Salerosa

There is something truly majestic in the guitar playing and composing of Luiz Bonfá. From solo dates such as 1959's Solo in Rio (issued stateside by Smithsonian Folkways) to his 1972 masterpiece, Introspection, his sound is as telltale as the two other Brazilian guitar greats, Baden Powell and Djalma de Andrade (aka Bola Sete). Bonfá's elegance in style is what sets him apart from even these great masters. There is something utterly unhurried and gentle about his manner of playing, even during its most intense moments or in the most decorative settings (there were a lot of those during the bossa craze). The Brazilian Scene, released in 1965 on the Philips imprint, sits right on the knife edge between something as wonderfully organic as his solo recordings and the more stylized Anglo projects that were flooding the bins at the time…

Trinidad López III was born in Dallas, TX on May 15, 1937 and at the tender age of 15, he formed his first band, The Big Beats. Trini played guitar and his repertoire consisted of Mexican folk songs, rhythm and blues hits and rock ’n roll favorites. The Big Beats played the local clubs in Texas where he met Buddy Holly. Holly referred him to his producer Norman Petty and Petty helped The Big Beats and Trini get their first record deal with Columbia Records. Unfortunately, Petty wanted the band to be an instrumental outfit. Trini was not interested in that style of music and soon left the band. He then did some solo sides for Volk and King Records but by 1962 he was without a label and started playing clubs in Los Angeles.

NANA MOUSKOURI was born in Crete on October 13, 1934. Being that her father was a projectionist and her mother a worker in the cinema, it was natural that she grew up with songs from the movies and the dream of her mother to become a singer. In the forties, her country goes through the occupation and the civil war. The numerous and disconcerting images of horror mould her personality. Introverted and full of complexes, the young Joanna, her real first name, develops a surprising determination.

Spending eight years at the Conservatory of Athens to study classical singing permitted her to find her vocation and discover that her musical universe was not limited to any one style. She made her beginnings by singing jazz on the radio. Then, she became band vocalist in the tavernas of Plaka with a repertoire mainly comprised of American Hits. In 1958, after meeting with MANOS HADJIDAKIS, leader of the Revival of the Greek song scene, he offers to compose for her. On October 3rd, 1959, he presents her at the GREEK SONG FESTIVAL where she won the first prize with "Kapou iparhi agapi mou". Within a few months, this song makes her the most popular singer in her country.

Produced by Al Kooper, this debut by the notorious San Francisco group is best known for the blazing anthem "White Punks on Dope". The Tubes were arch satirists of popular culture whose outrageous performance-art concepts -- which swung wildly from soft-core pornography to suit-and-tie conservatism -- frequently eclipsed their elusive musical identity. The beginnings of the group originate in Phoenix, Arizona in the late '60s, where guitarist Bill Spooner, keyboardist Vince Welnick and bassist Rick Anderson formed as the Beans (alternately billing themselves as the Radar Men from Uranus). After moving to San Francisco in 1972, the Beans recruited guitarist Roger Steen and drummer Prairie Prince (from Red, White & Blues), and later became The Tubes with the addition of Michael Cotten on keyboards and former roadie Fee Waybill on lead vocals.

This combination of the Tubes' first couple of albums really does feel like two distinct releases slapped together -- and it's the Grand Canyon-sized gap in quality that makes the demarcation about as subtle as a farting elephant hanging from a chandelier. The innovative San Francisco band's 1975 eponymous debut was, and is, a masterpiece. Creative, intelligent, sardonic, theatrical. By contrast, 1976's Young & Rich was, for the most part, uninspired, insipid, short on ideas, and lacking in color. However, it does contain the more-cheese-please, boy-girl-melodrama hit "Don't Touch Me There" -- a great track in any critic's language. And that's the good, the bad, and the ugly of it. You get one superb (remastered) re-release featuring such camp/spoof classics as "Mondo Bondage," "What Do You Want From Life," and the deliciously over-the-top title track, plus one "bonus" hit and little else. Unless you're an obsessive-completist collector, there are better ways to approach the Tubes catalog than getting weighed down with all this filler. But one way or another, you have to have the first album.

The Platters sold more records, played more venues, and appeared in more films than any other vocal group of the time. They truly had the Magic Touch. By 1962, the Platters had placed an astonishing 35 songs on the American pop charts. The lead singer, Tony Williams, influenced an entire generation of singers - black and white. This is one of the most impressive legacies in black music. Virtually all of the Platters' classic recordings from 1955 to 1964 were made for one label, Mercury Records, and they're here complete for the first time.