The Normal

The Boomtown Rats - A Tonic for the Troops (1978)(US-Edition)
EAC Secure Rip | APE, IMG+CUE, LOG | 245,5 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps | 83,7 MB | Complete Scans (300 dpi) | 16,5 MB
New Wave, Pop-Punk | Label: CBS/Columbia | Catalog Number: CK 35750 | Time: 39:46 | RAR | RS.com

Bob Geldof had revealed a taste for the seamy side of things in his lyrics for the Boomtown Rats' first album. On their second record, he fantasized about being Hitler in the person of the "Leader of the Pack" ("I Never Loved Eva Braun"), romanticized tropical suicide ("Living in an Island"), and identified with a certain wealthy recluse ("Me and Howard Hughes"). The band retained a punk energy on the album's U.K. hit singles, "Like Clockwork," "She's So Modern," and "Rat Trap" (another of Geldof's Springsteen homages), but musical identity was still a song-by-song affair. [In the U.S., Columbia replaced "Can't Stop" and "[Watch Out For] The Normal People" with "Mary of the 4th Form" and "Joey's on the Street Again" from the first album.] AMG

The psychedelic rockers didn’t initially plan to make a pair of linked album. As frontman Stu Mackenzie explained in a statement, the original goal involved “the notes between the notes,” returning to the microtonal explorations they had first begun on 2017’s Flying Microtonal Banana. Then the quarantine compositions took on a life of their own.

This is an amazing CD reissue, three times over - for psychedelic music buffs, British R&B and soul enthusiasts, and fans of the progressive rock band Gentle Giant (which evolved out of Simon Dupree & the Big Sound). And it's also incredibly long overdue. Best-known for their Oriental ersatz pop-psychedelic classic "Kites," Simon Dupree & the Big Sound actually started out as a blues and R&B-based outfit, not too different from the Spencer Davis Group. This double-CD set covers their complete EMI output, most of which has never been reissued, and almost all of which is very impressive (and even manages to intersect obliquely with Apple Records' orbit). The group's early soul-oriented sides are killers, exciting, totally convincing pieces of British-made R&B that, in the case of "Love" and "Medley: 60 Minutes of Your Love/A Lot of Love," should have placed them head-to-head with the likes of Steve Winwood and the Spencer Davis Group…

At The Cafe Bohemia Vol. 1 (1956). This is Art Blakey's early period Jazz Messengers featuring trumpeter Kenny Dorham, saxophonist Hank Mobley, bassist Doug Watkins, and pianist Horace Silver. This first volume of live performance from the Cafe Bohemia in New York City circa late 1955 is a rousing set of hard bop by the masters who signified its sound, and expanded on the language of modern jazz. There are three bonus CD tracks not on the original LP that further emphasize not only the inherent power of Blakey's band and drumming, but demarcate the simplicity of melodic statements that were a springboard for the fantastic soloing by these individuals who would follow those tuneful lines…

Girls Aloud is the leggy quintet that beat out rival boy band One True Voice for the grand prize during the November 2002 finale of Popstars: The Rivals. A scion of existing U.K. reality shows like Popstars and Pop Idol (which itself spawned American Idol), Rivals followed a similar formula, with one essential twist. After spending weeks building its bands with the normal round of tryouts, kick outs, voting, and drama, drama, drama, the program pitted its final products against one another in an ultimate pop-reality showdown…

Up there with 'Elastic Rock' by Nucleus and Soft Machine's 'Third', The Keith Tippett Group's excellent 'Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening' occupies the upper echelons of British jazz-fusion and is rightfully hailed as a classic album by fans and critics alike…

The Unknown was formed smack dab in the sweet spot, 1987. A mainstay on the Florida’s west coast, the truly AOR band started gaining a following with each show played which then yielded bigger and bigger gigs. They were eventually asked to play spring break gigs in Ft. Lauderdale, one of the biggest draws for college students. There was a theory behind this…The Unknown drew lots and lots of girls to their shows and the boys would follow…the band was untouchable and could play anywhere they wanted on the Florida scene. In 1989, The Unknown released their first and only album “Big Dreams”…a true gem that now fetches about $150 on ebay – but know you can get the remastered version of it for a normal price thanks to FnA Records. This album is some of the purest AOR one can find.

"American Epic" compilation series is a collection of releases of music associated with the film series "The American Epic", a historical documentaries are a journey back in time to the "Big Bang" of modern popular music. In the 1920s, as radio took over the pop music business, record companies were forced to leave their studios in major cities in search of new styles and markets. Ranging the mountains, prairies, rural villages, and urban ghettos of America, they discovered a wealth of unexpected talent. The recordings they made of all the ethnic groups of America democratized the nation and gave a voice to everyone. Country singers in the Appalachians, Blues guitarists in the Mississippi Delta, Gospel preachers across the south, Cajun fiddlers in Louisiana, Tejano groups from the Texas Mexico border, Native American drummers in Arizona, and Hawaiian musicians were all recorded. For the first time, a woman picking cotton in Mississippi, a coalminer in Virginia or a tobacco farmer in Tennessee could have their thoughts and feelings heard on records played in living rooms across the country. It was the first time America heard itself.