The i 31 May 2016

The Associates - Sulk (1982) {2016 2CD Deluxe Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 695 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 232 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 21 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1982, 2016 BMG | BMGCAT2CD53
New Wave / Post Punk / Alternative

BMG are to reissue Scottish post-punk band Associates’ first three albums as two-CD deluxe editions, along with a new double-disc anthology. Formed in Scotland in 1976 by Billy MacKenzie (vocals) and Alan Rankine (synths / guitars / programming), the pair settled on the name Associates in 1979 after a short period as The Ascorbic Ones and then for a while in 1979 with the moniker Mental Torture. Their debut album The Affectionate Punch was eventually released (on the Fiction label) in August 1980. The following year the band issued six singles (on another label, Situation Two) whose A and B-sides were gathered on the next long-player, compilation Fourth Drawer Down.

Designed as a celebration of the Monkees' 50th anniversary, Good Times! certainly is a joyous revival of the cheerful jangle that characterized the group's big '60s hits, yet underneath the frivolity is an unspoken truth: this 2016 album is quite likely the band's last. After all, two decades passed between this and its 1996 predecessor, Justus, during which time Davy Jones died; in another twenty years, the surviving Monkees would be in their nineties, an unlikely age to rock & roll…

Sandy Denny - I've Always Kept A Unicorn: The Acoustic Sandy Denny (2016) {2CD Set, Island 536 735-0}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 587 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 339 Mb
Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 10 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2016 Universal-Island Records | 536 735-0
Folk Rock / Progressive Folk / British Folk / Psychedelic / Singer–Songwriter

I've Always Kept A Unicorn is the best album that Sandy Denny never made. This 40-Track set captures Sandy at her most intimate as she runs through stripped down arrangements of songs with Strawbs, Fairport Convention, Fotheringay, The Bunch and from her four solo albums. Exclusive to this set are three demos from the original recording sessions for the 1972 Bunch album, Rock On including a beautiful duet with Linda Thompson on Phil Everly's "When Will I Be Loved" and Buddy Holly's "Love Made A Fool Of You" and "Learning The Game".

Resistor is the rock quartet of Steve Unruh, Fran Turner, Barry Farrands, and Rob Winslow. The band's sound is characterized by merging modern progressive and rock song structures with an organic classic rock sound. Their classic rock sound is probably due to their preferred recording technique of having everyone play the basic tracks in the same room at the same time, like bands did the "old days." This allows Resistor's recorded music to "breathe," as you can hear the band members adjust to each others' energy, tempo, and feel in real-time.
In 2008, Steve and Fran pooled their recording equipment and knowledge, and recorded the debut Resistor album in 2008. The album got rave reviews…

Tucky Buzzard. You might vaguely recall the name if not the music. You could be forgiven in thinking that they were long haired southern rockers. Truth is, they morphed out of UK psychedelic rockers The End, were largely produced by Rolling Stone Bill Wyman and their debut album featured a Spanish symphony orchestra conducted by Waldo de Los Rios…

In the late 1950s and early 1960s R&B stood for ‘rhythm and blues’ - a term associated with some of the most joyous and vibrant popular music ever made. More diverse than the blues, R&B was basically the forerunner of Soul music, and the black equivalent of rock ‘n’ roll: instrumentally energetic, with superb vocals delivered by heartfelt voices that had (mostly) learned to sing in gospel choirs. This 40-track compilation is a combination of well-known hits and real obscurities, but it’s all solidly good stuff. All in all, you’ll certainly find more than enough in this compilation to set those good times rolling again.