Star on 45

Nick Gravenites grew up on the southside of Chicago hanging out in the mid-50's with a coterie of misfit white kids - Elvin Bishop, Paul Butterfield, Michael Bloomfield - who went on to form that protean powerhouse of watershed white blues, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. In addition to authoring the classic "Born In Chicago" and "East West" for Butterfield, Gravenites scribed hits for Janis Joplin, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Michael Bloomfield, Electric Flag, Pure Prairie League, Tracy Nelson, Roy Buchanan, Jimmy Witherspoon, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, and James Cotton. He has appeared on some 40 albums as singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer.

Star Time is a 1991 71-track, 4-CD box set by James Brown. Its contents span most of the length of his career up to the time of its release, starting in 1956 with his first hit record, "Please, Please, Please", and ending with "Unity, Pt. 1", his 1984 collaboration with Afrika Bambaataa. It includes a few previously unreleased tracks.

Big Star - #1 Record (1972) {Victor Entertainment Japan MiniLP VICP-62291 rel 2003}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 276 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 87 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 17 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1972, 2003 Ardent Music / Victor Entertainment Japan | VICP-62291 | Mini LP
Rock / Contemporary Pop/Rock / Power Pop / Proto-Punk

First-to-CD reissue of Big Star's 1972 first album. Expected to come housed in a mini-LP type cardboard sleeve. The problem with coming in late on an artwork lauded as "influential" is that you've probably encountered the work it influenced first, so its truly innovative qualities are lost. Thus, if you are hearing Big Star's debut album for the first time decades after its release (as, inevitably, most people must), you may be reminded of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers or R.E.M., who came after – that is, if you don't think of the Byrds and the Beatles circa 1965. What was remarkable about #1 Record in 1972 was that nobody except Big Star (and maybe Badfinger and the Raspberries) wanted to sound like this – simple, light pop with sweet harmonies and jangly guitars.

Following in the footsteps of Geri Halliwell, Mel C (formerly Sporty Spice) has released her debut solo album Northern Star. Like the rest of the Spice Girls, Mel is a self-proclaimed Madonna disciple and has shamelessly enlisted the talents of no less than six former collaborators of the pop icon, including William Orbit and Marius DeVries. The sleek club anthem “I Turn To You,” the best of the album’s tracks, was co-written by none other than Billy Steinberg, of “Like A Virgin” fame.