Proper

Tony's 4 disk set from Proper Records. Most of these are early singles available nowhere else.

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.