The Venus Tear Diamond (1971) Umetsugu Inoue, Lily Ho, Yun Ling, Chih Hsien Po

The Doors, one of the most influential and controversial rock bands of the 1960s, were formed in Los Angeles in 1965 by UCLA film students Ray Manzarek, keyboards, and Jim Morrison, vocals; with drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger. The group never added a bass player, and their sound was dominated by Manzarek's electric organ work and Morrison's deep, sonorous voice, with which he sang and intoned his highly poetic lyrics…

Tear Me to Pieces is the sixth studio album by American rock band Story of the Year, released on March 10, 2023, through SharpTone Records. This is their first album without guitarist and backing vocalist Phil Sneed. What's the sound of Story of the Year? Loud guitars, massive singalong choruses, and uplifting perseverance. Few records helped build the post-hardcore scene as swiftly as the band's debut, Page Avenue, one of the first of it's kind to sell a million copies. "Until the Day I Die" endures as both an anthem and mission statement. Tours with Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Deftones, and The Used cemented Story of the Year's reputation as a stunning and engaging live act.

A truly unique and wonderfully American band, the Lovin' Spoonful released nearly all of their creative legacy between 1965 and the end of 1966. The first album, Do You Believe in Magic, hit in 1965, with the second, Daydream, and the third, Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful, arriving in 1966. Also in 1966, the group delivered the soundtrack to Woody Allen's first film, What's Up, Tiger Lily? This set combines that soundtrack with Hums on a single disc, and truthfully, it works mostly because Hums, which contained such classic Spoonful numbers as "Lovin' You," "Rain on the Roof," "Coconut Grove," "Nashville Cats," and "Summer in the City," is such a fine album. Aside from the minor song "Pow" and a redo of "Fishin' Blues," the music on What's Up, Tiger Lily? is of the instrumental soundtrack variety…

As far as odds and ends packages go, Original Fleetwood Mac (1971) is an undeniably strong collection culled primarily from the band's first incarnation, featuring John McVie (bass/guitar), Mick Fleetwood (drums), Peter Green (guitar/vocals), and Jeremy Spencer (guitar/piano/vocals). As evidenced by the material, this quartet are an unmistakably blues-based combo. Early on they distinguished themselves as not only interpreters of traditional fare, but skilled composers, especially Green, who penned the vast majority of these selections…

The Concert for Bangladesh was the first benefit concert of its kind, in that it brought together an extraordinary assemblage of major artists collaborating for a common humanitarian cause, setting the precedent that music could be used to serve a higher cause. Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston and Leon Russell all took part. The concert sold out Madison Square Garden and along with the Grammy award-winning triple-album boxset, and the feature film, has generated millions of dollars for UNICEF and raised awareness for the organization around the world…

The final installment completing the entirety of Buck Owens’ historical Capitol singles.