Letters in The Dark

Am 31. Mai 1968 wurde Jørn Lande im kleinen Rjukan, im Herzen Norwegens geboren. 50 Jahre später dürfen wir das Schaffen eines des größten Rocksängers mit dieser 12 CD Box feiern und würdigen.

Entirely self-taught, unfazed by blindness and brittle bone disease, Chicago born Chris Anderson (1926-2008) remains a legendary figure among jazz pianists and an acknowledged influence on Herbie Hancock, who studied with him in 1960. Hancock was quick to spread the word among musicians. His teacher, he said, had "a whole other facet of tools of expression and harmonies that I hadn’t heard in Bill Evans," adding that "Chris Anderson is a master of harmony and sensitivity." The reverence in which he is held by jazz musicians was not reflected in anything remotely like wider acclaim, but Anderson’s few recordings are much sought-after gems among those in the know. His first two trio albums, for VeeJay and Riverside/Jazzland, both of which are included here, were made in 1960 and ’61 respectively. They show a very individual and provocative harmonic sense, as distinctive as Thelonious Monk’s or Bill Evans’s, a light but firm and elegant swing, and a delicate balance of the cerebral and the emotional. It gave his music tremendous power to touch the heart and appeal to the intellect at the same time. His was a very special talent.

Melancholia never sounded as sweet as the dance-able beats of Dark Matters, the newest offering from Finland’s The Rasmus the collection blends paradise and Pop, darkness and dance. Finnish rockers The Rasmus originally formed in 1994 in Helsinki while still in high school. Over the next eighteen years, the boys would release eight studio albums from 1996’s Peep to 2012’s The Rasmus with album sales totaling more than 2.3 million units worldwide. Furthermore, 2003’s Dead Letters would prove a break-out international hit for the band especially here in the U.S. thanks, in part, to the single “In The Shadows.” The album made the Top 10 in ten countries, and reached No. 1 in Germany, Austria, and at home in Finland. A favorite across the globe beloved for their unique brand of Nordic melancholia The Rasmus have won numerous awards across the span of their career, and have a proudly die-hard international fan-base.

A great listening pleasure is guaranteed, whereby very rare titles alternate with nos-talgic summer hits. Really real summer hits are Eddie Cochran with 'Summertime Blues' and Jerry Keller with 'Here Comes Summer'. And then there's Brian Hyland, with two bombs: 'Summer Job' and of course the obligatory 'Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polkadot Bikini'. Also for collectors there is a lot to see! Rare titles from the Bikinis and the Kittens, Doo-Wop songs from the Pearls, Chimes and Diamonds, Beach rarities from Dave York and Gene Gray and of course the title song 'Banana Split' from the McGuire Sisters!

Mac Wiseman was a an American bluegrass and country singer, as well as a bass player and guitarist, who hailed from Virginia, and came to the fore with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs’ Foggy Mountian Boys in 1948 and later played with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys. In 1951 he signed a solo deal with Dot Records and immediately shot to prominence with his big seller “Tis Sweet To Be Remembered”. He sang with a clear, mellow tenor voice that helped him stand out from the usual run of bluegrass performers in his early career, with his appealing style earning him the nickname of “The Voice With A Heart”. This great-value 59-track 2-CD collection comprises selected A & B sides from his releases on Dot during this era, as he gradually moved from bluegrass towards more mainstream country and pop-flavoured material. It features his Top 10 country hits from these years with “The Ballad Of Davy Crockett” and “Jimmy Brown The Newsboy”. He was a noted ambassador for traditional country music over the years, and this collection provides an admirable showcase for his distinctive style of the genre.