LP CD

"Thunderbyrd" is American singer-songwriter and guitarist Roger McGuinn's 5th solo studio album, released in 1977 on the Columbia Records label. Following the success of his 1976 album "Cardiff Rose", McGuinn intended to make another album in collaboration with its producer Mick Ronson. This project however never materialized. Instead he put together a new band, Thunderbyrd, and recorded this album with them. The album contains four original compositions by McGuinn and his old songwriting collaborator Jacques Levy. It also includes a version of Tom Petty's "American Girl", originally a hit the year before from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers's eponymous debut album.

"Cardiff Rose" is a solo studio album by American singer/songwriter and ex-The Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn, released in 1976. The album, produced by Mick Ronson, was recorded on the heels of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue 1975 tour, in which both McGuinn and Ronson had participated. The album includes a pirate tale "Jolly Roger", a song about King Arthur's "Round Table", and a classic version of Joni Mitchell's "Dreamland", which later appeared on her 1977 album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter.

Rupert Holmes followed up "Widescreen" (1974) with a self-titled LP that utilized a band rather than an orchestra, and was somewhat more accessible in its sound. Yet Holmes still was true to himself in composing its musical vignettes, again produced by Jeffrey Lesser. “Studio Musician” was a powerful Wall of Sound explosion that would be reverentially covered by Barry Manilow on his chart-topping Barry Manilow Live album, while “I Don’t Want to Hold Your Hand” was such a spot-on, deadpan Beatles send-up that George Martin reportedly told Holmes it was superior to the original recording! “Everything Gets Better When You’re Drunk” sounds like a toe-tapping ode to the perennial pleasures of booze, but it has a dark undercurrent of irony. The most enduring song on Rupert Holmes, though, may be its least commercial. “Brass Knuckles” was longtime mystery buff Holmes’ attempt to tell a detective noir story in under four minutes of song. Its songwriter remains proud of this one-of-a-kind song’s lyrics having been published in numerous crime anthologies and even reviewed in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.

"Roger McGuinn" is the 1st full-length solo album by Roger McGuinn, released in 1973. This album was released after The Byrds' 1973 reunion album, on which all five founding members of the group participated in the sessions. McGuinn himself has stated that any outtakes left over from those sessions appeared here, but this was later proven to be false with the discovery of several alternate takes and at least one outtake in late 2009. The majority of the songs on the album were co-written with Jacques Levy, who collaborated with McGuinn on the abandoned country-rock musical Gene Tryp in 1968-1969 (most of the resulting songs appeared on The Byrds' (Untitled) and Byrdmaniax albums) and remained his principal lyricist until 1977.

Crackin’ was an R&B group tinged with a little jazz who had four albums in the mid-1970s, three on the Warner Brothers label and one on the Polydor label. Crackin'-1 is the band's debut album released in 1975. Excellent vocal harmonies and sweet grooves dominate here on the album.

"Roger McGuinn & Band" was Roger McGuinn's 3rd full-length solo album and was released in 1975. Recorded in Los Angeles, the album was McGuinn's third attempt to re-establish himself as a significant musical force without The Byrds. The titular band included Stephen A. Love (electric bass), Richard Bowden (second guitar), David Lovelace (keyboards) and Greg Attaway (drums). The album peaked at #162 in the US.

"Talking Book" is the 15th studio album by American singer, songwriter and musician Stevie Wonder, released on October 28, 1972, on the Tamla label for Motown Records. The album is widely noted for being the signal recording of Wonder's "classic period". The sound of the album is sharply defined by Wonder's keyboard work, especially with the synthesizers he incorporated. His use of the Hohner clavinet model C on "Superstition" is widely regarded as one of the definitive tracks featuring the instrument.

"Conquest" is the 13th album by British rock band Uriah Heep. It was released in 1980 (No U.S. release). 1979-80 was a period of change for Heep, with John Sloman taking over lead vocal duties, Lee Kerslake bowing out from behind the drumstool, and main songwriter Ken Hensley ultimately leaving the band. Taken together with the commercial rock sound of the album, this is the most contentious era of Uriah Heep's history, with many fans believing Conquest is the group's worst record. Despite this era being regarded in hindsight as something of a disaster by Hensley as well as Mick Box, the album did receive some positive reviews at the time, namely a five-star rating from Record Mirror and three-and-a-half stars from Geoff Barton in Sounds. It also sold well enough to crack the Top 40 of the UK album charts, whereas all three of the band's previous records with John Lawton had failed to chart in the UK at all.

"I Remember Yesterday" is the 5th studio album by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer. It was released on May 13, 1977, seven months after the release of her previous album. Like her previous three albums, it was a concept album, this time seeing Summer combining the recent disco sound with various sounds of the past. "I Remember Yesterday" includes the singles "Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)", "I Feel Love", the title track, "Love's Unkind" and "Back in Love Again". "I Feel Love" and "Love's Unkind" proved to be the album's most popular and enduring hits, the former of which came to be one of Summer's signature songs. The album was recorded in Munich at Musicland Studios and Arco Studios with Summer's long-term collaborators and production team headed by producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. Arrangements were handled by Thor Baldursson. The artwork was designed by Gribbitt! with photography by Victor Skrebneski.

After a second album with disappointing sales, Holmes was summoned by the Epic brass. “Just give me singles,” they told him. So, he gave them Singles. He consciously wrote the album with the Top 40 in mind, and if the songs lacked some of the specificity of his work on the previous two LPs, they were no less clever and memorable. “Who, What, When, Where, Why” would become one of his most-recorded songs, with Dionne Warwick, The Tymes and Manhattan Transfer all having a crack at it. “I Don’t Want to Get Over You” was intended to be a Four Seasons tribute, and if that doesn’t quite come across except in the streetwise lyrics, it’s still pure Holmes-style seventies pop/rock with its insistent chorus (“I don’t want to get over you/Don’t want to no happy endin’/I feel better pretendin’ we ain’t through”) and airy, reflective verses.