Label: Proper

This four-disc, 100-track box set traces famed bebop trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's career from his early years with Teddy Hill, Lionel Hampton and Cab Calloway through his work with figures like Coleman Hawkins and Billy Eckstine. It includes his 1947 concert at Carnegie Hall with Charlie Parker and concludes with the famous sessions that Gillespie recorded with Parker and Thelonious Monk for Norman Granz in 1950. At a budget price, this package captures Gillespie's peak years and performances and makes a deep introduction to this amazing musician. The sound transfers are decent, but audiophiles may find that the noise reduction processes used on these tracks leaves some of them sounding a little on the thin and muted side. Given the fair price and the volume of material compiled here, though, this set is a smart purchase.

Various Artists - Deep Ska - 80 Original Ska Classics (1999) {4CD Set Proper Records PROPER BOX4}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 728 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 461 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 166 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1999 Proper Records | PROPER BOX4
Ska / Reggae / Rocksteady / Roots Reggae

This compilation should have been subtitled "Duke Reid: The Early Years," as the four-CD box set is drawn exclusively from the great producer's archives. Half the set, interestingly enough, comprises instrumentals, the great majority courtesy of the Skatalites, although Baba Brooks and Drumbago are also well represented. Even a few U.K. groups get to strut their stuff; the Pyramids, Rico Rodiguez' All Stars, and Blue Rivers & the Maroons all put in an appearance. And so boogies, big band swing, and R&B surge out from the grooves, as hit after instrumental classic stream by, interspersed by the vocal tracks.

Various Artists - Bluegrass Bonanza (2001) {4CD Set, Proper Records PROPERBOX29 rec 1920'-1950'}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 667 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 635 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 196 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1920'-50', 2001 Proper Records | PROPERBOX29
Country / Folk / Bluegrass / Hillbilly / North American Traditions / Old-Timey

The 109 cuts in this box set document the evolution of bluegrass from its roots in early 20th-Century mountain string bands. Before the set ends in 1950, Bill Monroe, followed shortly thereafter by the Stanley Brothers and Flatt & Scruggs, has formalized a genre – it had yet to be called "bluegrass" – from which formula, more than half a century later, performers within the genre depart at their peril. The songs (and occasional instrumentals) are well chosen, and the sound quality is cleaner and sharper than one would expect from vintage recordings, some going back to the late 1920s.

Nick Lowe - The Brentford Trilogy (2009) {3CD Set, Proper Records–Yeproc PRPCD025 rec 1994-2001}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 668 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 276 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 44 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2009 Proper Records / Yeproc Records | PRPCD025
Rock / Rock'n'Roll / Americana / Power Pop / Roots Rock / Pub Rock

Nick Lowe's triumphant return to the indie world back in 1994 was marked by the release of the critically acclaimed The Impossible Bird by Upstart Records. With the overall excitement that followed the release, it was evident that Nick's music had taken a slightly different twist on the road to a more mature tone and stripped down musical arrangement. And although it was unknown at the time, Nick's next two records Dig My Mood and The Convincer would travel the same road, achieving greater results and success with each effort.

Cowboy Junkies - All That Reckoning (2018) {Proper Records PRPCD149}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 282 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 110 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 57 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2018 Proper Records / Latent Recordings | PRPCD149
Rock / Alternative Country / Adult Alternative / Coutry Rock

It's remarkable in itself that in 2018, the Cowboy Junkies still have the same lineup that recorded their debut album, Whites Off Earth Now!!, in 1986. But it's even more surprising that more than three decades into their career, the band's essential formula remains very much the same, and what's more, that it still works. Released in 2018, All That Reckoning is less spare and severe than the group's most celebrated early material, with the occasional report of a jagged synthesizer or electric guitar, but even though the arrangements are more fleshed-out and the production more ambitious, the Cowboy Junkies continue to lay out languid, contemplative melodies favoring the low end of the register, with the rich but spectral vocals of Margo Timmins drizzled over the top like honey.

The Complete Album Collection Vol. One is a forty-seven disc box set released on November 4, 2013 by Bob Dylan. It includes thirty-five albums released between 1962 and 2012, six live albums, and a compilation album unique to the set, Side Tracks, which contains previously released material unavailable on regular studio or live albums…