The Yardbirds Making Tracks

The Boots were a German outfit formed on the model of such British Invasion blues-based outfits as the Yardbirds, the Pretty Things, and Them. Lead singer Werner Krabbe had most definitely heard at least a couple of Van Morrison singles, while lead guitarist Jurg "Jockel" Schulte-Eckel utilized fuzz-tone effects for all they were worth, and also may have had a passing awareness of the Who; at least, he was known – before Jimi Hendrix ever started showing up with lighter fluid on stage – for playing his instrument with screwdrivers and other metal tools as well as the occasional beer bottle. The rest – Uli Grun on rhythm guitar, organ, and harmonica; Bob Bresser on bass; and Heinz Hoff on drums. This single-disc anthology has 28 tracks the Boots recorded between 1965 and 1968, most of them from the singles and debut LP the band released in 1965-1966 with original lead singer Werner Krabbe.

“In the whole of pop, he’s the only man I can think of that has unnatural powers, who really knows what will hit and what won’t. He hardly misses. Under pressure, he wins out every time.” Nick Cohn

It's difficult to call a guitarist who routinely shows up in the upper reaches of "100 Greatest Guitarists Ever" lists underappreciated, and yet the first impression the towering seven-disc box set Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective makes is that Duane Allman does not receive his proper due…

Slim Harpo - Buzzin' The Blues: The Complete Slim Harpo (2015) {5CD Box Set, Bear Family BCD 17339 EK}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.56 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 935 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 41 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2015 Bear Family | BCD 17339 EK
Blues / Electric Blues / Harmonica Blues / Swamp Blues

Back when the Rolling Stones were proud to be the voice of revolt and Mick Jagger was as far away from his knighthood as Zayn Malik is from a seat in the House of Lords, they were, very occasionally, modest, not to say humble. A couple years after cutting their eponymous first album in 1964, chock full of covers of blues and rhythm and blues songs by black artists including a buzz-toned slice of anthropomorphism about our favourite honey-making insect, Jagger told Rolling Stone magazine: “You could say that we did blues to turn people on, but why they would be turned on by us is unbelievably stupid. I mean what's the point in listening to us doing ‘I’m a King Bee’ when you can hear Slim Harpo do it?”

All six of the albums Hanoi Rocks made in their original incarnation – Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks, Oriental Beat, Self Destruction Blues, Back to the Mystery City, Two Steps from the Move, and All Those Wasted Years – are packaged together, one album to one CD, in this straightforward six-CD set. There are no extras, just the albums as they were originally released, though there's a 12-page booklet with a solid history of the band and numerous (if small) reproductions of sleeves from their original releases. It's too much at once even for many fans, but for the more dedicated of that lot, it's a handy encapsulation of their primary recorded work. Hearing all of it does make it clear that, although they're often classified as a heavy metal band, they might be more accurately pegged as a hard rock band with substantial traces of glam and pop (and even some bar band blues-rock) along with the metal.

Boston 1971: A historic early recording of Aerosmith in their rehearsal room - just the band, crew and friends captured on Joe Perry's tape recorder. This never-before-heard performance showcases the early, raw talent of this future Hall Of Fame band, one year before signing to Columbia Records, and two years before their eponymous debut, which featured many of these songs, including their enduring anthem "Dream On."

Boston 1971: A historic early recording of Aerosmith in their rehearsal room - just the band, crew and friends captured on Joe Perry's tape recorder. This never-before-heard performance showcases the early, raw talent of this future Hall Of Fame band, one year before signing to Columbia Records, and two years before their eponymous debut, which featured many of these songs, including their enduring anthem "Dream On."