VA - Next Stop Is Vietnam - The War On Record, 1961-2008 [13 CD, 2010]

 

...NEXT STOP IS VIETNAM: The War On Record, 1961 - 2008 is a stunning, years-in-the-making anthology of the Vietnam War's musical legacy. Presented on 13 CDs with a 304-page book illustrated with numerous archival photographs, this collection examines the war in a powerful and unprecedented way. Over 330 music and spoken word tracks take the listener through a guided tour of this epochal period of modern history. From America's first, naïve impressions of a country called Vietnam through the spirited musical debate over the morality of the war to the healing meditations on the conflict's lengthy aftermath, this set captures it all and more.

Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Merle Haggard, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Ochs, Johnny Cash, Yoko Ono, John Lennon, The Doors, Country Joe McDonald and dozens of other artists including many Vietnam veterans are the tour guides through this enlightening and entertaining journey. Rarely heard documentary material including patriotic Public Service Announcements, field news reports and intercepted North Vietnamese radio transmissions of Jane Fonda and Hanoi Hannah.

The heavily illustrated, full-color 304-page book that accompanies the music is packed with information on the songs and the artists who recorded them by music scholar Hugo A. Keesing; a history of the war by Vietnam historian Lois T. Vietri; and an oral history of the tunes that 'in country' vets loved best by authors Doug Bradley and Craig Werner. The introduction to this remarkable tome is written by the legendary Country Joe McDonald. Strap in for a long and fascinating ride

...NEXT STOP IS VIETNAM is the most comprehensive anthology of music inspired by the Vietnam War ever released.

                                                                  
 

Grateful Dead - Dead Ahead [DVD 9, 2012]

Dead Ahead is a concert video by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on October 30 and October 31, 1980, and released in 1981. An expanded version was released in 2005. In contrast to other Dead concert videos, Dead Ahead contains acoustic as well as electric song performances. 

In September and October 1980, the Grateful Dead did a concert tour of shows with three sets each, one acoustic set followed by two electric sets. The acoustic sets were the first the band had performed since the early '70s aside from a few rare one-off acoustic sets in special circumstances. The tour comprised 15 shows at The Warfield in San Francisco, 2 shows at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans, and 8 shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

The following year, songs from the tour were released as two live albums, the all-acoustic Reckoning and the all-electric Dead Set.

Dead Ahead contains songs from the last two New York concerts, October 30 and October 31, 1980. Although the video was compiled from multiple performances, and is shorter than one of the three-set concerts, it follows the general format of one of the shows, starting with some acoustic material and proceeding to a longer section of amplified music, including a somewhat edited "Drums" and "Space".

The video also includes several sketches by the comedy team of Al Franken and Tom Davis. These are from the final night of the tour, October 31, which was hosted by Franken and Davis, and broadcast on radio and on closed circuit TV. 

 

 

Chicago - Chicago at Carnegie Hall 1971 Complete (16 CD, 2021/FLAC+@320)

 16-CD deluxe set of Chicago’s best-selling live album, featuring all eight shows from their historic 1971 Carnegie Hall concert series. 

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Chicago became the first non-classical group to perform six nights in a row at Carnegie Hall 50 years ago. Between April 5 and 10, 1971, the band played eight shows at the celebrated venue (including two matinees) and recorded every one of them. In October of that year, performance highlights were featured on the band’s first-ever live album, Chicago at Carnegie Hall. That quadruple-LP reached #3 on the Billboard 200, was certified platinum, and is still the band’s best-selling live album.

To honor the 50th anniversary of Chicago’s historic concerts, the band will release all eight Carnegie Hall shows in their entirety for the first time in a new 16-CD deluxe boxed set.

 

Journey - Freedom (2022/FLAC)

Freedom is the fifteenth studio album by the American rock band Journey, released on July 8, 2022, through BMG Rights Management and Frontiers Records.

The album's 11-year gap from Eclipse (2011) marks the longest between two Journey albums to date. It is the only Journey album to feature drummer and producer Narada Michael Walden, as well as the first and only album to feature bassist Randy Jackson since Raised on Radio (1986), with both having departed from the group before its release. It is also the first album since Raised on Radio to not feature original bassist Ross Valory, who was terminated from the band in 2020.

The album's title of Freedom was the original title of Raised on Radio, but was changed by former member Steve Perry.

 

Grateful Dead: Downhill from Here (DVD 5, 1999/2012)

Downhill from Here is a concert performance video by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, near East Troy, Wisconsin, in July, 1989. Produced by Len Dell'Amico and Grateful Dead Productions. It was released by Monterey Home Video, on VHS in 1997 and on DVD in 1999, with a running time of 2 hours 30 minutes, and by Pioneer Entertainment, on LaserDisc in 1997.

Most of Downhill From Here was recorded on July 17, 1989. However, the last four songs of the first set – "Row Jimmy", "When I Paint My Masterpiece", "When Push Comes to Shove", and "The Music Never Stopped" – have been replaced with the last three songs of the first set from July 19 – "West L.A. Fadeaway", "Desolation Row", and "Deal".

"The Music Never Stopped" from July 17 is included in the albums Weir Here and Fallout from the Phil Zone. The latter also includes "Box of Rain" from July 19, and "Foolish Heart" from that date is a bonus track on Built to Last.

The title of the video is a play on words referring to the steep slope of Alpine Valley's general admission section, and perhaps also to the notion that 1989 through 1990 was the band's final peak period. 

•   Jerry Garcia – guitar
•   Mickey Hart – drums, percussion
•   Bill Kreutzmann – drums, percussion
•   Phil Lesh – bass
•   Brent Mydland – keyboards
•   Bob Weir – guitar