Elvis Is Back! is the tenth album by Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor Records in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2231, in April 1960. Recording sessions took place on March 20 and April 3, 1960, at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee. It was Presley's first album to be released in true stereo. It peaked at #2 on the Top Pop Albums chart and is listed, along with his debut and From Elvis in Memphis, in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Dreamboat Annie is the debut album by the American rock band Heart. It was released on February 14, 1976 through Mushroom Records. It contained three hit singles which became staples on FM radio. Producer Mike Flicker helped the group to polish their sound and obtain a recording contract with the label.
Straight Up is the third album by power pop band Badfinger, released on December 13, 1971. It is widely regarded as Badfinger's best album, spawning two Top 20 singles in the U.S. and being commercially successful in its own right. The album was released on the The Beatles' Apple Records label and was unavailable for many years after it closed. It became a highly sought-after album by collectors until it was finally re-issued on CD in 1993.
Rarely has a greatest-hits collection been as effective as Elton John's first compilation of Greatest Hits. Released at the end of 1974, after Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Caribou had effectively established him as a superstar, Greatest Hits is exactly what it says it is – it features every one of his Top Ten singles ("Your Song," "Rocket Man," "Honky Cat," "Crocodile Rock," "Daniel," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Bennie and the Jets," "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"), plus the number 12 "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" and radio and concert favorite "Border Song."…
This was the album by which millions of sons of late baby boomers (and sons and daughters of the early ones) first really discovered the Beach Boys, beyond hearing the occasional oldie on the radio. It was the summer of 1974, and the Beach Boys were still trying to get themselves back on track commercially after a seven-year commercial dry spell, when this double LP of their 1963-1966 material (all but one cut pre-dating Pet Sounds) came along and did the job…
Greatest Hits, Volume 2 is a hits compilation album from American singer/songwriter/producer Linda Ronstadt. It was released in 1980 on Asylum Records. The disc covers mostly Ronstadt's heavier rocking singles The album has sold close to two million copies in the United States alone and was Ronstadt's eighth consecutive Platinum certified album.
Having previously only heard their hit single "Cinnamon Cinder" and it's instro B-side "Bandito," I had little to base an understanding of the band on, and even less to justify their reported extreme popularity as house band at Bob Eubanks' "Cinnamon Cinder" club. After listening to this whole CD, it becomes clear that they were one fun band, unpretentious, and utterly silly. They embraced the pure fun or rock 'n' roll without any pretext of art - just good fun. From this new view, I can easily see how they were the party band of choice on weekend nights at the CC. This is the sort of band that creates a perfect backdrop for your party, not the sort of band you'd sit listening to, mesmerized by the artistry. Too too fun. Oh, yeah, besides the handful of totally fun pop vocals, there are a bunch of really cool instros as well.
After the breakup, Beatles fans expected major statements from the three chief songwriters in the Fab Four. John and George fulfilled those expectations - Lennon with his lacerating, confessional John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Harrison with his triple-LP All Things Must Pass - but Paul McCartney certainly didn't, turning toward the modest charms of McCartney, and then crediting his wife Linda as a full-fledged collaborator on its 1971 follow-up, Ram.
Where McCartney was homemade, sounding deliberately ragged in parts, Ram had a fuller production yet retained that ramshackle feel, sounding as if it were recorded in a shack out back, not far from the farm where the cover photo of Paul holding the ram by the horns was taken…
Despite its age, this collection remains the best introduction to the wonderfully bizarre sounds of Jethro Tull - a unique combination of folk music, progressive rock, heavy metal, and of course, Ian Anderson's ubiquitous flute. Drawing exclusively from the band's '70s heyday, opener "Living in the Past" sets the retrospective tone, leading the way into the signature guitar riff of "Aqualung," the band's multifaceted pièce de résistance. Though lyrically indecipherable, "Locomotive Breath" is equally timeless, and the moment when John Evan's fanciful piano intro gives way to Martin Barre's guitar feedback remains thrilling. With his acoustic guitar in hand, Ian Anderson becomes a medieval bard, drawing the listener into worlds of legend both threatening ("Sweet Dream," "Witches Promise") and joyously carefree ("Thick as a Brick," "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day")…