VA - Absolute Rock Ballads Classics [2 CD, 2002/FLAC]

 

2 CD compilation from Absolute Label

VA - Screamin' And Hollerin' The Blues : The Worlds of Charley Patton [7 CD, 2001/FLAC]

 

Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton is the musical equivalent of a limited-edition, fine-press book, and it's easily one of the most beautiful collections of recorded music ever assembled. Exquisitely designed, this 78-album-inspired, seven-CD package contains a wealth of information and music, featuring not only the Delta blues pioneer's complete recorded works, but the music of peripheral players (including Son House, Howlin' Wolf, and Henry "Son" Sims), a disc of fascinating audio interviews with Patton associates, and hours of reading material on the enigmatic songster.


At the 45th Grammy Awards the set won three awards for Best Historical Album, Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, and Best Album Notes.

Warren Haynes Band - Live at the Moody Theater [2+1 CD, 2012/FLAC]

 

Singer and guitarist Warren Haynes has served in some of the most devoted, generation-spanning live acts of all time The Allman Brothers Band, The Dead and Gov’t Mule. As a solo artist, Haynes has done pretty well for himself, too. After the release of only his second solo studio album, Man in Motion, Haynes performed an epic live set in Austin, Texas full of old hits, new tracks, covers and special guest appearances.

The blazing 2.5-hour show features several cuts from Haynes’ GRAMMY-nominated solo release ‘Man In Motion’ as well as Hendrix’s “Spanish Castle Magic,” Steely Dan’s “Pretzel Logic,” Sam Cooke’s classic “A Change Is Gonna Come” & Warren’s live staple “Soul Shine” and more. Guests include the Groove Line horns and 2012 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Ian McLagan of The Faces.

The Warren Haynes Band features a hand-picked band including R&B kingpins Ron Johnson on bass, Terence Higgins on drums, Nigel Hall on keyboards, Ron Holloway on saxophone and Alecia Chakour on vocals.

Broke, Black & Blue - An Anthology of Blues Classics and Rarities [4 CD, 1999/FLAC]

 Broke, Black & Blue delivers multiple surprises within its 100 songs of prewar blues. Arranged chronologically by Joop Visser, the set admirably covers the first 22 years of recorded blues, 1924 to 1946, from vaudeville and Delta to boogie-woogie and jump blues. It's a swell gift for anyone wanting to learn more about the history of blues. But old-timers will be pleased, too, as special attention has been paid to culling rare and idiosyncratic tracks by the well-known and the obscure. The first three discs present single tracks by artists as diverse as the Memphis Jug Band, De Ford Bailey, Tommy Johnson, Son House, Skip James, Peetie Wheatstraw, Lonnie Johnson, and Bukka White, alongside unknowns such as Isaiah "The Mississippi Moaner" Nelson, Barbecue Bob and Laughing Charley, Ed Andrews, Chicken Wilson, and Bumble Bee Slim. On the fourth disc, this convention is jettisoned to luxuriate in a series of very rare sides of lovely, oddly subdued boogie-woogie and jump blues by Jimmie Gordon, Johnny Temple, and Lee Brown.

VA - Where the Action Is ! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968 [4 CD, 2010/FLAC]

 

Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965–1968 is the fifth box set in Rhino Records' Nuggets series, released September 22, 2009. The set's four discs each focus on a different aspect of the underground rock music scene in and around Los Angeles at the end of the 1960s. The first disc, "On the Strip", features bands that rose out of the Sunset Strip scene; disc two, "Beyond the City", focuses on bands from the surrounding areas outside the city's borders; disc three, "The Studio Scene" covers bands' attempts to exploit the Los Angeles sound for a commercial audience; while disc four presents the movement away from psychedelic and garage rock towards the country rock sound which became popular in the city late in the decade. The boxed set was compiled and curated by Los Angeles native, Andrew Sandoval. On December 1, 2010 this project was nominated for a Grammy Award in the best Historical album category.