Snapper 3

Porcupine Tree were an English progressive rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. The band began essentially as a solo project for Wilson, who created all of the band's music. By late 1993, however, he wanted to work in a band environment, bringing on frequent collaborators Richard Barbieri as keyboardist, Colin Edwin as bassist, and Chris Maitland as drummer to form the first permanent lineup…

After a few years of outdoing the Rolling Stones at their own game, Messrs. May and Co., clearly affected by their love of swinging London nightlife and all that went with it, injected their primal R&B roots with added spice (as Mike Stax, "numero uno Los Pretty Things fan," points out in his excellent liner notes). "Can't Stand the Pain" (from the 1965 Get The Picture album) has "a remarkably effective mood …

Carmen McRae always had a nice voice (if not on the impossible level of an Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughan) but it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretations of lyrics that made her most memorable. She studied piano early on and had her first important job singing with Benny Carter's big band (1944), but it would be another decade before her career had really gained much momentum. McRae married and divorced Kenny Clarke in the '40s, worked with Count Basie (briefly) and Mercer Ellington (1946-1947), and became the intermission singer and pianist at several New York clubs. In 1954 she began to record as a leader' and by then she had absorbed the influences of Billie Holiday and bebop into her own style.

Yet another of the ubiquitous Memphis Slim compilations, Grinder Man Blues is different from most of Snapper Music's budget blues reissues in that it confines itself to a tiny space in its subject's career: his Bluebird sides from 1940-1941.

Released in 1997, The X Factor: Out There… And Back is a two-CD UFO compilation issued by Snapper Music. Disc one of the high flyer collection features twelve tracks from the band's early sighting, with original guitarist Mick Bolton in the ranks, when the group leaned on spaced-out psychedic blues. Included from the pre-Chysalis Records era are "Boogie for George", a cover of Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody", and a live version of "Lovin' Cup"…

Peter Green is one of the best guitarists of his generation and after a period in the wilderness he re-emerged in 1997 to critical acclaim with the Splinter Group. The material Peter Green recorded with the Splinter Group on five albums for Snapper Music represents a true return to form for the ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarist, including the W.C. Handy award winning album The Robert Johnson Songbook. This new vitality was confirmed on the classic limited edition double live album Soho Session (sold out week one), recorded at the world-famous Ronnie Scott's club. Then his first original material since the early '80s was presented on Destiny Road, produced by Cream lyricist Pete Brown.

Live in Boston is a live album by British blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac. It was recorded over three nights at the Boston Tea Party venue in Boston, between February 5 and February 7, 1970. The recordings were made for a proposed live album, which was to have been released during 1970 but the project was shelved and the tapes remained unreleased until Shanghai Records issued seven songs from the performances as Live in Boston in February 1985. In 1998, Snapper Music released a three-volume CD set, titled Live in Boston: Remastered (later reissued as Live at the Boston Tea Party), which collected virtually all of the available tracks from the Boston Tea Party concerts. These three volumes have subsequently been available individually or as a box set.