X Parodies

If 1976 was year zero for punk rock in the U.K. with the Sex Pistols and Clash blowing up and taking over the music press, 1977 was the year record shops were flooded with singles by all sorts of bands capitalizing on the sound, fury, and attitude of punk. Cherry Red's 1977: The Year Punk Broke is a chronologically chosen three-disc selection of singles that touches on some of the biggest releases of the year plus loads of tracks that still sound rough and ready by bands who didn't stand the test of time.

The “Péchés de vieillesse” composed by Gioacchino Rossini exclusively for private use during the final years of his life in Paris (1857-68) bring together thirteen volumes of vocal, choral, and chamber music as well as more than a hundred piano pieces that he termed “semi-comic” and dedicated to “fourth-class pianists.” The wit and humor of Rossini’s piano music make it unique in the history of music. Of great virtuosity, pervaded by the ideal of Italian song, playing with influences from the opera, the salon, and the cabaret, and taking boundless delight in brilliantly wild ideas and waggish parodies, it remains a very personal bequeathal full of profound seriousness and playful irony, movingly intimate, and merciless toward the composer’s own weaknesses.

From pioneering guitar legends Blind Lemon Jefferson & Blind Willie Johnson to pre-blues songsters and field holler-inspired singers, the state of Texas has long played a key role in the evolution of the blues. This Rough Guide charts the many different facets to this incredibly rich and diverse of early blues genres.

Bonzo Dog Band - Let's Make Up And Be Friendly (1972) {Liberty–EMI 87893 rel 2007}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 450 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 182 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 33 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1972, 2007 Liberty / EMI Records | 0946 3 87893 2 1
Rock / Pop Rock / Comedy Rock / British Psychedelia / Psychedelic Pop

While not up to the high standards set by the band's earlier work, this contractual obligation album does offer a few glimpses of the skewed brilliance for which the Bonzos were so rightly famous. Highlighting the LP is "Rawlinson End," and perhaps Viv Stanshall's finest narrative. A spoken word tour de force, this intricately surreal English soap opera is a worthy successor to the earlier "Rhinocratic Oaths," and offers a preview of Stanshall's full-length solo effort, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End. With some exceptions, the rest of the LP replaces the previous Bonzo albums' affectionate throwbacks to the music of earlier eras with broad rock parodies and defiantly tasteless humor.

During the great John Lennon revival of the late '80s, Yoko Ono licensed to have the Westwood One Radio Network air scores of unreleased home recordings and demos as the Lost Lennon Tapes radio show. At the time, there was endless speculation about when highlights would be released, likely as a box set…