Ashley Lane

2009 two CD-set containing a pair of albums from the Country superstar, originally released on the United Artists and Liberty labels at the height of his worldwide popularity between 1976 and 1983. Though Rogers achieved success at the tail end of the '60s with his band The First Edition, it wasn't until he fully crossed over into the Country market that international fame came calling. Ironically, his move away from the Pop charts actually brought him more success once Country Music began to crossover into the same market he had initially given up on. Contains the albums Love Lifted Me (1976) and Kenny Rogers (1977). 21 tracks.

For long-time Island fans the most fun way to celebrate this hugelytrumpeted anniversary would be reissuing the two budget-price samplers which introduced so many cash-strapped kids to the label in 1969. The wide range of musical strains presented was packed with avenues to explore, but You Can All Join In’s Side Two, Track One was Fairport Convention’s hauntingly anthemic Meet On The Ledge, heralding the label’s oncoming “quiet revolution” combining folk and electric rock forms, examined here over three CDs.

In conjunction with the 2006 DVD documentary of record collector Joe Bussard, Dust-to-Digital released this companion CD, featuring 19 tracks in some of the kind of styles – rural blues, jazz, and old-timey country music, mostly from the '20s and '30s – that Bussard loves. Desperate Man Blues: Discovering the Roots of American Music isn't exactly a soundtrack to the documentary, since these records are not featured in their entirety in that film. Rather, it's a survey of some of the highlights of the music in which Bussard specializes, the liner notes featuring track-by-track annotation by Bussard himself. It's an excellent mixture of classics by some of the most esteemed early country and blues giants and the kind of more obscure items that are primarily known only to the type of listeners who covet what Bussard collects. Among the classics are Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues," Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues," Clarence Ashley's "The Coo-Coo Bird," the Carter Family's "John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man," and the very first version of "Stack O' Lee Blues" ever made (by Cleve Reed and Harvey Hull, in 1927).

Ever the master of soothing atmospheres and chord progressions that spoil the ear, Ashley Wallbridge brings yet another one of his melodic cuts to Gareth Emerys Garuda. Chock-full with sparkling plucks, eargasmic vocal shots, this is one to bring elation to its listeners like no other. Balearic in its vibes, rock-solid in the rest. Stepping forward ever so often as the secret weapon of the A State Of Trance, Willem de Roo is quite the force to be reckoned with. Delivering blows with his anthemic melodies whenever he steps up to the plate, the Dutchman commands waves of energy and power as if they were his personal army.