Joni Mitchell Shine

Due to her youth (16 when she first hit Myspace, 17 when signed to an imprint of EMI, and 18 when her debut album came out), perky-cute looks and extremely British diction, singer/songwriter Laura Marling got a lot of comparisons to Lily Allen in her early buzz, but the quietly compelling Alas I Cannot Swim is not at all a frothy pop confection. A folk-tinged AAA pop record based on Marling's alluringly husky voice and graceful acoustic guitar, Alas I Cannot Swim would be more aptly compared to the likes of Feist, Keren Ann, or Regina Spektor. (In the album's press kit, Marling reveals her primary influence to be Bonnie "Prince" Billy, which also seems appropriate.) Although not to draw too forbidding a comparison, opening track and first single "Ghosts" is most strongly reminiscent of Joni Mitchell circa For the Roses, both in Marling's expressive vocal phrasing and the expert shifts in the arrangement between solo acoustic passages and full-band sections, not to mention an excellently deployed string section. That old-school '70s singer/songwriter vibe predominates throughout the album, in fact.

The deluxe edition box set of Archives Volume II: 1972-1976 contains 10 CDs with 131 tracks, including 12 songs that have never been released in any form, and 49 new unreleased versions of Young’s classics—studio and live recordings, both solo and with Crazy Horse (Odeon Budokan), The Stray Gators (Tuscaloosa), the Santa Monica Flyers (Roxy: Tonight's the Night Live), Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and The Stills Young Band.

Neil Young - Archives Vol. II, 1972-1976 (2020) {10CD Set, Warner–Reprise}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 3.13 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.24 Gb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1972-76, 2020 Warner / Reprise
Rock / Blues / Blues Rock / Folk Rock / Classic Rock

After literally years of rumours and promises Neil Young has announced firm release date for the second volume of his Archives series and made available a full track listing. The ten-disc set features 12 songs that have never been released before and 50 previously unreleased versions of songs. The discs are themed into eras (the 1974 disc, which features On The Beach material, is called Walk On, for example) and three discs have been previously released in their entirety (Roxy: Tonight’s The Night Live, Tuscaloosa and Homegrown).

Ian Matthews left Fairport Convention in 1969, and while the U.K.'s greatest folk-rock band was beginning to reinvent itself in a more traditional and very British direction, Matthews began digging deeper into the American influences that had marked his old band's first era. Later That Same Year, the second album from Ian's new group Matthews Southern Comfort (it was released in late 1970, a mere six months after their debut, hence the title), is a beautiful set of songs that splits the difference between West Coast folk-rock and early country-rock, with Gordon Huntley's pedal steel and Roger Coulam's lending an air of sunny sadness that dovetails beautifully with Matthews' silky tenor. Matthews wrote three of the songs on Later That Same Year, and they rank with the album's finest moments, especially the ethereal harmonies of "And Me" and the graceful simplicity of "My Lady," but Matthews also borrows some excellent material from American writers, including a cover of Neil Young's "Tell Me Why" that remains faithful while creating a languid mood of its own.