Rock — All Formats  

One of the best full lengths by The Cramps! By the time Date With Elvis came out in the mid 80s, The Cramps had pretty much perfected their wild mix of ghoulish innuendo and truly devoted roots rock and garage revivalism – the sex club and monster movie imagery was a show, but their love of roots rock was no joke! The record is "dedicated to the memory of Ricky Nelson" and it's not ironic! Great, ghoulish Cramps at their mid-decade peak. Oh, and by the way. . .Elvis couldn't have handled a date with Ivy. She'd have wrecked that boy. Includes "How Far Can I Go?", "The Hot Pearl Snatch", "People Ain't No Good", "What's Inside A Girl?", "Can Your Pussy Do The Dog?", "Kizmiaz", "Aloha From Hell", "Cornfed Dames" and more.

A pretty nice record with a colorful cover that always catches our eye when crate-digging! The group's half-soul, half-rock – and plays with some righteous touches that include a bit of jazzy riffing and the occasional reggae undercurrent. Carol Stallings lays down some great lead vocals on a few tracks, and Leon Patillo seems to lead the group on keyboards and male vocals – as well as write a good portion of the tracks. The album's got a nice compressed style that sits nicely between genres, and which could have crossed the group over big – and titles include "Joy", "Facts", "Burnin Out My Youth", "I'm In Love", "Nothing Can Stop Us Now", "Survival", and "It's Gonna Be Alright".

A pair of 60s folk albums from Paul Evans – back to back on a single CD! Folk Songs Of Many Lands is a record that lives up to its title, given that material is from a variety of global sources – but the delivery is definitely American – and particularly that folk revival mode of the early 60s – done by Evans with a style that's never too poppy, and which has a nice sense of sincerity in his phrasing of the lyrics. Instrumentation is mostly acoustic guitar, and titles include "Mister Hangman", "Tzena Tzena", "Wee Cooper O Fife", "Buckeye Jim", "Passing Through", and "Poor Boy". Another Town Another Jail is a great early set in the outlaw mode – a record that has Paul Evans moving from folk a bit more into country – with backings that definitely echo that feel! Given Paul's clean cut look at the time, it's hard to imagine that he did any time in stir – but his vocal presentation definitely matches that of his prison-sensitive contemporaries. Titles include "I Got Stripes", "Allentown Jail", "Ninety Nine Years", "Another Town Another Jail", and "John Hardy". CD features the bonus track "Midnite Special".

The last album in the classic run of Steely Dan – the final taste we'd have of the group until their surprising revival in the 90s! Gaucho picks up beautifully where Aja left off – warmly produced with a deep undercurrent of jazz, but perhaps a bit more down to earth feel at times too – not in the music, which is still up there in the heavens, but in some of the subject matter of the tunes, which almost takes us back to Royal Scam territory. Donald Fagan's vocals are wonderful throughout – a sound for which there's no referent or real description – and the balance in the instrumentation is near perfect on tunes that include "Babylon Sisters", "Hey Nineteen", "Time Out Of Mind", "My Rival", "Glamour Profession", and "Gaucho".

A well-done look at a key moment in British music – that point when acoustic roots mixed with electric youth, and brought around a huge revival in the field of folk! The UK shifts at the end of the 60s were way different than those in the US – not nearly as simple as Dylan going electric, or folk harmony going pop – and as you'll hear in this set, there's a really progressive, revolutionary feel that runs through the music – one that's both got a great sense of history, yet a mission of personal change as well – quite far from overdone political tropes, yet with undeniable world-changing power in the end. The 2CD package is designed to accompany the book of the same name – and is divided up into Acoustic Eden and Electric Albion discs – each with their own feel. Titles include "Brother John" by Bread Love & Dreams, "Garden Song" by Bill Fay, "Music Of The Ages" by COB, "Diana" by Comus, "Oak Ash & Thorn" by Peter Bellamy, "John Barleycorn Must Die (first version)" by Traffic, "The Lark In The Morning" by Steeleye Span, "Country Road" by Unicorn, "Glasgerion" by Trees, "Glistening Glyndebourne" by John Martyn, and "Voices" by Nick Drake.

The last of the "revival" King Crimson from the early 80s – featuring the lineup that included Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Bill Bruford, and Tony Levin. The style is fairly academic, but Belew's presence still gives the record a bit of heart – something that Fripp had trouble doing on his own, even after all these years. Titles include "Dig Me", "Industry", "Lark's Tongue In Aspic Part 3", "Three Of a Perfect Pair", and "Sleepless".

Alongside the Specials, the stars of the Two Tone ska revival scene. How can you go wrong with classics like "On My Rradio", "Time Hard", "Missing Words", "My Collie (Not A Dog)", "Three Minute Hero", "Too Much Pressure", "Murder", "Out On The Streets" and "James Bond"?

Seminal ska revival work from the group at the forefront of the 2 Tone scene! A classic LP that crossed over to the punk scene to help spur a movement that would go on at some level for decades! Includes "A Message To You Rudy","Do The Dog", "It's Up To You", "Doesn't Make It Alright", "Concrete Jungle", "Monkey Man", "(Dawning Of A) New Era", "Too Much Too Young" and "Gangsters".

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".

Rare Mexican psychedelic rock from The Survival – with a sound that ranges from a loose, wigged out psyche blues approach to tighter and faster groove – still informed by electric blues, but tricked out with fuzz and wah wah. A nice mix of raw production and expansive inspiration! They sing in heavily accented English, and it's a worthwhile discovery. Includes "Old People", "The World Is A Bomb", "What The World Need Is Union", "Electric Chair", "Canabis Lady", "Useless Warefare" and more.

A truly solid modern reggae album by Hollie Cook – daughter of Paul Cook and one of the Slits circa the mid 00s revival – delivering a pretty much irresistible Prince Fatty-produced set for Mr Bongo! Hollie herself dubs here take on the style as "tropical pop", and that's fair – her voice his lovely and kind of delicate, served will by tried-and-true Prince Fatty production and some gravelly reggae vox assistance from Horseman on few tunes, giving it a grittier counterbalance. It's the kind of record that's pretty easy to naysay without actually hearing. Go ahead and listen, it's worthy! Includes "Milk And Honey", "That Very Night", "Walking In Sand", "Cry (Disco Version)", "Sugar Water (Look At My Face)" and "Body Beat" feat Horseman, "Shadow Kissing" and "Used To Be".

The first album from The English Beat – and not only is it one of the most essential of the English ska revival era of the late 70s and early 80s – it's one the most enduring records of 1980 in any genre! The English Beat, like the best of their peers, used ska and rocksteady inspiration to fuel their own contemporary UK sound – and it sounds great to this day! The rhythms are tighter and punchier here than on later records, with some pop, mod and soul lacing their songwriting and vocal. A landmark! Includes "Mirror In The Bathroom", "Hands Off. . .She's Mine", "Twist & Crawl", "Big Shot", "Best Friend", "Jackpot" and more. This 2012 CD version also includes "Ranking Full Stop" – which wasn't on the original UK release.

Stereolab's second for Elektra, following strongly on their debut for the label – and one of their best ever! Mars Audiac Quintet is a brilliant batch of space age pop tunes, inflected with the genius ear for 60s classics that's always made the band so compelling to us, but done in a fresh and unique way. Stereolab loved and relied upon vintage gear, but you could never really peg them as retro, or revivalists. There was never another pop band exactly like them, yet it's also important to consider just how incredibly unique Stereolab was in the early-to-mid 90s landscape. Mindblowing! Titles include "Three Dee Melodie", "Wow & Flutter", "Ping Pong", "Anamorphose", "Three Longers Later", "Nihilist Assault Group", and "Fiery Yellow", "Outer Acceleration", "New Orthophony" and more.