Charley Patton - Complete Recordings 1929-1934 (5 CD, 2002/FLAC]

 Charley Patton lived only into his 40s, but he left a large body of recorded work, which reveals a broad repertoire, much self-written. He came to his first recording session - in June 1929, for Paramount - with an established reputation. It was said his voice could be heard 500 yards away. The songs he recorded that day include some he had been honing for 20 years around the Delta. Pony Blues is usually cited as a masterpiece. He cut two versions. Both are good, the first is finer: he growls the lyrics, his guitar lopes and bucks. Patton's rhythms are one of his trademarks - complex, intricate, powerful, his fingering always precise. Listen to his playing on Down The Dirt Road Blues - he puts brilliant guitar phrases at the end of each stanza. Songs like Banty Rooster, with its beautiful slide work, and the idiosyncratic Spoonful represent the essence of Mississippi blues and are typical of Patton fast-and-loose approach to blues structures (there's not a standard 12-bar in Patton's recorded output) and rhythmic conventions. Even those who have studied Patton's lyrics find areas to dispute. The voice is gruff, the phrasing eccentric and his Mississippi accent can be impenetrable. But it's worth paying attention - Patton's songs evoke a world that has vanished. We hear of characters like Sheriff Tom Rushen, a lawman whom Patton knew well, for the wrong reasons. He did exist, although his name was actually Rushing. Other songs evoke things like the whistle of the Pea Vine train, or the boll weavil, which threatened the cotton crop - as Patton sings: ... (it) sucks all the blossom and leaves your hedges square. In each case, Patton's playing is crafted to the song. Throughout his career, Patton recorded religious material. Prayer Of Death, from the first session (sacred tunes, and a sermon whose words are as obscure as his song lyrics), is a powerful example. Patton died in 1934, still in demand. His reputation has burgeoned since.

Jethro Tull - The Zealot Gene (2022/FLAC)

The Zealot Gene is the 22nd studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released on 28 January 2022 by Inside Out Music. Nearly five years in production, it is their first studio album since The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003), and their first of all original material since J-Tull Dot Com (1999), marking the longest gap between the band's studio albums. 

The Zealot Gene is the first Jethro Tull studio album to feature an entirely new lineup (other than Anderson), with guitarist Florian Opahle (who left the band between its recording and release), bassist David Goodier, keyboardist John O'Hara, and drummer Scott Hammond replacing four-fifths of The Jethro Tull Christmas Album lineup – Martin Barre, Jonathan Noyce, Andrew Giddings and Doane Perry respectively. The new lineup is the same that performed on Anderson's most recent solo album, Homo Erraticus (2014). The album is the first since This Was (1968) not to involve Barre in any capacity, as he was not asked to return when Anderson reformed Jethro Tull. 

 

 

Grateful Dead - Anthem to Beauty (DVD 5/1999)

 Anthem to Beauty is a music documentary about the making of the Grateful Dead albums Anthem of the Sun and American Beauty. It originally aired in a somewhat shortened version in 1997 as part of the television series Classic Albums. It was released on VHS video tape in 1998 and on DVD in 1999, with a running time of 1 hour 15 minutes.

The video combines footage from the early years of the Grateful Dead with 1997 interviews of former band members and associates. Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, Bob Weir, Robert Hunter, and David Grisman, among others, discuss the creation of 1968's experimental, psychedelic Anthem of the Sun and 1970's folk-rock classic American Beauty. They also listen to and analyze the original master recordings for the albums, and talk about being in (or working with) the Grateful Dead at that time. Recording engineer Stephen Barncard rolls the original master tape and solos tracks, recalling the recording sessions and highlighting specific moments.

Keyboardist Tom Constanten discusses the artificiality of appearing on Hugh Hefner's show Playboy After Dark. David Grisman plays his full version of the mandolin part for Ripple, as he had intended.

 

 

The Hollies - The Clarke, Hicks & Nash Years 1963-68 [6 CD, 2011/FLAC]

 

Allan Clarke and Graham Nash had honed theirs for years before recruiting guitarist Tony Hicks, and when the trio turned their vocal beam on a song, it got Hollied. Their crushing vocal power lifted The Hollies above a myriad other bands plundering the R'n'B annals. The real collector's item is an eight-track live show from May 1968 in London, where they bang faultlessly through their hits.

 

Bob Dylan - The Broadcast Collection 1961-1965 (5 CD, 2019) [FLAC]

 The Broadcast Collection is a unique collection of Bob Dylan's live broadcast sessions between 1961 and 1965 in New York, Chicago, Mineapolis and Montreal. Bob Dylan’s recording at Bonnie Beecher’s Apartment is a famous “home” tape of Dylan. Large portions of this tape appeared on the first Dylan bootleg album, the legendary Great White Wonder. The Broadcast Collection also includes the live broadcast at Finjan Club Montreal 1962. The tape features one of Dylan’s most powerful original blues The incredible Finjan tape belongs in every collection.