Their first album I got on CD at early 90s. Previous albums I had only on tape at this time. Unfortunately it was their last so good release. Later they started to sound different and they stopped being so attractive. My all time favourites are: Joyride and Spending My Time.

Originally published at https://winyle-online.pl/album/roxette/joyride-1991

5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

At least half of the recordings in this 2 CD set went unreleased while the Chance label was in business from 1950-1954. Inside of the first CD is some discographical information, including Chance matrix numbers. On several occasions, the compilers chose unreleased alternate takes of recordings that were actually released, for unknown reasons. The sound quality is spotty, which might reflect the deterioration of the source tapes, or perhaps the original recordings were poorly made- and finally, the artist names shown on the back of the CD's and on the cover are often not the names under which the recordings were released (although this is corrected in the discography).

On the other hand, where else is one to find this stuff at all?

5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Some of his best work, even though many titles were previously released on other labels, the versions cut for Bobby Robinson hold their own. Lacking a discography or release information and the artwork makes reading the titles quite difficult on disc 2, but worthwhile.

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Kudos, I guess, to Capricorn for researching and releasing a box set on this seminal R&B label of the late 40's/early 50's.

However, I could have done with fewer "previously unreleased alternate versions" of what are by no means well-known tunes instead of the obscure actual releases!

And maybe it would have been worth a third CD to capture more of the gospel and r&b vocal groups the label put out to go along with those originals not put out in favor of alternate takes.

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

One of my favourite albums and bands of all time.

For those of you who never caught the band live, I can assure you that I have never seen another band to come close to them live. When you consider the vocal range required to sing some of these songs, it's no wonder that occasionally Freddie either doesn't quite hit the note, or alters the pitch. Particularly when you think about the amount of time they were on stage.

The great thing about Queen live albums, is they are rarely overdubbed.

I bought Live Killers on Vinyl when it first came out and noted there were quite a few bum notes on it. Regardless, Queen liked to put their live material out as it was on the night - how many other bands would have the chutzpah to do that??

For any Queen admirer, I would strongly recommend ANY of their live albums to get a feel for how good they were - bearing in mind of course that when you are there, every band sounds better as you are caught up in the moment and the excitement of the gig.

A masterpiece.

5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Released in February 1969, officially this was the first Monkees LP without Peter Tork. He made his exit from the group in December 1968 so this is the first Monkees release without him. Well, not really. All the tracks on this CD were recorded while Peter was still involved although he isn't mentioned as a vocalist or intsrumentalist anywhere in the liner notes.
This 1995 CD by Rhino contains all original twelve tracks plus seven more bonus selections. The group recorded nine LP's between 1966 and 1970, yet until the CD age, probably half of their recorded works were unreleased. Hence all these "bonus" tracks many of which are as good or better than what was issued in the 1960's.
This CD is a real mixed bag of Monkees music, most of them recorded in 1968 although a couple of tracks, "I Won't Be The Same Without Her" and "Tear Drop City" go back to 1966. "Tear Drop City" was the 45 RPM release from Instant Replay, a tune that sounded like an inside-out version of "Last Train To Clarksville" and only half as good. It climbed only to #56 on the Billboard top 100, a sign that the Monkees had lost a lot of their sales momentum. Exposure from their TV series was long over and they were viewed by many as being phonies because they generally didn't play on their recordings. Other bands were given a pass on this kind of behavior including, although not exclusively, the Byrds and the Beach Boys.
Surprisingly the recording is not that bad. It's not their finest hour but it's very listenable and has the mark of all the talented professionals that went into the making of it. The recordings were done sporadically and the producers include Boyce & Hart, Bones Howe, Carole Bayer & Neil Sedaka and in addition Mike Nesmith, Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones. Much of the arranging is attributed to Shorty Rogers and Don McGinnis.

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Mostly well-known national hits, and some latter-day cash-in stuff, but there are several standouts from the regional scene included that aren't easily found elsewhere, including two by The Catalinas, two by The Showmen, some by The Embers and by The Tams, The Monzas, also the full version of Don Gardner And Dee Dee Ford's hit "I Need Your Lovin' " the first half of which was clipped off by Fire records when it was released. All in all, a good introduction to the Southern Frat-based 'Beach Music' scene.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Fantastic CD! The great rocking tracks recorded in Jerry McCain's living room in 1955 sound like they were recorded YEARS later- despite the primitive production the excitement is palpable. The Excello tracks are great stuff, too.

Likely unofficial, but by far the best retrospective of his work available.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

While most notably appearing on the compilation Pebbles Volume 3: The Acid Gallery, this contains a huge chunk of previously unreleased material by the band. Tracks 1 to 12 was originally planned to be released as an album in 1966, but was canceled and never saw the light of day until this compilation was released. Tracks 13 to 19 consist of demos recorded in New Mexico. The CD booklet has an interview with one of the band members explaining the history of The Driving Stupid, their formation, inspirations for writing the songs (sometimes changing some songs to avoid any controversy), details on recording sessions, a few photos here and there, and other bits of fun trivia.
That aside, the music itself consists of songs with absurd and quirky lyrics and nonsensical storylines. Hide The Lobsters, The Reality Of (Air) Fried Borsk, We've Come To Take The Earth Away, Green Things Have Entered My Skin, Gladys and Water My Doing Here? are prime examples of this. If you're familiar with the B-52's song Rock Lobster, they're essentially apples to apples with each other. There are a few exceptions to this, namely How Do You Tell A Stranger? and Greensleeves (The Twa Corbies) aren't really as quirky or comical. Despite being dubbed "country" in the liner notes, I'm Gonna Bash Your Brains In have lyrics reminiscent of your typical punk tune about violently beating somebody up and mutilating their body.
Overall, this CD is definitely worth listening to if you're into garage rock, punk, comedy rock, avant-rock, or just really weird stuff. Their music is supposed to be stupid on purpose, hence the name Driving Stupid. Although, I wouldn't say they're out there/outrageous like Frank Zappa or The Fugs.

5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Nice compilation from very jazzy to Western, varying sound-quality.
Nice to hear artists who never recorded commercially. Very nice: Curly Williams'
recordings are more swinging than his commercial records.
Recommended!

3 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

This is an extremely deceptive package! Judging from the spine, one would believe this CD is 'Jamaica's Golden Hits, Vol. 3'. Nowhere in the insert booklet does it expressly say that it is Byron Lee And His Dragonaires doing all the hits on this CD. But it is, and it sounds much newer than the time frame of the originals (from 1968 to 1975 or so), and again there is no information on exactly when Mr. Lee and his group re-recorded these 'oldies'...

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In Dolby Surround, a new rendition of the classical "Film Noir" soundtracks.
Splendid new orchestration of the Brandenburg Philharmonia Orchestra directed by William T. Stromberg.
The 34 page booklet with many stories, anecdotes, photos of the vintage Hollywood glory, has a fascination of its own.
Beautiful!

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

It is unclear from the cover and spine just how many volumes there are covering the years from 1944-1950. On the front cover it says 'The Complete 1944-1950', and this volume 1 does cover 1944-1946 in exhaustive detail. However, judging from the only other volume I own, "The Complete 1944-1950" should actually be titled "The Complete 1944-1954", since the last two volumes cover the years 1950-1954. Confused? I sure was.

As to the pejorative 'exhaustive', well: five versions of 'Romance Without Finance' are included on this volume 1, which one might think excessive without understanding just who else Tiny Grimes worked with at the time. First and foremost, Charlie Parker. Still, the entire CD actually includes only 9 different tunes over 18 tracks.

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

A much better outing than their two previous, and head and shoulders above Mirror Mirror. It was recorded in a disjointed fashion, with Godley and Creme only contributing vocals, but sounds very cohesive and together and fits in well with How Dare You and Deceptive Bends. In a very real sense you could skip over Ten out of Ten and Look Hear and not miss a thing.

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

What an odd and interesting celebration of 'New York Doo Wop'! This is only to be expected, given that it was collated by long-time record dealer and Philly area based collector Val Shively. What is odd about the collection is that it is more a celebration of New York-based record labels than actually a collection of New York groups or even popular New York Doo Wop records. For example, the very first song on the collection is by one of the most famous Philadelphia groups, the Blue Notes. So much for being 'New York, Where It All Began'. The label is a famous New York label, Josie. Along with many of the best-known Doo Wop songs, there are numerous examples of extremely rare and unknown singles, along with the b-sides of several well-known singles.

Some of the rarities included: The Five Sharps singing 'Stormy Weather', Bill "Bass" Gordon And His Colonials (shown as by 'The Colonials') singing "Two Loves Have I", and the Coins doing "Blue, Can't Get No Place With You". The latter two are very early Gee singles and are extremely rare on 45. The Five Sharps is extremely rare even on 78, and no authentic 45 of it has ever turned up, although Jubilee was pressing all of their records in both formats at the time.

Most of the tunes included were originally on one of the following labels: Gee, Rama, Roulette, End, Gone, Port and Josie, but not all of them.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

All Joy... No division.

As I am only a casual R.E.M. fan, I'd never really given this much thought before...

R.E.M. are one of those groups / artists who everyone can say they like, and are familiar with at least something they have done, but barring the lead song here: Radio Free Europe, I'm not sure if other casuals will know much about the rest of this album either, but it's an absolute winner from start to finish, and has a more even feel and consistency for me than the later mega hits: Out of Time, and Automatic For The People etc.

I think this is perhaps because those ones are too well known now, and there's one or two on those that are a little saccharine and populist as well as overplayed.

I only bought this from the charity shop because it was 25p, and thought... "Why not?"

...Further to this, I only played it through from top to bottom because I was testing my newly fixed Sony Discman (The batteries blew last year in the heat)...

And what an album I discovered!

The thing that struck me, is how like Joy Division / early New Order the tone, or overall sound they created was... but with the as yet unrealised inner R.E.M. of later years trying to get out... and occasionally doing so with the now familiar harmony vocals, strong tunes and melodies... but all to a noise that Ian Curtis could quite happily throw some shapes to...

...as indeed I have done in the privacy of my own cave! :)

This is getting repeated plays right now, and needs an upgrade in my collection to a vinyl copy sometime soon!

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Originally scheduled for release on 24th April 2020, but postponed due to the Covid19 Pandemic, the innocuous title "Soul Voices" understates what this compilation really is, which as a collection of the type of recordings from the early and mid '60s that are commonly described as "Beat Ballads", "Big City Ballads" or, in "Northern Soul" circles, "Enders" (due to the fact that they are commonly played at "Northern Soul" venues to wind-down at the end of a session).

For those who don't know "Beat Ballads" were a variety of Soul Music, usually sung by men with "big" voices, that featured pounding (just below mid-tempo) beats, impassioned vocals, girlie-choruses and heart-rending lyrics. The height of the genre was during the 1962-66 period with well known, and commercially successful, examples including such records as "Any Day Now" by Chuck Jackson, "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King and "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted" by Jimmy Ruffin. Sometimes the girls and/or pop singers also got in on the act with songs such as "Walk On By" by Dionne Warwick or "I'm Gonna Be Strong" by Gene Pitney fitting the description nicely.

Needless to say none of the previously mentioned tunes are included and all of the "Beat Ballads" on here are sung by, usually "big-voiced", males. Some names are well known to '60s Soul fans (Ben E. King, Walter Jackson, Jimmy Radcliffe, Chuck Jackson for example), some are more obscure (Gene Burks, Clarence Pinckney), most tracks were originally released as singles in The US in the '60s, though 8 of them have only recently emerged from the vaults, including a rather splendid version of Dionne Warwick's "Don't Make Me Over" by Tommy Hunt.

Here is a selection of what you can expect on this CD ….

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6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

A nice cool cucumber confection in which to dip the breadstick of your mind.

As often happens with the passage of time, those more subtle, and maybe less impactful releases by any given group tend to rise to the head of the list of your favourites by that band by virtue of the proverbial turntable test...

...which in spite of what the critics say, you yourself like to think is technically the better record, which of them actually makes it to your stereo most often?

Think Massive Attack: Blue Lines is lauded to the rafters, due to it's significance etc. but we all know you're listening to Mezzanine really!!!

Or: "quick get that New Order record off, and pretend I'm actually listening to Joy Division!"

So it is with this more pastoral, rustic, soft, summer hazy sounding electro-hippie album by Goldfrapp. For me, this is the one to listen to, and is gradually pushing aside the harder electro dance pop from previous, and there's only really two songs or so from Felt Mountain I really listen to... or like.

(a lot like Blue Lines!!!)

This has that lethargic lazy summer vibe that swoons over you, and strikingly, from the music, to the lyrics themselves, seems to have a new contextual relevance in it's compatibility with Lockdown Malaise.

But it's more consistent than other Goldfrapps, has bags of memorable tunes and melodies, and is a nice soothing balm to listen all the way through, which you can do without skipping a track.

A current favourite.

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2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Quite possibly the worst album I ever bought, pure pretentious drivel

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Petula's 1974 Valentine's Day Concert Collector's Edition CD twin set is wonderful! Petula's performance is exceptional (as always) & so personal that one feels that you're there with Petula in the Royal Albert Hall in 1974. The recordings are beautifully preserved, restored & produced by the United Music Foundation, & presented in a very elegant 40 page booklet with lots of background by Petula & others, lovely photos, many forewords, an afterword by Petula's son Patrick & much more. Each Collector's Edition is numbered & copies are limited, & there's even very limited autographed copies available now - if you're quick!
Craig (Australia)

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

“Rays” is the first release from Michael Nesmith in a dozen years. It becomes very apparent on listening he put a lot of time and passion into it and it’s great to hear something new from this most underrated and ignored singer/songwriter. Many tunes are instrumental and on first listen sound like T.V. documentary themes and some of the vocal tracks suffer from heavy handed arrangements. By that I mean the vocals tend to be partially drowned out by the instruments. This is not some sort of oversight by Nesmith, he worked on this project for roughly five years, maybe more. I’m sure he designed it that way. I know it’s just me, but I find this frustrating and impedes my listening enjoyment. One thing that really impressed me was the percussion throughout this recording. Nesmith nearly always uses interesting percussionists. It’s a good piece of work but a little disappointing for me. I would have wanted far less instrumentals and more vocals. Stand out tracks are the title track and “Follows the Heart”, proof that he can still write great tunes. Maybe next time…let’s see, at this rate, what will that be, 2018 maybe? (review written in 2007)

3 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

A genuine classic.

...But firstly, you must consider the two songs on this that you know...

Or, in the case of one them... think you know.

...For the version (of which there are two on here!) of Tom's Diner that you will be familiar with from the radio is not on here. That one is a remix (music added) of the "spoken word" version which opens the show here.

(That popular version can be found on the cd single: DNA Featuring Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner )

And then there's the immensely hummable Luka, which you probably also know anyway...

...But it's the rest of the album that you should be buying this for, which is a collection of superbly crafted, melodic and lyrically brilliant folk- rock-ish tunes with a lovely open, warm and expansive sound typical of the best kind of production of that time... and all adding up to a more contemplative listen, with Suzanne Vega's more "introverted" lyrics and style of singing.

Vinyl and cds of this are cheap, and very easy to find, not to mention highly recommended.

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2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

A very warm and friendly album.

I found this in a huge plastic bucket of clearance CDs in a charity shop...

(they also had a chair to sit in while you rumaged! - Hallelujah! - Needless to say I spent a good hour or so sat there like some kind of audio-gnome)

... and it turns out to have been one of my best buys in recent years in terms of the music.

Never really got into the Super Furry's that much, as they seemed (on the strength of Guerrilla) to be a bit too sporadic in terms of quality.

But this is magnificent.

They've seemingly jettisoned a lot of the too kooky stuff, in favour of a more fundamental approach of very strong tuneful and melodic songs, rendered in a more "honest" well played, and well crafted way.

And it is consistently excellent all the way through... not a duff track.

In style, it has a very warm, almost 1960s country-lite, gently psychedelic feel with nice harmonies (very slightly Beach Boys-esque), with the odd electronic tones and flavouring... but the real genius of it is that they have used all these (and other) elements with a very light touch, but in so doing, have allowed the cumulative effect of all of them together to make a very strongly cohesive whole.

Bags of great, memorable tunes, melodies, and a very soothing listen... a nice place to spend an hour or so, and which has made me listen to it quite a lot.

I think it will grow in people's affections over time too, because of this.

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7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Big squiggly eclectic electro indie pop!

Instrumentally, it's a real barmy bag of bits, at times, even abrasive sounding... but the songs themselves are very tuneful, melodic, dramatic, and grandiose.

There's even a kind of 80's pop song vibe which cuts through the whole album, which is altogether very strong and consistent.

I'm even contemplating getting this on vinyl, but that's one of those awful two disc affairs, which I hate, however well pressed, and how good they sound - all one one disc please! - But then, this particular title is very cheap, so maybe It'd be rude not to get one anyway:)

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4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I've got a single disc *eco-pak of this I'll have to dig out...

(*eco-pak: reformed / recycled card sleeve, about the same quality as an egg box)

You really see that although only seemingly slightly regarded as an artist compared with other contemporaries, Donna Summer was actually quite innovative, as well as diverse in what she did, and should probably be taken more seriously... Certainly, when you pull all of her most well known tunes together like this, you realise just what her contribution was.

Great songs... a pleasure, but I sure ain't guilty about it!

Just take a look online for who she managed to get together as the backing choir on this cover of a Jon & Vangelis tune!:

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8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

The tracks are all popular hymn tunes set as instrumentals in a suitably soporific style by Steve Wingfield using keyboards for piano, xylophone and other instrumental parts, with plenty of tinkling cascades of bells.

Close on two hours in total. Very soothing for adults too.

Are they on YouTube? Yes and no, there are several Fisher Price lullaby videos, none with hymns but otherwise in exactly this style, with the same instrumentation, presumably also by Wingfield. This one is a single non-tune which repeats for two hours.

[YouTube Video]

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

This was a 10/10 album in it's day but the running order on this particular CD re-issue undermine that fact. How so?
Well, the less than necessary bonus tracks, four in the middle and four at the end destroy this CD as a straight through listen. This jars with me as I have the original album and the track order imprinted in my brain so when the likes of "Strange Thing" pop up in the middle of the CD it really gets on my wick something shocking.
Of the first four bonus tracks only "You Say You Don't Love Me" matches the quality of what was the first side of the record and of the second set of four at the end only "Raison D'Être" cuts the mustard. The other six just interrupt the flow or detract from what was originally a solid album from start to finish. If they had put the bonus tracks on a separate CD it would be a much better proposition but as it is it's just a bit annoying to fast forward through three tracks in the middle of a CD.
A case of less is more unfortunately which has inadvertently reduced a great album to an average listen in the process. So only 8/10 for this version I'm afraid.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

There isn't one song on this disc that is even moderately bad. The obvious classics like "I Fall To Pieces", "Crazy" and "Sweet Dreams" merge with "Walkin' After Midnight" (re-recorded here unfortunately), "Faded Love" and “She’s Got You”. Two really great tracks that are not quite as well known, but should be, are “Back In Baby’s Arms” and “Leavin’ On Your Mind”. I know some people who, due to a certain musical discrimination, won’t listen to anything even remotely bordering country music. They lose out here because, as I see it, one of the biggest myths about Patsy Cline is that she is some kind of hard core "country singer". Forget that she’s wearing a cowboy shirt on the cover, it’s just a wafer thin veneer. Some reports would suggest that Patsy longed to do a more country and less pop sound but producer Owen Bradley wouldn’t hear of it. On many selections on "12 Greatest Hits" she is no more country than her label mate Brenda Lee. Recorded in the early 1960’s, these songs were aimed directly at that invisible gap between pop and country with the hopes of picking up sales from both camps. If you want to hear a harder country sound, you need to check out her earlier recordings. No one with even a passing interest in American popular music should be without this CD.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?