VA - Riding the Rock Machine: British Seventies Classic Rock (3 CD, 2021/FLAC)

 

Long-established as a hugely popular radio format, the Classic Rock sound was established – though not codified and canonised until some while later – in the Seventies, when numerous British bands from a pop or blues-based background pioneered a muscular, riff-based sound that dominated American FM airwaves and led the most successful practitioners to fame, fortune and all manner of related excess.

But although there are innumerable radio stations now devoted to the baby boomer sounds of Classic Rock, their innately conservative, playlist-based nature means that the same heavyweight tunes are endlessly recycled: the casual listener could be forgiven for thinking that the careers of major bands like Thin Lizzy and The Who didn’t extend beyond ‘Whiskey In The Jar’, ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ and ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’.

So allow the Grapefruit label to break down the walls of stultifying retroactive conservatism with an alternative look at the Classic Rock genre. Riding The Rock Machine features many of the era’s headline names (Lizzy and The ‘Oo, but also The Moody Blues, Free, Status Quo, Jethro Tull, Procol Harum, ELP, ELO, Uriah Heep etc) in slightly less familiar settings as well as some Classic Rock-friendly performances from acts who walked the walk and talked the talk but never quite received the same level of acclaim as the brand leaders.

VA - Plug It In Turn It Up : Electric Blues - The Definitive Collection! 1939-1954 [3 CD, 2011]

Part one of the most comprehensive history ever of electrified blues on 12 electrifying CDs! Every significant artist ... every significant recording from the 1930s to the present day, including T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, George Thorogood, and Freddie, B.B. and Albert King, Jeff Beck, Fleetwood Mac, Charlie Musselwhite, Johnny Winter, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and literally hundreds more! In all, fifteen-and-a-half hours! Compiled and annotated by renowned blues expert, Bill Dahl.

Blues historian and musicologist, Bill Dahl from Chicago, has produced the most comprehensive history of electric blues ... ever! With nearly 300 tracks, Bear Family Records is telling the story from the beginning into the new millennium. In the 1930s, the invention of Gibson's ES-150 - the first electric guitar - changed popular music forever. The first generation of blues pioneers played acoustic instruments, but with the invention of amplification, guitar and harmonica players could be heard over the piano, drums and horns. Music was revolutionized!

Here's the complete story from jazz-inspired jump numbers in the late 1930s to hard-driving blues/rock from the States and Great Britain in the 1960s, '70s, and beyond. The journey closes with today's contemporary blues. This is it! Truly definitive! Done as only Bear Family can do it!

Texas Alexander - Complete Recordings In Chronological Order (3 CD, 2007/FLAC)

Texas Alexander sang the blues in a voice that sounds and feels today like that of a kindred spirit to Huddie Ledbetter, Washboard Sam, Henry Thomas, or Blind Lemon Jefferson, with whom he sang during the early 1920s. During the years 1927-1934, he recorded some 69 sides (64 of which were issued) for the OKeh and Vocalion record labels in San Antonio, Fort Worth, and New York City. His accompanists were mainly guitar players (Lonnie Johnson, Eddie Lang, Carl Davis, Willie Reed, and Little Hat Jones) and also included pianists Clarence Williams and Eddie Heywood, Sr. as well as cornetist King Oliver and the Mississippi Sheiks. Alexander played no external instrument, expressing himself solely with his voice. He is said to have carried a guitar around with him in order to attract accompanists. His recordings are precious relics of early 20th century African-American culture in the rural southwestern United States.

David Bowie - Hello Birmingham [Limited Edition] (4 CD, 2016/FLAC)

 

David Bowie live at The NEC Birmingham, UK

19-20 November 2003

VA - Alligator Records 30th Anniversary Collection [2 CD, 2001/FLAC]

 

Three decades ago Bruce Iglauer founded Alligator Records, selling his hero Hound Dog Taylor's records out of his car trunk. Since then, Alligator has become America's best-known and most prolific blues label, and many of the reasons for its success appear on this budget-priced, two-disc 30th anniversary collection. Much of the material, including Marcia Ball's "Louella" and Shemekia Copeland's "Turn the Heat Up," comes from relatively recent recordings, since the label also released anthologies honoring its 20th and 25th anniversaries. Those two collections are unreservedly recommended, with the 20th providing the best historical overview of the label's evolution.

But the 30th holds its own, presenting guitar greats like Lonnie Mack ("Stop"), Johnny Winter ("My Time After Awhile"), and Lonnie Brooks ("Two-Headed Man"), as well as harmonica heroes James Cotton ("When It Rains It Pours"), Junior Wells ("Keep Your Hands Out of My Pockets"), and William Clarke ("Broke and Hungry"). Several outstanding duets, including a fine and funky tune by Henry Butler and Corey Harris and a classic from a Robert Cray and Albert Collins collaboration, provide variety.

The second disc contains 13 live cuts, featuring some of the most exciting live blues acts ever, such as Albert Collins, backed by the Icebreakers; Luther Allison, who rips through his signature "Soul Fixin' Man"; and Son Seals, who gets help from Elvin Bishop. Dynastic zydeco great C.J. Chenier serves up "Jambalaya," and Delbert McClinton dishes out blue-eyed soul with "Maybe Someday Baby" to further flavor the live action.