Jerry+lee+lewis

A characteristically humongous (8-CD) box set from the wonderful obsessive-compulsives at Bear Family, documenting the Killer's '60s tenure at Smash Records. Lewis made consistently good music during this period, but the combination of his personal scandals and the British Invasion made him a pariah to radio programmers until mid-decade, when he returned to his country roots. Highlights of the set include the entirety of a Texas live show, with Lewis and his crack band rendering various early rock standards at dangerously high (i.e., proto punk) speed, some excellent duets with his (then) wife Linda Gail, and gorgeous renditions of standards like Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" and Merle Haggard's "Lonesome Fugitive." Lewis fans with deep pockets should grab this one immediately…

Four CD box set from the Killer himself featuring 128 true Rock 'N Roll, Country, Blues and rockin' Gospel classics from his days with Sun Records. Features 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On', 'Great Balls of Fire', 'High School Confidential', 'Breathless', 'Crazy Arms' and many many more.

Let's call a spade a spade. Orion is an Elvis impersonator. No more, no less. That he's a good Elvis impersonator is important, since if he wasn't, Sun probably wouldn't have tried to promote his recordings as if they were genuine Elvis material, even going to the extremes of overdubbing Orion's voices on recordings by such Sun stalwarts as Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. This doesn't make him any better, but it sure makes him fascinating, particularly because he is gifted at mimicry and these are pretty good evocations of Elvis at his peak…

Fantastic Voyage continues its mission to unearth and collate America’s huge regional rock ‘n’ roll heritages by heading down to Louisiana for Later Alligator, a rare gumbo blend of Big Easy R&B, Cajun country, rampant blues-boogie and Bayou swing, served up over two discs brimming with lesser-heard originals and mouth-watering obscurities on CD for the first time…

Swampabilly Shindig leaps deep into the bayous and plantations of the Deep South. Here, although racial segregation remained law, black and white music mixed with country and rockabilly taking beautiful shape as the hillbilly cats learnt from their blues playing and gospel singing neighbours…

Johnny Cash was one of the most imposing and influential figures in post-World War II country music. With his deep, resonant baritone and spare percussive guitar, he had a basic, distinctive sound. Cash didn't sound like Nashville, nor did he sound like honky tonk or rock & roll. He created his own subgenre, falling halfway between the blunt emotional honesty of folk, the rebelliousness of rock & roll, and the world-weariness of country. Cash's career coincided with the birth of rock & roll, and his rebellious attitude and simple, direct musical attack shared a lot of similarities with rock. However, there was a deep sense of history – as he would later illustrate with his series of historical albums – that kept him forever tied with country. And he was one of country music's biggest stars of the '50s and '60s, scoring well over 100 hit singles…

Having loaded up the station wagon and filled the gas tank, Fantastic Voyage is all set to bring you an exciting new series of regional Rock’n’Roll, a musical travelogue charting some of the finest rockin’ recordings from across the US from the period 1953-1960…