Sweet

After seemingly coming out of nowhere to be hailed as a major songwriter and roots music stylist, it took Lucinda Williams four years to prepare the follow-up to her masterful 1988 eponymous album. When it finally arrived, Sweet Old World proved to be every bit the equal of its predecessor, if not even better…

Marion Brown - Geechee Recollections & Sweet Earth Flying (1973-74) {2011 Impulse! 2-on-1 Remaster}
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+.cue+log) - 468 MB | Scans JPG - 21 MB | MP3 CBR 320 kbps (LAME 3.98) - 190 MB
Genre: jazz | RAR 5% Rec. | Label: Impulse! / Verve | CAT # 06025 2780943 | 2011

Amazing work from Marion Brown – two albums we'd never be without! Geechee Recollections is quite possibly our favorite record ever from reedman Brown – and very different than both his seminal 60s recordings, and his European sides from later years! There's a really earthy feel to this record – one that really lives up to the title, and which comes from the use of lots of percussion, played by just about every group member, ala AACM – but handled in a style that's warmly spiritual, and very organic too – right in line with the best Impulse Records vibe of the time, yet completely its own thing too! Brown plays alto and soprano sax, and is working with players who include Leo Smith on trumpet, William Malone on mbira and autoharp, James Jefferson on bass, and Steve McCall, Jumma Santos, Bill Hasson, and A Kobena Adzenyah on percussion – in addition to percussion plays by other group members too.

After being given his walking papers by Capitol Records in 2000, Richard Thompson has taken a modest approach to his subsequent studio releases, 2003's The Old Kit Bag (a purposefully spare trio set) and 2005's Front Parlour Ballads (an acoustic collection recorded in Thompson's home studio). But Thompson seems to have relaxed a bit with 2007's Sweet Warrior, which boasts a more expansive sound and ambitious reach than those two albums…

Sweet Megg & The Wayfarers – Sweet Megg & The Wayfarers (2017)
MP3 CBR 320 kbps | 11 Tracks | 38:11 | 103 MB
Genre: Jazz, Swing, Vocal Jazz | Label: Sweet Megg & The Wayfarers

Sweet Megg and her wayfaring musicians will transport you, not to the past but to a new world of their own making. The band is lead by the charmingly enigmatic Sweet Megg, who imbues each song with her own concoction of melancholy and euphoria that will delight you, surprise you, and break your heart all at once. The band seamlessly incorporates elements of New Orleans Swing, Harlem swing, Parisian cabaret, and gut bucket blues into one charming musical performance. Saxophonist Ryan Weisheit reimagines a world where Sidney Bechet, Lester Young, and Charlie Parker blow side by side. Together Sweet Megg, Ryan, and all the Wayfarers create a world where jazz is alive and well and living in New York.

Sweet struggled to earn credibility as album artists and/or score hits after finally wresting themselves free of songwriting/production team Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman in the summer of 1974.

Sonic's Rendezvous Band - Sweet Nothing (CD 1998)
WV-IMG+CUE+LOG or MP3 CBR 320 | Complete Scanwork | 406 or 128 MB
Scorching live recording from the Second Chance, Ann Arbor, on April 4, 1978, +

Sonic's Rendezvous Band - City Slang (CD 1999)
WV-IMG+CUE+LOG or MP3 CBR 320 | Complete Scanwork | 525 or 170 MB
Live recording from various venues in 1978-79 that captures the band in full flight

In the Midwest during the 1970s, you would be hard-pressed to find a rock group with a more impressive pedigree than Sonic's Rendezvous Band, which brought together members of four key bands from the fabled Detroit/Ann Arbor rock scene of the late '60s – Fred "Sonic" Smith of the MC5, Scott Morgan of the Rationals, Gary Rasmussen of the Up, and Scott Asheton of the Stooges. Among fans of high-energy Michigan rock, Sonic's Rendezvous Band would – with the passage of time – become nearly as legendary as their forebears, but it would be years before listeners outside of the Midwest had much of a chance to hear their music; fate seemed to conspire against them while they were together, and one of the most talented and powerful acts of its day ended up releasing only a one-song single during its six-year lifespan.