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75 track clamshell box concentrating on the Power Pop boom of 1978-82. Features hits by The Jam, Boomtown Rats, Elvis Costello, Buzzcocks, The Undertones and Squeeze. Also includes other name acts including the Rich Kids, Eddie & The Hot Rods, The Vapors, The Motors and Stiff Little Fingers. Collectors will delight in many of the obscurities that are appearing here on CD for the first time - from artists including Tonight, The Deaf Aids, The Covers, Filmstars, Zoot Alors and The Kraze. With a 36-page booklet containing notes on each track with relevant sleeve illustrations.
A lavish reissue of Davy Jones' self-titled album remastered with 6 bonus tracks. The CD version comes with a big 36 page colour booklet, extensive liner notes from Monkees historian Mark Kleiner and rare and previously unseen pictures.
This reissue gives fans the opportunity to reassess an album that was unfairly neglected by record buyers at the time of it's initial release in the fall of 1971.
Prior to entering the studio with producer Jackie Mills, Jones had recorded a batch of more somber and adult contemporary-sounding demos than the eventual Bell recordings of big band sunshine pop. While the latter played quite squarely into Jones' established image; the former suggested another path that may (or may not) have launched Jones into a more fecund musical and commercial direction. Who can say?
At the end of the day, we have these recordings and their manifold (and for too long overlooked) pleasures to enjoy, a worthy entry in the broad category of early seventies sunshine pop and in the specific canon of Davy Jones and Monkees-related recordings. Here is primetime Davy Jones, singing like an angel, and pointing to a love that leads to joy for all mankind.
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Two months after recording what would become his hit record The Sidewinder, trumpeter Lee Morgan returned to Van Gelder Studio in February 1964 to create his masterful album Search for the New Land.
For the session, Morgan assembled a sextet consisting of several young stars of the Blue Note roster including Herbie Hancock on piano, Grant Green on guitar, and Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, along with the dynamic rhythm team of bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Billy Higgins.
The album opens with the expansive 16-minute title track, a musical odyssey that alternates a shimmering rubato theme with a loping exploration by each soloist. Four more indelible Morgan originals follow including jaunty numbers such as "The Joker" and "Morgan the Pirate," as well as the plaintive ballad "Melancholee."
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Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson capped off his run of five sublime 1960s Blue Note leader dates with his 1966 classic Mode for Joe, an album bursting with vigor and vitality that found Henderson expanding his palette with a septet of colorful figures including Lee Morgan on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone, Cedar Walton on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Joe Chambers on drums.
The band delivers six powerful performances, playing with white-hot intensity on Henderson's originals "A Shade of Jade," Caribbean Fire Dance," and "Granted," as well as Morgan's swinger "Free Wheelin'." But it's the remarkable title track by Walton that emerges as the standout of the set, a modal masterpiece where the leader summons one of his most transcendent and visceral solo statements.
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Originally released in 1962, jazz multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef's album, Eastern Sounds, fuses hard bop with middle eastern music as he is joined by Barry Harris on piano alongside Ernie Farrow (double bass/rabaab) and Lex Humphries (drums). Original Jazz Classics Series is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI with all-analog mastering from the original tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and presented in a tip-on jacket.
The latest instalment of Grapefruit's popular year-by-year overview of the British rock/pop scenes of the 70s. Featuring big hits, intriguing misses and key album tracks from 1974 as well as a clutch of alternative versions and unissued-at-the-time gems.
Although 1974 was dominated by the country's crippling economic woes, the British rock and pop scene continued to flourish. The more creative element of the glam rock spectrum inspired a host of new bands, with Cockney Rebel, Be-Bop Deluxe and Sparks coming through to establish themselves alongside genre heavyweights Roxy Music, T. Rex and Slade.
London's pub rock circuit saw stalwarts Brinsley Schwarz joined by early Ian Dury outfit Kilburn & The High Roads, Ace (who scored a hit single with the timeless 'How Long') and Dr. Feelgood, whose aggressive attitude and slashing, guitar-based brand of tough R&B influenced a whole new generation of musicians.
Ace and fellow classic one-hit wonders Brian Protheroe and Splinter took their place in the singles chart alongside Rod Stewart, Status Quo and Bryan Ferry, while there were inexplicable misses for Ronnie Lane and former Bowie sideman Mick Ronson.
Many rock bands eschewed the self-indulgences of early 70s prog-rock to adopt a more streamlined sound, exemplified by vital albums from Thin Lizzy, Man and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. Established mavericks Peter Hammill and Kevin Coyne continued to attract a cult following, Lesley Duncan and Bridget St. John represented the distaff side of the singer/songwriter scene, while Richard And Linda Thompson released the classic folk-rock album 'I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight'.
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