Push Comes to Shove

Over two and a half hours of the Grateful Dead broadcasting Live from New Years Eve 1987 into New Years Day 1988
Rock's longest, strangest trip, the Grateful Dead were the psychedelic era's most beloved musical ambassadors as well as its most enduring survivors, spreading their message of peace, love, and mind-expansion across the globe throughout the better part of three decades.

Although Hammond had already recorded electric material, he went back to a solo acoustic format for his fourth album, accompanying himself on guitar and harmonica on faithful interpretations of standards by Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, John Lee Hooker, Sleepy John Estes, Jimmy Reed, Willie Dixon, and Bo Diddley. If it sounds a bit unimaginative and routine today, one has to remember that the general listening audience was much less aware of these artists and songs in the mid-'60s. Hammond did a commendable job of rendering them here, with fine guitar work and vocals that were a considerable improvement over his earliest efforts.–by Richie Unterberger

With a career that spans over three decades, John Hammond is one of handful of white blues musicians who was on the scene at the beginning of the first blues renaissance of the mid-'60s. That revival, brought on by renewed interest in folk music around the U.S., brought about career boosts for many of the great classic blues players, including Mississippi John Hurt, Rev. Gary Davis, and Skip James.

Road Trips Volume 4 Number 2 is a live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. The 14th of the Road Trips series of archival releases, it was recorded on March 31 and April 1, 1988, at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It was released as a three disc CD on February 1, 2011. Road Trips Volume 4 Number 2, subtitled April Fools' '88, includes the complete April 1 concert, along with the second set, encore, and two songs from the first set of the March 31 concert. It was only the second live Dead album that was recorded in 1988; the first was Grateful Dead Download Series Volume 5.The April 1 performance of Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man" had been previously released on Postcards of the Hanging.

To mark 60 years, Motown Unreleased 1969 boasts 60 tracks, all recorded in 1969 and left unheard – until now. The label’s heaviest hitters are all here, including Diana Ross and The Supremes with their rendition of the Ron Miller/Orlando Murden standard “For Once in My Life,” Gladys Knight and The Pips (“You Took Me This Far (Take Me All the Way)),” Jackson 5 (“What’s So Good About Goodbye”), and Marvin Gaye (“I’ll Take Care of Business”). Three tracks each can be heard from The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, and Jr. Walker and The All-Stars, and four each from Edwin Starr and Bobby Taylor.