M N Keys on Type

Intense Akron, Ohio blues-soaked duo that began by overwhelming indie rock critics and quickly moved to arena audiences.
It's too facile to call the Black Keys counterparts of the White Stripes: they share several surface similarities - their names are color-coded, they hail from the Midwest, they're guitar-and-drum blues-rock duos - but the Black Keys are their own distinct thing, a tougher, rougher rock band with a purist streak that never surfaced in the Stripes. But that's not to say that the Black Keys are blues traditionalists: even on their 2002 debut, The Big Come Up, they covered the Beatles' psychedelic classic "She Said She Said"…

Another quality Time-Life music collection with 500 originals from the period 1955-1964, the so called "Rock'n'Roll Era". In addition of this wonderful classics' parade, you will acquire a R'n'R encyclopedia, since each CD comes with an extensive description and historical data, in a 6 page booklet, scanned at 600 dpi. Enjoy excellent music and artwork.

Another quality Time-Life music collection with 500 originals from the period 1955-1964, the so called "Rock'n'Roll Era". In addition of this wonderful classics' parade, you will acquire a R'n'R encyclopedia, since each CD comes with an extensive description and historical data, in a 6 page booklet, scanned at 600 dpi. Enjoy excellent music and artwork.

This date followed Calvin Keys' first, Shawn Neeq, by about two years. Hazy, psychedelic, post-bop is the order of the day here as well, but as most soul-jazz collectors will tell you, there's always a chance for some monster funk on a Black Jazz record so, as predictable as these releases may be on the surface, you never really know until you hear them. In this case, the bomb drops at the beginning of Side Two with "Aunt Lovely." While probably a little too 'out there' for most dance floors, "Aunt Lovely" begins like some of the best funky Grant Green of the era. As the track progresses, though, it gets more than a little hectic – especially during Charles Owens' Pharoah Sanders-esque soprano solo. Kirk Lightsey's overdriven and distorted electric piano only serves to add to this tension later.

After 10 albums, the last five of which have gone top 10 or better, six Grammy awards, and sold-out tours around the world, The Black Keys are back: the duo, called ‘America’s Most Trusted Band’ by Stephen Colbert, and ‘One of the best rock’n’roll bands on the planet’ by Uncut, releases its eleventh studio album, Dropout Boogie, via Nonesuch Records.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Booker T. & the MG's originally served as the house band for Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee. They became one of the most important, enduring factors in the label's sound and helped define the sound of Southern soul genre in the 1960s. Their tight, impeccable, funky grooves could be heard on classic hits by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Carla Thomas, Albert King, and Sam & Dave among many others.

This fun collection features 19 Buddy Holly's classics songs interpreted by an impressive variety of artists, including Paul McCartney, Kid Rock, Graham Nash, Lou Reed, The Black Keys, Cee Lo Green and others. Rave On Buddy Holly does more than just throw big names against the wall over the course of a generous 19 tracks. It also adds up to an impressively diverse collection of takes on the innocence of another era. Buddy Holly, who was only 22 when he died in a 1959 plane crash, churned out a formidable collection of pop/rock classics in just a few years, and his catalog offers many unforgettable odes to wide-eyed, open-hearted youth.

A characteristically humongous (8-CD) box set from the wonderful obsessive-compulsives at Bear Family, documenting the Killer's '60s tenure at Smash Records. Lewis made consistently good music during this period, but the combination of his personal scandals and the British Invasion made him a pariah to radio programmers until mid-decade, when he returned to his country roots. Highlights of the set include the entirety of a Texas live show, with Lewis and his crack band rendering various early rock standards at dangerously high (i.e., proto punk) speed, some excellent duets with his (then) wife Linda Gail, and gorgeous renditions of standards like Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" and Merle Haggard's "Lonesome Fugitive." Lewis fans with deep pockets should grab this one immediately…