The Unknown Known (2013)

While countless rockers started their careers in the New York suburb of Long Island before going on to worldwide success (Billy Joel, Twisted Sister, Steve Vai, Brian Setzer, Blue Öyster Cult, etc.), there have been countless acts that appeared poised for a breakthrough, but for whatever reason, fell short. Many longtime followers of Long Island-based rock would probably agree that tops on the "woulda/coulda/shoulda" list were the Good Rats, a group who played at some of the East Coast's best-known/biggest venues (Madison Square Garden, Nassau Coliseum, the Philadelphia Spectrum) during the '70s, while opening for such big names as Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, Kiss, Journey, Heart, Styx, Meat Loaf, and Rush, among others…

Various Artists - Love Me or Leave Me: The Bethlehem Records Story 1958-1963 (2013) {3CD One Day Music DAY3CD040}
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© 1958-62, 2013 Bethlehem Records / One Day Music / Not Now Music | DAY3CD040
Jazz / Cool / Bop / Others

An excellent budget compilation of the wonderful Bethlehem Records label - what a roster of artists they had. Very good sound too. The Bethlehem label focused on jazz releases, and this set collects some great examples of jazz–vocally and instrumentally–between the years 1958-62. One look at the artists on this 60 track 2 CD set shows how many fine artists released music on the label. Like other collections from One Day Music, there's no booklet, only a short paragraph about the label and a few of the featured artists. The digitally remastered sound is good overall within the limits of recording styles of the era.

Nick Drake - Tuck Box (2013) [5CD Box Set] {Universal Island Records Limited Edition}
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© 2013 Universal Island Records | 0602537538546
Rock / Folk Rock / British Folk / Baroque Pop

Island/Universal Music release a five CD, limited edition collection of the complete Nick Drake catalogue 'Tuck Box'; Five Leaves Left: Nick's debut album from 1969. Bryter Layter: the second album released in 1970. Pink Moon: Nick's final release from 1972. Made To Love Magic: the collection of Island-period recordings, out-takes, off cuts, cast-offs, orphans and the last 5 songs Nick recorded for his proposed 4th album. Family Tree: originally released in 2004 to add to and replace the Time Of No Reply compilation, Family Tree is a collection of recordings made before the Island Records period, from a 9 year old Nick playing Mozart through to spoken word pieces, early songs, cover versions and demos recorded to secure his contract, as well as two recordings by his mother Molly Drake perhaps written in response to her son (Originally released in 2007).

I Viaggi di Faustina is part of a series from Spain's Glossa label, with each album examining the legacy of a singer from the 18th century, re-creating the repertory sung and even the sound of the voice insofar as such a thing is possible. The title I Viaggi di Faustina refers to Faustina Bordoni, the Neapolitan singer who became famous for her onstage brawl with her rival Francesca Cuzzoni, shrewdly egged on by Handel's promoters in London. But her career was centered on Naples, where she married German-born composer Johann Adolf Hasse; the "viaggi" here are trips both to and from Naples, and the music consists of excerpts from operas she is known to have sung.