Ring 2000

Crack a Smile… and More! is the fifth studio album from the American hard rock band Poison. The record was released on March 14, 2000. The album features guitarist Blues Saraceno, who was hired as the band's new lead guitarist following the firing of Richie Kotzen in late 1993. Saraceno appeared on the band's last album release Poison's Greatest Hits: 1986–1996 in 1996, which featured two new tracks with him on lead guitar. Those two new tracks re-appear on this album along with thirteen new songs and five bonus tracks. The album moved around 12,000 copies in its first week of release to debut at #131 on The Billboard 200 album chart.

Electric blues guitarist Jay Gordon recorded a series of albums for Blue Ace that inspired comparisons to such legendary guitarists as Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Beginning with Blues Infested (1994), Gordon won much praise from the blues community. Each successive album became increasingly successful – Broadcasting the Blues Live (1996), Electric Redemption (1998), and so on – and the guitarist soon found himself being compared to some of the most legendary guitarists to ever play electric blues. In 2000, Gordon collaborated with Phillip Walker on the Jaywalkin album for Blue Ace, yet another accomplishment for the celebrated guitarist. Furthermore, in addition to his guitar playing, Gordon also produces and sings on many of his own recordings.

This comprehensive Bear Family audiotheque is dedicated to the mid-Sixties German Beat music boom. A total of 30 installments with 20 to 30 titles per CD, all remastered for the best possible sound quality. The author, Hans-Jürgen Klitsch, has written the hugely informative booklets for our CDs. Please note that all liner notes are in German language. Another Bear Family exclusive!

The Ink Spots played a large role in pioneering the black vocal group-harmony genre, helping to pave the way for the doo wop explosion of the '50s. The quavering high tenor of Bill Kenny presaged hundreds of street-corner leads to come, and the sweet harmonies of Charlie Fuqua, Deek Watson, and bass Hoppy Jones (who died in 1944) backed him flawlessly…

On January 20, 1973, Freddie King and a tight quartet performed at a TV studio in Dallas, Texas. "It was humming in there," recalls director Jim Rowley. "Absolutely cooking." King was 38 and enjoying what he called "the Fillmore circuit" in America as well as the adulation of throngs (including adoring rock stars) in Europe, especially England.