Milk Of The Tree: An Anthology Of Female Vocal Folk & Singer-Songwriters 1966-1973 [3 CD, 2017/FLAC]

 

Milk Of The Tree is the 3CD box set (60 tracks) focusing on the music made in the late ’60s and early ’70s in both Britain and North America by either female solo artists or acts with featured female vocalists. Along the way, we encounter San Franciscan psychedelia, LA folk rock, Swinging London pop-folk, electric folk, progressive folk and even folk club folk as well as (of course) a plethora of singer- songwriters (including various ladies of the Canyon) from the movement’s golden age.

VA - The Chess Story: 1947-1975 [14 CD, 2000]

 

The Chess Story (1947-1975)

For almost 30 years some of the best black music appeared on the Chess label . This sumptuous box set captures the full range of the Chess catalogue: from the raw Chicago blues sound of Muddy Waters (an astonishing 31 tracks), Howling Wolf and John Lee Hooker; through the more playful RnB of the likes of Chuck Berry (19 tracks) and Bo Diddley (15 tracks); to the soulful sound of artists like Fontella Bass, Etta James and Little Milton.

Black Sabbath- Paranoid (4 CD Super Deluxe Edition, 2016/FLAC)

 

This new edition uses the 2012 remaster of the 1970 album and includes the 1974 quad mix of Paranoid. Bizarrely, the quad mix isn’t on a DVD (or blu-ray) but on CD. Since CDs cannot deliver audio in a surround sound format, this rare quad mix is ‘folded down’ to stereo. It will still sound different to the master version, but the whole point of quad mixes was to deliver a surround sound experience via four channels – something this CD won’t do. Truly perverse. The other two CDs contain two concerts from 1970, from Montreux (recorded shortly before the album was issued) and Brussels (recorded during the band’s television performance for public broadcaster RTBF). The latter has been widely bootlegged, but for this set, the entire show has been sourced directly from the RTBF master tapes for optimum quality.

Bill Wymans Rhythm Kings- The Kings Of Rhythm Vol.1 [4 CD, 2016/FLAC]

 

This box contains the first four releases from Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, the good-time ten-piece band that Bill Wyman put together after leaving the Rolling Stones in 1992. The band has a core rhythm section, but features a revolving combination of all-star guest front men and women. These four albums feature the talents of Gary Brooker, Georgie Fame, Albert Lee, Paul Carrack, Andy Fairweather Low, Chris Rea, Mike Sanchez, Beverley Skeete, Mick Taylor, Nicky Hopkins, Eric Clapton and Peter Frampton.

CDs 2 and 4 are recordings from the band’s live shows originally given a limited release as the ‘Bootleg Kings’, and unavailable for many years.

Jimmy McCracklin & His Blues Blasters - The Modern Recordings Vol.1 + 2 [1999/2004]

  

Although Jimmy McCracklin had already been recording for a few years, his association with Modern marked his first reasonably long tenure with an established label. This 25-track disc covers his first stay with the company, covering a half dozen singles, three songs that first showed up on the 1981 Ace album And His Blues Blasters, and ten demos, outtakes, and alternate takes that were previously unissued. It's solid small-combo West Coast jump blues, sometimes embellished by the tenor saxophone of Maxwell Davis.