Salting The Bettlefield

Although Germany had its place in rock & roll's evolution in the 1960s, it was primarily as an incubator for British bands playing grueling stints in Hamburg, not for homegrown talent. The Lords were about the best of a weak scene, populated by bands that could never seem to shake themselves free of stodgy Central European oom-pah folk traditions. Quite popular in their own country, the Lords made no impression in the English-speaking world until a couple of decades later, when reappreciation of '60s beat and garage music became so intense that collectors began to investigate the strange and wonderful world of Continental '60s rock.

A collaboration between virtuoso guitarist Vini Reilly and legendary Manchester producer Martin Hannett, the Return of The Durutti Column paired Reilly's non-rock sketches with Hannett's electronic textures to produce "perfectly realized, correctly ambient and inventive music" (NME). The infamous sandpaper sleeve was somewhat less user friendly. Inspired by a 1959 Situationist publication by Guy Debord and Asger Jorn, the relentless iconoclasts at Factory hoped that the abrasive packaging would destroy existing record collections.

This long-awaited disc by The Concussions is here! A dozen raw, twangy surf and guitar instrumental tunes, delivered by guys that are masters of their instruments and know their way around a recording studio. Hailing from Grand Rapids, Michigan, this combo is led by Dick Chiclet on lead guitar, who also produced recorded and mixed this release. His production style, which favors the use of vintage gear and is inspired by Joe Meek and others in the past and present that have stuck to analog recording techniques. This all goes towards delivering a disc that will appeal to surf and vintage instrumental rock n' roll aficionados, as well as those that are just looking to move and groove on the dance floor.

Expanded double disc editions on vinyl and CD of LC, the second studio set by The Durutti Column, originally issued by Factory in 1981 and ranked among Vini Reilly's finest albums.

Handel's "nine German arias" (he wrote other arias in German, but this is a discrete group) were written in the mid-1720s, long after the composer left his native Germany for Italy and then booming Great Britain. It is not known why he should have written music in German at that late date, and the pieces have a quietly contented tone that sets them somewhat apart from almost everything else in Handel's oeuvre. The texts are by Hamburg poet Barthold Heinrich Brockes, whose so-called Brockes-Passion had already been set by Handel a decade earlier.