Wild 90 (1968)

Steppenwolf entered the studio for their recording debut with a lot of confidence – based on a heavy rehearsal schedule before they ever got signed – and it shows on this album, a surprisingly strong debut album from a tight hard rock outfit who was obviously searching for a hook to hang their sound on. The playing is about as loud and powerful as anything being put out by a major record label in 1968, though John Kay's songwriting needed some development before their in-house repertory would catch up with their sound and musicianship. On this album, the best material came from outside the ranks of the active bandmembers: "Born to Be Wild" by ex-member Mars Bonfire, which became not only a chart-topping high-energy anthem for the counterculture (a status solidified by its use in Dennis Hopper's movie Easy Rider the following year), but coined the phrase heavy metal, thus giving a genre-specific name to the brand of music that the band played (and which was already manifesting itself in the work of bands like Vanilla Fudge and the just-emerging Led Zeppelin)…

The Doors' 1967 albums had raised expectations so high that their third effort was greeted as a major disappointment. With a few exceptions, the material was much mellower, and while this yielded some fine melodic ballad rock in "Love Street," "Wintertime Love," "Summer's Almost Gone," and "Yes, the River Knows," there was no denying that the songwriting was not as impressive as it had been on the first two records…

Remembered chiefly as proto-punkers who reached the top of the charts with the "caveman rock" of "Wild Thing" (1966), the Troggs were also adept at crafting power pop and ballads. Hearkening back to a somewhat simpler, more basic British Invasion approach as psychedelia began to explode in the late '60s, the group also reached the Top Five with their flower-power ballad "Love Is All Around" in 1968. While more popular in their native England than the U.S., the band also fashioned memorable, insistently riffing hit singles like "With a Girl Like You," "Night of the Long Grass," and the notoriously salacious "I Can't Control Myself" between 1966 and 1968. Paced by Reg Presley's lusting vocals, the group - which composed most of their own material - could crunch with the best of them, but were also capable of quite a bit more range and melodic invention than they've been given credit for.

Various Artists - You Heard It Here First! (2008) {Ace Records CDCHD1204 rec 1954-1968}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 301 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 152 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 47 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1954-68, 2008 Ace Records | CDCHD 1204
Oldies / Hit Rock / Early R&B / Rock & Roll / Early Pop

All collectors like a bit of musical trivia, and “who did it first” is a game that’s often played when the most hardcore of them get together to swap matrix numbers and that sort of thing. Most buyers of Ace CDs will know that many of the biggest hits of the 1960s and 1970s were recycled from earlier 45s that had failed for those who did them originally. And the failure of some of those ‘earlier 45s’ is ‘celebrated’, if you like, by the release of “You Heard It Here First”, featuring two dozen and two excellent tracks – by, in many cases, high-profile talents – that never got to have their day in the sun at the time of their release.

This double-disc overview collection of British super guitarist Peter Green. By concentrating on a 20-year period, listeners get a solid selection of Green's creative genius with Fleetwood Mac, his spotty early solo records when his disintegration begins, and his tentative but still brilliant first return to music-making as well as a pair of sideman gigs with Bob Brunning's Sunflower Blues Band tossed in for good measure. There are only two live cuts in the batch, Boston Tea Party-era versions of "Black Magic Woman" and a cover of Duster Bennett's "Jumping at Shadows," and a wildly interspersed series of solo album cuts, Mac singles, and LP grooves like the juxtaposition of Green's "Lost My Love" with FM's "Fast Talking Woman Blues."

The Doors Live at Konserthuset, Stockholm features a live radio broadcast from September 20, 1968 which has never before received an official release. The comprehensive set includes rare live performances of "Mack The Knife, " "Money (That's What I Want)" and "The Hill Dwellers." It's a great sounding recording of a great performance of The Doors during their infamous 1968 European Tour with Jefferson Airplane. Recorded for an FM broadcast, The Doors' two sets of music that night are considered among the tour's best. The band is tight, and Jim Morrison's vocals are smooth as silk.

Lalo Schifrin - Bullitt (1968) {Aleph Records 018 rel 2000}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 357 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 132 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 45 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1968, 2000 Warner Bros. / Aleph Records | 018
Jazz / Classical / Soundtrack / Stage & Screen

After establishing himself in the television world with the classic Mission: Impossible theme, Lalo Schifrin soon made himself equally famous in the world of film music with his work on the soundtrack of the Steve MacQueen cop thriller Bullitt. This classic soundtrack found Schifrin combining the skills he honed as an arranger for jazzmen like Count Basie with the gift he developed for writing tight, punchy themes on television soundtracks like The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Mission: Impossible. The end result is an exciting score that deftly blends traditional orchestral film-scoring techniques with the rhythms and swings of classic jazz.