One of two paired box sets chronicling the entirety of Kate Bush's recorded work as of 2018, Remastered, Vol. 2 features upgrades of the three albums since 2005: Aerial, Director's Cut, and 50 Words for Snow. In addition to these records, Remastered, Vol. 2 contains four CDs of non-album tracks, featuring a disc of 12" mixes, two discs of B-sides (labeled "The Other Side"), and a disc of covers (called "In Others' Words"). For the diehards, having these rarities on a proper album is reason enough to acquire Remastered, Vol. 2, and they do elevate a box that doesn't have as many classics as the first box: the 2005 comeback Aerial is teamed with an album where she revisits her past and the lush orchestral 50 Words for Snow. Like its cousin, Remastered, Vol. 2 boasts clean, detailed remasters that feel fuller than their predecessors. That's appropriate for music as sumptuous and transporting as this; the improved fidelity has the effect of making the music seem more vivid, not less.
Essential: a masterpiece of prog-folk music
The same Steeleye Span lineup that produced their best album up to that point, "Below the Salt", was back for another run, even bolder and more in-your-face.
Honus Honus (aka Ryan Kattner) has devoted his career to exploring the uncertainty between life’s extremes: beauty and ugliness, order and chaos. The songs on Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between, Man Man’s first album in over six years and his Sub Pop debut, are as intimate, soulful, and timeless as they are audaciously inventive and daring.
An icon of flower power who emerged as a folksinger but later gained hits like "Sunshine Superman" with bright psychedelic pop. Upon his emergence during the mid-'60s, Donovan was anointed "Britain's answer to Bob Dylan," a facile but largely unfounded comparison which compromised the Scottish folk-pop troubadour's own unique vision. Where the thrust of Dylan's music remains its bleak introspection and bitter realism, Donovan fully embraced the wide-eyed optimism of the flower power movement, his ethereal, ornate songs radiating a mystical beauty and childlike wonder; for better or worse, his recordings remain quintessential artifacts of the psychedelic era, capturing the peace and love idealism of their time to perfection. The Very Best Of includes all of the Scottish folk rocker's biggest smashes. Features 'Mellow Yellow', 'Sunshine Superman', 'Hurdy Gurdy Man', 'Jennifer Juniper', 'Riki Tiki Tavi' & much more.
Green Lung are a cult band in every sense of the word. Formed in London in 2017, their first two records Woodland Rites (2019) and Black Harvest (2021) brought a folk horror sensibility to occult rock, attracting a fanatical following in their native UK and beyond, and resulting in international tours with the likes of Clutch, festival performances from Roadburn to Bloodstock to Download, and a record deal with the world’s biggest independent heavy metal label Nuclear Blast Records.
Now, two years after the release of the critically acclaimed Black Harvest, the band have unveiled their most ambitious offering yet…