Drawing Down The Moon

The best British folk-rock band of the late '60s, Fairport Convention did more than any other act to develop a truly British variation on the folk-rock prototype by drawing upon traditional material and styles indigenous to the British Isles. While the revved-up renditions of traditional British folk tunes drew the most critical attention, the group members were also (at least at the outset) talented songwriters as well as interpreters. They were comfortable with conventional harmony-based folk-rock as well as tunes that drew upon more explicitly traditional sources, and boasted some of the best singers and instrumentalists of the day.

I Stand Alone is American singer-songwriter Al Kooper's 1969 debut album issued on Columbia Records. It was recorded after his collaboration with Michael Bloomfield and Stephen Stills on the 1968 album Super Session. After ten years of session playing, collaborations and playing in other bands, Kooper released his first solo album in February, 1969. It is an eclectic mix of country, soul, blues, and rock with a dose of psychedelia mixed throughout. It is a continuation of Super Session in its mix of disparate covers from the likes of Bill Monroe, Harry Nilsson and Traffic, and with originals running the gamut of feelings.

Merge continues its 20th anniversary festivities with a comp of non-label artists– Bright Eyes, Shins, New Pornos– covering songs from its catalog.
Merge Records doesn't look its age. Originally formed as an outlet for Superchunk material, the Durham, N.C.-based label has grown into an indie institution, but only gradually– year by year, release by release. It never allied itself with a scene or a sound, so the mind doesn't automatically tether it to a specific place or time, the way Sub Pop, despite its strong roster this decade, will be most closely associated with Seattle in the late 1980s and early 90s. So it's hard to believe Merge is already 20 years old, an occasion the label is marking with a big birthday bash– the five-day XX Merge fest in July– and a subscription-only series of commemorative retrospectives and remixes. Perhaps the most intriguing party favor is Score! Twenty Years of Merge Records: The Covers, a choppy but oddly endearing compilation that enlists 20 non-Merge acts to cover Merge songs.

From the concerts "John Fogerty's All-Stars, Chaplin Stage, Hollywood, CA, 5-31-1985" and from the "Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium 26-11-1989" As the singer/songwriter and guitarist for Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty created a monumental and mythic American music. Drawing equally from rockabilly, country, and blues, Fogerty developed a distinctive brand of rock & roll and a formidable songbook. After CCR split in 1972, Fogerty didn't run away from that sound, but he avoided the band's hits due to a legal dispute with his former record label. "The Old Man Down the Road," the hit single that kicked off Fogerty's successful solo career, arrived in 1985, a full decade after his last hit, but the song and its accompanying Centerfield album pushed him back into the spotlight. He remained a force on record and on the road, where he eventually worked old CCR tunes into his set lists.

Professor Brian Cox tells the extraordinary life story of our solar system. For four and a half billion years each of the planets has been on an incredible journey, filled with astonishing spectacle and great drama. Using the data from our very latest explorations of the solar system combined with groundbreaking CGI this series reveals the unimaginable beauty and grandeur of eight planets whose stories we are only just beginning to understand.