VA - Cruisin' Story 1955-1960 (12 CD, 2011/FLAC)

 

Early rock & roll was in love with motion, cars, Saturday nights, dancing, and, of course, young love, and as a genre, initially embraced by teens, it gradually took over and reshaped pop radio between 1955 and 1960, the period covered by this generous three-disc, 75-track collection. Every track here is a classic of the time period, but some of the clear highlights include the Penguins' “Earth Angel,” Chuck Berry's “Maybelline,” Fats Domino's “Ain’t That a Shame,” Frankie Lymon's “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” Little Willie John's “Fever,” Buddy Holly's “That’ll Be the Day,” Duane Eddy's “Rebel Rouser,” Roy Orbison's “Only the Lonely,” and the Ventures' “Walk Don’t Run,” among many other timeless gems. It’s a fun collection, it’s history, and, oh yeah, you can dance to it. 

VA - The Old Grey Whistle Test: Easy Riders (3 CD, 2018/FLAC)

 

Easy Riders celebrates to very best in rock, pop, folk, prog and singer-songwriters that appeared on the Old Grey Whistle Test. It features the likes of Thin Lizzy, Free, Mike Oldfield, Rick Wakeman, Lynyrd Skynyrd and many more.

 

Steve Winwood - The Finer Things (4 CD, 1995/FLAC)

 

The Finer Things is a compilation album box set of recordings by Steve Winwood. It includes songs from his early days with The Spencer Davis Group through Traffic and Blind Faith and into his work during his solo career. 

Steve Winwood has led a long and varied career, recording everything from straight R&B and jazz-flavored rock to folk and pop. Over the course of four discs, The Finer Things chronicles the entirety of his career, beginning with the Spencer Davis Group, through Traffic and Blind Faith, right until his successful solo career. It includes all of the hits and many of his finest album tracks, yet the overall approach is rather exhausting -- the rarities are rarely illuminating, they're just there for the sake of being there. Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile purchase for anyone wanting a comprehensive picture of Winwood in all of his various guises. 

George Harrison - All Things Must Pass [Super Deluxe 5 CD, 2021] (FLAC + 24/192)

 

George Harrison’s masterpiece, ‘All Things Must Pass’, is being celebrated with a suite of new 50th anniversary editions, including multiple limited physical and digital configurations featuring sessions outtakes and jams.

Decades in the making and lovingly crafted by the Harrison family, All Things Must Pass has now been completely remixed from the original tapes for this stunning release that fulfills Harrison’s longtime desire. Executive produced by Dhani Harrison and mixed by triple GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer Paul Hicks (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, John Lennon), the new mix transforms the album by sonically upgrading it – making it sound brighter, fuller and better than ever before. 

 

Neil Young - Official Release Series Volume 5 (5 CD, 2023) [FLAC]

Neil Young continues his occasional Official Release Series box sets with a new volume (No 5) which brings together four albums released as the 1980s turned into the 1990s.

The albums are 1989’s Freedom, Ragged Glory from 1990, the live album Weld and it’s experimental companion, Arc (both 1991). These are discs 22, 23+, 24 and 25 in the series. The ‘+’ for Ragged Glory indicates some bonus material which is two B-sides (‘Interstate’ and ‘Don’t Spook The Horse’) and unreleased versions of ‘Box Car’ and ‘Born To Run’, the latter a 12-minute version.