Arista – Arcd 8018

Released by the U.K.’s Edsel label in 2011, this compilation has a title that is somewhat misleading. The Best of the Arista Years contains Showmen and Chairmen of the Board leader General Johnson's self-titled 1976 album – co-produced with Rick Chertoff – in its entirety. The remainder of the disc consists of the disco version of one of the album’s A-sides, “Don’t Walk Away,” the B-side “Ready Willing and Able,” the 12” version of the 1977 single “Let’s Fool Around,” and the 12” disco version of another 1977 single, “Can’t Nobody Love Me Like You Do.” While none of it quite matches Johnson’s best moments with Chairmen of the Board, it’s all sturdy, disco-laced mid-‘70s soul, comparable to what the likes of Willie Hutch and Johnny Bristol were releasing at the time. Each one of the A-sides impacted the R&B chart, with the Top 25 “All in the Family” the most successful of all. This is likely the first time any of the material has appeared on compact disc.

At Last…The Duets Album is the second cover album and thirteenth studio album by saxophonist Kenny G. It was released by Arista Records in 2004, and reached number 1 on the Contemporary Jazz chart, number 21 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and number 40 on the Billboard 200.

In 1972, Lou Reed was a minor cult hero to a handful of rock critics and left-of-center music fans who championed his former band, the Velvet Underground, but he was unknown to the mainstream music audience. By 1986, Reed was a rock & roll icon, widely hailed as a master songwriter and one of the founding fathers of punk, glam, noise rock, and any number of other vital rock subgenres; he even scored a few hits along the way. If you want to know what happened during those 14 years to make such a difference, the answer can be found in The RCA & Arista Album Collection, a 17-disc box set that brings together nearly all of Reed's recorded work from this period…

For much of the '90s, Aretha Franklin acted as if she couldn't even care about appealing to a younger audience. She rarely recorded, and when she did, it was usually slick adult contemporary material. That's what makes the fresh A Rose Is Still a Rose such a surprise. Although it certainly has its share of predictably glossy ballads fit for adult radio (usually produced by Narada Michael Walden or Michael Powell), the most notable element of the album is that Franklin collaborates with fresh talent, all of whom are either prominent rap figures or at least fluent in hip-hop.

David Bowie - Earthling (1997) {Arista}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 360 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 110 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300dpi (png) -> 62 Mb
© 1997 BMG / Arista | 7432143077-2
Rock / Pop / Experimental Rock

EARTHLING was nominated for 1998 Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Music Performance. "Dead Man Walking" was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.

EARTHLING is a strange album title coming from a man who's made a career out of ruminating on rock and rollers from Mars and other faraway places. But after all this time, it makes sense. Bowie's 1970s experiments in dance music, art-rock and other space-age pop forms helped lay the groundwork for modern styles like ambient and techno, and now he comes across as an astronaut inspired by what he's found and looking for a way to bring it all back home. If his most daring '70s albums were a conscious separation from rock and roll, then EARTHLING, for all its jungle beats, ambient noises and industrial dynamics, is a kind of return, an attempt to incorporate all he's learned into the music he started with.