Another Splash Of Colou

The other side of Bob Dylan referred to in the title is presumably his romantic, absurdist, and whimsical one – anything that wasn't featured on the staunchly folky, protest-heavy Times They Are a-Changin', really.

The 18 previously unreleased, solo acoustic performances on this collection were recorded between March 1965 and December 1966. These show Parsons not as a country singer, rock singer, or even folk-rock singer, but very much as a mid-'60s folkie, in the mold of so many artists to be heard in the Greenwich Village scene. There's no straight country music in his repertoire, comprised largely of covers of songs by then-contemporary writers such as Buffy Sainte-Marie ("Codine"), Tim Hardin, Tom Paxton, and Fred Neil, along with high-caliber compositions that would be popularized by rock groups (Billy Wheeler's "High Flyin' Bird" and Hamilton Camp's "Pride of Man").

The preferred mix at the time of the recording, the mono version presents Dylan as he and his producers originally intended. Since the separation of the stereo versions isn't as sharp, this mono edition places Dylan's vocals in the heart of the musical action and as one with the accompaniment. It paints listeners an incredibly accurate portrait of the attention-getting, concrete mass of sound that features no artificial panning and straight-ahead immersion into the music. This is how almost everyone first heard this timeless album – making the mono mix all the more historically valuable and truthful.

Ne-Yo has released a Christmas album just in time for the holidays! The project contains original material as well as some Christmas classics including “This Christmas” and “Carol Of The Bells”. The project also has vocals from his two proteges Candice Boyd and RaVaughn, both of whom were signed to him at one point.

Another Kind Of Christmas is the first Christmas album by soul vocalist Shaffer Chimere Smith, who is better known under the mononym Ne-Yo. The album also features material from RaVaughn and Candice Boyd plus a collaborative piece with Satori & Dre Island. This was released by Compound Entertainment/Motown.