the Bomb, which made the U.K. Top Ten in 1970. McPhee was always at the very least an impressive guitarist, and a very versatile one, accomplished in electric, acoustic, and slide styles. Who Will Save the World? The Mighty Groundhogs! (1972), their last Top Ten entry, saw McPhee straying further from blues territory into somewhat progressive realms, even adding some Mellotron and harmonium (though the results were not wholly unsuccessful). The Groundhogs never became well-known in the U.S., where somewhat similar groups like Ten Years After were much bigger. Although McPhee and the band have meant little in commercial or critical terms in their native country since the early '70s, they've remained active as a touring and recording unit since then, playing to a small following in the U.K. and Europe.

15.04.2017.

THE 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS - Easter Everywhere (1967)

01. Slip Inside This House
02. Slide Machine
03. She Lives In (A Time of Her Own)
04. Nobody to Love
05. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
06. Earthquake
07. Dust
08. I've Got Levitation
09. I Had to Tell You
10. Postures (Leave Your Body Behind)

Easter Everywhere is the second studio album by the American psychedelic rock band the 13th Floor Elevators. It was released in November 1967, through record label International Artists. For a long time, the album was a hard-to-find collectors' item, until being re-released as a CD by Collectables Records in 1993.The album features the band's distinctive sound on songs ranging from their own psychedelic "Slip Inside this House" to a trippy cover of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". "Levitation" ranks among the band's most iconic songs, with its Tommy Hall-penned lyrics and its twisted blues sensibilities, while "Postures" displays a distinct Motown influence. As on the previous album, Tommy Hall's electric jug is prominent in the music. Easter Everywhere was packaged with lyrics printed on the inner sleeve, gold ink on the cover (which flaked off), and full colour pictures on the reverse. The packaging was quite expensive at the time.

KERRY ELLIS & BRIAN MAY - Acoustic By Candlelight (2013) & Golden Days (2017)

Kerry Jane Ellis is an English actress and singer who is best known for her work in musical theatre and subsequent crossover into music. Ellis made her first professional stage appearance in 1998 and went on to make her West End debut in the 2001 revival of My Fair Lady as Martine McCutcheon's understudy in the role of Eliza Doolittle. After meeting Queen guitarist Brian May in 2002, she landed the role of Meat in the original London cast of We Will Rock You and has subsequently played lead roles in West End musicals Les Misérables, Wicked (which also took her to Broadway), Oliver! and Cats as well as appearing in national tours and concert productions of musicals like Miss Saigon, Chess, The War of the Worlds and Rent. Ellis, who has received several awards and nominations for her performances, has become recognised as the First Lady of West End musicals.

Acoustic by Candlelight: Live on The Born Free Tour is the first live album by actress and singer Kerry Ellis and rock musician Brian May, released on 17 June 2013. The 15-track album consists of material from live shows of the first leg of their Born Free Tour, which the pair embarked on in late 2012.



‘Golden Days’ is the latest collaboration from Brian May and Kerry Ellis, who have now been working together for nigh on 15 years – ever since Kerry first created the role of Meat in the Queen/Ben Elton musical ‘We Will Rock You’. However, this latest release is actually their first together as a credited duo and also their first under a new deal with Sony Music. ‘Anthems’, released in 2010, was a Kerry Ellis solo album but produced by Brian May, and the hidden gem ‘Acoustic by Candlelight’ live album was a limited release put out on May’s own Duck Productions label. This new collection is a diverse mix of songs penned by both Brian and, for the first time, Kerry herself. Along with several more well-known tracks that have become favourites of the duo following their numerous live performances together.

14.04.2017.

PINK FLOYD - The Early Years 1965-1972 (2016)

The Early Years 1965–1972 is a compilation box set by Pink Floyd released on 11 November 2016. It contains early non-album singles plus unreleased studio and live recordings. Volumes 1–6 are available separately since March 24th 2017, while Volume 7 Continu/ation will be exclusive to the box set.



“Today’s underground may be the answer to tomorrow’s leisure,” intones an earnest British newscaster, narrating film of London’s U.F.O. Club circa January 1967 while its house band, Pink Floyd, jams amid the flashing lights. And darned if he wasn’t right: the black-and-white segment is now found on the massive new $550, 11-CD/9-DVD/8 Blu-Ray box set, Pink Floyd: The Early Years, 1965–1972. With over 27 hours of material, the package overflows with replica 45 rpm singles, gig flyers, posters, tickets, sheet music, and more, and the ark-like box should provide serious leisure-time satisfaction for both longtime Floyd freaks and aspiring heads alike. The Early Years tells the remarkable story of Pink Floyd’s career up through the moment they became part of yesterday’s underground and today’s mainstream, stopping just before the writing and recording of 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon. Charting the band’s progression from the wig-flipping baroque psychedelia of Syd Barrett’s songwriting through their wooliest jams and into the new space beyond, The Early Years doesn’t follow a straight path. It shows an astonishing capacity to turn corners and evolve, a long arc that might give hope to every band jamming away in its practice space in search of a voice.

IRONHORSE - Ironhorse (1979) & Everything Is Grey (1980)

Ironhorse was a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, formed by the former The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive member, Randy Bachman along with Tom Sparks (vocals, guitars), Chris Leighton (drums) and Ron Foos (bass).



They had a minor U.S. hit single in April 1979 with "Sweet Lui-Louise", which peaked at #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In Canada, the song peaked slightly higher at #26. The same track reached #60 in the UK Singles Chart. Ironhorse released two albums on the Scotti Brothers label: 1979's Ironhorse and 1980's Everything is Grey. The second release had Frank Ludwig (ex-Trooper) replacing Sparks. One of its singles, "What's Your Hurry Darlin'," peaked at #84 in Canada. In the U.S., the song peaked at #89 in May 1980. Foos left to rejoin Paul Revere and the Raiders. In 1980, Ironhorse evolved into Union with the addition of Bachman's former BTO bandmate Fred Turner. Union put out one album On Strike on the CBS subsidiary Portrait Records. As of May, 2013, Randy Bachman has been able to secure the rights to the two Ironhorse albums and plans on releasing them along with previously unreleased material in the next couple years. Bachman also has stated he is considering reuniting the band and doing a tour to support the new album.

13.04.2017.

BOBBY MESSANO - Bad Movie (2017)

01. Bad Movie
02. Come To Your Senses
03. Why Water A Dead Rose
04. Road To Oblivion
05. Unconventional Wisdom
06. Too Good To Be True
07. If The Phone Ain't Ringin, It's Me Not Callin'
08. Never Too Late To Break A Bad Habit
09. Water Under The Bridge
10. You Left Me No Choice
11. The Girl That Got Away
12. I Thought We Had This
13. We Need A Blessing
14. Is It Too Much To Hope For A Miracle
15. American Spring

Bobby Messano is a legendary guitarist and Contemporary Blues Artist who has released seven Solo CDs, placed songs in many TV and Cable shows and played on over 50 Major label and Indie albums. Bobby’s newest CD “BAD MOVIE” released on April 2017. It is a collection of fifteen incredible songs written with major co-writers Jon Tiven , Larry Weiss and Steve Kalinich and features the amazing “Come To Your Senses” written by Queen founder Brian May and Jon Tiven and the haunting duet “Water Under The Bridge” with Bobby and Alecia Elliott (2001 AMA Nominee) “BAD MOVIE” offers a unique perspective of personal traumas and a country in a state of flux and the early reviews have been outstanding.

SEAN CHAMBERS - Trouble & Whiskey (2017)

Florida-born Sean Chambers began his career in the Blues back in 1998 when he toured with the legendary Hubert Sumlin as his guitarist and band leader until 2003. During Sean's tenure with Mr. Sumlin, Britain's own Guitarist magazine named Chambers as One of the Top 50 blues guitarists of the last century.

The album is produced by Ben Elliott who has recorded classic artists such as Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Billy Gibbons, and Leslie West among others. The core band on the album, aside from Sean on lead vocals and lead guitar, includes Michael Hensley on Hammond B3 & keyboards, Todd Cook on bass and Kris Schnebelen on drums. Special guests include Jimmy Bennett on guitar on track #8, John Ginty on Hammond B3 on track #4, and Andrei Koribanics on percussion on tracks #1 and #7. Trouble & Whiskey marks the 6th release by Sean Chambers. The album is guitar driven and features 10 tracks, which include 7 new original Sean Chambers compositions, and 3 well chosen covers, including Bullfrog Blues by Rory Gallagher, Cut Off My Right Arm by Johnny Copeland and Be Careful With A Fool by Riley B. King/Joe Bihari. The album debuts on Billboard Blues Charts at #11.

TRACKS: 01. I Need Your Lovin' 02. Bottle Keeps Staring At Me 03. Trouble & Whiskey 04. Travelin North 05. Cut Off My Right Arm 06. Bullfrog Blues 07. Sweeter Than A Honey Bee 08. Handyman 09. Be Careful With A Fool 10. Gonna Groove

12.04.2017.

THE J. GEILS BAND - 'Live' Full House (1972) & Flashback, The Best Of J. Geils (1988)

The J. Geils Band was an American rock band formed in 1968 in Worcester, Massachusetts, under the leadership of guitarist John "J." Geils. The band played R&B-influenced; blues rock during the 1970s, and soon achieved commercial success before moving towards a more new wave mainstream sound in the early 1980s, which would soon bring the band to its commercial peak. Since its initial break-up in 1985, the band has reunited several times. The band first released several Top 40 singles in the early 1970s, including a cover of the song "Lookin' for a Love" by The Valentinos (which reached #39 in the Billboard Top 100 in 1971), as well as the single "Give it to me" (which reached #30 in 1973). Their biggest hits included "Must of Got Lost" (which reached #12 in the Billboard Top 100 in 1975), "Love Stinks" which reached #38 in 1980 (and was featured in several films), their single "Freeze-Frame" which reached #4 in the Billboard Top 200 in 1981, as well as the single "Centerfold", which charted to No. 1 in the United States in early 1982.



John Warren "J." Geils Jr. (February 20, 1946 - April 11, 2017) - RIP

11.04.2017.

JUDY COLLINS - Judith (1975)

Judith is American singer and songwriter Judy Collins' 12th studio album, released in 1975 by Elektra Records. It peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, and is her best-selling studio album to date, achieving Platinum status in the mid 1990s. Collins received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for her cover of Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns". Sondheim won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year that same year, based on the popularity of Collins' performance of the song on this album. The single peaked at No. 36 on Billboard's Pop singles chart in 1975, and then reentered the chart in 1977, reaching No. 19; it spent a total of 27 non-consecutive weeks on this chart. The album also includes material by Steve Goodman, Danny O'Keefe, Wendy Waldman, Jimmy Webb, the Rolling Stones, and the 1930s standard "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", as well as three of Collins' own compositions- "Houses", "Song for Duke", and "Born to the Breed". The album was certified Gold by the RIAA in 1975, for sales of over 500,000 copes. It was later certified Platinum in 1996, for sales of over 1,000,000 copes.

TRACKS: 01. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress 02. Angel Spread Your Wings 03. Houses 04. The Lovin' Of The Game 05. Song For Duke 06. Send In The Clowns 07. Salt Of The Earth 08. Brother Can You Spare A Dime 09. City Of New Orleans 10. I'll Be Seeing You 11. Pirate Ships 12. Born To The Breed

JONI MITCHELL - Miles Of Aisles (1974)

Miles of Aisles is a four-sided live album with a greatest-hits feel to it that collects 18 numbers from Mitchell's successful concert tour of last winter. It's a strong album of her best songs performed mostly informally, backed on sides one and four by reedman Tom Scott and his band - an interesting album because it displays an occasional awkwardness that provides a glimpse into the artist's mercurial character. Although she constantly maintains a stunning professional control over her own performance, much of the pleasure of this record comes from the new band arrangements of songs we've heard often (one or two of which I've heard to death). Even "Woodstock," which is now something of a hoary hippy anthem, gets a clever revitalization through Robben Ford's biting guitar work that constructs a personality of its own as the concert builds.

Most of the new readings are superb. "Cactus Tree," "A Case of You" and "Blue" once again knock me out with the seriousness of their romantic vision. The opening bars of "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire" and "Woman of Heart and Mind" both elicit surprised gasps from an adoring audience that approaches a cult following, These and the other songs from For the Roses blew minds when they were first released, and on Miles of Aisles they are reproduced in a rare way — live versions of important songs that approach the crackling intensity of the recording studio originals. The exuberance and high spirits of "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio" and "Big Yellow Taxi" are preserved intact, and again the interaction of Joni with the tasteful Scott quintet must be praised.

TRACKS: 01. You Turn Me on I'm a Radio 02. Big Yellow Taxi 03. Rainy Night House 04. Woodstock 05. Cactus Tree 06. Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire 07. Woman of Heart and Mind 08. A Case of You 09. Blue 10. The Circle Game 11. People's Parties 12. All I Want 13. Real Good for Free 14. Both Sides Now 15. Carey 16. The Last Time I Saw Richard 17. Jericho 18. Love or Money

10.04.2017.

BILL NELSON - My Secret Studio, Vol.1 (2017) [4CD Box Set]

My Secret Studio really isn't a secret, and never has been, unless you count the period of time when problems of life and surroundings seemed to make it impossible for Bill Nelson to actually get anything musical out into the open. His larger commercial connections had evaporated, his own label had been wracked by unethical behavior by his manager, and his life as a whole seemed to be one gigantically complex knot. Rather than letting these problems crushing the inspiration out of him, Nelson was energized by them. He might not have been able to release much of a anything for a while, but this didn't stop him from recording hundreds of new songs and instrumental pieces. My Secret Studio, Vol. 1 is one distillation of the four years between 1988 and 1992, organizing 65 songs into four discs (three of these have been made available separately from the box set; Juke Box for Jet Boy remains available only as part of the complete box.) A packet of Nelson's photo-artwork is also included as an added bonus. My Secret Studio mostly focuses on songs throughout, with the Deep Dream Decoder and Juke Box for Jet Boy discs including some examples of Nelson's floating instrumental work. The first two discs, Buddha Head and Electricity Made Us Angels, take the form of statement and contemplation, providing an initial form, though this proves less important than a simple progression through the songs themselves - order definitely is not an issue here. The box set itself has become difficult to find - only 2,000 copies were pressed - but it is certainly worth acquiring, as the price is reasonable.