Lady Blackbird

Don't Go to Strangers was Etta Jones' first album for the independent jazz label Prestige when it was released in 1960 (having been recorded in a single session on June 21 of that year), and although Jones had been releasing records since 1944, including a dozen sides for RCA in 1946 and an album for King Records in 1957, she was treated as an overnight sensation when the title tune from the album went gold, hitting the Top 40 on the pop charts and reaching number five on the R&B charts.

British guitar legend Bert Jansch has done far more constructive work (and certainly less damage) regarding authentic roots music than his fellow countryman Eric Clapton has, but tragically Jansch's works go relatively unnoticed, except for a fraction of the guitar-appreciating populace. Hopefully, Castle Music's anthology Dazzling Stranger can help to change that fact. Forty-two songs spread over two CDs tell the folk guitarist's story in chronological order from his Transatlantic recordings in 1964 through his home recordings in 2000, with an emphasis on his late-'60s and early-'70s works.

This four CD collection however represents the first phase of Ellis's solo career when he acted as leader or co-leader through an era which is generally considered the great man's glory years. Featuring eight stunning and extraordinary albums released originally between the mid-1950s and mid 1960s, this compilation provides both a perfect starting point for newcomers and a welcome reminder of Herb Ellis's musical prowess and creative flow for everyone else.

Discovery Channel - Wings: Spy Planes (1996)
DVDRip | 704x536 | .AVI/DivX @ 1901 Kbps | 54mn 13s | Audio: English AC3 384 kbps, 2 channels | Subs: None | 891 MiB
Genre: Documentary

For more than half a century, the CIA and U.S. military have relied on a sinister-looking black jet to go deep behind enemy lines for vital intelligence-gathering missions. The most famous aircraft projects are Lockheed's U-2 "Dragon Lady" and SR-71 "Blackbird" reconnaissance planes. During the early years of the Cold War, the most effective way to gather strategic intelligence about the Soviet Union and its allies was manned overflight. Lockheed's U-2 was spectacularly successful in this role. More than 50 years after its first flight in conditions of great secrecy, the Lockheed U-2 still flies valuable reconnaissance missions around the globe. After a Soviet surface-to-air missile battery showdown with a USAF U-2 spy plane near the city of Sverdlovsk in 1960, the US government realised they needed a reconnaissance plane that could fly even higher – and outrun any missile and fighter launched against it. The answer was the SR-71 Blackbird. It was closer to a spaceship than an aircraft, made of titanium to withstand the enormous temperatures from flying at 2,200mph. The ultimate flying speed demon not only served the U.S. military's needs for decades, but also shattered speed and altitude records for manned air-breathing jet aircraft.