The Mom Test

While just about every critic and fan has a favorite Roches album that was inexplicably ignored, most will probably agree that Speak was the one that really should have gone gold. All of the ingredients for a huge album are here: emotional yet accessible songs, radio-friendly folk-pop arrangements, and the sisters' usual mind-blowing vocal pyrotechnics. True, the title cut does have harmonies and cadences that are more typical of Bulgarian music, but much of the rest of this album is radio-ready.

The Long Ryders - Final Wild Songs (2016) {4CD Box Set, Cherry Red ‎Records CRCDBOX21 rec 1983-1986}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.96 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 651 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 372 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1983-86, 2016 Cherry Red ‎Records / Sid Griffin / Universal | CRCDBOX21
Rock / Alternative Country / Americana / Alternative Rock / Country Rock

The Long Ryders were formed by several American musicians influenced by Gram Parsons and the Byrds, with country and punk rock influences. The band featured Sid Griffin on guitar, autoharp, and bugle, Stephen McCarthy, guitar, steel guitar, mandolin, and banjo, Des Brewer, as bassist, (later replaced by Tom Stevens) and Greg Sowders, playing drums and percussion. With a sound reminiscent of Gram Parsons, Buffalo Springfield and The Flying Burrito Brothers, but with a harder edge, they anticipated the alternative country music of the 1990s by a decade. This 4-CD career overview has been compiled with both Sid Griffin and Tom Stevens from original tapes (where they exist) - Sid has contributed a track by track breakdown for the set. The set features all the original albums as well as demos, singles and rare live recordings. Re-mastered by Andy Pearce the recordings and in Sid's opinion have never sounded so good. A new booklet designed by Phil Smee contains many rare photos and memorabilia.

With apologies to groups like The Meters, Bar-Kays, and Average White Band, when it comes to all-time great instrumental R&B bands, for most folks Booker T. & the MG's represent the gold standard. And with good reason'or, actually reasons! First of all, as the house band of the hallowed Stax label, The MG's pretty much invented the sound of Southern soul, playing on records by everybody from Otis Redding to Wilson Pickett to Carla Thomas. Second, on their own as Booker T & the MG's, they came up with some of the most indelible instrumental jams of all time, including'but by no means limited to!''Green Onions.' And, third, each member of the band was an absolute monster on their instrument, to this day revered and copied by untold numbers of musicians. Indeed, by the time the mid '60s rolled around, bands on both sides of the Atlantic wanted to sound like Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, Jr, and Lewie Steinberg (replaced about halfway through this collection by the great Donald 'Duck' Dunn).

Listening to this Purple Rain-era live show from Syracuse in 1985, you’re reminded how introverted Prince was. Does he dazzle? Yes. Does he dance? Yes—and shred, and sweat, and offer you his most carnal love. But he also creates a sense of interiority that, if not at odds with how physical the music is, at least feels remarkable when you remember there were 50,000 people there with him. God and Satan (“Let’s Go Crazy”), Mom and Dad (“When Doves Cry”), U and Me (“Let’s Pretend We’re Married”): He sees the lines and he blurs them. The funniest banter comes on “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore” when he asks, “Does your man have an ass like mine?” But the one that gets under your skin is on “God” because when he says, “I know you better than you think I do,” he says it like he might.