Greg Lake – The Anthology : A Musical Journey (2 CD, 2020/FLAC)

 Greg Lake left behind a rich musical legacy when he passed away in 2016. As a member of Emerson Lake & Palmer, King Crimson, pre-Crim bands The Shy Limbs and The Shame – not to mention his talents as a solo artist, producer, and composer – he helped define the landscape of progressive rock. 

A new career-spanning compilation called The Anthology: A Musical Journey will pay tribute to his contributions through the decades. The two-disc set features 33 tracks, including many of Lake’s best-known songs, beloved album cuts, and rarities. There’s the hard-to-find “Love” that Lake recorded with The Shy Limbs, ELP favorites “Take a Pebble,” “‘C’est La Vie.” and “Lucky Man.” His time with King Crimson is represented with “Peace” from In the Wake of Poseidon, “In the Court of the Crimson King.” recorded live at the Fillmore West, and “21st Century Schizoid Man” as performed solo in 1981. A clutch of ’80s solo material is also included, alongside a collaboration with Geoff Downes and a number of live recordings. Lake’s re-recording of the old ELP favorite “Closer to Believing” – one of his final recordings – is another highlight of the collection.

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (High Resolution Remasters) (4 CD, 2017/FLAC)

 Wish You Were Here is the ninth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 12 September 1975 through Harvest Records and Columbia Records, their first release for the latter. Based on material Pink Floyd composed while performing in Europe, Wish You Were Here was recorded over numerous sessions throughout 1975 at Abbey Road Studios in London.

The album's themes include criticism of the music business, alienation, and a tribute to founding member Syd Barrett, who left seven years earlier with deteriorating mental health. Like their previous record, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Pink Floyd used studio effects and synthesisers. Guest singers included Roy Harper, who provided the lead vocals on "Have a Cigar", and Venetta Fields, who added backing vocals to "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". To promote the album, the band released the double A-side single "Have a Cigar" / "Welcome to the Machine".

Wish You Were Here received mixed reviews from critics on its release, who found its music uninspiring and inferior to their previous work. It has retrospectively received critical acclaim, hailed as one of the greatest albums of all time, and was cited by keyboardist Richard Wright and guitarist David Gilmour as their favourite Pink Floyd album. It reached number one in the US and UK, and Harvest's parent company, EMI, was unable to keep up with the demand. Since then, the record has sold over 20 million copies. 

 

Bachman–Turner Overdrive discography [1973-2016]

  

Following his 1970 departure from the Guess Who, guitarist Randy Bachman recorded a solo album (Axe) and planned a project with ex-Nice keyboardist Keith Emerson (later canceled due to illness) before forming Bachman-Turner Overdrive in 1972. Originally called "Brave Belt," the metal group was comprised of singer/guitarist Bachman, fellow Guess Who alum Chad Allan, bassist C.F. "Fred" Turner, and Randy's brother, drummer Robbie; after a pair of LPs (Brave Belt I and Brave Belt II), Allan was replaced by another Bachman brother, guitarist Tim, and in homage to the trucker's magazine Overdrive, the unit became BTO.

While their self-titled 1973 debut caused little impact in the U.S. or the band's native Canada, Bachman-Turner Overdrive II was a smash, netting a hit single with the anthemic "Takin' Care of Business." Prior to the release of 1974's Not Fragile, Tim Bachman exited the group to begin a career in production, and was replaced by Blair Thornton; the album was a chart-topping success, and notched a number one single with "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet."

After 1977's Freeways, Randy Bachman left the group for a solo career and formed another group, Ironhorse. Bachman-Turner Overdrive continued on in his absence with replacement Jim Clench for two more albums, Street Action and Rock n' Roll Nights (both 1978), eventually changing their name to simply BTO. At the tail-end of the decade, the band dissolved, but in the 1980s they re-grouped to tour as both Bachman-Turner Overdrive (led by Randy) and BTO (led by Robbie); the ensuing confusion the name game triggered ultimately resulted in Randy Bachman filing suit against his one-time bandmates for rights to the group's logo.

• Randy Bachman - lead vocals, lead guitar
• C. Fred Turner - lead vocals, bass
• Tim Bachman - rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Robbie Bachman - drums, percussion, backing vocals

 

The Edgar Broughton Band - Speak Down The Wires - The Recordings 1975-1982 (4 CD, 2021/FLAC)

 Esoteric Recordings release Speak Down the Wires, a remastered 4-disc box set of the 4 albums issued by the Edgar Broughton Band / The Broughtons between 1975 and 1982: Bandages, Live Hits Harder!, Parlez Vous English and Superchip: The Final Silicon Solution. From the release of their debut album for EMI’s Harvest label in 1969, Wasa Wasa, the Edgar Broughton Band were trail blazers for the counterculture and rock music with a social conscience and could even be seen as godfathers and influencers of the later Punk movement. 

Hailing from Warwick and featuring Edgar Broughton (guitars, vocals), Steve Broughton (drums, vocals) and Arthur Grant (bass, vocals), their hard hitting approach over a series of albums for the Harvest label earned them many loyal fans and several hit singles (including their anthem ‘Out Demons Out!’). In 1973 the band departed Harvest and would record a further four albums, all released on independent labels between 1975 and 1982. “Bandages” was the first of these records and was born of a time when the band was bedevilled with management problems. Recorded in the summer of 1975 in Oslo, the band was joined by new member John Thomas on guitar and was later mixed by the band and Mike Oldfield at his home studio, “Bandages” was a fine record and featured Mike guesting on the tracks ‘Speak Down the Wires’, ‘The Whale’ and ‘Fruhling Flowers’. Despite the acclaim for “Bandages”, by 1976 the band had decided to take a break and embarked on a “farewell” European tour with the addition of another guitarist to the band, Terry Cottam. Several UK shows were recorded by the RAK Mobile studio and the highlights were eventually released in 1979 as the “Live Hits Harder!” album. By the time of this release the band had already entered the studio with a new line-up featuring Edgar and Steve Broughton, Arthur Grant joined by Pete Tolson (guitars), Richard de Bastion (keyboards, backing vocals) and Tom Norden (guitars, backing vocals) to record the excellent album “Parlez Vous English”. This record was produced by the band assisted by John Leckie and Simon Heyworth and saw the band shorten their name to The Broughtons. “Parlez Vous English” took on new wave and art rock influences and, with highlights such as ‘All I Want to Be’ (also a single), ‘Anthem’, ‘Revelations One’ and ‘April in England’, was arguably the most polished of all the albums recorded by the band. Following a promotional tour in 1980, the Edgar Broughton Band took the step of forming their own label for their next release in 1982, the conceptual album “Superchip: The Final Silicon Solution”. The record saw the band revert to a trio and adopt the use of keyboards more extensively and the album’s dystopian message is perhaps more pertinent today than when it was first issued.

 

Superstars in Concert (Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones and more) [1973, DVDRIP video]

 

Throughout ten years, the documentary Peter Clifton registered perfomances of some of the greatest names of world pop rock. From 1964 to 1973, lots groups went to London, such as The Rolling Stones, Animals, Cream, Blind Faith, Pink Floyd and Faces, and some of the greatest soloists like Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding; also poets of their times like Cat Stevens and Donovan, and others that would be even more famous like Joe Cocker and Tina Turner. You have all this and lot more, in this historical DVD, a document that will be essential for the lovers of pure rock.