I´m Not a Gun

One of Jamaica's most consistent vocal groups, and unfortunately one of the most unsung, the Ethiopians were led by the distinctive tenor and fine songwriting skills of Leonard Dillon. Originally a trio (with Stephen Taylor and Aston Morris), most of their hits were done with Dillon and Taylor as a duo, and their close two-part harmony is a trademark of the group. Following Taylor's death in 1975, Dillon carried on the name, double-tracking and using other singers in the studio to reproduce the trademark Ethiopians sound. This two-disc set is currently the best introduction to the Ethiopians on the market, and includes all of the group's major sides plus other rarities and oddities. Dillon is an excellent songwriter, with a compelling moral center and a knack for simple yet endlessly memorable melodies, and his songs, usually written from the ghetto sufferer's perspective, are exceedingly sly and wise.

Although vintage British psychedelia is viewed by many these days as an Alice In Wonderland-style enchanted garden full of beatific flower children innocently gathering flowers or chasing butterflies, there was always a more visceral element to the scene. Pointedly free of such fripperies as scarlet tunic-wearing gnomes, phenomenal cats and talismanic bicycles, the power trio format that was popularised by the likes of Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience spawned a host of imitators. As the Sixties drew to a close and pop evolved slowly but inexorably into rock, psychedelia gave way to a sound that was harder, leaner, heavier, louder.

Musically, this band is tough to describe. They are closest to stoner rock, but their instrumental nature and tendency to experiment place them a bit beyond the standards of that genre. With their uncompromising instrumental sound that echoes such desert rock bands as Kyuss and The Obsessed, they were not an easy band to fully understand, but surely an intriguing one. They unofficially disbanded in mid-2002. This special 3CD digipack anthology is limited to a numerated 1500 copies…

The ultimate compendium of a half century of the best music, now revised and updated. 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a highly readable list of the best, the most important, and the most influential pop albums from 1955 through today. Carefully selected by a team of international critics and some of the best-known music reviewers and commentators, each album is a groundbreaking work seminal to the understanding and appreciation of music from the 1950s to the present. Included with each entry are production details and credits as well as reproductions of original album cover art. Perhaps most important of all, each album featured comes with an authoritative description of its importance and influence.