Glenn Frey - Above The Clouds : The Collection (3 CD, 2018) [FLAC]

 

Though he passed away at far too young an age in 2016, the late Glenn Frey remains a looming presence as the Eagles embark on a new North American tour that will take the reconstituted band – now featuring Frey’s son Deacon as well as country superstar Vince Gill – on the road through October. Now, even as his music is being sung nightly by his bandmates, Geffen Records is celebrating his career with a new box set. Above the Clouds: The Collection highlighting key tracks from Frey as well as the long-awaited, official CD premiere of Longbranch/Pennywhistle, his early collaboration with friend J.D. Souther.

Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! [2009, 3CD + DVD - 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition]

 "GET YER YA-YA'S OUT!" - recorded in 1969 over two nights at Madison Square Garden - is the last official live document of the Rolling Stones in their swaggering Sixties prime; it's also one of the greatest live albums of all time.

Expectations were high for the band on its 1969 tour, the Stones' first in the U.S. in three years, and their first outing without guitarist Brian Jones, who had died that summer. They delivered in spades. Keith Richards and new guitarist Mick Taylor combined for angry workouts on Ya-Ya's' "Midnight Rambler" - the album's bluesy nine-minute masterpiece - and a stark, rubbery "Sympathy For The Devil." Mick Jagger and Richards pull apart Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie" into a raunchy romp, as if to prove they had fully mastered the rock form.

This three-disc remastered Ya-Ya's includes the original in all its gritty glory. Disc Two is a five-song EP from the same shows, with acoustic performances - "Prodigal Son" and "You Gotta Move" - from Richards (playing a resonator guitar) and Jagger. The third disc is an unexpected treat: blistering sets by openers B.B. King plus Ike and Tina Turner (doing an outrageously steamy take on Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long"). And serious rock geeks will enjoy the final flourish.

Frank Zappa - The Mothers 1971 (8 CD Super Deluxe, 2022) (320 + 24/96)

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Mothers Of Invention’s ‘71 line-ups, the complete Fillmore tapes are showcased with every note played over 4 shows, including the John Lennon/Yoko Ono encore, majority of tracks are newly mixed. Additionally, the full concert from the Rainbow Theatre in London where FZ was infamously pushed off the stage is newly mixed by Eddie Kramer. The box also features a bonus hybrid concert from Harrisburg & Scranton, PA 1971 and extensive liner notes & packaging. 

John Lennon - Imagine: The Ultimate Collection (4 CD, 2018) [FLAC + 24/96]

 

Universal Music celebrates the apex of John Lennon’s solo career with a six-disc box set  Imagine: The Ultimate Collection. This historical, remixed and remastered 140-track collection is fully authorised by Yoko Ono Lennon who oversaw the production and creative direction.

Spread across four CDs and two Blu-ray discs, this truly unique expanded edition offers a variety of listening experiences that are at once immersive and intimate, ranging from the brand new Ultimate Mixes of the iconic album, which reveal whole new levels of sonic depth, definition and clarity to these timeless songs, to the Raw Studio Mixes that allow listeners to hear Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band’s original, unadorned performances, to enveloping 5.1 surround sound mixes and a Quadrasonic Album Mix, presenting the original four speaker mix remastered in Quadrasonic sound for the first time in nearly fifty years. This ultimate deep listening experience, which features scores of previously unheard demos, rare outtakes and isolated track elements, also includes The Evolution Documentary, a unique track-by-track audio montage that details the journey of each song from demo to master recording via instructions, rehearsals, recordings, multitrack exploration and studio chatter. The comprehensive nature of the full Imagine – The Ultimate Collection is the absolute best representation of a career artist working at the top of his creative game. imagine – the ultimate deep listening experience.

The Beatles – Artifacts II - The Definitive Collection Of Beatles Rarities 1960-1969 [5 CD, 1994] [FLAC]

  

The second five disc collection of some of the most significant bootlegs of the last 25-odd years in chronological order, Artifacts II expands on the incredible story tld by 1993's Artifacts box set through 123 outtakes, live concert tracks, demos, overdub sessions, and rehearsals, complete linear notes and full color photos.

VA - Cruisin' Story 1955-1960 (12 CD, 2011/FLAC)

 

Early rock & roll was in love with motion, cars, Saturday nights, dancing, and, of course, young love, and as a genre, initially embraced by teens, it gradually took over and reshaped pop radio between 1955 and 1960, the period covered by this generous three-disc, 75-track collection. Every track here is a classic of the time period, but some of the clear highlights include the Penguins' “Earth Angel,” Chuck Berry's “Maybelline,” Fats Domino's “Ain’t That a Shame,” Frankie Lymon's “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” Little Willie John's “Fever,” Buddy Holly's “That’ll Be the Day,” Duane Eddy's “Rebel Rouser,” Roy Orbison's “Only the Lonely,” and the Ventures' “Walk Don’t Run,” among many other timeless gems. It’s a fun collection, it’s history, and, oh yeah, you can dance to it. 

VA - The Old Grey Whistle Test: Easy Riders (3 CD, 2018/FLAC)

 

Easy Riders celebrates to very best in rock, pop, folk, prog and singer-songwriters that appeared on the Old Grey Whistle Test. It features the likes of Thin Lizzy, Free, Mike Oldfield, Rick Wakeman, Lynyrd Skynyrd and many more.

 

Steve Winwood - The Finer Things (4 CD, 1995/FLAC)

 

The Finer Things is a compilation album box set of recordings by Steve Winwood. It includes songs from his early days with The Spencer Davis Group through Traffic and Blind Faith and into his work during his solo career. 

Steve Winwood has led a long and varied career, recording everything from straight R&B and jazz-flavored rock to folk and pop. Over the course of four discs, The Finer Things chronicles the entirety of his career, beginning with the Spencer Davis Group, through Traffic and Blind Faith, right until his successful solo career. It includes all of the hits and many of his finest album tracks, yet the overall approach is rather exhausting -- the rarities are rarely illuminating, they're just there for the sake of being there. Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile purchase for anyone wanting a comprehensive picture of Winwood in all of his various guises. 

George Harrison - All Things Must Pass [Super Deluxe 5 CD, 2021] (FLAC + 24/192)

 

George Harrison’s masterpiece, ‘All Things Must Pass’, is being celebrated with a suite of new 50th anniversary editions, including multiple limited physical and digital configurations featuring sessions outtakes and jams.

Decades in the making and lovingly crafted by the Harrison family, All Things Must Pass has now been completely remixed from the original tapes for this stunning release that fulfills Harrison’s longtime desire. Executive produced by Dhani Harrison and mixed by triple GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer Paul Hicks (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, John Lennon), the new mix transforms the album by sonically upgrading it – making it sound brighter, fuller and better than ever before. 

 

Bob Dylan - For Sale or Just On The Shelf [6 CD studio outtakes]

 

For Sale Or Just On The Shelf is an attempt to gather the circulating Bob Dylan Columbia Studios Recording Session Outtakes (1961-1964) into a reasonably logical, hopefully useful, accessible compilation. It is arranged chronologically and includes as accurate as possible identifications for the session takes and sources. Selected alternate mixes and live performances are included for interest and comparison.

Yes - Progeny : Seven Shows from Seventy Two (14 CD, 2015) [FLAC + 320]

 

Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two is a 14-CD live album box set from the English progressive rock band Yes, released on 25 May 2015 on Rhino Records. The album consists of seven complete shows recorded in 1972 during the band's Close to the Edge tour. 

Mike Oldfield - Mike Oldfield – The Remastered Collection 1973-2017 [FLAC]

Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is a British musician, songwriter, and producer best known for his debut studio album Tubular Bells (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Though primarily a guitarist, Oldfield plays a range of instruments, which includes keyboards, percussion, and vocals. He has adopted a range of musical styles throughout his career, including progressive rock, world, folk, classical, electronic, ambient, and new age music.

Mott The Hoople - Mental Train: The Island Years 1969-1971 (6 CD, 2018)

 UK six CD set encapsulating legendary English Rock-band Mott the Hoople's recorded output for Island Records, to whom they were signed, between 1969 and 1971. Bringing together all of their albums from the period, the set also includes bonus material, BBC sessions and live concerts. The studio albums have all been remastered from the original tapes by renowned engineer Andy Pearce and have been complemented by bonus tracks selected by Mott the Hoople expert, Kris Needs. Disc Five comprises more unheard and, in some cases, unreleased music from the Island archive while Disc Six rounds everything off with live material recorded at Fairfield Hall, Croydon on September 13, 1970 and a BBC Radio One In Concert from the Paris Theatre, London on December 30, 1971.

Dave Mason discography [FLAC + 320]

 

David Thomas Mason (born May 10, 1946) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic. In his long career, Mason has played and recorded with many of the era's most notable musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Fleetwood Mac and Cass Elliot. Mason's best known song is "Feelin' Alright", recorded by Traffic in 1968 and covered by dozens of artists, including Joe Cocker, who had a major hit with the song in 1969. For Traffic, he also wrote "Hole in My Shoe", a kind of psychedelic satire that became a classic in its own right. "We Just Disagree", Mason's 1977 solo hit written by Jim Krueger, has become a staple of Oldies and Adult Contemporary radio playlists.

Golden Earring - The Complete Studio Recordings (29 CD, 2017) [FLAC]

 Legendary Dutch rockers Golden Earring see their long career celebrated with a  Complete Studio Albums box set.

All 26 studio albums are included in this box, from their 1965 debut Just Ear-rings to 2015’s The Hague. Three bonus CDs with non-album tracks (such as That Day, Sound Of The Screaming Day, So You Want To Be A Rock’n’Roll Star and L.A. Woman) complete the collection.

Colin Blunstone - Collected (3 CD, 2014) [FLAC)

 

Colin Edward Michael Blunstone (born 24 June 1945) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Blunstone came to prominence in the mid 1960s as the lead singer of the English rock band the Zombies, which released four singles that entered the Top 75 charts in the United States during the 1960s, including "She's Not There", "Tell Her No", "She's Coming Home", and "Time of the Season". Blunstone began his solo career in 1969, releasing three singles under a pseudonym of Neil MacArthur. Since then, he has released ten studio albums and one live album under his real name. His solo hits include "She's Not There", "Say You Don't Mind", "I Don't Believe in Miracles", "How Could We Dare to Be Wrong", "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted", and "The Tracks of My Tears". In 2019, Blunstone was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of The Zombies.

He is also known for his participation on various albums with the Alan Parsons Project, as he sang their song "Old and Wise" which became famous with Blunstone's vocals. 

Led Zeppelin - Lost Mixes EP & Sessions (14 CD, 2007, Empress Valley) [FLAC + 320]

 Empress Valley Supreme Disc is Japanese bootleg record label specializing in Led Zeppelin.

Little Feat - Hotcakes and Outtakes (4 CD, 2000) [FLAC]

 

"Thirty years of sophisticated music is often more than any modern rock band is expected to accomplish, but Little Feat has spent the bulk of the last three decades offering the unexpected. This "box set" dovetails nicely with the band's last retrospective, "Hoy Hoy", that came out two years after the band's founder, Lowell George, died (1979). Since then, the band has gone their separate ways, reformed, re-tooled, and have rejuvinated a sound as authentic to our culture as buffalo nickles and velvet art work. "Hotcakes and Outtakes" provides a common ground for old and new fans to observe the rich, musical talents of a band that bravely never quite fit into any programmable radio format. The first three cd's offer a rich menu of the band's talents, humor, and innovative sound. Replete with an 80 page history of the band, the Little Feat story makes both sense and nonsense out of the band constantly in conflict, but totally dependent on the emotional traction each player brought to the table. However, it is the fourth cd that the die hard Little Feat fan will find the most gratifying. Here, demos and outtakes rule the day. It is a poignant reminder of a time when an entire band shunned sleek studio wizardry and produced simple nuts and bolts rock and roll.

The Byrds - The Complete Columbia Albums Collection (13 CD, 2011/FLAC)

 

The Byrds were one of the most progressive and exciting band in '60s rock, with no peers outside the Stones-Beatles-Beach Boys triumvirate. This box set, which collects their original Columbia albums, represents over 90-percent of their career, basically everything they released, all 12 albums (aside from their 1973 reunion album recorded for Asylum). This material was frequently astonishing at the time, and still is, ranging from their debut single "Mr. Tambourine Man" through the bracing folk-rock of their first two LPs, growing psychedelia and experimentation during 1966 and 1967, then a sudden detour into country-rock and mellow pop for the rest of the '60s. Whether early linchpins Gene Clark and David Crosby were a part of the lineup or not, the Byrds with Roger McGuinn at the helm always featured tuneful songwriting and accomplished musicianship, qualities which shine through brightly on this collection. Each album comes in a replica LP sleeve, and the package includes all the bonus tracks (plus the liner notes from Johnny Rogan) that were originally included with the mid-'90s expanded reissues; also included is the two-disc Sweetheart of the Rodeo expanded edition, with rehearsals and alternate takes. 

1965 - Mr. Tambourine Man (45:41)

1965 - Turn! Turn! Turn! (49:12)

1966 - Fifth Dimension (62:22)

1967 - Younger Than Yesterday (47:35)

1968 - The Notorious Byrd Brothers (58:27)

1968 - Sweetheart Of The Rodeo (55:05 + 61:20)

1969 - Dr. Byrds And Mr. Hyde (52:07)

1969 - Ballad Of Easy Rider (56:50)

1970 - (Untitled) / (Unissued) (71:25 + 49:25)

1971 - Byrdmaniax (46:51)

1971 - Farther Along (46:03)

 

 

Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes - Live At The Greek : Complete Live Masters (4 CD, 2001/FLAC)

 The Black Crowes were dogged with comparisons to the Rolling Stones and the Faces throughout the first decade of their career, so it came as a mild surprise that they teamed with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page in late 1999 for a couple of concerts. Zeppelin had a mystique and majesty about them that the Crowes never attempted to emulate. They were an earthy, bluesy rock band and while they found a number of different ways to rework their influences, they never tried the stately grandeur that was Zeppelin's second nature. So, some observers were curious to see how these two approaches worked.