Specialty Records

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music
There’s no question that Billy Cobham is one of the most talented and influencial drummers on the planet. I had high hopes going into this one that it would be another “Birds Of Fire” shred-fest.

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music
Dreamy. Ethereal. Beautiful. These are the words that first spring to mind whenever I listen to A Taste for Passion by Jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty.

Essential: A masterpiece of progressive-rock music
I have prepared one of the hottest albums of the immortals “Emerson, Lake & Palmer”, the archi known album “Trilogy”.

Various Artists - The Ebb Story, Volume 2 (1997) {Ace Records CDCHD 603 rec 1957-1959}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 212 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 147 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1957-59, 1997 Ebb Records / Ace Records / Fantasy | CDCHD 603
Oldies / Blues / Doo Wop / Early R&B / Rockabilly

Specialty Records president Art Rupe's ex-wife Lee started Ebb Records in Los Angeles in 1957 with the proceeds from their divorce. Between 1957 and 1959, she released about 60 singles, which now stand as an excellent cross-section of 1950s music, ranging from blues to rockabilly to doo wop and teen pop. This compilation focuses on primarily on the blues and R&B singles from that label, along with some unissued surprises. Five tracks from future soul star Ted Taylor find him working in styles ranging from rock & roll ("Everywhere I Go") to pop ballad ("Very Truly Yours") to Bobby Bland-styled blues ("Days Are Dark" and "If I Don't See You Again"), with "Hold On (I've Got the Chills)" not seeing issuance until 1968, when it came out on Ronn.

Various Artists - The Ebb Story Vol. 1 (1995) {Ace Records CDCHD 524 rec 1957-1959}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 225 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 151 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1957-59, 1995 Ebb Records / Ace Records / Fantasy | CDCHD 524
Oldies / Doo Wop / Early R&B / Rockabilly

From 1957 to 1959, the Los Angeles label Ebb Records released around 60 singles. Only one became a national hit, although there were several regional successes. The label, however, recorded a fascinating cross-section of the music of the day and The Ebb Story tells the tale.Formed by Leonora "Lee" Rupe, with the money she received as a divorce settlement from her ex-husband Art Rupe (head of Specialty Records), and Jesse J Jones, an arranger and horn player, Ebb kicked off with The Ebbtones' Danny's Blues and worked their way through the New Orleans R&B of Professor Longhairs' Look What You're Doing To Me, the soulful blues of Ted Taylor, the down-home Texan blues guitar and voice of Smokey Hogg, the supper-club blues stylings of Floyd Dixon, the rockabilly of Kip Tyler, the chameleon vocals of Dolly Cooper and the classic hit R&B of the Hollywood Flames with Buzz, Buzz, Buzz (a version of which a young Bob Dylan performs on his forthcoming CD-ROM disc release).

What unites these 26 tracks? They're all black vocal group sides from 1960-1970, originally released on the Galaxy, Fantasy, 4-J, Riverside, and Specialty labels. That might be a fragile thread to tie a compilation around, but basically it's a way for Fantasy, which now distributes Specialty, to round up a bunch of doo wop, R&B, and soul rarities that it has license to. It's an agreeable though not great listen, illustrating in a modest way the transitional links between doo wop and soul music.

When Sam Cooke signed with RCA Records in 1960, he had already had several hits ("You Send Me," "What A Wonderful World," and "Only Sixteen" among them) on the small independent label Keen Records. He had paid attention to the business sides of things, too, and he signed with RCA because he was allowed to keep control of his song publishing…