Rhino 7 32

Taj Mahal - Sing A Happy Song: The Warner Bros. Recordings (1976-1978) {2CD Set, Rhino Handmade rel 2014}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 998 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 370 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 39 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1976-1978, 2014 Rhino Handmade / Warner | 603497 774920
Blues / Folk Blues / Electric Country Blues / World / Contemporary Blues / Modern Acoustic Blues

Mahal's stint with Warner Bros. was not among his most artistically productive, documenting an era in which he become preoccupied with fusing his brand of blues with Caribbean rhythms and steel drums. This double-CD set contains the entirety of three 1976-1978 LPs for the label, in addition to some unreleased material. Those three LPs – 1976's Music Fuh Ya (Musica Para Tu), 1978's Evolution (The Most Recent), and the 1977 soundtrack to the little-known film Brothers – form most of what's on this compilation. There's a sameness to Mahal's easygoing blues-on-the-beach approach, and a sometimes irritating reliance on Caribbean steel drums for color, that wears down the listener's attention span in such a large dose.

The set kicks off with the 1969 live album Concerto For Group and Orchestra and also includes In Rock (1970), Fireball (1971), Machine Head (1972), Made In Japan (1972), Who Do We Think We Are (1973), Burn (1974), Stormbringer (1974), Come Taste The Band (1975) and Made In Europe (1976)

Ornette Coleman - Beauty Is a Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1993) {6CD Box Set Rhino R2 71410 rec 1959-1961}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.45 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 998 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 105 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1959-61, 1993 Atlantic / Rhino | R2 71410
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Jazz / Saxophone

While it's true this set has been given the highest rating AMG awards, it comes with a qualifier: the rating is for the music and the package, not necessarily the presentation. Presentation is a compiler's nightmare in the case of artists like John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, who recorded often and at different times and had most of their recordings issued from the wealth of material available at the time a record was needed rather than culling an album from a particular session.