Midnight Remembered

Although Van Morrison's first solo album is remembered for containing the immortal pop hit "Brown Eyed Girl," Blowin' Your Mind! is actually a dry run for his masterpiece, Astral Weeks. Songs like "Who Drove the Red Sports Car" look to that song cycle, even as "Midnight Special" nods to Morrison's R&B past. But it's the agonizing "T.B. Sheets" - all nine-plus minutes of it - that dominates this record and belies its trendy title and pop association. "T.B. Sheets" takes the blues and reinvents it as noble tragedy and humiliating mortality. It's where Van Morrison emerges as an artist.

Although Van Morrison's first solo album is remembered for containing the immortal pop hit "Brown Eyed Girl," Blowin' Your Mind! is actually a dry run for his masterpiece, Astral Weeks. Songs like "Who Drove the Red Sports Car" look to that song cycle, even as "Midnight Special" nods to Morrison's R&B past. But it's the agonizing "T.B. Sheets" - all nine-plus minutes of it - that dominates this record and belies its trendy title and pop association. "T.B. Sheets" takes the blues and reinvents it as noble tragedy and humiliating mortality. It's where Van Morrison emerges as an artist.

Bill Evans - The Complete Riverside Recordings (1987) {12CD Set Riverside-Fantasy 12RCD 018-2 rec 1956-1963}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 4.14 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.87Gb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 57 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1956-63, 1987 Riverside Records / Fantasy | 12RCD 018-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Piano

This magnificent 12-CD set contains all of Bill Evans' Riverside recordings as a leader, an extremely important period in the influential pianist's development. The first session predates Evans' period with the Miles Davis Sextet and other significant sessions include his sets with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian (highlighted by the marathon Village Vanguard session of June 25, 1961), Evans' return nearly a year after LaFaro's death in a car accident with a new trio (consisting of Motian and bassist Chuck Israels), a sideman set with altoist Cannonball Adderley, the Interplay sessions with either trumpeter Freddie Hubbard or tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims, an extensive and rather somber solo set, and a 1963 appearance at Shelly's Manne Hole with bassist Israels and drummer Larry Bunker.

The album Happy Birthday bears little resemblance to the cute and bubbly new wave pop of the title track, for which they're best remembered. Instead of capitalizing on the brightness of the obvious hit single, producer Steven Severin (of Siouxsie & the Banshees) pushed the band into moodier post-punk territory with minimalist arrangements and simple, driving rhythms. Clair Grogan's little-girl voice was probably better suited to pop, but the combination of the two extremes is certainly interesting, if not as fun and engaging as "Happy Birthday".

Although Van Morrison's first solo album is remembered for containing the immortal pop hit "Brown Eyed Girl," Blowin' Your Mind! is actually a dry run for his masterpiece, Astral Weeks. Songs like "Who Drove the Red Sports Car" look to that song cycle, even as "Midnight Special" nods to Morrison's R&B past. But it's the agonizing "T.B. Sheets" - all nine-plus minutes of it - that dominates this record and belies its trendy title and pop association. "T.B. Sheets" takes the blues and reinvents it as noble tragedy and humiliating mortality. It's where Van Morrison emerges as an artist.

Yazoo's classic debut album including "Only You", "Don't Go", "Goodbye 70's" and "Winter Kills". Released April 2019 in heavyweight remastered standard black vinyl taken off the back of the Four Pieces project. The 1980s will forever be remembered for electropop sensations, yet few, if any, are quite as sensational as Yaz's Upstairs at Eric's. A standard-setting mélange of smoky blues singing, jazzy arrangements, disco-tinged beats, and dancefloor vibes, the smash debut fits equally as well at a late-night club as it does in a living room, where the record's complexity and exoticism takes listeners hostage. No wonder the 1982 landmark remains one of the decade's most essential albums.

Pat Boone - The Fifties Complete (1953-1959) {12CD Set Bear Family BCD15884 rel 1997}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 3.66 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.83 Gb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 1.48 Gb | 5% repair rar
© 1953-59, 1997 Bear Family Records | BCD 15 884 LK
Pop / Early Pop / Rock'n'Roll / Ballad / Vocal

This 12-CD box set containing 347 songs – Pat Boone's entire 1950s recorded output, including over 80 previously unissued tracks – deserves an honest, open-minded, and thorough examination. Listeners may like or dislike Pat Boone's early R&B hits – "Two Hearts," "Ain't That a Shame," "Tutti Frutti," etc. – but it is important to remember that those songs comprise but a very small part of his 1950s recorded output and demonstrate one side only of his amazing versatility.