Home Grown! The Beginner's Guide to Understanding The Roots, Vol. 1

See for Miles' 1990 compilation The Best of Idle Race contains a generous 25 tracks – just over half of what the Idle Race recorded. This means that it does have the great majority of the best material the band recorded, and it would satisfy everyone outside of the rabid collectors who need anything. The catch is, if you're into the Idle Race, you need everything, so this collection is essentially a stopgap until you can track down (or afford) EMI's 1996 complete collection, Back to the Story. Even then, this may be a little more listenable, since it boils the group's interesting but erratic career to its very best – which is obscure British psych at its best (in other words, it's for the collectors who will seek it out, not anyone else).

Introducing an amazing blues album filled with the raw blues spirit. This is the strongest blues album of 1997 by the indomitable Carter Brothers, who perfectly expressed the enthusiasm of 1960s Southern blues in the modern era. Thirty years after their 60's Jewel Records work, which became a hot topic when it was first released as an LP on P-Vine, they have finally returned. This long-awaited work is a worldwide event. The power of Roman Carter's hard vocals and the heavy movement of the sound and beat are absolutely amazing!
This electric blues act with a soul bent recorded for Jewel Records, among other labels. Roman Carter (lead vocals, bass), Albert Carter (guitar), and Jerry Carter (vocals, piano) came from Garland, AL, and began recording in 1964 for producer/songwriter Duke Coleman's local label. Stan Lewis' Jewel Records…

The only band to use the Beatles, Whitney Houston, Mission Impossible, Petula Clark, Doctor Who, ABBA, and the French national anthem as art statements. Circa 1987: Shag Times, one of the many deliberate cash-ins released in the wake of the Timelords, confirmed Bill Drummond and Jimi Cauty's supremacy over every last imitator and pop stunt plagiarist.

Released a year after Eat a Peach, Brothers and Sisters shows off a leaner brand of musicianship, which, coupled with a pair of serious crowd-pleasers, "Ramblin' Man" and "Jessica," helped drive it to the top of the charts for a month and a half and to platinum record sales. This was the first album to feature the group's new lineup, with Chuck Leavell on keyboards and Lamar Williams on bass, as well as Dickey Betts' emergence as a singer alongside Gregg Allman. The tracks appear on the album in the order in which they were recorded, and the first three, up through "Ramblin' Man," feature Berry Oakley - their sound is rock-hard and crisp. The subsequent songs with Williams have the bass buried in the mix, and an overall muddier sound…

The recording sessions for the Byrds' fifth album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, were conducted in the midst of internal turmoil that found them reduced to a duo by the time the record was completed. That wasn't evident from listening to the results, which showed the group continuing to expand the parameters of their eclecticism while retaining their hallmark guitar jangle and harmonies. With assistance from producer Gary Usher, they took more chances in the studio, enhancing the spacy quality of tracks like "Natural Harmony" and Goffin & King's "Wasn't Born to Follow" with electronic phasing. Washes of Moog synthesizer formed the eerie backdrop for "Space Odyssey," and the songs were craftily and unobtrusively linked with segues and fades…

Ally Carter, Tree Stewart and Co. have quickly established themselves as Caerllysi Music favourites, four releases down the line 'To Touch The Sky' continues the progressive excellence they have shown us, citing Pink Floyd and Steve Hackett amongst major influences these guys are on the right road musically and when live music returns they will be on our radars.

Sweet Child, released in 1968, at the peak of Pentangle's career, is probably the most representative of their work. A sprawling two-record set, half recorded in the studio and half live at the Royal Festival Hall, showcases just how versatile Pentangle was in their unique brand of English folk, jazz, Celtic, blues, and pop styles. Some of the live covers are easily their finest performances. Furry Lewis' "Turn Your Money Green," sung by the delightful Jacqui McShee, swings sweetly, buttressed of course by John Renbourn and Bert Jansch's guitar tapestry. Charlie Mingus' "Haitian Flight Song" features a great solo by bassist Danny Thompson, who was easily one of the finest musicians to grace the instrument. The studio tracks are uniformly excellent as well, especially "The Time Has Come," which turns waltz time inside out. McShee, Renbourn, and Jansch all turn in career performances on this track. But these examples merely scratch the surface of Pentangle's peak. In all, Sweet Child is an awesome and delightful collection, and probably their finest hour.

With their British Invasion style of rock, New Jersey's the Smithereens weren't exactly in step with the musical landscape of the mid- to late '80s. It didn't stop the quartet from being critical darlings and perennial candidates to break through to a wider audience. Blown to Smithereens gathers together ample evidence that the attention was more than merited. There's nary a weak moment on this collection, which includes all of the band's best-known songs and radio hits…