In celebration of John Coltrane's 80th birthday, Concord Music Group is now proud to present Fearless Leader, a special 6-CD boxed set focusing on his Prestige Records output as a band leader (1957-1958). This is the FIRST-EVER COMPREHENSIVE BOXED SET focusing on John Coltrane's Prestige Records output as a band leader. This BEAUTIFUL 6-CD boxed set is adorned with RARE PHOTOGRAPHS of John Coltrane as well as an EXTENSIVE 64-PAGE BOOKLET featuring COMPLETE ANNOTATED DISCOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION and liner notes by noted music historians RICHARD S. GINELL and LEWIS PORTER. Also features ORIGINAL SESSION NOTES and fully reproduced ORIGINAL ALBUM ARTWORK. Features noted sidemen RED GARLAND, PAUL CHAMBERS, DONALD BYRD, JIMMY COBB, FREDDIE HUBBARD and ART TAYLOR. 24-BIT REMASTERING from the Original Analog Master Tapes.
Stocked with all of the hits, as well as a few more deep cuts than 2009's like-minded yet far more ornate and lengthy Do What You Want, Be What You Are: The Music of Daryl Hall & John Oates, this 2014 four-disc box set may not have all of the bells and whistles of its predecessor, but it's got a better price point and would serve most casual fans (and some hardcore ones) well, especially those looking for something a little more substantial than the standard single-disc career overview and a little less expansive than the 74-track Do What You Want, Be What You Are.
Classic Hits 1938-52 is a five-disc, 123-track collection of Big Joe Turner's earliest recording sessions before finding stardom with his mid-'50s R&B sides. While this JSP set isn't extravagant, it's a luxury to have Turner's sides for National, Aladdin, Freedom, MGM, and Imperial remastered and together in one collection. The final disc also includes the Boss of the Blues' first recordings for Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun of Atlantic Records: "Chains of Love," "Sweet Sixteen," "Poor Lover's Blues," and "Still in Love (With You)." Turner tackles blues, swing, and fiery up-tempo jump blues, assisted by Pete Johnson, Wynonie Harris, Pee Wee Crayton, Budd Johnson, Dave Bartholomew, Fats Domino, Joe Houstin, Albert Ammons, Don Byas, Art Tatum, and Hot Lips Page. While this is a collector's dream, the casual listener would do better with Big, Bad & Blue: The Big Joe Turner Anthology on Rhino.
Bear Family, the venerable German label that does reissue boxes of U.S. artists better than any American label – with the possible exception of Mosaic – has taken the cream of Kitty Wells' career and issued one of the most historically important collections in the history of country music. The Queen of Country Music is a four-CD box, with exhaustive biographical and session notes by Charles Wolfe that document, in their entirety, nine years of Ms. Wells career, from its inception through to its turning point and superstardom, the years 1949 to 1958; there are 114 tracks in all. Along with every major hit and B-side from the eras, the set includes classic original versions of "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," "Hey Joe!," "I Hear the Jukebox Playing," "Lonely Side of Town," "Making Believe," "Dust on the Bible," "The Place That Kills," "Right or Wrong," "Just When I Needed You," "The Great Speckled Bird," "Jealousy," and many others.
Only the most dedicated UFO fan could possibly keep track of all the live releases that have surfaced over the years. Many of these live recordings were not necessarily approved by the band, and as a result, some have been good, and some have been downright stinky. Finally, the UFO lads have taken steps to regain control of their concert recordings, by issuing a mammoth six-disc box set, 2009's Official Bootleg Box Set. UFO have always been one of those groups best experienced on the concert stage, as evidenced by 1979's Strangers in the Night, which is widely regarded as one of hard rock/heavy metal's all-time great live sets…