Rock — CDs  

A killer album from one of the most legendary versions of John Mayall's Blues Breakers – a quartet that features drummer Aynsley Dunbar, bassist John McVie, and lead guitarist Peter Green – who's also singing a fair bit on the album as well! The style here is tighter and more focused than before – showing a bit more of a rockish bent, especially on the guitars – but still strongly drenched in American R&B traditions, served up in a way that never waters down the sound for a mainstream audience. While other UK artists were taking American roots and softening them up for the charts, Mayall only seemed to deepen his commitment to more authentic representation of the styles – really only taking a bit more liberties with the strength and length of guitar parts. As before, there's a bit of reed work here that's especially nice – served up by UK jazzers Ray Warleigh, John Almond, and Alan Skidmore – and titles include "A Hard Road", "It's Over", "The Stumble", "Dust My Blues", "There's Always Work", "The Same Way", "The Supernatural", and "Living Alone".

Includes "Sympathy For The Devil", "Street Fighting Man", "Dear Doctor", "Parachute Woman", "Prodigal Son", "Factory Girl", and "Stray Cat Blues".

The namesake Small Faces album on Immediate – some of the tightest work the great Brit rockers ever recorded! The album's amazing right from the very first note – a perfect bridge between the ongoing mod energy of the London scene, and the psychedelic sounds in years to come – served up with a tight, compact, focused approach that still blows away most of the many groups it helped inspire! The group would dive into a heady psychedelic groove about a year later with incredible success on Ogden's Nut Gone Flake – but here, the group is still riding on the walloping soul and R&B influences on this record – driving and tuneful, with some hints at the strange sounds to come in the freewheeling organ and occasional odd instrumentation. Titles include "(Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me", "Something I Want To Tell You", "Feeling Lonely", "Happy Boys Together", "Things Are Going To Get Better", "Become Like You", "All Our Yesterdays", "Show Me The Way", and "Eddie's Dreaming".

The second great set from The Specials – music once billed as "revival ska" – but which has arguably gone onto have a bigger impact than the first wave of the genre! There's a rough edged quality to the music that's totally great – a rude boy aesthetic filtered through the post-punk generation – perfect for the spare, earthy Two Tone production – and just right for a post-colonial London, looking for new ways to express itself! The studio work is as great as the core grooves from the band – lots of odd echoes and cool effects – kind of a Brit take on Kingston dub, served up beautifully to abstract the tunes. So many others ruined this approach in later years with weaker work – but here's a chance to hear it perfectly in an original conception! Titles include "International Jet Set", "Enjoy Yourself", "Stereotypes", "Holiday Fortnight", and "I Can't Stand It".