Mofi Vinyl Abraxas

Cray found himself in some pretty intimidating company for this Grammy-winning blues guitar summit meeting, but he wasn't deterred, holding his own alongside his idol Albert Collins and Texas great Johnny Copeland. Cray's delivery of Muddy Waters' rhumba-rocking "She's into Something" was one of the set's many highlights.

The second album by Jefferson Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow was a groundbreaking piece of folk-rock-based psychedelia, and it hit like a shot heard round the world; where the later efforts from bands like the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and especially, the Charlatans, were initially not too much more than cult successes, Surrealistic Pillow rode the pop charts for most of 1967, soaring into that rarefied Top Five region occupied by the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and so on, to which few American rock acts apart from the Byrds had been able to lay claim since 1964…

Unlike many similar bands, the Vinyl Kings are at least upfront about what they're trying to accomplish. This seven-piece band is unapologetically obsessed with the pop music of the era roughly between 1963 and 1971, and their second album is a hodgepodge of lifts from the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and all the rest. (There's also a strong resemblance to classic-era Electric Light Orchestra in spots, mostly because Jeff Lynne himself was so enamored of the same pop music era.)

Unlike many similar bands, the Vinyl Kings are at least upfront about what they're trying to accomplish. This seven-piece band is unapologetically obsessed with the pop music of the era roughly between 1963 and 1971, and their second album is a hodgepodge of lifts from the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and all the rest. (There's also a strong resemblance to classic-era Electric Light Orchestra in spots, mostly because Jeff Lynne himself was so enamored of the same pop music era.)

Though George Harrison's solo albums for most of the 1970s and early '80s were uneven, often slapdash affairs, 1970's ALL THINGS MUST PASS is a brilliant piece of work. Produced by Phil Spector, whose expansive, majestic arrangements and sonic flourishes suit Harrison's songs perfectly, ALL THINGS MUST PASS eclipses everything the other Beatles recorded at the time (excepting John Lennon's PLASTIC ONO BAND). This sprawling triple record set gives the impression of Harrison being uncorked and pouring forth all of the songs and ideas edged out by Lennon and McCartney during the Beatles years.