2010 reissue of this collection from the British Pop superstar. The Early Years features many alternative takes of his work with The Shadows and The Drifters.
As you can expect from an album the title song should be a highlight. Not true in every case - but this time by all means. When listening to Wide Open N-Way you're first immediately forced to believe that this is an american westcoast psych band. Accent-free vocals and a very cool straightforward sound with acoustic guitar. But then they are showing another second sight right away with a weird piano and guitar echoes dominated krautrocked interlude…
Founded in 1991 by French choral director Laurence Equilbey, the 32-member Choeur de Chambre Accentus' 1996 Virgin recording of a cappella songs and ballads by Brahms and Schumann is as clear and lovely as a cloud-flecked sky in early October. Composed during his early years in Hamburg, Brahms' Gesänge, Op. 42, are robustly romantic, while his Gesänge, Op. 104, composed during his late maturity in Vienna, are autumnally nostalgic. Composed primarily in Dresden, Schumann wrote his Romanzen und Ballades about the same time he started his long, slow decline into madness. But in these performances by the Accentus Chamber Choir, all the music – early, mature, or melancholy – sounds crisp, alert, and strong.
It’s been a while coming, but here we finally get Trikont’s third volume in their amazing Early Black Rock ‘N Roll series. As before, the intent is to present real American rock ‘n roll as it first emerged in the late 1940s-early 1950s, before the music’s black roots were de-emphasised and it was cleaned up for consumption by the middle class white America of Richie Cunningham, Ralph Malph and Potsie. These 26 knock-out tracks certainly deliver on this - or, in the words of Nik Cohn in the booklet’s notes, ‘compared to the sentimentalism of white music, (hearing the originals) was like a window being opened to let the stale air out’.
Between 1974 and 1982, Frenchman Richard Pinhas recorded at least twelve LPs either under the Heldon name or his own, alternating between guitars and keyboards himself and accompanied by a variety of associates on guitars, drums and analog synthesizers. This double CD reissue includes Heldon's very first release, Electronique Guerrilla, and their third, It's Always Rock 'n' Roll (itself a double LP originally). These releases are sometimes referred to as Heldon I and Heldon III (Heldon II, otherwise known as Allez Teia, was recorded earlier in 1975). In spite of the rather aggressive album titles, these early recordings are mellow to the point of ambient, and inscrutably (or perversely), there's very little music in the entire program which would be considered rock & roll by any stretch of the imagination. (Very unobtrusive drums appear only on several of the later tracks on the Rock 'n' Roll reissue)…
`The Early Years 79-81' box set represents the band's first two albums, `On Through The Night' (1980) and `High `N' Dry' (1981), and has been prepared in conjunction with singer Joe Elliott who has acted as executive producer on the set. This set comes with 5-CDs consisting of the original albums remastered, B-sides, rarities and re-mix versions, Radio One sessions, Live from Reading and the first ever appearance of an unreleased and newly mixed show from Oxford in 1980.
A unique collector's edition is a "climbing on the history of music" for 20 centuries from ancient times (Greece) to the present day. "History of Music", the 20-disc collection. Starting with the ancient music, music of the Middle Ages continued, Renaissance and Baroque music and ending the era of romanticism and modernity.