Ray Cooder - Boomer's Story (1972/2017) [FLAC-HD]

Boomer’s Story is the third studio album by American roots rock musician Ry Cooder, released in 1972.

The title track was previously recorded as “The Railroad Boomer” by Bud Billings (aka Frank Luther) and Carson Robison in a performance recorded at the studio at Liederkranz Hall in New York on September 9, 1929 (Victor V-40139). Although it is credited on Cooder’s album as “traditional,” Robison was awarded a copyright and the song “can’t be shown to have circulated in oral tradition.” Gene Autry recorded it in December of the same year. In the 1930s the song was recorded for Decca Records by the Rice Brothers’ Gang, in 1939 by Roy Acuff & His Smoky Mountain Boys, in 1941 by Riley Puckett for RCA, and in the 1950s by Cisco Houston (as “The Rambler”) and by The New Lost City Ramblers, who included Cooder’s guitar teacher, Tom Paley.

 

Yes - Yessongs (3 CD, 1973) [24-96]

 Yessongs is the first live album by the English progressive rock band Yes, released as a triple album in May 1973 on Atlantic Records. After completing their Close to the Edge Tour in April 1973, the band selected live recordings between February and December 1972 on their tours supporting Fragile (1971) and Close to the Edge (1972) for a live album release. They were then edited and remixed with their producer and live sound mixer Eddy Offord. Three tracks feature original Yes drummer Bill Bruford while the remaining tracks feature his replacement, Alan White. 

•     Jon Anderson – lead vocals
•     Chris Squire – bass guitar, backing vocals
•     Steve Howe – electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals
•     Rick Wakeman – keyboards
•     Bill Bruford – drums on "Perpetual Change", "Long Distance Runaround", and "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)"
•     Alan White – drums on all other tracks

 

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - The Best of Everything (2 CD, 2019) [24-96]

 The Best of Everything is a 2019 greatest hits album with recordings made by Tom Petty, with his backing band The Heartbreakers, as a solo artist, and with Mudcrutch. 

 

The Doors - L.A. Woman (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)(3 CD, 2021) [24-192]

L.A. WOMAN: 50TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION includes the original album newly remastered by The Doors’ longtime engineer and mixer Bruce Botnick, and two bonus discs of unreleased studio outtakes.

 

Eric Clapton - E.C Was Here (1975/2014) [24-192]

Following Eric Clapton's recovery from heroin addition in 1974 and subsequent comeback (announced by 461 Ocean Boulevard), the guitar legend retained his fine band and toured extensively, and this live album is a souvenir of that period. Despite having such pop-oriented hits as "I Shot the Sheriff," E.C. Was Here makes it clear that Clapton was and always would be a blues man. The opening cut, "Have You Ever Loved a Woman," clearly illustrates this, and underlines the fact that Clapton had a firm grasp on his blues guitar ability, with some sterling, emotionally charged and sustained lines and riffs. A short version of "Drifting Blues" also drives the point home, with a lazy, Delta blues feel that is intoxicating. Aside from these standout blues workouts, Clapton provides a surprise with two songs from his Blind Faith period. "Presence of the Lord" and Steve Winwood's classic "Can't Find My Way Home" are given great readings here and highlight Clapton's fine touring band, particularly co-vocalist Yvonne Elliman, whose singing adds a mellifluousness to Clapton's blues vocal inflections. The market was a bit oversaturated with Clapton and Cream reissue products at the time, and this fine record got lost in the shuffle, but it remains an excellent document of the period.