Leadbelly - Leadbelly's Last Sessions (4 CD, 1994/FLAC)

 Recorded between September and November, 1948. Originally released on Folkways (241/2941, 242/2942). Includes liner notes by Frederic Ramsey, Jr. Moses Asch, Sean Killeen, Anthony Seeger, Jeff Place and Matt Walters.

Legend has it that when Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter was shown one of the first commercially available tape recorders--as opposed to the then-standard disc-cutting machines--in the fall of 1948, he immediately sat down in front of it for a marathon impromptu recording session. This fact comes across on the first of these discs taken from those tapes: most of its 35 tracks are traditional blues hollers without even his trademark 12-string guitar for accompaniment.

The other three discs are jam-packed with songs, fragments, and often fascinating conversations. Rather than edit the material--which the listener can do quite nicely with a programmable CD player and blank cassettes--the archivists at Smithsonian/Folkways wisely chose to release these four hours of material exactly as it was recorded. As a result, the sound quality is occasionally a bit dodgy, but the historical import and musical quality of these recordings are undeniable. 

 

Pink Floyd - Ummagumma The High Resolution Remasters (4 CD, 2019/FLAC)

 

Ummagumma is the fourth studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd. It is a double album and was released on 7 November 1969 by Harvest Records. The first disc consists of live recordings from concerts at Mothers Club in Birmingham and the College of Commerce in Manchester that contained part of their normal set list of the time, while the second contains solo compositions by each member of the band recorded at Abbey Road Studios. The artwork was designed by regular Floyd collaborators Hipgnosis and features a number of pictures of the band combined to give a Droste effect. It was the last album cover to feature the band.

Although the album was well received at the time of release, and was a top five hit in the UK album charts, it has since been looked upon unfavourably by the band, who have expressed negative opinions about it in interviews. Nevertheless, the album has been reissued on CD several times, along with the rest of their catalogue. 

• Original Album Part One 
• Live Album Recorded at Mothers Birmingham & Manchester College of Commerce June 1969 
• Original Album Part Two + Alternate Live Album 
• More furious madness from Pink Floyd. 
• The massed gadgets of Auximenes. 
• The reconstructed unreleased The Man & The Journey album + Bonus tracks 
• Ummagumma revisited. The alternate studio album. 

 

The Shadows - The Early Years: 1959-1966 (6 CD, 2013/FLAC)

 This collection includes every studio title recorded by the Shadpws (and commercially released) from early 1959, right up to the very end of 1966. This new expanded edition contains 32 tracks in mono not previously available on CD, and three tracks which are released in stereo for the very first time.

 

VA - Th'is Rock. The Rock Experience [3 CD, 2011]

 

CD1:
01. Santana - Soul Sacrifice
02. Canned Heat - On The Road Again
03. Asia - Sole Survivor
04. Canned Heat - Going Up The Country
05. Santana - Persuasion
06. Chicago - 25 Or 6 To 4
07. Asia - Heat Of The Moment
08. Foghat - Slow Ride
09. Vanilla Fudge - You Keep Me Hangin' On
10. Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues (Live)
11. The Outlaws - Green Grass
12. Molly Hatchet - Flirtin' With Disaster
13. Brian Connolly's Sweet - Fox On The Run
14. Great White - Once Bitten, Twice Shy
15. Dave Mustaine & Marty Friedman Of Megadeth - School's Out
16. Charlie Daniels With Molly Hatchet - Freebird
17. Alan White & Tony Kaye Of Yes - More Than A Feeling

CD2:
01. Loverboy - Workin' For The Weekend
02. Mickey Thomas And Starship - Don't Stop Believin'
03. Slash & Roger Daltrey - No More Mr. Nice Guy
04. Ted Nugent - Rag Doll
05. Jake E. Lee & Phil Lewis - Journey To The Center Of The Mind
06. Steve Lukather - Shine On You Crazy Diamond
07. Rick Derringer - Rock N' Roll Hoochie Koo
08. Santana - Jingo
09. Pat Travers - Snortin' Whiskey, Drinkin' Cocaine
10. George Lynch - He's A Woman, She's A Man
11. Yngwie Malmsteen & Ronnie James Dio - Dream On
12. Mick Taylor - Jailbreak
13. Dweezil Zappa - Unchained
14. Mick Mars Of Motley Crue - Cold Ethyl
15. Pat Travers - Boom, Boom (Out Go The Lights)
16. Johnny Ramone - Viva Las Vegas
17. Richie Kotzen Of Mr. Big - Money
18. Phil Collen Of Def Leppard - Back In Black

CD3:
01. George Lynch - Rock You Like A Hurricane
02. Ronnie Montrose - Another Brick In The Wall Part 2
03. Robby Krieger - Brain Damage
04. Albert Lee - Back In The Saddle
05. Zakk Wylde - Go To Hell
06. Steve Morse Of Deep Purple - Another Brick In The Wall Part 1
07. Jeff "Skunk" Baxter - Breathe (In The Air)
08. Ted Nugent - Tie Your Mother Down
09. Elliot Easton - Young Lust
10. Paul Gilbert Of Mr. Big - Children Of The Grave
11. Tommy Shaw Of Styx - Sweet Emotion
12. Tracii Guns & Gilby Clarke - Welcome To The Jungle
13. Wayne Kramer Of Mc5 - Cherry Bomb
14. Reb Beach Of Winger - I Don't Know
15. Bruce Kulick - Shot In The Dark
16. Adrian Belew - Mother
17. Santana - Evil Ways
18. Steve Jones & Billy Duffy - Elected

Labi Siffre - My Song (9 CD, 2020/FLAC)

 My Song is a 50th anniversary Labi Siffre nine-CD box set which features all of his albums and a generous selection of bonus tracks. 500 copies come with a ph0to personally SIGNED by Labi Siffre!

Siffre is probably best known for penning ‘It Must Be Love’ (covered by Madness in 1981) and for his powerful anti-apartheid anthem ‘(Something Inside) So Strong’, which peaked at number four in the UK singles chart in 1987.

The box features the following nine albums: Labi Siffre (1970) The Singer and The Song (1971) Crying Laughing Loving Lying (1972) For The Children (1973) Remember My Song (1975) Happy (1975) So Strong (1988) Man of Reason (1991) and The Last Songs (1998). They all come packaged in vinyl replica card wallets, and are accompanied by a 32-page booklet in which Labi speaks candidly about his career. 

In total, there are 146 recordings in this collection with 44 bonus tracks. Labi’s last album, The Last Songs has been remastered in 2020 especially for this set and contains two newly recorded bonus tracks.