Robin Trower - A Tale Untold. The Chrysalis Years 1973 - 1976 (3xCD) (2010)

Year: 1973 - 1976 (CD 2010)
Label: EMI Records (Europe), 50999 642154 2 6
Style: Rock, Rhythm And Blues
Country: Catford, London, England (9 March 1945)
Time: 62:10, 78:18, 64:39
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 375, 502, 439 Mb

Only half the name to this 2011 collection rings true. The words "A Tale Untold," also a Robin Trower song title, imply that this is a set of rare or unreleased music, when actually this is a tale often told. These five albums -- arguably Trower's finest and certainly his most commercially popular -- have remained the nucleus of his fame despite a hefty catalog that has stayed mostly the province of his devoted cult fan base. Following a similarly styled Ten Years After collection, EMI UK has remastered these '70s rock classics and squeezed them onto three CDs, adding a few single edits, one hard to find B side, and even a surprisingly striking unreleased track from 1976's Long Misty Days sessions that really should have been included on that album. Still, like the TYA package, this is a missed opportunity. There are virtually no liner notes, graphics that border on amateurish, and plenty of room for more material. That's especially frustrating because 2007's reissue of Bridge of Sighs features eight bonus tracks recorded live from BBC sessions, none of which appear here. While Trower's official live 1976 release is present, there are no extra performances from that tour, which would have made a logical addition. Otherwise, this is terrific bang for the buck, with the best remastering yet (by acclaimed Abbey Road sound veteran Pete Mew) of this material and a bargain price. Musically, Trower had nailed his blues-based, spacy Hendrix-influenced sound on his astonishingly mature debut and pretty much stayed within those boundaries for the next three years. In singer James Dewar he found a vocalist every bit the equal of Paul Rodgers in terms of soul, dynamics, personality, and sheer lung power. He was equally adept as a convincing blues and soul singer, two aspects of Trower's approach that were as seminal to these songs as the flashy (yet never overly ostentatious), flowing, psychedelic, heavily reverbed guitar work. Hearing the albums together, it's remarkable how solid and consistent the material is over this short yet productive period. The more R&B slant of 1976's underappreciated Long Misty Days with "Caledonia" and "Some Rain Falls" is the equal of anything in the rest of his catalog, and the lovely ballad "I Can't Live Without You" from that set remains a lost R&B gem. This is the cream of Trower's output, and although there were plenty of other quality albums that followed throughout his long and, as of 2011, still active career, these stand as his most impressive and often moving musical statements.
(allmusic.com/album/a-tale-untold-the-chrysalis-years-1973-1976-mw0002027481)

01. I Can't Wait Much Longer (05:25)
02. Daydream (06:27)
03. Hanna (05:29)
04. Man Of The World (02:43)
05. I Can't Stand It (03:42)
06. Rock Me Baby (04:20)
07. Twice Removed From Yesterday (03:58)
08. Sinner's Song (05:24)
09. Ballerina (03:47)
10. Take A Fast Train (03:16)
11. Day Of The Eagle (05:01)
12. Bridge Of Sighs (05:01)
13. In This Place (04:29)
14. The Fool And Me (03:55)

01. Too Rolling Stoned (07:33)
02. About To Begin (03:44)
03. Lady Love (03:20)
04. Little Bit Of Sympathy (04:18)
05. Day Of The Eagle (02:52)
06. Shame The Devil (03:26)
07. It's Only Money (05:30)
08. Confession' Midnight (05:53)
09. Fine Day (03:35)
10. Aletha (03:05)
11. A Tale Unhold (05:27)
12. Gonna Be More Suspicious (03:05)
13. For Earth Below (06:06)
14. Too Rolling Stoned (06:40)
15. Daydream (08:00)
16. Rock Me Baby (05:57)

01. Lady Love (03:12)
02. I Can't Wait Much Longer (06:57)
03. Alethea (04:10)
04. Little Bit Of Sympathy (05:54)
05. Same Rain Falls (03:14)
06. Long Misty Days (05:43)
07. Hold Me (03:35)
08. Caledonia (03:41)
09. Pride (03:09)
10. Sailing (03:45)
11. S.M.O. (03:44)
12. I Can't Live Without You (04:25)
13. Messin'The Blues (03:57)
14. Long Misty Days (04:45)
15. Let Me Be The One (unreleased) (04:32)

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Peggy Lee - Blues Cross Country (1962)

Year: 1962 (CD 1999)
Label: Capitol Jazz (U.S.), 7243 5 20088 2 7
Style: Jazz, Vocal Jazz
Country: Jamestown, North Dakota, U.S. (May 26, 1920 - January 21, 2002)
Time: 36:31
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 232 Mb

Blues Cross Country is a 1962 studio album by Peggy Lee, principally arranged by Quincy Jones, with some arrangements by Benny Carter. The album can be described as a concept album, consisting of a musical journey across the United States through swinging blues songs, many of which were written by Lee with other contributors.

Blues Cross Country was the second of Lee's two albums featuring arrangements by Jones. He had also arranged her previous studio album, If You Go (1961).

Blues Cross Country received good reviews at the time of its release from both Billboard magazine in March 1962, and Time magazine in May 1962. Billboard wrote that "Peggy's back, and this time in a blues mood - with sad blues, happy blues and swinging blues. She sings them in her own delightful style aided muchly by the fine arrangements of ork [sic] leader Quincy Jones. .. The album's a gas".

The Allmusic review by William Ruhlmann awarded the album four stars and commented that "Though Jones' arrangements are often a touch brassier than the blues standards can handle, Lee contributes just the right blend of vigor and feeling to the songs".

(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_Cross_Country)

01. Kansas City (02:29)
02. Basin Street Blues (03:04)
03. Los Angeles Blues (02:38)
04. I Left My Sugar (In Salt Lake City) (02:53)
05. The Grain Belt Blues (01:52)
06. New York City Blues (03:21)
07. Goin' To Chicago Blues (02:37)
08. San Francisco Blues (02:37)
09. Fisherman's Wharf (03:11)
10. Boston Beans (02:05)
11. The Train Blues (02:42)
12. St. Louis Blues (02:15)
13. Hey! Look Me Over (01:55)
14. The Shining Sea (02:45)

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Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath) - Blizzard Of Ozz [Vinyl Rip] (1980)

Year: 12 September 1980 (UK), 27 March 1981 (US) (LP 1980)
Label: Epic Records, Jet Records (UK), 450453 1
Style: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Country: Warwickshire, England (3 December 1948)
Time: 39:42
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 272 Mb

I never thaw it coming: Ozzy Osbourne emerging from his pixilated winter to unleash one of the most awesome metal albums of all time. Sure, he lucked into an incredible guitarist, manager, et cetera. The man has more luck than a rabbit and more lives than a cat. But there comes a point at which a reasonable mind has to admit that no one can be that lucky, and Blizzard of Ozz was that point for me. Every song on here, minus maybe “No Bone Movies,” is absolutely classic.
It begins with a powerful refutation of power, “I Don’t Know,” then careens into “Crazy Train” and by the time the romantic “Goodbye To Romance” rolls around, your thumb and index finger will be stained in butane. Ozzy’s opus uno also includes the infamous “Suicide Solution” and “Mr. Crowley,” the latter one of the best gothic metal songs, period. And on the closing pair of “Revelation” and “Steal Away,” Ozzy becomes metal-prog Oggy for ten minutes of bliss.
For a time, all Rhoads led to Randy as the real wizard of Ozz, and he certainly does surpass anything in the canon on “Crazy Train,” but the fact that Ozzy still manages to outshine his hired golden boy says all you need to know about the true Blizzard king. Of course, credit also goes to Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake, or did until Ozzy and Sharon stripped the pair from the past in 2002 with a remixed version that featured the then-current rhythm section of Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin playing their parts. They even removed Daisley from the back cover album artwork, so deep was their disenchantment with the pair’s lawsuit against the Osbournes for royalty recognition.
(progrography.com/ozzy-osbourne/review-ozzy-osbourne-blizzard-of-ozz-1980/)

01. A1 I Don't Know (05:17)
02. A2 Crazy Train (04:55)
03. A3 Goodbye To Romance (05:37)
04. A4 Dee (00:51)
05. A5 Suicide Solution (04:19)
06. B1 Mr. Crowley (05:02)
07. B2 No Bone Movies (03:57)
08. B3 Revelation (Mother Earth) (06:12)
09. B4 Steal Away (The Night) (03:28)

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Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon [Vinyl Rip] (1973)

Year: 1 March 1973 (LP 1973, 6th Press)
Label: EMI Harvest Records (UK), SHVL 804
Style: Classic Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 42:52
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 255 Mb

One of Britain’s most successful and long lived avant-garde rock bands, Pink Floyd emerged relatively unsullied from the mire of mid-Sixties British psychedelic music as early experimenters with outer space concepts. Although that phase of the band’s development was of short duration, Pink Floyd have from that time been the pop scene’s preeminent techno-rockers: four musicians with a command of electronic instruments who wield an arsenal of sound effects with authority and finesse. While Pink Floyd’s albums were hardly hot tickets in the shops, they began to attract an enormous following through their US tours. They have more recently developed a musical style capable of sustaining their dazzling and potentially overwhelming sonic wizardry.
The Dark Side of the Moon is Pink Floyd’s ninth album and is a single extended piece rather than, a collection of songs. It seems to deal primarily with the fleetingness and depravity of human life, hardly the commonplace subject matter of rock. “Time” (“The time is gone the song is over”), “Money” (“Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie”). And “Us And Them” (“Forward he cried from the rear”) might be viewed as the keys to understanding the meaning (if indeed there is any definite meaning) of The Dark Side of the Moon.
Even though this is a concept album, a number of the cuts can stand on their own. “Time” is a fine country-tinged rocker with a powerful guitar solo by David Gilmour and “Money” is broadly and satirically played with appropriately raunchy sax playing by Dick Parry, who also contributes a wonderfully-stated, breathy solo to “Us And Them.” The non-vocal “On The Run” is a standout with footsteps racing from side to side successfully eluding any number of odd malevolent rumbles and explosions only to be killed off by the clock’s ticking that leads into “Time.” Throughout the album the band lays down a solid framework which they embellish with synthesizers, sound effects and spoken voice tapes. The sound is lush and multi-layered while remaining clear and well-structured.
There are a few weak spots. David Gilmour’s vocals are sometimes weak and lackluster and “The Great Gig in the Sky” (which closes the first side) probably could have been shortened or dispensed with, but these are really minor quibbles. The Dark Side of the Moon is a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement. There is a certain grandeur here that exceeds mere musical melodramatics and is rarely attempted in rock. The Dark Side of the Moon has flash-the true flash that comes from the excellence of a superb performance.
(https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/dark-side-of-the-moon-255381/) Review by Lloyd Grossman. May 24, 1973

01. A1 Speak To Me (01:08)
02. A2 Breathe (03:01)
03. A3 On The Run (03:40)
04. A4 Time (06:46)
05. A5 The Great Gig In The Sky (04:35)
06. B1 Money (06:27)
07. B2 Us And Them (07:52)
08. B3 Any Colour You Like (03:26)
09. B4 Brain Damage (03:07)
10. B5 Eclipse (02:46)

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The Doors - Morrison Hotel [Vinyl Rip] (1970)

Year: February 9, 1970 (LP 1973)
Label: Elektra Records (Germany), 42080 (EKS 75007)
Style: Classic Rock
Country: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Time: 37:25
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 225 Mb

Morrison Hotel opens with a powerful blast of raw funk called “Roadhouse Blues.” It features jagged barrelhouse piano, fierce guitar, and one of the most convincing raunchy vocals Jim Morrison has ever recorded. This angry hard rock is that at which the Doors have always excelled, and given us so seldom, and this track is one of their very best ever, with brooding lyrics that ring chillingly, true: “I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer/The future’s uncertain and the end is always near.”
From there on out, though, the road runs mainly downhill. It’s really a shame, too, because somehow one held high expectations for this album and wanted so badly to believe it would be good that one was afraid to listen to it when it was finally released. The music bogs down in the kind of love mush and mechanical, stereotyped rock arrangements that have marred so much of the Doors’ past music. “Blue Sunday” and “Indian Summer” are two more insipidly “lyrical” pieces crooned in Morrison’s most saccharine Hoagy Carmichael style. “Maggie M’Gill” is a monotonous progression in the vein of (but not nearly as interesting as) “Not to Touch the Earth,” and “You Make Me Real” is a thyroid burst of manufactured energy worthy of a thousand mediocre groups.
Admittedly, these are the worst tracks, and the rest ranges from the merely listenable to the harsh brilliance of “Roadhouse Blues” or the buoyant catchiness of “Land Ho!”, a chanty that sets you rocking and swaying on first listen and never fails to bring a smile every time it’s repeated.
This could have been a fine album; but the unavoidable truth — and this seems to be an insurmountable problem for the Doors — is that so much of it is out of the same extremely worn cloth as the songs on all their other albums. It’s impossible to judge it outside the context of the rest of their work. Robbie Kreiger’s slithery guitar, and Manzarek’s carnival-calliope organ work and whorehouse piano are the perfect complement to Morrison’s rococo visions. But we’ve all been there before, not a few times, and their well of resources has proven a standing lake which is slowly drying up. Perhaps if they recombined into a different group the brilliant promise of the Doors’ first album and sporadic songs since might begin to be fulfilled, but for now they can only be truly recommended to those with a personal interest.
(rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/morrison-hotel-123765/) Review by Lester Bangs. April 30, 1970

01. A1 Roadhouse Blues (04:05)
02. A2 Waiting For The Sun (03:59)
03. A3 You Make Me Real (02:53)
04. A4 Peace Frog (02:55)
05. A5 Blue Sunday (02:06)
06. A6 Ship Of Fools (03:05)
07. B1 Land Ho (04:11)
08. B2 The Spy (04:17)
09. B3 Queen Of The Highway (02:48)
10. B4 Indian Summer (02:34)
11. B5 Maggie M'Gill (04:25)

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Various Artists - Пулсиращи Ноти 5 (Compilation) [Vinyl Rip] (1987)

Year: 1987 (LP 1987)
Label: Balkanton (Bulgaria), BTA 12202
Style: Pop, Rock
Country: Various
Time: 46:27
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 298 Mb

Compilation: Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Karat, Bee Gees, Laura Branigan, Status Quo, Joe Cocker, Чёрный Кофе, Pink Floyd.

01. A1 Сигнал на предавнето и откриване (01:54)
02. A2 Michael Jackson - Лош (Bad) (04:05)
03. A3 Stevie Wonder - Свободен (Free) (04:45)
04. A4 Sting - Ще бъдем заедно (We'll Be Together) (03:50)
05. A5 Karat (East Berlin) - Той дойде, видя и победи (Er Kam, Sah Und Siegte) (03:27)
06. A6 Bee Gees - Ти отново побеждаваш (You Win Again) (04:25)
07. B1 Laura Branigan - Счупено стъкло (Shattered Glass) (02:24)
08. B2 Status Quo - В армията сега (In Army Now) (05:07)
09. B3 Joe Cocker - Освободи сърцето ми (Unchain My Heart) (06:07)
10. B4 Чёрный Кофе (USSR) - Щъркели (Листья) (03:48)
11. B5 Pink Floyd - Уча се да летя (Learning To Fly) (05:17)
12. B6 Закриване (01:13)

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Queen plus Paul Rodgers - The Cosmos Rocks (2008)

Year: 15 September 2008 (CD 2008)
Label: Heartstar Music Records (EU), COSMOS 001
Style: Rock, Hard Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 58:46
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size:  402 Mb

The Cosmos Rocks is the only studio album by Queen + Paul Rodgers (and Queen's sixteenth studio album overall), released on 15 September 2008. It contains 14 new tracks written by Brian May, Roger Taylor, and Paul Rodgers. This is the first studio album of new material from the two remaining members of Queen since 1995's Made in Heaven.
The band entered Roger Taylor's Priory studio in late 2006, having completed the American leg of a world tour. Sessions were initially scheduled around Rodgers' other touring commitments. On tour, the band had debuted a new song, "Take Love", which did not make the album. On his solo tour, Rodgers debuted songs such as "Warboys" and "Voodoo".
John Deacon's retirement meant that bass duties were shared between Rodgers and May.
The first single, "Say It's Not True" was released nine months before the album. The second, "C-lebrity" was previewed on Al Murray's Happy Hour in April, five months before the album.
The album's release came 17 years after the death in 1991 of former Queen singer Freddie Mercury.
"It had some great stuff on it," Taylor recalled. "I just think that Paul's more blues and soul – one of our favourite singers, ever, but, when it boils down to it, he wasn't the perfect frontman for us. I felt the album was badly promoted by EMI, who were falling to bits at the time. We were on tour in Europe, and I went into record stores and we weren't in them. And I remember being furious, thinking, 'Why did we make this fucking record?'"
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cosmos_Rocks)

01. Cosmos Rockin (04:11)
02. Time To Shine (04:22)
03. Still Burnin (04:02)
04. Small (04:40)
05. Warboys (03:18)
06. We Believe (06:07)
07. Call Me (02:58)
08. Voodoo (04:27)
09. Some Things That Glitter (04:02)
10. C-lebrity (03:38)
11. Through The Night (04:53)
12. Say It's Not True (04:02)
13. Surf's Up School's Out (05:55)
14. Small Reprise (02:05)

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Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Mojo [2xCD] (2010)

Year: June 15, 2010 (CD Jun 11, 2012)
Label: Reprise Records (Europe), 9362494953
Style: Classic Rock, Rock
Country: Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
Time: 64:56, 59:30
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 430, 432 Mb

Mojo is the twelfth studio album by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on June 15, 2010 on CD and June 29 on Blu-ray. It was Petty's first album with the Heartbreakers in eight years. Mojo debuted at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 125,000 copies in its first week of release. The album was also the band's first full album with bassist Ron Blair since 1981's Hard Promises, as he played on only two tracks on the previous Heartbreakers album, The Last DJ.
The band began streaming the album song "Good Enough" on their website February 24, 2010, followed two days later by "First Flash of Freedom". Videos for "Jefferson Jericho Blues", "First Flash of Freedom", "I Should Have Known It", "Something Good Coming" and "Good Enough" were posted on the band's YouTube channel.
Tom Petty also released five of the songs prior to his and the Heartbreakers' Mojo tour via his YouTube account. The first of these was the single "Good Enough", released March 4, 2010. The songs released were, in order of release:
    "Good Enough"
    "First Flash of Freedom"
    "I Should Have Known It" (official video)
    "Something Good Coming" (official video)
    "Jefferson Jericho Blues" (official video)
The last three of the songs were clean, non-overdubbed songs filmed in his new studio, as he expressed in a roughly 12-minute "Mojo Documentary". He noted he had had the studio for "eight or nine years", which dates back approximately to before the recording of his previous studio album with the Heartbreakers, The Last DJ.
In addition to his YouTube account, Mojo's track list was made available June 8, 2010, via an article on one of ESPN's websites. The article went into brief detail of the tour and songs. Most of the songs were made available on the website through a "Streampad" music player, at least until the album was officially released.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojo_(Tom_Petty_and_the_Heartbreakers_album))

01. Jefferson Jericho Blues (03:23)
02. First Flash Of Freedom (06:52)
03. Running Man's Bible (06:01)
04. The Trip To Pirate's Cove (04:59)
05. Candy (04:11)
06. No Reason To Cry (03:04)
07. I Should Have Known It (03:35)
08. U.S. 41 (03:00)
09. Takin' My Time (04:21)
10. Let Yourself Go (03:22)
11. Don't Pull Me Over (04:04)
12. Lover's Touch (04:23)
13. High In The Morning (03:35)
14. Something Good Coming (04:10)
15. Good Enough (05:50)

CD2 (Live):
01. Listen To Her Heart - Live From Milwaukee WI 25-06-2010 (03:35)
02. You Don’T Know How It Feels - Live From Philadelphia PA 31-07-2010 (06:26)
03. I Won’T Back Down - Live From Charlotte NC 19-09-2010 (03:08)
04. Takin’ My Time - Live From Auburn Hills MI 22-07-2010 (04:28)
05. I Should Have Known It - Live From Edmonton AB 16-06-2010 (04:13)
06. Sweet William - Live From Mansfield MA 14-06-2008 (05:15)
07. Jefferson Jericho Blues - Live From Philadelphia PA 01-08-2010 (03:34)
08. First Flash Of Freedom - Live From Philadelphia PA 01-08-2010 (06:25)
09. Running Man’s Bible - Live From Raleigh NC 18-09-2010 (06:10)
10. Good Enough - Live From Philadelphia PA 31-07-2010 (05:56)
11. Refugee - Live From Quincy WA 12-06-2010 (04:48)
12. American Girl - Live From Edmonton AB 16-06-2010 (05:26)

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Kate Bush - The Sensual World [Japan] (1989)

Year: 16 October 1989 (CD Nov 2. 2005)
Label: Toshiba Records (Japan), TOCP-67820
Style: Art Rock, Art Pop
Country: Kent, England (30 July 1958)
Time: 45:56
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 275 Mb

Charts: UK #2, AUS #30, CAN #17, GER #10, FRA #38, NL #16, NZ #27, NOR #7, SWE #17, US #43, FIN #3, JAP #18, ITA #14, SWI #11. UK - Platinum; Canada, France, US - Gold.
The Sensual World is unmistakeably of the eighties, but thankfully, due to the inventiveness and sophistication of the sound, it’s aged a thousand times better than either shell suits or Bros. Kate Bush’s ethereal, unmistakeable voice equally enchants and divides audiences, but its uniqueness, and the daunting ambition of her songs, set her apart from any of her contemporaries from her 40-year recording career.
Released in 1989, The Sensual World was Bush’s sixth studio album, and the follow-up to the successful Hounds Of Love. Emotionally raw and lyrically inventive, there is a lushness to the sound, with layer piled upon layer sweeping you along in the complexity of the sound. Bush captures a broad range of sounds here, from David Gilmour’s impressive guitar chops on "Love And Anger", to the presence of Bulgarian vocal ensemble Trio Bulgarka on "Deeper Understanding", "Never Be Mine", and "Rocket’s Tail".
"Reaching Out" is a beautiful creation, exploring all the different meanings that can be shown in that one action, with the vocal ranging from whispery to the kind of epic wailing that only Bush could manage to keep on the right side of hysterical. "Heads We’re Dancing", which sounds the most 80s of anything here (think electronic power drum beats and synthy-guitars) is a complete contrast, telling the tale of a woman dancing all night with a stranger who turns out to be Hitler.
"Deeper Understanding" combines a choir-heavy chorus, with a lovely, layered percussion sound with echoes of tribal rhythms. It also has a spooky prescience too it as Bush makes references to lonely people finding solace in their computers. And then in another contrast of style, "Rocket’s Tail" manages to combine brilliantly what should have been a car crash of eastern musical influences with raging guitar solos. What should be a clash of sounds is instead one of the best things here.
Somehow, despite the over-the-top feel to most of her work here, Bush managed to create an album on the right side of self-indulgence. As with most of her work, the thrill is in having no idea what the next song will bring.
(bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/vb4h/)Review by Helen Groom 2007

01. The Sensual World (03:57)
02. Love And Anger (04:42)
03. The Fog (05:06)
04. Reaching Out (03:12)
05. Heads We're Dancing (05:21)
06. Deeper Understanding (04:46)
07. Between A Man And A Woman (03:30)
08. Never Be Mine (03:44)
09. Rocket's Tail (04:07)
10. This Woman's Work (03:38)
11. Walk Straight Down The Middle (03:48)

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Procol Harum - Procol's Ninth [Vinyl Rip] (1975)

Year: 1 August 1975 (LP 1975)
Label: Crysalis Records (UK), CHR.1080
Style: Art Rock, Progressive Rock
Country: Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England
Time: 39:16
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 228 Mb

Procol's Ninth is the eighth studio album (ninth including Live) by Procol Harum, and was released in August 1975. Produced by songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Procol's Ninth featured a slightly different direction from the previous album, with a much starker sound than Chris Thomas's more elaborate productions. According to an interview with guitarist Mick Grabham, conducted by Roland Clare for the 2009 reissue, Leiber and Stoller focused less on the production sound and more on "the structure of the songs". The band appeared on the cover of the album in a straightforward unassuming photograph, mirroring the sound of the album itself. The cover featured simulations of each band member's signature.
Procol's Ninth was the first release from the band to feature non-original songs: a remake of The Beatles' "Eight Days a Week" and Leiber & Stoller's own "I Keep Forgetting". "Eight Days a Week" was put on the album by the producers, initially against the band's wishes. The album also featured "Pandora's Box", a track that had been composed by Gary Brooker and Keith Reid early in the band's career. Cash Box said of "Pandora's Box" that "we guarantee you’ll be humming this Procol heavy night and day by the time Halloween rears its head a few weeks from now." As included on Ninth, it differed substantially from the more psychedelic unfinished version of the song that was ultimately released as a bonus track on the 2009 reissue of the band's first album.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procol%27s_Ninth)

Matrix: side A - CHR 1080-A-10 STERLING, side B - CHR 1080-B-10 STERLING

01. A1 Pandora's Box (03:41)
02. A2 Fools Gold (04:00)
03. A3 Taking The Time (03:39)
04. A4 The Unquiet Zone (03:36)
05. A5 The Final Thrust (04:34)
06. B1 I Keep Forgetting (03:25)
07. B2 Without A Doubt (04:30)
08. B3 The Pipers Tune (04:26)
09. B4 Typewriter Torment (04:27)
10. B5 Eight Days A Week (02:54)

 

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The Beatles - Help [Vinyl Rip] (1965)

Year: 6 August 1965 (LP 1992)
Label: Antrop Records (Russia), P91 00133
Style: Rock
Country: Liverpool, England
Time: 34:11
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 222 Mb

And so, two years and four albums into their career, the Beatles at last had rivals. Serious ones, who'd rampaged through the door the Beatles opened and blithely ignored the showbiz conventions the Beatles were contractually tied to. While the Rolling Stones recorded "Satisfaction", the Beatles were being trotted around the world shooting the ambitious, ridiculous Help!. Its soundtrack album is as haphazard as Beatles For Sale, but lacks that record's glowering intensity.
Luckily, it replaces moodiness with curiosity and a much-expanded instrumental palette. They'd been intermittent experimenters from the start, but Help! is where the band's interest in sound and arrangement really starts to flower, and this remastered version is a particular feast of new timbres and ideas: the percussion on "You're Gonna Lose That Girl", Indian instrumentation appearing on "Ticket to Ride", the weary woodwind on "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away".
All this is put into the service of some of the band's best pop songs. The title track, for instance, where Lennon's as confused and angry as he was on "I'm a Loser", but now the music doesn't follow suit-- its briskness blanks his pleas, and his bandmates sound more mocking than sympathetic. Paul gets similar finger-wagging backing on "The Night Before", a wonderfully jaunty song about being dumped after a one-night stand. "You're Gonna Lose That Girl" is another song happy to marry beauty to venom-- its words an explicit threat, its harmonies an example of the seemingly effortless loveliness that makes people go gooey and mystical when the Beatles are mentioned.
Obviously, their new interest in texture wasn't wholly distinct from their new interest in drugs. The "reference" in "It's Only Love" is played for laughs, but "Tell Me What You See" falls halfway between romance and mysticism and is rather awkward despite its marvelous period percussion. The album has other murky spots-- Harrison's songs are fine, but "Act Naturally" suggests that finding a tune for Ringo every album was becoming an issue. And the closing version of "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" is a farewell to the "end it with a rocker" formula that drags despite Lennon's best efforts to rouse it.
It doesn't help "Dizzy" that it's placed just after two personal breakthroughs for McCartney. "I've Just Seen a Face" and "Yesterday" are both love songs, rich with feeling but never overwrought, with the deceptive lightness that would become trademark and millstone for their writer. "Face", a folksy country song, demonstrated the gift for pastiche that would help give the rest of the Beatles' career such convincing variety. "Yesterday" went further, demonstrating that you could arrange a pop song orchestrally in a way that might deepen it, not just turn it into kitsch. Of all their tracks, "Yesterday" is surely the one that's hardest to listen to with new ears. This remaster, capturing its preternatural serenity, is a terrific opportunity to do exactly that.
Help! is almost the last twitch of the Beatles as a working, gigging beat group. It's a great but confusing record, and no wonder contemporaries felt they might at last be losing direction. With hindsight confusion looks like transition, and the remasters-- issued all at once and linked to a game designed to present the band's story as a story-- can't help but invite that hindsight. But the story could have turned out differently, and these early records are still so fierce and alive. Taking the Beatles one disc at a time lets us recover their precariousness, the risks they took, what they lost as well as what they gained.
(pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13428-help/) Review by Tom Ewing. September 8, 2009

01. A1 Help (02:20)
02. A2 The Night Before (02:35)
03. A3 You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (02:10)
04. A4 I Need You (02:31)
05. A5 Another Girl (02:08)
06. A6 You're Going To Lose That Girl (02:19)
07. A7 Ticket To Ride (03:08)
08. B1 Act Naturally (02:32)
09. B2 It's Only Love (01:58)
10. B3 You Like Me Too Much (02:38)
11. B4 Tell Me What You See (02:39)
12. B5 I've Just Seen A Face (02:06)
13. B6 Yesterday (02:07)
14. B7 Dizzy Miss Lizzy (02:54)

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Wishbone Ash - Wishbone Ash [Vinyl Rip] (1970)

Year: 4 December 1970 (Recorded September 1970), (LP 1970)
Label: MCA Records (UK), MKPS 2014
Style: Rock, Art Rock
Country: Torquay, Devon, United Kingdom
Time: 42:45
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 252 Mb

Absolutely amazing debut album from Wishbone Ash, though on hearing it for the first time some may wonder where the prog elements come into it as they boogie their way through the first two tracks, "Blind Eye" and " Lady Whiskey". Engineered by Martin Birch who many may know worked on albums by Deep Purple, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Whitesnake and Iron Maiden, the album reached no.34 in the UK album charts by 1971. An unusual feature of the group, originally from Devon, was the twin lead guitarists Andy Powell and Ted Turner, who sang on the album along with Martin Turner on bass. the group played a gig with Deep Purple, and after jamming with Ritchie Blackmore during a sound check they were recommended to Purple's producer Derek Lawrence and they never looked back. the third track on side one of the album, "Errors of my Ways" slows the tempo and features a wonderful guitar solo, one of my personal favourites. The next track, "Queen of Torture" has a similar boogie style to the first two. On side two the first track "Handy" is eleven minutes long and starts off as a slow bluesy instrumental featuring some fine twin lead guitar work, short bass solos and a classic drum solo from Steve Upton, and develops in to a blues/scat style jam session. one of the real all-time-classic pieces Wishbone Ash is famous for is the last ten-minute track "Phoenix", which really shows off the lead guitar effects to the full. The signature twin-guitar boogie style sound is here, and includes a snatch from Purple's "Child in Time" and though this LP obviously may not seem as sophisticated as the classic albums that followed, you must admit this is one hell of a debut. I deeply regret not seeing them live, but i'll definitely catch 'em next time they're round! Sound quality of this album on my original vinyl issue on MCA is excellent - detailed, spacious and balanced, I hope they have preserved this on transition to cd. An essential masterpiece of British Prog.
(progarchives.com/album.asp?id=11444) Review by mystic fred. March 31, 2006

Matrix: Side A: 7-224, Side B: 7-225

01. A1 Blind Eye (03:46)
02. A2 Lady Whisky (06:16)
03. A3 Errors Of My Way (07:01)
04. A4 Queen Of Torture (03:24)
05. B1 Handy (11:42)
06. B2 Phoenix (10:33)

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Rory Gallagher - Blueprint [Vinyl Rip] (1973)

Year: 1973 (LP 1973)
Label: Polydor Records (UK), 2383 189 SUPER
Style: Blues Rock, Hard Blues Rock, Rhythm and Blues
Country: Ireland (2 March 1948 - 14 June 1995)
Time: 45:57
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 292 Mb

Frustrating, but sheez, is this guy ever consistent. I tell you, if Rory ever decided to let out all of his talent at once, he’d come up with a masterpiece akin to Layla or Disraeli Gears. Instead, he prefers to dilute his talent from album to album. This one has a particularly credible title – except that just about every single Rory Gallagher record could be described as a ‘blueprint’ for all the others.
And yet, the songs are all good: once again, he doesn’t diverge from the standard blues pattern much, but he sure diverges enough to make the tracks interesting. The ‘non-standard’ tracks this time are represented by a) a beautiful ballad, ‘Daughter Of The Everglades’, with excellent keyboard work from Lou Martin and strangely evocative Celtic-style atmosphere, and b) a funny acoustic interlude, ‘Unmilitary Two-Step’, which is exactly what it bills itself as.
Both are wonderfully refreshing and tasteful, and display Rory as a person who’s not afraid to show a wee bit of pretentiousness and a wee bit of concealed humour. And the uprising guitar solo on ‘Daughter of the Everglades’ gotta rank as one of Rory’s most inspired guitar workouts ever captured in the studio. Ah, if only all those wretched power balladeers understood that a ballad must look something like this – not borrowing elements from arena-rockers, but sounding really personal and deeply intimate!
This is the perfect sound I’ve been looking for, and so rarely finding – the closest thing, I guess, is stuff like Clapton’s ‘Let It Grow’, a similar masterpiece of ‘powerful intimacy’ that sounds huge and bombastic but doesn’t use cheap generic power chords to drive its point home.
Apart from that, there’s not much to say that hasn’t been said before – that is, if you’re waiting for some incredible revelation. If not, I could just try to pinch out and pinpoint and pin down the various subtle touches that don’t make Blueprint a smooth and dull record with nothing to hang on to, like, say, Free’s Highway, but make it thoroughly listenable. ‘The Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son’, for instance, has curious lyrics (I’d like to know what they deal with myself!) and a compact, super-tight jam, with the guitar complemented by cool organ work and light breezes of sax.
The album opener, ‘Walk On Hot Coals’, tries to become ‘Laundromat Vol. 2’, with its tale of unhappiness and misery, but doesn’t exactly succeed, because it doesn’t have a riff as distinct as the one used on ‘Laundromat’. Pity, that: a bunch of good riffs could punch up all of those album’s ratings seriously. No dice, though. Still fun.
Finally, the last song on here is a hidden gem as well – ‘If I Had A Reason’ is a country ballad, for sure, but what’s wrong with country ballads if they’re written and performed well? A minimalistic, romantic use of slide guitar in the background, beautiful acoustic guitar/piano interplay and Rory’s tender, a wee bit clumsy lyrics make the day here, and isn’t that a mandolin I hear in the background or did a gadfly die within my ear? Be a good lad and check it out, now.
As usual, I won’t be mentioning the filler because, well, filler is filler, and the problem (or the lack of problem) with Gallagher’s filler is that it ain’t bad: it’s just so undistinctive that all I could say is just “well, it’s a standard blues-rocker with a good solo” or “well, it’s a generic blues shuffle with some nice slide work”. Come to think of it, I said pretty much the same about the highlights – and it’s reviews of records by artists like these that make you rush out in search of a thesaurus (“hey! how many synonyms are there for the word generic?”) – but unless you want me to learn music theory and bug you with graphic notations of chord progressions, you’d better just take my word for it.
If I say “standard blues-rocker with a good solo; highlight”, then that solo is really good, like, say, overdriven and closely reminding me of some kind of human emotion expressed directly. If the word “highlight” isn’t there, well… Make your conclusions yourselves.
Overall, though, I’d call Blueprint somewhat of a stagnation point. Apart from the few true highlights, like ‘Daughter Of The Everglades’ and ‘Seventh Son’, there’s not much to discuss – and the next record, for my money, is far better. Overproductivity sucks.
(classicrockreview.wordpress.com/category/rory-gallagher-blueprint/)

01. A1 Walk on Hot Coals (07:08)
02. A2 Daughter of the Everglades (06:19)
03. A3 Banker's Blues (04:51)
04. A4 Hands Off (04:34)
05. B1 Race the Breeze (06:58)
06. B2 Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (08:33)
07. B3 Unmilitary Two-Step (02:56)
08. B4 If I Had a Reason (04:33)

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