The Asylum Albums

Joni Mitchell was at a turning point 50 years ago. After making four acclaimed albums with Reprise Records, including her 1971 masterpiece Blue, she left the label to join the brand-new Asylum Records in 1972. Over the next seven years, Mitchell would record some of the most acclaimed music of her career while changing her musical direction by adding more jazz elements into her songwriting. The evolution culminated in 1979 with Mingus, her collaboration with jazz titan Charles Mingus, and her studio last album for Asylum.

John Prine - Crooked Piece of Time: The Atlantic and Asylum Albums 1971-1980 (2020) {Rhino–Elektra Set}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Digital Download -> 1.62 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 628 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 1971-80, 2020 Rhino / Elektra Catalog Group
Folk / Singer-Songwriter / Country / Contemporary Folk / Progressive Folk

The 7xCD release Crooked Piece of Time, out October 23 via Rhino, will gather the late singer-songwriter’s first seven albums, beginning with his 1971 self-title debut and ending with 1980’s Storm Windows, according to Rolling Stone. The boxset, named after a song from 1978’s Bruised Orange, covers Prine’s entire output for Atlantic and Asylum Records. After the release of these albums, he would go on to form Oh Boy Records.

The second British Tom Waits compilation was a more extensive look at the 1973-1980 Asylum Records catalog than the first, Bounced Checks from 1981 (four more tracks), but it was another idiosyncratic selection. Waits' stellar first two albums were better represented, with three strong tracks drawn from The Heart of Saturday Night and two from Closing Time, but "Ol' 55" was ignored again, and nothing was included from the third album, Nighthawks at the Diner, which is the favorite of many Waits fans. Three tracks were repeated from Bounced Checks - "Burma Shave," "I Never Talk to Strangers," a duet with Bette Midler, and "Tom Traubert's Blues" - and they were worthy, but where was "Jersey Girl"? The choices from the later albums were spotty: why use Waits' questionable cover of "Somewhere" from West Side Story and leave out a brilliant story-song like "Romeo Is Bleeding"…

One of the most celebrated singer/songwriters of his generation – and recipient of the Grammy’s 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award – John Prine was a master storyteller whose work was often witty and always heartfelt, frequently offering a sly but sincere reflection of his Midwestern American roots. While Prine's songs were often rooted in folk and country flavors, he was no stranger to rock & roll, R&B, and rockabilly, and he readily adapted his rough but expressive voice to his musical surroundings. His songs were recorded by a long list of well-respected artists, including Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson, Carly Simon, George Strait, Norah Jones, John Denver, Miranda Lambert, The Everly Brothers, Bette Midler, Paul Westerberg, Tammy Wynette and Dwight Yoakam. John Prine’s Atlantic and Asylum albums are being released here in one 7-CD boxed set – John Prine (1971), Diamonds In The Rough (1972), Sweet Revenge (1973), Common Sense (1975), Bruised Orange (1978), Pink Cadillac (1979) and Storm Windows (1980) – that encompasses an essential and timeless American songbook.