Lou Gramm had been recording with Rochester, New York based band, Black Sheep, since the early 1970s. Releasing two LPs for Capitol, Lou Gramm met his future bandmate and songwriting partner Mick Jones in 1975 when Black Sheep opened for Spooky Tooth in Rochester. Mick Jones was looking for a singer for his new band in 1976, and Black Sheep having split at the end of 1975, Lou was free to audition for Mick’s new group, Foreigner. Releasing their self-titled album on Atlantic Records in 1977, and featuring solid gold rock classics as ‘Cold As Ice’ and ‘Feels Like The First Time’, Foreigner were an instant worldwide smash. Going from strength to strength, the band hit a commercial peak in 1984 with the “Agent Provocateur” album and the chart topping power ballad, ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’.
BGO's 2015 release groups Charley Pride's second four albums onto two CDs: 1968's Songs of Pride…Charley, That Is; In Person and The Sensational Charley Pride, both from 1969; and 1970's Just Plain Charley. By this point, Pride established himself as a star and so RCA was willing to take some chances. Songs of Pride doesn't rely on well-known tunes but rather contains a bunch of new songs, largely written by Jerry Foster and Bill Rice, songs that helped align Charley closer to the modern sound of country in 1968, while In Person demonstrates his in-concert charm and skill. Sensational and Just Plain Charley pick up on Songs of Pride and they're both excellent examples of walking the line between modern sounds – the Bakersfield of Merle Haggard and the proto-outlaw of Kris Kristofferson – and the Music City machine, records that are enough of their time to evoke their era but classic enough to transcend it. This is Charley's peak in many ways and it's a pleasure to have them so easily available on this set.
Country Music legend Charley Pride honours 5 decades of recording with a brand new greatest hits, ’50 Golden Years Of Pride’. This comprehensive 52 track double CD features 18 US country numbers ones from his RCA years, along with the finest moments from his personally owned recordings of the last 2 decades.
Another serious project in vein of Time Life Music, the "24 Golden Hits" is a compilation series of the world famous hits, released on CD circa 1987-1988. Here is the complete series packed into five boxes and each box was re-released separately. Each Volume-set contains the five discs and titled as "120 Golden Oldies". 600 "Golden" songs total and over than one day of the continuous listening!
The April Wine entry in Capitol Records' midline-priced Classic Masters series is a reasonable best-of culled from the group's tenure at Capitol from the late '70s to the mid-'80s…
Think of Canadian rock bands and Rush probably spring to mind, as would Steppenwolf and Triumph. All fantastic bands. That's not to take anything away from April Wine, who in terms of output (if not success), must rank alongside the aforementioned. Classic hard rock that is really worth checking out….