Rocket Records

There have been a lot of Sun compilations over the years; this three-CD, 74-song compilation strikes the medium ground between abridged single-disc highlights and overkill ten-album box sets. What this means is that you get virtually all the key sides of this vastly influential blues, country, and rockabilly label, including the biggest Sun hits cut by Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich, and Roy Orbison. There's also a lot of the pioneering electric blues cut by label head Sam Phillips before he made rockabilly Sun's focus, including sides by Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Rufus Thomas, Junior Parker, and James Cotton. Then there are the interesting small hits and flops by minor rockabilly figures like Warren Smith, Billy Lee Riley, Malcolm Yelvington, Onie Wheeler, and Carl Mann…

Building off of the success of his previous long player Too Low For Zero (1983), Elton John (piano/vocals) retained his 'classic quartet' for the follow-up Breaking Hearts (1984). After an eight year ('75 – '83) hiatus Dee Murray (bass/backing vocals), Davey Johnstone (guitar/backing vocals) and Nigel Olsson (drums/backing vocals) briefly reunited with John and Bernie Taupin (lyrics) to attempt a musical resurrection of their early-to-mid '70s sound…

The highly acclaimed Finnish prog group Haikara confronted the dilemma between artistic ambitions and commercial demands, when their 2nd album Geafar (1974) didn't sell well enough to please the record company. Left without a deal, they found a new opportunity after Vesa Lattunen had made arrangements for Jukka Kuoppamäki's album. The popular singer had his own record company, Satsanga Records. Iso Lintu was recorded in March 1975 with a new vocalist, Matti Heinänen, in the line-up. The album received mixed feelings at the time, and basically that hasn't changed in 40 years.