Roy Orbison - The Soul Of Rock And Roll [4 CD, 2008/FLAC]

  

In 1988, Columbia Records released a four-disc Roy Orbison retrospective called The Legendary Roy Orbison. It contained 74 tracks. It was a great package except for one thing: it sounded terrible, as the mastering techniques in the first days of the CD were not what they are now. The Soul of Rock and Roll, issued by Sony Legacy in 2008, is an enormous improvement in the sonic arena, just for starters. This four-disc collection contains 107 tracks (33 more than the previous box) with selections from all the labels Orbison recorded for. There are 12 previously unreleased performances, including the last tune Orbison ever committed to tape (strangely, a live version of "It's Over," recorded a scant two days before his death in Akron, OH). It contains a very solid book with essays by his widow Barbara, producer Fred Foster, and Roy Jr., and numerous testimonials from fans and friends including Tom Waits, Glenn Danzig Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Melson, Barry and Robin Gibb, and John Mellencamp, among others.

Dead Can Dance - SACD Box Set (9 CD, 2008)

 Dead Can Dance combine elements of European folk music -- particularly music from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance -- with ambient pop and worldbeat flourishes, touching on everything from Gaelic folk and Gregorian chant to avant-garde pop and darkwave. Originating in Australia, the group relocated to London in the early 1980s and signed with 4AD, for which they released a string of acclaimed albums, including the popular 1991 compilation A Passage in Time, which introduced the project's distinctive medieval art-pop to the United States before ceasing operations in 1998. They reunited in 2005 for a short tour, and officially re-formed in 2012 and issued their 12th studio LP, Anastasis, with Dionysus arriving six years later. 

1984 - Dead Can Dance

1984 - Garden Of The Arcane Delights - EP

1986 - Spleen And Ideal

1987 - Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun

1988 - The Serpent’s Egg

1990 - Aion

1993 - Into The Labyrinth

1994 - Toward The Within

1996 - Spiritchaser

Sly & The Family Stone - Original Album Classics (5 CD, 2010/FLAC)

 

1967 A Whole New Thing

1968 Dance To The Music

1968 Life

1969 Stand!

1971 There's A Riot Goin' On

VA - AUDIO’s Audiophile (24 CD, 1993 - 2005) Vol. 11-15 (FLAC)

 

German series with audiophile recordings (24 Karat gold).  

Vol 11 - Power Beats

Vol 12 - Live Tracks

Vol 13 - Blues Notes

Vol 14 - Power Voices

Vol 15 - Hendrix Hits

Big Joe Turner - Rocks In My Bed (4 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 Big Joe Turner was a blues singer like no other, and he was able to work in an astonishing number of styles and settings, from jazz, swing, and boogie-woogie to jump blues, early R&B, and rock & roll, and even bop and straight pop, without ever betraying his talent. This four-disc, 71-track set collects several of Turner's earliest recordings from various labels, beginning with 1938’s “Roll ‘Em Pete” and running up to 1951, when Turner signed with Atlantic Records. That means his classic version of “Shake, Rattle and Roll” is here, along with other early Turner gems like “Cherry Red” (with Pete Johnson), “Careless Love” (with Willie “The Lion” Smith), and “Rocks in My Bed” (with the Freddie Slack Trio), making this a nice survey of Turner’s early catalog.