Disc Personnality

Following his second covers album, Kojak Variety, Elvis Costello set out to assemble a collection of songs he had written for other artists but never recorded himself – sort of a reverse covers album. As it turned out, that idea was only used as a launching pad – the resulting album, All This Useless Beauty, is a mixture of nine old and three new songs. Given its origins, it's surprising that the record holds together as well as it does. The main strength of All This Useless Beauty is the quality of the individual songs – each song can stand on its own as an individual entity, as the music is as sharp as the lyrics. Although the music is certainly eclectic, it's accessible, which wasn't the case with Mighty Like a Rose. Furthermore, the production is more textured and punchier than Mitchell Froom's botched job on Brutal Youth. All This Useless Beauty doesn't quite add up to a major statement, but the simple pleasures it offers makes it one of the more rewarding records of the latter part of Costello's career.

Liverpudlian psychedelic rockers The Vryll Society have recently announced their eagerly anticipated debut album Course Of The Satellite will be released on 10th August via Deltasonic Records (The Coral, The Zutons, The Dead 60s).

Jerry Garcia Band - After Midnight: Keane College, February 28, 1980 (2004) {3 Disc Set HDCD Rhino R2 76538}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 0.98 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 396 Mb
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© 1980, 2004 Jerry Garcia / Rhino / Warner | R2 76538
Rock / Country-Rock / Rock & Roll / Jam Bands

Released in 2004, After Midnight: Kean College, 2/28/80 is a three-disc offering from a short-lived incarnation of the Jerry Garcia Band, featuring Garcia (guitar/vocals), John Kahn (bass), Ozzie Ahlers (keyboards/vocals), and Johnny De Foncesca (drums). The aggregate lasted less than six months, with De Foncesca replaced by former Sly & the Family Stone and Santana percussionist Greg Errico less than a month after this late February show. Opening up for Garcia on a majority of the East Coast run was his lyricist and primary collaborator, vocalist Robert Hunter. He joins the JGB during the second set for readings of his own "Tiger Rose" and "Promontory Rider," in addition to offering up his recollections of the experience in the package's liner essay.

Frank Zappa - Mystery Disc (1998) {2012 Universal–Zappa Records Remaster 0238912}
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© 1998, 2012 Zappa Records / Universal | 0238912
Rock / Jazz Rock / Experimental Rock / Art Rock

Official Release #68. Originally Released: September 1998. All tracks produced by: FZ. Mystery Disc is a compilation album by Frank Zappa. It was released on CD in 1998, compiling tracks that were originally released on two separate vinyl records and included in the mail order Old Masters box sets, which were released in three volumes between 1985 and 1987. (These box sets, issued on Barking Pumpkin, contained repressings of Zappa's albums from Freak Out! (1966) to Zoot Allures (1976), along with a 'Mystery Disc' in boxes one and two.) The CD omits the last two tracks from the 1985 LP, "Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?" and "Big Leg Emma", both of which were included on the CD version of Absolutely Free (1967) in 1989.