My Love, Don't Cross That River (2014)

English singer-songwriter Jon Allen follows up Dead Man’s Suit and Sweet Defeat with his third album, Deep River. The most immediately arresting thing about Jon Allen is his voice, which we can only imagine he has acquired from a Bluesman after beating him in a game of cards in a bar somewhere in New Orleans. Allen’s haunting voice, which sends shivers down the spine, conveys pathos, pain and wisdom in equal measure. If he sang the phone book it would sound profound. Thankfully, Allen has no recourse to such banality, and he has once again assembled a strong collection of thoughtful and striking songs. Deep River, as even the name suggests, has strong blues roots, and the occasional strains of the harmonica shores up the conjured illusion of a wander across the American south.

Billy Taylor - Cross-Section (1954) {2014 Japan Prestige 7000 Chronicle SHM-CD HR Cutting Series UCCO-5271}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 127 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 89 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 340 Mb | 5% repair rar | DSD / HR Cutting Remaster
© 1954, 2013 Prestige / Concord / Universal Japan | UCCO-5271 | Mono | PRLP 7071
Jazz / Bop / Bebop / Hard Bop / Mambo / Piano

Reissue features the latest digital remastering and the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest DSD / HR Cutting remastering. Comes with a description. Features the original LP designs. A great record – or half-great, as the case may be! One part of this album features Billy with his standard trio of Earl May and Percy Brice, playing mellow piano trio versions of tracks that include "Tune For Tex", "Goodbye", "Biddy's Beat", and "Eddie's Theme". Those cuts are fine, but the real strength of the album lies on the last 4 cuts – all killer Latin jazz numbers cut with a rhythm section that includes Machito, Jose Mangual, Charlie Smith, and Uba Nieto. The added conga, bongos, and timbales really make the tracks groove – and you'll find yourself coming back to "I Love To Mambo", "Mambo Azul", "Early Morning Mambo", and "Candido" more than you will the rest of the record.

David Gilmour sang about an endless river on "High Hopes," the last song on what appeared to be the last Pink Floyd album, 1994's Division Bell. Twenty years later, the same phrase became the title of The Endless River, an album designed as Pink Floyd's last. Assembled largely from Division Bell outtakes initially intended as an ambient project dubbed The Big Spliff, the record was sculpted into shape in 2014 by Gilmour, Youth, Andy Jackson, and Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera by adding guitar and Nick Mason's drums to original tapes that were laden with keyboards from the late Rick Wright. He's not the only missing member of Floyd, of course.

Marianne Faithfull - Give My Love To London (2014) {Naïve NV832011}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 234 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 95 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 185 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2014 Naïve | NV832011
Rock / Ballad / Chanson / Pop Rock / Folk Rock

Though there is no musical resemblance, the title track of Marianne Faithfull's Give My Love to London looks back at her brilliant reading of Kurt Weill's and Bertolt Brecht's "Pirate Jenny" on her 20th Century Blues album from 1997, and even mentions her by name. Co-written with Steve Earle, who frames her lyrics in an acoustic, Celtic, country stomp, it's a conqueror's last laugh: she's survived the best attempts at securing her demise. (Bouts with cancer and a fall that broke her sacrum in four places among them.) Faithfull's previous four albums in the 21st century have all been strong, but this one tops them. Her writing collaborators here include Nick Cave, Anna Calvi, Ed Harcourt, Patrick Leonard, and Tom McRae.

2014 collection from the Alt-Rock/Indie singer/songwriter and former Screaming Trees frontman including 12 unreleased tracks. As one of America's great modern day vocalists and songwriters, Mark Lanegan has much in common with the timeless work of such legends as Fred Neil, Tim Hardin and Karen Dalton. Collecting Lanegan's solo material for Sub Pop, Beggars and more plus 12 unreleased tracks, this is the archive treatment Mark has long deserved. The 32 tracks shine a light on Mark's rare talent, and span the singer's entire career, from 1990's debut album The Winding Sheet to a treasure trove of recent unreleased gems and feature such guests as PJ Harvey, Josh Home and J Masks. His is a sound of grizzled vocals and dark melody, its lyrics chiseled out of late night thoughts and dark humor.