The Quantumnhand Shake

Headed by singer/guitarist Joe Evans IV, Left Lane Cruiser is a bona fide blues rock band from the American mid-west. Far from pretending to be rambling hobos for the sake of a manufactured image (wink to Seasick Steve), Left Lane Cruiser has been genuinely living the blues for over a decade, bringing its freestyle jams to crowds all over the world.Shake and Bake, the bands new album, was cooked up in a van rolling heavy on the highway, headed by two baked and juiced musicians, veering across the lines, desperately steering towards rest and redemption at the nearest parking lot. It is a record about the juice that keeps the crowd dancing, the smoke that keeps the minds lifted. This is as real it gets.Recorded old school analog by Jason Davis in his Fort Waynes studio, and with a cover by legendary artist William Stout (Ramones, Fred McDowell, Iggy Pop), Shake and Bake has a heavy sound and a big heart. For Left Lane Cruiser the blues is enduring and easy to feel.

Their union in the Boneshakers was fairly short-lived, but together guitarist/songwriter Randy Jacobs and vocalist Sweet Pea Atkinson put together two powerful, rockin' funk and soul albums and entertained some lucky audiences who became Boneshakers themselves on dance floors across the U.S. Atkinson was born in Oberlin, OH. After working 14 years as a Chrysler assembly line worker, he left his job to pursue a music career, singing for such Detroit R&B groups as the Exquisites and Energy. While with Energy, he worked with Detroit producer Don Was (then unknown). He has also sung with industry heavyweights Elton John, Lyle Lovett, Bonnie Raitt, Neil Diamond, and Brian Wilson.

Recorded in the midst of Robert Smith's tenuous tenure with Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Top is arguably the most hedonistic record the Cure ever produced. Essentially Smith and Lol Tolhurst working with studio musicians (this being the period when the Cure's lineup was never assured), it's an album obviously recorded under stress, drink, and drugs. More wildly experimental musically than anything before it, it laid the foundations for the Cure's pattern of unpigeonholable albums that were to erase their reputation built by Pornography and eventually culminating in Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. That said, it's still very much a Cure record. Heavy on the percussion and quaint keyboard effects that were so big in the '80s, the melodies ("The Caterpillar," "Shake Dog Shake") are unmistakably Robert Smith…

In the wake of punk’s seismic and well recounted impact on the UK music scene, countless hitherto unavailable influences suddenly became available and de rigueur for the nation’s would-be pop stars. Enabled by a new kind of record shop that began to appear across the country in Rough Trade’s image, and encouraged by an absolute disregard for ‘the rules’, interested young people were quickly exposed to a broad spectrum of music from beyond the realm of three chord rock ‘n roll. Nowhere was the outcome more notable than on the dancefloors of the day.

Collecting the Cars' first five albums into one set, this collection features many of the band's essential songs, including "Just What I Needed," "Moving in Stereo," "You're All I've Got Tonight," and "Drive." For anyone interested in purchasing the bulk of the band's output in one fell swoop, this set offers an easy option.

An intensely powerful singer and guitarist, Elmore James did not start his recording career until he was 33, and he only lived to be 45, but he made a very strong impact during his dozen years on records. Some of his finest work was cut for the Fire label during 1959-1961, roughly half of which is included on this single CD. Other than a final outburst of selections during February 1963, these were James' last studio sessions, and he is heard at the peak of his powers throughout. Among the best-known performances are the hit "Shake Your Moneymaker," "The Sky Is Crying," and a remake of his famous "Dust My Broom," but all 16 selections are full of passion and fire. This is an essential acquisition for blues collectors, at least until a more complete James on Fire reissue comes out.