Tom Schijvers

It's unfortunate that Tom Rush's third album has such a strong reputation among rock listeners – not that it doesn't deserve it, but it sort of distracts them from this album, which was as natural a fit for rock listeners as any folk album of its era. Rush's debut album is filled with a hard, bluesy brand of folk music that's hard on the acoustic guitar strings and not much easier on his voice; he sings stuff like "Long John" and "If Your Man Gets Busted" with a deep, throaty baritone that's only a little less raw than John Hammond's was while doing his work of the same era. Rush had the misfortune to be equated with Bob Dylan, but he had a more easygoing and accessible personality that comes out on numbers here such as Woody Guthrie's "Do-Re-Mi" and Kokomo Arnold's "Milkcow Blues," which are thoroughly enjoyable and quietly (but totally) beguiling. Additionally, he isn't such a purist that he felt above covering a Leiber & Stoller number such as "When She Wants Good Lovin'."

October 16th sees the release of an expanded version of Tom Petty’s seminal album Wildflowers. The 4 CD deluxe edition of Wildflowers contains 54 tracks, 8 unreleased songs, and 24 unreleased alternate versions. In addition to the 15 track original album (remastered), the deluxe edition contains the album All The Rest (10 songs from the original Wildflowers sessions), a full CD of 15 solo demos recorded by Petty at his home studio, and a disc of 14 live versions of Wildflowers songs recorded from 1995 – 2017.

"I was trying to find the thread that connects one type of music - one type of musician - toanother, and to follow that thread in some kind of natural, evolutionary way." - (Tom Jones on the "This Is Tom Jones' TV show)
In the handful of years that the show aired on television, a host of famous actors, comedians and singers graced the stage. After it made its debut appearance, the programme went on to have two more series with a total of 65 episodes by the time it came to an end in 1971. Perhaps most impressive was the calibre of musical talent that Jones managed to book for the show. The series’ ran from 1969 to 1971 and saw him singing with everyone from Jerry Lee Lewis to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Jones’ authenticity as a singer and performer shine through on these prized duets that often highlighted his own musical tastes which were varied and eclectic. London Calling revisits these incredible performances, made for prime time television audiences in the UK and USA over 50 years ago. Featuring an array of exclusive performances from iconic artists in the captivating company of the one and only Tom Jones! Fully restored and professionally remastered original TV broadcasts, presented with background notes and timeline photos.

Tom Jones became one of the most popular vocalists to emerge from the British Invasion. Since the mid-'60s, Jones has sung nearly every form of popular music – pop, rock, show tunes, country, dance, and techno, he's sung it all. His actual style – a full-throated, robust baritone that had little regard for nuance and subtlety – never changed, he just sang over different backing tracks. On-stage, Jones played up his sexual appeal; it didn't matter whether he was in an unbuttoned shirt or a tuxedo, he always radiated a raw sexuality that earned him a large following of devoted female fans who frequently threw underwear on-stage. Jones' following never diminished over the decades; he was able to exploit trends, earning new fans while retaining his core following.

Orphans is the most unwieldy Tom Waits collection yet. Packaged in a Cibachrome-tinted box are three discs containing 56 songs total. It claims 30 new tunes, but a mere 14 can be found on other records - six others have to be hunted for while the remainder have shown up in various incarnations. This crazy thing began as a collection of outtakes, rarities, soundtrack tunes, and compilation-only cuts - some of which survive here in new form, including tracks from the Ramblin' Jack Elliot tribute, the Bridge benefit, and two Ramones covers, to name a few. In other words, the first conception was as a hodgepodge collection of attic material. Waits checked out the tune selection as it was and said something like "nah, bad idea; this would suck"…

Damn the Torpedoes wasn't simply a culmination of Tom Petty's art; it happened to be a huge success, enabling him to call the shots on its successor, Hard Promises. Infamously, he used his first album as a star to challenge the record industry's practice of charging more for A-list artists, demanding that Hard Promises should be listed for less than most records by an artist of his stature, but if that was the only thing notable about the album, it would have disappeared like Long After Dark…

2CD FM broadcast captures Tom Petty s complete 1993 homecoming concert, his first show in Gainesville, Florida for 20 years. This show was just prior to the release of his greatest hits album and while he was in the process of moving to a new label. The greatest hits album also included 2 new recently recorded songs ; 'Mary Jane's Last Dance' and a cover of Thunderclap Newman's 'Something in the Air', both of which are included in this show. And the show was broadcast on the radio nationwide, in superb FM quality. So, here is Tom Petty's triumphant, yet somewhat overdue, return to Gainesville. Although some of the circulating FM versions of the show are shortened substantially, this is the full show in all its glory.