Working Out The Kinks

These 12 full-length CDs document the Vandermark 5 playing at Alchemia, a major nightclub in Kraków, Poland, for a period of five evenings in March 2005. Over the course of well more than 12 hours of music, the quintet solidifies its reputation as one of the most innovative and exciting jazz groups of its time, as magic fills the air every night. It is difficult to imagine a more compelling set of modern jazz. The invigorated Polish audience welcomed the group enthusiastically, and the musicians responded with thrilling performances that summarize the state of the band, which was in peak form, and suggest the directions in which jazz is heading as a creative force. This is difficult music to categorize, if only because it relies on traditional concepts of melody and improvisation, but pushes hard to stretch and twist the limits of propriety. The box set is marvelously packaged, with a splendid booklet featuring an extensive interview with Ken Vandermark, and numerous photos in color and black-and-white.

Inspired by The Looking Series collections on RPM of UK 60s Nuggets, we now look in the world mirror at New Zealand. The country furthest from the UK and in this context the country most like the UK. For the latest in the RPM /Frenzy Music collaborations, following sets from Larry’s Rebels , The Fourmyula , Ray Columbus, The Dave Miller Set , and the Girl Group Sound down-under on “Come and See Me”, we explore the mid 60’s club scene and the various classic singles tailored for that scene.

Ian Dury & The Blockheads - New Boots And Panties (1977) [2CD] {2004 Edsel Deluxe Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 747 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 284 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 55 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2004 Edsel / Demon Records / Templemill Music / Stiff | MEDCD 751
Rock / Punk Rock / Pub Rock / New Wave

It’s a wonderful irony that the two lyricists who most embodied punk’s libertarian role in helping banish the last vestiges of straight-laced Victorian values in the mid-70s were the two who most resembled a Dickensian nightmare. Johnny Rotten and Ian Dury both sought release from a social system designed to keep working class oiks like them in their place, and although one approached the task through head-on confrontation and the other with art school nuance, the message was the same: Think For Yourself.

The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968)
reissue of 2007
EAC | FLAC tracks +CUE +LOG +600 dpi Full Scans = 299 Mb | RAR 3% | RS
Genre: West Coast Psychedelic Pop | Label: Rev-Ola | Catalog Number: CR REV 185

A sumptuous if loose concept LP that valiantly attempted to emulate SGT. PEPPER…

Slim Harpo - Buzzin' The Blues: The Complete Slim Harpo (2015) {5CD Box Set, Bear Family BCD 17339 EK}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.56 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 935 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 41 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2015 Bear Family | BCD 17339 EK
Blues / Electric Blues / Harmonica Blues / Swamp Blues

Back when the Rolling Stones were proud to be the voice of revolt and Mick Jagger was as far away from his knighthood as Zayn Malik is from a seat in the House of Lords, they were, very occasionally, modest, not to say humble. A couple years after cutting their eponymous first album in 1964, chock full of covers of blues and rhythm and blues songs by black artists including a buzz-toned slice of anthropomorphism about our favourite honey-making insect, Jagger told Rolling Stone magazine: “You could say that we did blues to turn people on, but why they would be turned on by us is unbelievably stupid. I mean what's the point in listening to us doing ‘I’m a King Bee’ when you can hear Slim Harpo do it?”