Sounding Race

Always one of the most exquisite-sounding records of the mid-'70s, Blue Pine Trees was the sound of Unicorn at the peak of their musical and songwriting abilities. An album that puts you in mind of Lindisfarne before they got desperate, or the Beatles if Ashley Hutchings had produced them, this is British folk-rock at one of its most idiosyncratic extremes. On the one hand, Unicorn's roots in the sounds of the American West Coast are unmistakable. But, on the other, they never forget their English roots and, mindful too of their familial links to Pink Floyd (Dave Gilmour produced the best of their albums), Blue Pine Trees soars with melancholy subtlety above all of its influences, to remind us just how unique Unicorn were…

Although one may think of the blues harp beginning with Little Walter, the first Sonny Boy Williamson, or Sonny Terry, a variety of harmonica players did record in the '20s. Some of their recordings were technical displays that featured them imitating everything from animals to trains, while other players were more blues-oriented. This valuable CD has two selections from the guitar-harmonica team of William Francis and Richard Sowell; Ollis Martin's "Police and High Sheriff Come Ridin' Down"; six pieces by Eli Watson (including "El Watson's Fox Chase"); two cuts apiece by Palmer McAbee, Ellis Williams, Alfred Lewis, and the team of Smith & Harper (which is the only music on this CD recorded after 1930); plus four songs/displays from Blues Birdhead (including "Get up off That Jazzophone") and George "Bullet" Williams (highlighted by "Frisco Leaving Birmingham" and "The Escaped Convict"). Fascinating music.

Essential: a masterpiece of country folk music
By the time Gordon Lightfoot released Summertime Dream in June of ’76, he was already being referred to as Canada’s greatest songwriter.

Various Artists - Hillbillies In Hell: Country Music's Tortured Testament 1952-1974 (2016) {OMNI - 184}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 337 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 161 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 73 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2016 The Omni Recording Corporation | OMNI - 184
Country

Light in the Attic's 2016 compilation Hillbillies in Hell: Country Music's Tortured Testament (1952-1974) digs deep into odd, forgotten recesses of country music, discovering independently pressed laments about dope and the devil. Two of the names will be familiar to country fans – Margie Singleton, with her inspirational anthem "Jesus Is My Pusher," and Cowboy Copas, who warns "Don't Shake Hands with the Devil" – but most of the featured 18 tracks echo other better-known country singers, usually Johnny Cash.

Gene Vincent only had one really big hit, "Be-Bop-a-Lula," which epitomized rockabilly at its prime in 1956 with its sharp guitar breaks, spare snare drums, fluttering echo, and Vincent's breathless, sexy vocals. Yet his place as one of the great early rock & roll singers is secure, backed up by a wealth of fine smaller hits and non-hits that rate among the best rockabilly of all time. The leather-clad, limping, greasy-haired singer was also one of rock's original bad boys, lionized by romanticists of past and present generations attracted to his primitive, sometimes savage style and indomitable spirit.

Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram (1971) {4CD+DVD Set, 2012 Remaster USA Deluxe Edition, Concord–Hear Music HRM-33450-00}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 955 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 373 Mb
DVD5 -> 1.98 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 16:9 | English (LinearPCM, 2 ch) | ~ 38 m | ISO Image
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 555 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1971, 2012 Concord / MPL / Hear Music | HRM-33450-00
Rock / Soft Rock / Contemporary Pop

RAM forms one part of the Paul McCartney archive collection, personally supervised by Paul and newly remastered at Abbey Road Studios. RAM, originally released in May of 1971, is the only album to be credited to both Paul and Linda McCartney. The album topped the charts hitting number one in the UK and number two in the US, and also gave Paul his first post-Beatles US number one single with "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" and a Grammy win for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists.

A collection of 6 CD, which includes all the studio albums by American alternative rock band from Sacramento at the moment. Best-known for their ubiquitous hit "The Distance," Cake epitomized the postmodern, irony-drenched aesthetic of '90s geek rock. Their sound freely mixed and matched pastiches of widely varying genres – white-boy funk, hip-hop, country, new wave pop, jazz, college rock, and guitar rock – with a particular delight in the clashes that resulted. Their songs were filled with lyrical non-sequiturs, pop-culture references, and smirky satire, all delivered with bone-dry detachment by speak/singing frontman John McCrea. Cake's music most frequently earned comparisons to Soul Coughing and King Missile, but lacked the downtown New York artiness of those two predecessors; instead, Cake cultivated an image of average guys with no illusions and pretensions about their role as entertainers. At the same time, critics lambasted what they saw as a smugly superior attitude behind the band's habitual sarcasm.

With her trademark leather jump suit, instantly hooky songs, and big bass guitar, Suzi Quatro is a glam rock icon with a window-rattling voice and rock & roll attitude to spare. After getting her start in garage and hard rock bands, 1973's breakthrough single "Can the Can," a stomping blast of glam rock that combined '50s-style song craft with Quatro's powerful vocals, made her an international star. She followed up with a string of similar-sounding singles and albums – and made an impression on TV viewers with her role on the hit sitcom Happy Days – before softening her sound and scoring a hit with the 1978 ballad "Stumblin' In." While her work in the future would encompass everything from new wave pop on 1983's Main Attraction to starring in a musical based on the life of Tallulah Bankhead in 1991, Quatro never lost her instincts as a rocker, as evidenced by albums like 2006's Back to the Drive and 2021's The Devil in Me.