Featuring guest appearances by the rest of the Stones. LP, Vinyl record album

Recorded live at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York City, February 7-10, 1983. A HUGE amount of material! Includes the tracks "Say Hello", "Walk The Dog", "Violin Solo", "Closed Circuits", "For A Large And Changing Room", "Pictures Of It", "Language Of The Future", "Reverb", "If You Can't Talk About It, Point To It", "City Song", "Finnish Farmers", "Democratic Way", "Private Property", "Neon Duet", "Difficult Listening Hour", "So Happy Birthday", "Dance Of Electricity", "Sax Duet", "Born, Never Asked", "From The Air", "Beginning French", "Talkshow", "Cello Solo", "Blue Lagoon", "Stiff Neck", "Hothead", "Telephone Song", "Sweaters", "We've Got Four Big Clocks", "I Dreamed I Had To Take A Test", "Big Top", "It Was Up In The Mountains", "Big Science", "Red Map", "Strike", "False Documents", and many, many more! LP, Vinyl record album

The heavy groove of Deep Purple continues – in a style that's a bit more song-focused and guitar-led than the group's debut – but still pretty darn great nonetheless! Some of the rumbling bass of before has been toned down a bit, but that leaves plenty of space for more jamming guitar work from Ritchie Blackmore – as well as more soaring Hammond lines, and vocals that almost hint at soulful influences from time to time. The record's got a slightly heartfelt quality that's almost a surprise – and titles include covers of "Kentucky Woman", "We Can Work It Out", and "River Deep Mountain High" – plus the originals "Wring That Neck", "Listen Learn Read On", and "The Shield". CD

The heavy groove of Deep Purple continues – in a style that's a bit more song-focused and guitar-led than the group's debut – but still pretty darn great nonetheless! Some of the rumbling bass of before has been toned down a bit, but that leaves plenty of space for more jamming guitar work from Ritchie Blackmore – as well as more soaring Hammond lines, and vocals that almost hint at soulful influences from time to time. The record's got a slightly heartfelt quality that's almost a surprise – and titles include covers of "Kentucky Woman", "We Can Work It Out", and "River Deep Mountain High" – plus the originals "Wring That Neck", "Listen Learn Read On", and "The Shield". LP, Vinyl record album

A set that came out in 1977, but which features previously-unissued tracks from the early years of Deep Purple! Includes "Cry Free", "Black Night", "Wring That Neck", "Painted Horse", "Hush", and "Child IN Time". LP, Vinyl record album

A funky rock nugget, with work by Mitch Ryder! Titles include "Long Neck Goose", "Let It Rock", "Drink", "Box Of Old Roses", "I Found A Love", "It Ain't Easy", and "Is It You Or Is It Me". CD

A funky rock nugget, with work by Mitch Ryder! Titles include "Long Neck Goose", "Let It Rock", "Drink", "Box Of Old Roses", "I Found A Love", "It Ain't Easy", and "Is It You Or Is It Me". LP, Vinyl record album

The pious bird of good omen might well be the track "Albatross" here – nestled in the middle of the record, and a key sign that Fleetwood Mac were ready to break from their roots! But this is no heavy bird hanging around the group's neck – as the groundbreaking instrumental really set them free from their straight blues rock expressions, and is mixed here with a great range of material that really shows Peter Green and the group ready to take on the 70s. If you loved Green's blues guitar work on other records, don't worry – there's still plenty of it here – but the range of songs is great, and in addition to the amazing "Albatross", other tunes include the fantastic original version of "Black Magic Woman", plus "The Big Boat", "Rambling Pony", "Just The Blues", "Looking For Somebody", "Stop Messin Round", "The Sun Is Shining", "I Believe My Time Ain't Long", and "Coming Home". LP, Vinyl record album

Indie rock elders Sonic Youth's first high profile album on an indie label in about 20 years – the group's first for Matador, and a skillful mix of insistent, exciting melodic precision, barbed lyricism, random bursts of noise, and enough layered hypnotic guitar errata that you'll hear something new each time you come back to it! Through the years they continued to be pretty exciting, and for the most part managed to avoid repeating themselves, while still working in something of a comfort zone – once throwing a screwdriver in the old noise rock guitar neck with the addition of Jim O'Rourke to the group, and with O'Rourke's departure, former Pavement player Mark Ibold on bass. Kim Gordon is now freed up to be play guitar, making for a triple threat along with Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo – and it's a riveting sound. They don't reinvent the wheel on The Eternal – but they steer into adventurous waters – and as long as they're making records this good we're hoping they live up to title! Includes "Sacred Trickster", "Anti-Orgasm", "Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso)", "Antenna", "What We Know", "Calming The Snake", "Poison Arrow", "Malibu Gas Station", "Thunderclap For Bobby Pyn", "No Way", "Walkin Blue", "Massage The History". CD

The second album in Sonic Youth's earlier run as one the most exciting bands in underground rock, and possibly the greatest album in their long career! It doesn't take a genius to ram a screwdriver into the neck of a guitar, but when they're at their best (as they are on EVOL, Sister, and Daydream Nation), Sonic Youth is dizzyingly great. Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo spin acres of white noise beauty on Sister, a melodic hurricane that really set the standard for the band's future work. It's way more than the lull, lilt, then ROAR style of indie rock that blanketed the late 80s/early 90s scene – the songs run deeper than that – with subtleties galore within all the clatter, making the frenzy around the corner that much more powerful. Essential! "Schizophrenia", "Catholic Block", "Beauty Lies In The Eye", "Stereo Sanctity", "Tuff Knarl", "White Cross", "Master Dik" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The second album in Sonic Youth's earlier run as one the most exciting bands in underground rock, and possibly the greatest album in their long career! It doesn't take a genius to ram a screwdriver into the neck of a guitar, but when they're at their best (as they are on EVOL, Sister, and Daydream Nation), Sonic Youth is dizzyingly great. Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo spin acres of white noise beauty on Sister, a melodic hurricane that really set the standard for the band's future work. It's way more than the lull, lilt, then ROAR style of indie rock that blanketed the late 80s/early 90s scene – the songs run deeper than that – with subtleties galore within all the clatter, making the frenzy around the corner that much more powerful. Essential! "Schizophrenia", "Catholic Block", "Beauty Lies In The Eye", "Stereo Sanctity", "Tuff Knarl", "White Cross", "Master Dik" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic collection of work from the UK scene at the start of the 70s – a treasure trove of pop cuts from the time, most of which never made it across the Atlantic to our neck of the woods – and which represent a whole different world of music than you'd know from the classic rock and prog albums that usually represent the period! Instead, these are cuts that were cooked up in the studio in search of a hit – some by names that worked strongly in the 60s, others by new groups – some of whom only existed as a name on a label – but all in search of fresh sounds, groovy lyrics, and a way of putting over a tune that spoke volumes about the studio changes and advances taking place around the UK scene at the time! A number of cuts here have production that might be vaguely in glam territory, while others change up the way that vocals and guitars work together, and others evolve past Brit pop modes of the 60s – embracing psych or hard rock elements, but in a subtle way. As with other Cherry Red/Grapefruit collections of this nature, the whole thing is a stunning journey through music that we'd never have heard otherwise, and never in this much detail – presented with a big booklet of notes on all the crazy cats within – to support 85 tracks by artists who include Paintbox, Simon Turner, Mr Bloe, The Weathermen, Fumble, Posse, Gingerbread, Majority One, Jonathan King, Marmalade, Clifford T Ward, Stud Leather, Paul Gabriel, Autumn, St Cecelia, Rick Price, The Piglets, Kincade, Sweet, The Sad, Gumm, The Angelette, Grumble, Jungle Jim, Shag, Bubblerock, Harmony Grass, Terry Dactyl & The Dinosaurs, Stardust, Bill Fay, Pete Dello, Buggy, David Essex, Peter Kellern, Fickle Pickle, Touchwood, and many others! CD

Black Sabbath going strong – very much in their own space by this point in their career, setting a sound that countless others would try to follow – but never match for fierceness like this! The fuzz is definitely turned up to 11, the rhythms move at a breakneck speed, and Ozzy's vocals have all the mean, sinister sounds that set a generation on fire – plenty of energy to fill up long tracks that include "Megalomania", "Hole In The Sky", "Symptom Of The Universe", "Supertzar", "Am I Going Insane", and "The Writ". CD

Black Sabbath going strong – very much in their own space by this point in their career, setting a sound that countless others would try to follow – but never match for fierceness like this! The fuzz is definitely turned up to 11, the rhythms move at a breakneck speed, and Ozzy's vocals have all the mean, sinister sounds that set a generation on fire – plenty of energy to fill up long tracks that include "Megalomania", "Hole In The Sky", "Symptom Of The Universe", "Supertzar", "Am I Going Insane", and "The Writ". LP, Vinyl record album

A late 70s return to glory for the Captain – and a set that has a bit of a checkered path, in that it was originally done for Frank Zappa's Discreet label as the album Bat Chain Puller – then was held back, and mostly re-recorded for this seminal release on Warner Brothers! The set shows all the grown that Don Van Vliet had undergone during the decade – and also echoes his previous collaboration with Zappa – served up with instrumentation that is wonderfully complex, but still quite personal and earthy – a blend of composition, improvisation, and individuality that almost has Beefheart rivaling the work of Hermeto Pascoal during the decade, yet in a very different mode – given his vocal styles and occasional spoken musings! The Cap sings, plays harmonica, and blows soprano sax – alongside Jeff Moris Tepper on slide guitar and spell guitar, Bruce Lambourne Fowler on trombone, Eric Drew Friedman on Fender Rhodes and bass, Art Tripp III on marimba and percussion, Robert Arthur Williams on drums, and Richard Redus on slide guitar, bottleneck guitar, fretless bass, accordion, and guitar. Tracks include "The Floppy Boot Stomp", "Ice Rose", "Bat Chain Puller", "Candle Mambo", "Love Lies", and "Suction Prints". This 2LP version features a full bonus record of rare material – including "Love Lies (demo)", "Harry Irene (rough mix)", "Witch Doctor Life (demo)", "Brickbats (inst rough mix)", "Suction Prints (inst demo)", "You Know You're A Man (inst alt version)", and "When I See Mommy I Feel Like A Mummy (demo)". LP, Vinyl record album

A late 70s return to glory for the Captain – and a set that has a bit of a checkered path, in that it was originally done for Frank Zappa's Discreet label as the album Bat Chain Puller – then was held back, and mostly re-recorded for this seminal release on Warner Brothers! The set shows all the grown that Don Van Vliet had undergone during the decade – and also echoes his previous collaboration with Zappa – served up with instrumentation that is wonderfully complex, but still quite personal and earthy – a blend of composition, improvisation, and individuality that almost has Beefheart rivaling the work of Hermeto Pascoal during the decade, yet in a very different mode – given his vocal styles and occasional spoken musings! The Cap sings, plays harmonica, and blows soprano sax – alongside Jeff Moris Tepper on slide guitar and spell guitar, Bruce Lambourne Fowler on trombone, Eric Drew Friedman on Fender Rhodes and bass, Art Tripp III on marimba and percussion, Robert Arthur Williams on drums, and Richard Redus on slide guitar, bottleneck guitar, fretless bass, accordion, and guitar. Tracks include "The Floppy Boot Stomp", "Ice Rose", "Bat Chain Puller", "Candle Mambo", "Love Lies", and "Suction Prints". CD

A late 70s return to glory for the Captain – and a set that has a bit of a checkered path, in that it was originally done for Frank Zappa's Discreet label as the album Bat Chain Puller – then was held back, and mostly re-recorded for this seminal release on Warner Brothers! The set shows all the grown that Don Van Vliet had undergone during the decade – and also echoes his previous collaboration with Zappa – served up with instrumentation that is wonderfully complex, but still quite personal and earthy – a blend of composition, improvisation, and individuality that almost has Beefheart rivaling the work of Hermeto Pascoal during the decade, yet in a very different mode – given his vocal styles and occasional spoken musings! The Cap sings, plays harmonica, and blows soprano sax – alongside Jeff Moris Tepper on slide guitar and spell guitar, Bruce Lambourne Fowler on trombone, Eric Drew Friedman on Fender Rhodes and bass, Art Tripp III on marimba and percussion, Robert Arthur Williams on drums, and Richard Redus on slide guitar, bottleneck guitar, fretless bass, accordion, and guitar. Tracks include "The Floppy Boot Stomp", "Ice Rose", "Bat Chain Puller", "Candle Mambo", "Love Lies", and "Suction Prints". LP, Vinyl record album

A really compelling second set from Cat Mother & The All Night Newsboys – and quite different than the first! On their Polydor debut, the group had Jimi Hendrix at the production helm – but this time they're taking things on their own, with a feel that's nicely loose and freewheeling – and which really matches the woodsy image of the cover! The core mix of guitar and organ is still as tight as before – but it also gets some nice rootsy touches from violin, mandolin, and acoustic guitar – used in ways that echo folk and maybe preface a bit of redneck rock – yet which also have a bit more of a North Cali sort of sensibility in the long run. Titles include "Riff Raff", "Boonville Massacre", "Turkish Taffy", "Last Go Round", "Good Times", "Albion Doo Wah", and "Strike A Match & Light Another". CD

A really cool later project from Spencer Davis – working here with acoustic guitar, including 12 string and autoharp – alongside Peter Jameson who also plays 12 string and bottleneck! The duo get some LA help from Barney Kessel and Larry Knechtal – and titles include "Balkan Blues", "Brother Can You Make Up Your Mind", "Thinking Of Her", "Mountain Lick", "Jay's Time", and "It's Been So Long". LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe one of the strangest covers ever used for a John Fahey record – very 80s! Yet his guitar work here is spot-on – in a setting that features extra guitar and bottleneck from Terry Robb – plus percussion and bass on a re-recorded version of "River Medley", next to other tunes that include a great reworking of Baden Powell's "Canto De Ossanha", as "Let Go", plus Bola Sete's "Pretty Afternoon" – and other titles that include "Lost Lake", "Black Mommy", and "Lights Out". (Folk/Country, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Killer work from this Memphis legend – a package that features rare early Sun Records material, plus even more obscure work done for the Redneck label! LP, Vinyl record album

A sublime album from The Insect Trust – a really unique group who blend folk rock, jazz, and some nice trippy Eastern overtones! The style's really a great product of the time – a cross-cultural late 60s session recorded with a freedom from labels and categories – featuring instrumentation that includes bottleneck guitar, soprano recorder, kalimba, banjo, and a rich array of percussion – all in support of lead vocals from the lovely Nancy Jefferies. The sound is wonderful – experimental, but always tuneful – and titles include "The Skin Game", "Special Rider Blues", "Miss Fun City", "Declaration Of Independence", "Mountain Song", and "Going Home". LP, Vinyl record album

A startlingly great mid 70s loner folk record by Scott Key – with some of the finest, most artful fingerstyle guitar we've heard on a self-recorded album from the period – and a really strong record that would be right at home on the Takoma label! Recorded in Colorado by Key himself, who plays acoustic guitar and bottleneck slide on songs that reveal a masterful acoustic guitar player, as well as creative ear for drones and post-psych effects. Occasionally has vocals, but it's a largely instrumental effort – and a brilliant one! Titles include "Cat Soup", "Buzzard Blues", "The Laughing Cowboy", "The Moonshiners Are Gone", "Goon Lagoon", "This Forest And The Sea" and more. 5 bonus tracks on this great CD version from Lion: "Hungry Joe's Birds", "One Great Sin", "Just A Song For You", "The Farm Report" and "Jabberwocky". (Folk/Country, Rock) CD

John Mayall's on a new crusade here – hitting lines that are almost more truly blusey than his previous albums – thanks to a new lineup in the Blues Breakers combo! Alongside Mayall's lead on vocals, organ, harmonica, and bottleneck guitar – the group also features Mick Taylor on guitar, John McVie on bass, Keep Hartley on drums, Chris Mercer on tenor, and Rip Kant on baritone sax – the latter two of whom help keep the set from being a straight Chicago electric blues copy. Titles include "I Can't Quit You Baby", "Streamline", "Snowy Wood", "Man Of Stone", "Stand Back Baby", and "My Time After A While". LP, Vinyl record album

A creatively freewheeling folk rock album from Bill Nelson – his Northern Dream from 1971 – a nice mix of consistent tunefulness, tripped out just so! Guitar and voice are the core elements, and on one level it's something of a post folk rock album, but the plaintive recording quality and boundless musicality of Nelson – who sings and plays guitars, bass, bottleneck, flutes, recorders and some of the drumming – backed by drums, some piano & harmonium. Includes "Photograph (A Beginning)", "Everyone's Hero", "House Of Sand", "End Of The Seasons", "Rejoice", "Love's A Way", "Northern Dreamer (1957)", "Sad Feelings", "Smiles". "Bloo Blues" and more. CD

With 21 tracks including "Political Science", "Short People", "Mama Told Me Not To Come", "Rednecks", "Miami", "Take Me Back", "Sail Away", and "You've Got A Friend In Me". CD

A gem of an album from Randy Newman – a masterpiece of understated with from the mid 70s, and one of his most fully-conceived records for Warner Brothers! The album offers up a vision of the south, past and present, through Newman's eyes – eyes that are partially clouded by the distance of the scene seen from the vantage point of smoggy LA, but which still manage to pull out various strands of life with surprising poignancy. It's easy to write this one off as some sort of slap against the face of the backward south in the 70s, but Newman actually approaches his subjects with some sort of subtle tenderness – not nearly as mean as you might think on first listen, as evidenced by the beautiful orchestrations he penned for the sessions. Titles include "Birmingham", "Marie", "Rednecks", "Louisiana 1927", "Rollin", "Back On My Feet Again", and "Wedding In Cherokee County". CD

The jury is sometimes out on the Mick Jagger on-screen performance in the Nicolas Roeg film Performance – but the soundtrack is something pretty separate entirely, and really says a lot more about the spirit of late 60s Warner Brothers Records in LA than it does the arthouse cinema scene in England! The great Jack Nitzsche composed a number of instrumental tracks for the score – maybe his first time in this mode, and prefacing some later 70s successes to come – with titles that include "Rolls Royce & Acid", "Harry Flowers", and "Natural Magic". Other Warner talents get a hand in the music too – as Randy Newman conducted all of Nitzsche's charts, and also sings "Gone Dead Train" – while Ry Cooder delivers bottleneck solos on "Get Away" and "Powis Square". There's also some nice soul-based moments – the cut "Wake Up N*ggers" by The Last Poets, and "Poor White Hound Dog" and "Performance" by Merry Clayton. And yes, Mick does get to sing on one tune – the album's "Memo From Turner" – and the set is completed by Buffy St Marie work on "The Hashishin" and "Dead Dead Red". (Soundtracks, Rock) CD

The jury is sometimes out on the Mick Jagger on-screen performance in the Nicolas Roeg film Performance – but the soundtrack is something pretty separate entirely, and really says a lot more about the spirit of late 60s Warner Brothers Records in LA than it does the arthouse cinema scene in England! The great Jack Nitzsche composed a number of instrumental tracks for the score – maybe his first time in this mode, and prefacing some later 70s successes to come – with titles that include "Rolls Royce & Acid", "Harry Flowers", and "Natural Magic". Other Warner talents get a hand in the music too – as Randy Newman conducted all of Nitzsche's charts, and also sings "Gone Dead Train" – while Ry Cooder delivers bottleneck solos on "Get Away" and "Powis Square". There's also some nice soul-based moments – the cut "Wake Up N*ggers" by The Last Poets, and "Poor White Hound Dog" and "Performance" by Merry Clayton. And yes, Mick does get to sing on one tune – the album's "Memo From Turner" – and the set is completed by Buffy St Marie work on "The Hashishin" and "Dead Dead Red". (Soundtracks, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

The Seeds are caught in a web of sound on the cover – and the same thing will happen to the listener, too – as the power of this groundbreaking classic reaches out and grabs you right away! The album's not the group's first, but it's definitely the one where everything comes together amazingly – the sneering vocals of Sky Saxon, that hypnotic blend of thin organ and guitar in the grooves, and even the slight use of bottleneck guitar – an early example of taking the instrument to much more way-out territory! The album's got plenty to please both fans of garage and psych, and also has a power that went on to influence generations to come – which you can definitely hear on titles that include "The Farmer", "Rollin Machine", "Just Let Go", "A Faded Picture", "Tripmaker", and the 14 minute jam of "Up In Her Room". LP, Vinyl record album

The Seeds are caught in a web of sound on the cover – and the same thing will happen to the listener, too – as the power of this groundbreaking classic reaches out and grabs you right away! The album's not the group's first, but it's definitely the one where everything comes together amazingly – the sneering vocals of Sky Saxon, that hypnotic blend of thin organ and guitar in the grooves, and even the slight use of bottleneck guitar – an early example of taking the instrument to much more way-out territory! The album's got plenty to please both fans of garage and psych, and also has a power that went on to influence generations to come – which you can definitely hear on titles that include "The Farmer", "Rollin Machine", "Just Let Go", "A Faded Picture", "Tripmaker", and the 14 minute jam of "Up In Her Room". LP, Vinyl record album

Heavy psych from Detroit, in the years before Bob Seger became a "lighters in the air" peddler of redneck theme songs. Cut from the same cloth as the early Mitch Ryder, Amboy Dukes and Grand Funk that were the hallmark of the Motor City rock sound of the day, most of the tracks on this outing are concise rockers, but the band delves into a bit of nice jamminess on side 2. Includes 'Tales Of Lucy Blue", "Ivory", "Gone Down Home", "Train Man", "White Wall", "Black Eyed Girl", "2 + 2 = ?" and "Doctor Fine". LP, Vinyl record album