Best His

Rufus Wainwright - Vibrate: The Best of Rufus Wainwright (2014) {Interscope 3765155 rec 1998-2014}
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© 2014 Interscope Records / Geffen / DGC | 3765155
Pop / Rock / Baroque Pop / Chamber Pop / Adult Alternative Pop

The 2014 compilation Vibrate: The Best of Rufus Wainwright brings together many of the singer/songwriter's best cuts, as chosen by him, from his various studio albums. Included here are songs off his 1998 self-titled debut all the way through to his 2012 album, Out of the Game. Also included are several cuts Wainwright recorded for the 2001 soundtrack to Shrek. That said, missing here are cuts off his intimate 2007 album All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, as are any tracks from his several concert albums, most notably his 2007 Judy Garland-themed performance Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall. Perhaps Wainwright viewed All Days Are Nights, which was recorded during his mother Kate McGarrigle's illness with cancer, as too much of a personal statement to single out any of its tracks for inclusion here.

Known for his solo hits in the 1980s as well as his hits with the band Smokie in the '70s, Chris Norman is a British soft rock singer with an international following whose career spans several decades. Born on October 25, 1950, in Redcar, North Yorkshire, England, he began his musical career in the band Smokie. Originally founded in 1965, the band changed its name several times before ultimately deciding upon Smokie in the mid-'70s…

Various Artists - The Very Best of Country: 75 Original Recordings (2013) [3CD] {Not Now Music}
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© 2013 Not Now Music | NOT3CD102
Country / Country Pop / Honky Tonk / Nashville Sound / Progressive Country / Rockabilly

Country music is all about characters and the stories they tell. That, prior to the advent of the phonograph and, later, radio, was exactly how the songs were passed down through the generations. And the good news is we not only have some great songs here but we also have some very memorable characters telling them. Some of those characters enjoyed long careers, like Tennessee Ernie Ford who began performing at the age four in 1923 and was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1990, the year before his death. Others like Patsy Cline were taken from us all too soon, in her case in a 1963 plane crash. Cline came to overright fame on a TV talent contest and went on to become a classic country balladeer with some glossy, string-laden productions. 'Crazy', from 1961, was her greatest hit and has been covered in subsequent years by kd lang among others.

The Shadows are usually thought of as the quintessential British instrumental group and, along with the American band the Ventures and the Swedish group the Spotnicks, one of the most popular instrumental groups in the world. But that barely tells the story of their true significance in the history of British rock & roll including the fact that they were the first home-grown British rock & roll band to dominate the U.K. charts; or that they weren't originally an instrumental group, either.

Even with a career cut short by illness and a premature death, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Rory Gallagher left his mark in the blues and rock worlds. His hard-charging, intensely rhythmic playing style on his 1961 Stratocaster still casts a long shadow over rock & roll: Queen's Brian May imitated not only his playing but his gear early on; he credits Gallagher with the root of his sound. Eric Clapton said it was Gallagher who got him "back into the blues." Johnny Marr acknowledges a great debt as well: After learning how to play the guitarist's classic Deuce album track-for-track at 13, he revealed Gallagher's influence throughout his career.

Scottish-born singer Jimmy Somerville became a surprise success in the mid-'80s. Instead of being Duran Duran-cute, Jimmy Somerville looked like the average boy next door. Instead of belting out his musical repertoire with a self-conscious urgency to prove himself as a singer (like Rick Astley or George Michael), Somerville possessed a dramatic, piercing falsetto that made the Associates' Billy Mackenzie sound like Tom Waits. But what really made Jimmy Somerville distinctive was his openness about his sexuality. The 1980s was the decade of androgyny, with artists like Annie Lennox, Boy George, and Poison emulating the gender-bending approach of 1970s-era David Bowie. Other performers such as Morrissey and the aforementioned George Michael kept their fans guessing about their sexual orientation.