“The final entry in this three-volume series of Tokyo teen bands from 1966 to 1969 is no less potent than its predecessors."-All Music Guide

“Under the influence of The Beatles, the Group Sounds movement swept Japan in the mid-1960s. This compilation -- out of print for well over 20 years -- collects some of the finest cuts made by several of the leading bands of the time, and makes its long-awaited CD debut here, together with background notes. Artists include: Outcast, The Spiders, The Mops...

Thirty early, cross-over soul hits from great masters both known and forgotten. This is a tremendous bargain.
1. The Isley Brothers - Shout (Part 1)
2. Ray Charles - What'd I Say (Part 1)
3. Jackie Wilson - That's Why (I Love You So)...

This is a collection of interpretations of songs by various Italian artists of works by Stormy Six.
There is almost no information about this album on the web and what little there is is in Italian. I did a translation and it made very little sense, but *apparently*, this record came out years after it was actually initially planned for some reason and may have even been planned before the group reformed!
Anyway, if you know and love the Stormy's, then this 14-track album is well worth hearing..

“Released in the autumn of 1970, this obscure movie concerns the impact of teenage drug abuse on a suburban family. Its cult soundtrack features superb pop from Glass Bottle and edgy rock from cult Boston band Bead Game (including future Steely Dan drummer Jim Hodder), as well as trippy incidental music from leading arranger Don Sebesky. It makes its CD debut here, complete with background notes.”

The early 1980s seemingly weren't a great time for creative music. Punk had come, swept away all the old (both good and bad - they didn't care!) and had mostly self-destructed by then, leaving the generally less interesting 'new wave' and all its subsets, all of which seemed to be made to get people to dress up 'creatively' and go out, snort cocaine and dance ('punk disco', my wife called it then). While there *were* a few exciting signs if you knew where to look for it, for the most part the collision...

“By the time 1966 ended, many of the groups in Texas that started out playing British Invasion and folk-rock music, were now immersing themselves in the newly emerging psychedelic music. The five groups that comprise this album reflect the changes that occurred during this period and four of them even changed their names to sound more psychedelic. The Nomads became Smoke, Carrols Mood became The Sights And Sounds, The New Imperials became The Front Page News, and The Boys became The Remaining Few....

“Concluding this landmark series, Upside Down Volume 10 lifts the lid on the late 60s Antipodean music scene where pop dropped a pill and went 'over under sideways down under!' Upside Down bids farewell with a handsome selection of flower-power wonders, lovingly restored to their former, formidable glory.
Remastered original recorded artefacts with a 20-page, full-colour booklet including background liners and archival photos from the period.”

“Early Sarah is the best Sarah”, said the jazz snob, “and Sarah live in 1952 is some of the best!”

"It's hard to overestimate the impact Stevie Ray Vaughan's debut, Texas Flood, had upon its release in 1983. At that point, blues was no longer hip, the way it was in the '60s. Texas Flood changed all that, climbing into the Top 40 and spending over half a year on the charts, which was practically unheard of for a blues recording. Vaughan became a genuine star and, in doing so, sparked a revitalization of the blues. This was a monumental impact, but his critics claimed that, no matter how prodigious...

"One would be hard-pressed to name a rock album whose influence has been as broad and pervasive as The Velvet Underground & Nico. While it reportedly took over a decade for the album's sales to crack six figures, glam, punk, new wave, goth, noise, and nearly every other left-of-center rock movement owes an audible debt to this set. While The Velvet Underground had as distinctive a sound as any band, what's most surprising about this album is its diversity. Here, the Velvets dipped their toes into dreamy...

"Following their much-acclaimed surprise, self-titled debut album Vermont from 2014, Motor City Drum Ensemble's Danilo Plessow and Innervisions's Marcus Worgull reunite for more synth daydreaming on the suitably titled II. The new outing continues where the first full-length left off, strolling further down the luminous and undulating path that the duo turned into, influenced in equal measures by kosmische, krautrock, minimal wave and synth soundtracks. This latest batch of instrumental cuts opens with...

Elio Villafranca – piano
Vincent Herring - alto saxophone
Steve Turre – trombone
Gregg August – bass
Lewis Nash – drums
Chembo Corniel - percussion
Nelson Mateo Gonzales - percussion
Julia Loisa-Gutiérrez - dancer

“As a long-time jazz listener, I most enjoy most artists that combine great group interplay, with shifting rhythms and moods (e.g. any Charles Mingus, David Murray's Octet, and Henry Threadgill's Sextett). These days, those preferences are leading me to

Stephen Vitiello - light readings and sound processing
Pauline Oliveros - accordion
David Tronzo - guitar.

"New York-based installationist and sound artist Stephen Vitiello steps out as a composer in his own right, after years of collaborations with artists, musicians and choreographers including Nam June Paik, Scanner, Pauline Oliveros, Tony Oursler and Constance De Jong, Joan Jeanrenaud Frances-Marie Uitti and many others.
Bright and Dusty Things at times recalls the drones of

“This is an anthology of folk songs produced by Topic Records containing recordings of traditional singers and musicians from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The traditional singers and musicians were celebrities within their own community but the majority were unknown to the world at large until the 1950s and 60s when collectors arrived with portable tape recorders. A few of them recorded enough material for an entire album, [but] most are only known for a couple of songs.
In a few....

“This is an anthology of folk songs produced by Topic Records containing recordings of traditional singers and musicians from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The traditional singers and musicians were celebrities within their own community but the majority were unknown to the world at large until the 1950s and 60s when collectors arrived with portable tape recorders. A few of them recorded enough material for an entire album, [but] most are only known for a couple of songs...

“This is an anthology of folk songs produced by Topic Records containing recordings of traditional singers and musicians from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The traditional singers and musicians were celebrities within their own community but the majority were unknown to the world at large until the 1950s and 60s when collectors arrived with portable tape recorders. A few of them recorded enough material for an entire album, [but] most are only known for a couple of songs.
This collection

“This is an anthology of folk songs produced by Topic Records containing recordings of traditional singers and musicians from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The traditional singers and musicians were celebrities within their own community but the majority were unknown to the world at large until the 1950s and 60s when collectors arrived with portable tape recorders. A few of them recorded enough material for an entire album, [but] most are only known for a couple of songs.
In a few cases.

"If you like 'The Lounge Lizards' or 'Arthur Blythe', this music will fit your taste. On this, his second album, the guitarist Vinz Vonlanthen's playing styles and compositions are so varied they move easily between a cosy ballad and a big band bash...

"After a break of six years, Chris Cutler, Bob Drake and Lukas Simonis, now with added ingredient Pierre Omer, present the second volume of recordings by the elusive VRIL - a band who revive and update both the great institution of the guitar instrumental and the now sadly neglected practice of collective arrangement, intense rehearsal and live studio performance. Appropriate to the half century that has passed since the birth of the form, these hits dodge about, get bored easily and blend both...

“Featuring vocals by Chrissie Hammond, Raymond Remedios and Ashley Holt, the music was composed and recorded by Rick especially for a 1990s relaunch of the 1925 Universal screen version of Phantom Of The Opera. The music on this recording has been re-edited, remixed and, in some cases, re-recorded in order to reflect the musical spectrum that encompassed the 90 minute epic.
Covering everything from operatic rock to tearful ballads, the recording is a film in itself...without the pictures.”

“Heard in the context of director Brady Corbet's provocative, feature-length debut film, Scott Walker's original score for The Childhood of a Leader is so successful, it's inseparable from the images but adds brutality. (It was deliberately mixed five-percent above the Dolby standard to be intrusive.) The film's narrative is loosely based on a Jean-Paul Sartre short story of the same title published in 1939. Corbet's depiction is of a nine-year-old boy in 1918, forced to live in France while his dad...

"Dinah Washington was one of the greatest jazz singers of all time and this compilation is a snapshot of her at the peak of her powers in the mid fifties period of rendition between blues and jazz. It is a fantastic introduction to the artists work....

"When dissected carefully, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking becomes a fascinating conceptual voyage into the workings of the human psyche. As an abstract peering into the intricate functions of the subconscious, Waters' first solo album involves...

“Norma Christine Waterson is an English musician, best known as one of the original members of The Watersons, a celebrated English traditional group. Her eponymously titled solo debut Norma Waterson was produced by John Chelew and released by Hannibal Records in 1996, and was well received in the scene (including a nomination for the Mercury Music Prize), featuring collaborations with her daughter, Eliza Carthy, Martin Carthy and other members of The Watersons, as well as Danny Thompson (Pentangle)...

“This album feels like a spiritual sequel (prequel?) to Darryl's 1991 "Under the Soft", which was recorded for I.R.S.' No Speak label. This is due to its sound, which is made of violin (well, of course!), synth, guitar and drums.
As the title suggests, the 18 tracks here were written to later be used in television and movies (think of "affordable musical score database"). But do not let the word "affordable" fool you into thinking that the stuff is mediocre,- it is far from it! Alright, IMHO there...