If I Had Two Wings: Stories

Merle Haggard - Hag: The Capitol Recordings 1968-1976 - Concepts, Live & The Strangers (2008) {6CD Set Bear Family Records}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.78 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.00 Gb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1968-76, 2008 Capitol / EMI / Bear Family Records | BCD 16782 FK
Country / Bakersfield Sound / Honky Tonk / Folk Rock / Progressive Country / Traditional Country / Western Swing Revival

Twelve years after they released their first Merle Haggard box, The Untamed Hawk, Bear Family delivered the sequel, Hag: The Studio Recordings 1969-1976. This picks up where The Untamed Hawk left off, which is more of a musical dividing point than it initially seems. If The Untamed Hawk caught Haggard as he was reaching full flight, Hag captures him in his prime, as every single he released reached the Country Top Ten – often capturing the number one slot – and as he sometimes crossed over into the pop Top 40. Hag was without a doubt the biggest star in country music but the remarkable thing about his reign at the top was that he never played it safe.

“We think it's our best work in a very, very long time,” Kian Egan of Irish pop legends Westlife tells Apple Music. Nine years after their last studio album, Gravity, Egan, Nicky Byrne, Mark Feehily, and Shane Filan have reunited. “We met as a band and said, ‘What should Westlife sound like in 2019?’” Filan says. “A lot has happened in music since our last tour.” They’re right that pop has moved in many directions since those 2012 “farewell” shows in Europe and China—and especially since their 1999 breakout hit “Flying Without Wings”—but Spectrum absorbs those changes into their sound. The 11 tracks showcase the quartet’s enduring chemistry through irresistible harmonies. “The Westlife sound is based on us as singers more than a type of song or a tempo,” says Egan. “We've managed to create a really cool new uptempo sound, but it still sounds like us, because at the end of the day, it's us singing that makes it a Westlife song.”