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Friday, December 21, 2012

Carole King...Tapestry [Original Recording Remastered, Extra Tracks]



Carole King was one of the original Brill Building songwriters and with husband, and co-collaborator, Gerry Goffin, wrote some of the most memorable hits of the '60s. In 1971, she became more famous. That's the year Tapestry became one of the biggest-selling LPs of all time. It's easy to hear why--the music is loose, earthy, L.A. session-pop. King is casual, intimate, and tough; she covers all the emotional ground of the post-liberated woman with ease. She brings adult nuance to "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" and comes up with hits ("It's Too Late," "I Feel the Earth Move") whose white-soul realism and maturity put pop hits to shame. --Steve Tignor..(Amazon.com)

1. I Feel The Earth Move  
2. So Far Away  
3. It's Too Late  
4. Home Again  
5. Beautiful  
6. Way Over Yonder  
7. You've Got A Friend  
8. Where You Lead  
9. Will You Love Me Tomorrow? 
10. Smackwater Jack  
11.Tapestry  
12. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman  
13. Out In The Cold (Previously Unreleased)  
14. Smackwater Jack (Live)



                                 


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Janis Joplin...Pearl


Amazon.com
Janis Joplin made the blues her own. Though she didn't live to finish this album before her 1970 death from a heroin overdose, her intense passion and frantic cries of pain and ecstasy were enough to make Pearl one of the most memorable recordings of her era. Her band does fill up some vinyl with the instrumental "Buried Alive in the Blues," but it's the vocals that make this album worth hearing these many decades later. Listen to the tortured heartbreak of "Cry Baby" or the hopeful declarations of Kris Kristofferson's "Me & Bobby McGee" and understand why Joplin remains an essential, if tragic, figure in pop. --Steve Appleford
1. Move Over 
2. Cry Baby 
3. A Woman Left Lonely 
4. Half Moon 
5. Buried Alive In The Blues 
6. My Baby 
7. Me And Bobby McGee 
8. Mercedes Benz 
9. Trust Me 
10. Get It While You Can 
11. Tell Mama (Live) 
12. Little Girl Blue (Live) 

 
 
 


                                                            

Saturday, December 8, 2012

The Beatles...Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band


What more can be said about this CLASSIC album? It usually tops any best albums of all time lists and people of all ages know about it and all the songs have been covered by numerous artists over the years. Certainly The Beatles' "masterpiece" and a definite essential for your collection.

Amazon.com
Before Sgt. Pepper, no one seriously thought of rock music as actual art. That all changed in 1967, though, when John, Paul, George and Ringo (with "A Little Help" from their friend, producer George Martin) created an undeniable work of art which remains, after 40-plus years, one of the most influential albums of all time. From Lennon's evocative word/sound pictures (the trippy "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," the carnival-like "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite") and McCartney's music hall-styled "When I'm 64," to Harrison's Eastern-leaning "Within You Without You," and the avant-garde mini-suite, "A Day in the Life," Sgt. Pepper was a milestone for both '60s music and popular culture. --Billy Altman

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. With A Little Help From My Friends
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing A Hole
6. She's Leaving Home
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite
8. Within You Without You
9. When I'm Sixty Four
10. Lovely Rita
11. Good Morning Good Morning
12. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13. A Day In The Life



Friday, December 7, 2012

The Best of John Coltrane


This collection from one of the masters of Jazz contains 20 of his finest moments including "Blue Train", "My Favourite Things" and "A Love Supreme". Just play and chill!

Bio - Whether legendary jazz saxophonist John Coltrane was inverting bebop chord structures or inducing meditational depth with his complex melodies, he seemed to shift gears and gain new expertise with every passing year in the 1960s.
In the 50s, Coltrane played in Miles Davis’ ‘First Great Quintet’, and experienced a spiritual epiphany after kicking heroin in 1957 that inspired everything he played thereafter. The same year his first real solo album was released, Blue Train, before he played on Davis’ seminal Kind of Blue and released his second major solo work, Giant Steps. At this stage Coltrane was at the forefront of the innovative changes in jazz, moving from the usual hard-bop style to the modal form that Kind of Blue introduced. Coltrane took modal jazz and ran with it through the 60s - from My Favourite Things (1961) and Live at the Village Vanguard (1962), to Duke Ellington and John Coltrane (1962) and John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963), Coltrane produced innovative and complex jazz that divided the critics of the time, but is now accepted as era defining. In 1965, Coltrane and his quartet released his most famous record, the deeply spiritual A Love Supreme, which has since been regularly acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz albums ever.

After A Love Supreme, Coltrane became more interested in free jazz, as shown on the classic Ascension. After adding Pharoah Sanders to his band, Coltrane began to take hallucinogenic drugs and his music became more spaced-out, alienating some listeners. In 1967 Coltrane was diagnosed with liver cancer, and he died shortly afterwards at the age of 40, leaving a hugely influential legacy of jazz. His spirituality was influential too - in 1971 a San Francisco church began worshipping Coltrane as a saint. (This biography was provided by community contributors.)








                                                       

Monday, December 3, 2012

Creedence Clearwater Revival..Chronicle Vols. 1 & 2



Creedence Clearwater Revival (often known as just CCR) were a Californian band who were said to play a form of southern rock called 'swamp rock'. Led by John Fogerty, they had an incredible run of hits at their peak, scoring nine Top 10 hits between 1969 and 1971. Creedence had begun life in 1959 as The Blue Velvets and then The Golliwogs, without much success. 

In 1967 they changed their name, and the following year released an eponymous album Creedence Clearwater Revival, which featured a No.11 hit in “Suzie Q”. Follow-up Bayou Country went Top 10 and included the No.2 smash hit “Proud Mary”. Their third album Green River (1969) was widely praised and spun two hit singles, “Bad Moon Rising” and “Green River”, both of which matched “Proud Mary” in reaching No.2. Willy and the Poor Boys was another hit with critics and fans, spawning two more No.5 singles. Their fifth album, Cosmo’s Factory (1970) topped the album charts and produced an incredible five Top.5 singles. There is much debate among fans and critics about which of these three albums is their best, with Cosmo’s Factory perhaps slightly edging it with most listeners. After two more albums, the adventurous Pendulum (1970) and Mardi Gras (1972), CCR broke up. (This biography was provided by community contributors and accessed from Amazon)









                                     



                                        

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Ray Charles...The Classic Years



R'n'B innovator Ray Charles was one of the most important musicians of the 1950's. Despite being blind from childhood, he was hugely successful at fusing elements of blues, country, gospel and doo-wop together to form a kind of proto-soul.

Despite losing his sight at an early age, he never let his disability stop him from being a success and scored several Rn'B chart hits in the early 50s –- including “It Should Have Been Me”, “Mess Around”, “I Got a Woman” and “Lonely Avenue” -– all recorded on Atlantic Records. These songs were among the early blueprints for soul music, alongside the work of artists like James Brown and Sam Cooke. In 1959 Charles enjoyed his biggest hit yet, when “What I’d Say” topped the R'n'B chart and reached No.6 in the main singles chart.

After leaving Atlantic for a better contract at ABC Records, Charles enjoyed more crossover successes, including the pained ballad “Georgia on my Mind”, the swinging pop chart-topper “Hit the Road Jack”, and the pleading “Unchain My Heart”. His 1962 record, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, was a smash hit, topping the album charts for 12 weeks. It is remembered as one of the greatest albums of the early 60s.