Big Balls

Asleep At The Wheel - Tribute To The Music of Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys (1993) {Liberty CDP-0777-7-81470-2-2}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 354 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 134 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 72 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1993 Liberty Records / Pearl Records | CDP-0777-7-81470-2-2
Swing / Country / Contemporary Country / Western Swing

Ray Benson's Asleep At The Wheel deserve admiration for keeping alive the sounds of western swing, but with a rhythm section that's usually straight-up-and-down stiff, The Wheel's recordings mainly just leave you craving their inspirations. The 18-song Tribute overcomes this problem by loading up on singers who do their best to swing even when the band doesn't. George Strait, doing "Big Balls In Cowtown," is a natural, of course, as are the offerings from Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett and Dolly Parton. Even Garth Brooks' go at "Deep Water," who mimics Strait to perfection here, is a pleasant surprise.

Will Wynton's omnivorous appetite ever be satisfied? Seemingly enthralled with the string quartets of Bartók, he tries to write one of his own that basically takes off upon Bartók's (and America's Charles Ives') own methods of drawing upon vernacular language to create thoroughly contemporary classical music. While Bartók's inspiration was Hungarian folk music, Marsalis, like Ives, seems to draw upon American fiddle tunes and blues.

4 early albums from the legendary jazz oracle & his band plus 18 bonus singles on this 4cd set. 1956's 'JAZZ BY SUN RA' contains some of Sun Ra's most complex, yet accessible efforts, 'SUPERSONIC JAZZ' (also 1956) lays the groundwork for the group's ambitious, expansive & free-wheeling arrangements of later years, 1958's 'JAZZ IN SILHOUETTE' is a prime example of Ra & company in a transitional phase, prior to their full-fledged explorations into the avant-garde & 'THE FUTURISTIC SOUND OF SUN RA' (1961) is boppish with a slightly exotic flavour.

Strut present a new definitive collection of singles released by jazz maverick Sun Ra during his Earth years, spanning 1952 to 1991. Released prolifically during the 1950s and more sporadically thereafter, primarily on the Saturn label, the 45s offer one-off meteorites from Ra’s prolific cosmic journey, tracing the development of his forward-thinking “Space-Bop” and his unique take on jazz and blues traditions which sounded unlike anything else from the period. As with his LPs, most 45s were only pressed in small runs and were sold at gigs and have since become extremely rare and sought after. Some have only been discovered in physical form in recent years; some were planned and pencilled but allegedly never made it to vinyl and some appeared as one-off magazine singles and posthumous releases.

There's a real sense of menace to "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap," the title song of AC/DC's third album. More than most of their songs to date, it captured the seething malevolence of Bon Scott, the sense that he reveled in doing bad things, encouraged by the maniacal riffs of Angus and Malcolm Young who provided him with their most brutish rock & roll yet…