Wild West From June 2015

Leslie West first gained recognition as the lead guitarist for the Vagrants, a locally popular 1960s Long Island group. One of that band's singles was produced by Felix Pappalardi, a bass player who also produced Cream. After the Vagrants and Cream split up, Pappalardi played bass on and produced West's debut solo album, Mountain (July 1969). Following its release, the two teamed up with drummer Norman Smart (soon replaced by Corky Laing) and keyboard player Steve Knight to form the band Mountain. They cut the albums Climbing! (February 1970, a gold-selling LP featuring the Top 40 single "Mississippi Queen"), Nantucket Sleighride (January 1971, which also went gold), and Flowers of Evil (November 1971). In 1972, Pappalardi left Mountain to return to producing.

Releasing "all covers" albums can amount to either one of two things. Either the artist doing the covering is buying time between real albums or the artist doing the covering really wants to give some attention back to his musical heroes, who helped shape his playing early on. Over the years, former Mountain singer/guitarist Leslie West has recorded quite a few covers, quite a few of which are featured on a 2005 release (that sported an un-PC title), Guitarded. Focusing on old blues numbers and rock tracks from the late '60s, West proves that he can still let his fingers fly all these years later. Standouts here include a fine, bluesy take of the Beatles' obscure "Old Brown Shoe," as well as West covering an old Mountain tune (which late singer/bassist Felix Pappalardi sang originally), "Theme for an Imaginary Western."

Los Angeles axeman Rick Holstrom, best known for his work with Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers, delivers an album full of diversity on this, his first Tone-Cool release. The 13 songs included on Gonna Get Wild play out like a catalog of guitar stylings, running from the uptempo blues of "I'd Hate to See You Cry" to the sounds of swing and early rock & roll. Holstrom is able to pull off the different styles with ease and finesse, playing in rich, clean tones without overdoing it on the distortion. That's one reason why his songs have the uncanny ability to sound both retro and modern simultaneously.

On January 12, 1970, 'Time' magazine placed The Band on its cover with the headline, 'The New Sound of Country Rock.' In the taxonomy of popular music, Country Rock was now a thing, a categoryby 1970. There were Country Rock browser bins in some stores, and trade magazines like 'Billboard'routinely classified records as country-rock or country/rock, expecting readers to know what they meant.

Japanese original greatest hits album from Electric Light Orchestra combines the following two albums already released: "All Over The World - The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra" (2005) and "Ticket To The Moon - The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra Volume 2" (2007). Features Blu-spec CD2 format and contains 40 tracks total on two discs.

A collection of songs performed by Norah Jones that did not appear on her studio albums. Norah Jones is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won multiple awards and her albums have sold more than 50 million records worldwide. Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000s decade. She has won nine Grammy Awards and was ranked 60th on Billboard magazine's artists of the 2000s decade chart.

A collection of songs performed by Norah Jones that did not appear on her studio albums. Norah Jones is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won multiple awards and her albums have sold more than 50 million records worldwide. Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000s decade. She has won nine Grammy Awards and was ranked 60th on Billboard magazine's artists of the 2000s decade chart.

A collection of songs performed by Norah Jones that did not appear on her studio albums. Norah Jones is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won multiple awards and her albums have sold more than 50 million records worldwide. Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000s decade. She has won nine Grammy Awards and was ranked 60th on Billboard magazine's artists of the 2000s decade chart.