Crum

At the time of writing, this CD has been on the market for 22 years, and it must be said from the outset that its technical side does not and cannot match up with the standard of later high-bit recordings, nor indeed, to be honest, with the 80's recordings made, for example, by Andreas Glatt for the Accent label in Belgium: the instruments can, indeed, be clearly heard, but there would have been a good deal of room for more spacious use of stereo technology, and possibly the microphones could have been just that little bit nearer to the musicians.

Ferlin Husky - Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight (2016) {Bear Family Records BCD17415 rec 1951-1959}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 245 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 166 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 88 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1951-59, 2016 Bear Family Records BCD 17415
Country / Bakersfield Sound / Country Pop / Honky Tonk

Ferlin Husky shares billing on his volume of Bear Family's ongoing rockabilly and country-boogie series, Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight, with Simon Crum and Terry Preston – two aliases he adopted in the thick of and at the start of his career, respectively. Unlike Collectors' Choice Music's 2002 collection Country Music Is Here to Stay, the focus of this 2016 set is not on the novelties of Simon Crum. Instead, this rounds up 32 sides Husky recorded in any incarnation, with the uniting factor being its swing.

John Jenkins: yet another seventeenth century English composer who deserves to be more widely known. This delightful CD from The Consort of Musicke directed by Trevor Jones is no dutiful study of a hidden but rather uninspiring corner of English early Baroque consort music; rather, a mosaic – rich in color and shape, carefully crafted and full of surprises. Listen, for instance, to the unpretentious, jaunty and appropriately figurative progress through the Saraband (52, tr.6) and the restrained melancholy of the Fancy-Air (4, tr.7). Jenkins' counterpoint is well-wrought, his instrumental palette fresh and crisp and his melodies catchy without being fey or superficial in any way. He is in excellent hands with the Consort of Musicke… eight string players of the caliber of Monica Huggett and Alison Crum violins; Alan Wilson organ and Anthony Rooley theorbo. If fresh, beautiful, expertly-played English consort music appeals to you, don't hesitate to get this gem of a CD – actually a reissue of a Decca disc from 1983: it's unreservedly recommended.