n Session

The Appetite For Destruction: Super Deluxe Edition features 4CDs including the album newly remastered for the first time ever; B-sides N’ EPs newly remastered; the previously unreleased 1986 Sound City Session N’ More recordings; a Blu-ray Audio disc with the album, bonus tracks and music videos in brand new 5.1 surround sound along with the unearthed music video for “It’s So Easy” originally shot in 1989 but never finished; and a 96-page hardcover book showcasing unseen photos from Axl Rose’s personal archive and wealth of memorabilia…

Chuck Berry's debut LP is fairly strong musically, as well as having a really cool cover (a still shot of Berry, guitar slung in front of him, from the movie Rock, Rock, Rock!). After School Session was just the second long-player ever issued by Chess - only the soundtrack to the movie Rock, Rock, Rock! preceded it. This May 1957 release made Berry something of a late-bloomer among rock & roll's foundation performers - he'd had his first recording session two years earlier, in May of 1955, and by the spring of 1957, Bill Haley already had a handful of LPs to his credit, Elvis Presley was gaining on him, and Clyde McPhatter's version of the Drifters was represented on album, with numerous others soon to join their ranks. Berry had actually enjoyed only two major pop (i.e. rock as opposed to R&B) chart hits at the time: "Maybellene" in the summer of 1955, and "Roll Over Beethoven," which had just made the Top 30 in the summer of 1956…

This 3-CD SoulMusic Records’ set celebrates the recordings that Solomon Burke made for the legendary Atlantic Records label between 1960 and 1968. Solomon is generally acknowledged as one of the greatest soul singers to emerge during the genre’s golden days. He signed to Atlantic before ‘soul music’ became a bona fide sub-genre of African-American music and it was Solomon who helped define this new movement and he was, in fact, one of the first artists to use ‘soul’ to describe his music. He would eventually be known the world over as ‘The King of Rock and Soul’.

This second volume of producer Steve Hoffman's discoveries in the Chess Records vaults features some less-prominent Chuck Berry tunes, again in the form of demos, unreleased alternate takes, and stereo remixes. Listeners are getting into collector territory here, but there are still some enjoyable examples of the Berry repertoire.

When Guns N' Roses exploded from the Sunset Strip with lyrics like, "West Coast struttin', one bad mutha, got a rattlesnake suitcase under my arm," they were a vision of piss n' vinegar at a time when Steve Winwood was topping the charts. Apart from Axl Rose's mile-high coiffure, Appetite for Destruction was the opposite of everything going on in the mainstream: it sounded raw, nasty and dangerous. They were a fully formed statement, capped off with an exclamation point. And a little over a year after it came out, "Sweet Child O' Mine" would be the Number One song in the U.S.

Reggie Young - Session Guitar Star (2019) {Ace Records CDCHD 1537}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 477 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 188 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 107 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2019 Ace Records | CDCHD 1537
R&B / Blues / Rock’n’Roll / Instrumentals / Rockabilly / Soul / Pop

A long-awaited overview of Reggie Young’s six decades as Memphis and Nashville’s most in-demand guitarist. Bobby Bland, King Curtis, Elvis Presley, Dusty Springfield, Joe Tex, Johnny Cash, Solomon Burke, Merle Haggard, Jackie DeShannon, James Carr … these are just a few of the many musical heavyweights whose recordings have been embellished by the talents of Reggie Young, Memphis and Nashville’s most versatile and in-demand session guitarist. They’re all here on this CD overview of Reggie’s six-decade career, along with 14 other prime examples of his uncanny ability to play exactly to a song’s requirements while at the same time leaving his own indelible stamp.

Grant Green - First Session (2001) {Blue Note Connoisseur CD Series 724352754823 rec 1960-1961}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 321 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 121 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 54 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1960-61, 2001 Blue Note / Capitol | 7243 5 27548 2 3
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Guitar

First Session is just that: the first material Grant Green recorded as a leader for Blue Note in 1960. While the results were certainly good, the label chose to shelf the recordings. Producer Alfred Lion may have had some misgivings about the results, but it is doubtful that Green's fans or jazz guitar fans will have any such qualms. Pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones join him on the first five cuts.

Hampton Hawes Quartet - All Night Session, Vols. 1-3 (1956) {2CD Set Japan Victor Mini LP 20-bit K2, VICJ-60782~3 rel 2001}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.08 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 437 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 21 Mb | 5% repair rar | 20-bit K2 super coding
© 1956, 2001 Contemporary Records / Victor Japan | VICJ-60782~3
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop / Piano

A Japanese reissue of this terrific session which was originally released on three LPs. It's beautifully remastered in 20-bit K2 super coding and contains one track not on any of the original LPs. Originally issued on three LPs, the music resulting from Hampton Hawes' All Night Session! was stereophonically recorded for the Contemporary label in Los Angeles on the night of November 12 and into the morning of November 13, 1956. This session transcended the conventions of studio production by moving steadily from one tune to the next like a live gig with no alternate takes.