Poco - Crazy Eyes [1973/FLAC]
Poco is a Southern California country rock band originally formed by Richie Furay, Jim Messina and Rusty Young. Formed following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968, Poco was part of the first wave of the West Coast country rock genre. The title of their first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, is a reference to the break-up of Buffalo Springfield.
The third biggest-selling album in the group's history, Crazy Eyes is also the group's liveliest and most bracing work and contains some of their most soulful music. In short, it's the fruition of everything they'd been working toward for four years. Curiously, it's also one of a handful of examples of their use of outside help, including Chris Hillman on mandolin. The resulting sound is richer than anything found on any other Poco album, and the only tragedy is that the band reportedly cut enough tracks for two whole albums -- one longs to hear the material that remained in the can. As it is, there's not a weak song, or even a wasted note anywhere on this album, and most bands would kill for a closing track as perfect as "Let's Dance Tonight."
Frank Zappa - The Hot Rats Sessions (6 CD, 2019/FLAC)
The mostly-instrumental LP came on the heels of the breakup of the original Mothers of Invention, making it clear that Zappa was a force with which to be reckoned as a composer. Described by the artist as “a movie for your ears,” Hot Rats was a fusion of jazz and rock as only Zappa could create. Recorded on 16 tracks (a first for a Zappa album), it featured the producer/arranger/guitar virtuoso (who also played bass and percussion) joined by The Mothers’ Ian Underwood as well as Max Bennett, Johnny Otis, Shuggie Otis, John Guerin, Paul Humphrey, Ron Selico, Don “Sugarcane” Harris, and Jean-Luc Ponty. Don Van Vliet, a.k.a. Captain Beefheart, provided the vocals on the lone non-instrumental, “Willie the Pimp.”
David Gilmour - Live at Pompeii (2 CD, 2017) [Hi-Res FLAC]
Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger (4 CD Super Deluxe 2016/FLAC)
The four CDs in this package include the remastered album, a disc of studio outtakes (newly mixed from the multi-tracks) and the complete Paramount Theatre Concert from March 6, 1992 (across two CDs).
The CD audio content includes the original album newly remastered; 15 previously unreleased studio outtakes newly mixed from the original analog multi-tracks plus the track 'New Damage' featuring Brian May from Queen; and Live at the Paramount: Soundgarden's first-ever complete concert album newly mixed from the original analog multi-tracks and recorded at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle on March 6, 1992.