The Picture From Issue 1408 From 11 July 2016

Frank Kimbrough - Monk's Dreams: The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Sphere Monk (2018) {6CD Set Sunnyside SSC4032}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Official Digital Download (bandcamp.com) -> 1.86 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 802 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2018 Sunnyside Records | SSC4032
Jazz / Modal Music / Post Bop / Piano / Jazz Quartet

The genius of pianist and composer Thelonious Monk is unassailable. Since his death in 1982, he has become recognized as one of the greatest composers of jazz – and of the wider world of music. The year 2017 was the centennial of Monk’s birth, and brought scores of tributes, including a well-received stay of pianist Frank Kimbrough’s quartet at the Jazz Standard club in New York City.

Alice Cooper - The Studio Albums 1969-1983 (2015) {15 Disc Box Set Rhino-Warner 081227953744}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 3.51 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.31 Gb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 311 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1969-83, 2015 Rhino / Warner | 081227953744
Rock / Hard Rock / Shock Rock / Glam Rock

Weighing in at 15 CDs, The Studio Albums 1969-1983 is a hefty box set but, at $85, it is relatively affordable considering that it contains everything Alice Cooper – both the band and the man – recorded at Straight and Warner. Whatever bonus material attached to CD reissues over the years has been stripped away – nothing from the 2001 deluxe edition of Billion Dollar Babies, then – and there are no new remasters of the albums, but this set isn't bare bones. The mini-LP replicas contain a few inserts carried over from the vinyl and, more importantly, those early Straight Records are present, which is good because they were out of print for a while. Not everything here is great – he did have a rough patch in the late '70s and early '80s – but it's all interesting, and it's especially nice to be able to get the entire catalog so easily and cheaply.