Thinkin Things Done

A true underground legend, Madeleine Bell may not be a household name (yet) but her position as the pre-eminent session singer for the past forty years means her warm, soulful tones are instantly recognizable. Her beautiful voice has floated across radio, television, film soundtracks, the internet & now is finally available solo on CD. 'Doin' Things', her second Phillips LP, is being re-issued for the first time with two non-album singles from the same period as well as a b-side to a single that prefaced this LP, Go Ahead On, a co-write with Dusty Springfield, who also recorded her own version.

In the early 1980s, hardcore fans of the Ohio Players would have loved to see the funksters come out with a truly great album and return to the top of the charts. But that didn't happen - there wouldn't be another Fire or Skin Tight for the Players, and it was obvious that the band was past their prime. The second of two little-known albums that the Midwesterners recorded for Boardwalk in 1981, Ouch! was a slight improvement over its forgettable predecessor Tenderness, but it's disappointing nonetheless. Thist LP was produced by Richard "Dimples" Fields, a talented vocalist/songwriter/producer, to be sure, but Ouch! is hardly his finest hour and isn't among the Players' more memorable releases.

Mac Wiseman was a an American bluegrass and country singer, as well as a bass player and guitarist, who hailed from Virginia, and came to the fore with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs’ Foggy Mountian Boys in 1948 and later played with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys. In 1951 he signed a solo deal with Dot Records and immediately shot to prominence with his big seller “Tis Sweet To Be Remembered”. He sang with a clear, mellow tenor voice that helped him stand out from the usual run of bluegrass performers in his early career, with his appealing style earning him the nickname of “The Voice With A Heart”. This great-value 59-track 2-CD collection comprises selected A & B sides from his releases on Dot during this era, as he gradually moved from bluegrass towards more mainstream country and pop-flavoured material. It features his Top 10 country hits from these years with “The Ballad Of Davy Crockett” and “Jimmy Brown The Newsboy”. He was a noted ambassador for traditional country music over the years, and this collection provides an admirable showcase for his distinctive style of the genre.

AllMusic Review by Steve Leggett
While Herman's Hermits will undoubtedly never get the critical respect afforded other British Invasion groups like the Beatles, the Who, the Rolling Stones, or the Kinks, as a group they weren't as silly as most people remember them. OK, maybe they were – certainly when on camera – but they and their producer Mickie Most had the good sense to pick solid songs to cover (the Goffin & King nugget "I'm into Something Good," "Silhouettes," originally done by the Rays, and Sam Cooke's great "Wonderful World"), which allowed them to sustain a hit-making career long past the end of chart action for such rival pop-oriented British Invasion acts as Gerry & the Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer. This four-disc set covers the Hermits' years with Most (1964 to 1972) about as well as one could in terms of content, representing everything the group did with him, including a brace of rarities, unreleased tracks, and sides that singer Peter Noone recorded with Most as a solo artist on the producer's RAK label. For most Hermits fans, it will seem like too much of a good thing, as all of the group's hits have reappeared numerous times in compilations too ubiquitous to list – but they would be making a terrible mistake to pass up this set. Indeed, if anything, this quadruple-disc set is too much of a great thing, if such a thing is possible (though with one important flaw). And that makes it well worth saving up for.

AllMusic Review by Steve Leggett
While Herman's Hermits will undoubtedly never get the critical respect afforded other British Invasion groups like the Beatles, the Who, the Rolling Stones, or the Kinks, as a group they weren't as silly as most people remember them. OK, maybe they were – certainly when on camera – but they and their producer Mickie Most had the good sense to pick solid songs to cover (the Goffin & King nugget "I'm into Something Good," "Silhouettes," originally done by the Rays, and Sam Cooke's great "Wonderful World"), which allowed them to sustain a hit-making career long past the end of chart action for such rival pop-oriented British Invasion acts as Gerry & the Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer. This four-disc set covers the Hermits' years with Most (1964 to 1972) about as well as one could in terms of content, representing everything the group did with him, including a brace of rarities, unreleased tracks, and sides that singer Peter Noone recorded with Most as a solo artist on the producer's RAK label. For most Hermits fans, it will seem like too much of a good thing, as all of the group's hits have reappeared numerous times in compilations too ubiquitous to list – but they would be making a terrible mistake to pass up this set. Indeed, if anything, this quadruple-disc set is too much of a great thing, if such a thing is possible (though with one important flaw). And that makes it well worth saving up for.

This superbly remastered and presented 4 CD box set presents both classic and rare and collectible slide guitar blues from some of the best ever. From early legends like Tampa Red, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charley Patton. Through to electric blues guitar icons like J.B. Hutto and Homesick James and finally the modern blues guys-Joe Louis Walker, Lucky Peterson and Louisiana Red.

This superbly remastered and presented 4 CD box set presents both classic and rare and collectible slide guitar blues from some of the best ever. From early legends like Tampa Red, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charley Patton. Through to electric blues guitar icons like J.B. Hutto and Homesick James and finally the modern blues guys-Joe Louis Walker, Lucky Peterson and Louisiana Red.

Powerful, engrossing and bold, Karise Eden's new album 'Born To Fight' captures the spirit of the singer who shot to fame at the age of just 19 and soon grew into a woman more than ready to take on the world. Karise knows there's strength in her vulnerability, she's been there and she can plumb those depths. But since releasing her second album 'Things I've Done' (2014) she realised she wanted to make music that showed her fiery side and her passion for blues, rock'n roll and even a great power ballad. "I've always been singing sad soul songs and I thought, just for once, there's another side of my personality that's never been shown on camera, my off-screen sass and who I am as a person, and that's a lot of what poured into this album," she says.

This superbly remastered and presented 4 CD box set presents both classic and rare and collectible slide guitar blues from some of the best ever. From early legends like Tampa Red, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charley Patton. Through to electric blues guitar icons like J.B. Hutto and Homesick James and finally the modern blues guys-Joe Louis Walker, Lucky Peterson and Louisiana Red.