Years And Yeard

Any casual listener looking over this 132-track five-CD set would probably conclude that it was far more Bill Haley than they need bite off in one gulp - and they'd be right, as casual listeners. For the serious rock & roll enthusiast, as well as the hardcore Bill Haley fan, however, there's a wealth of worthwhile material to be found here, some of which will amaze even those fans: a dozen great songs and 55 or so more that are good, and another 20 that are fascinating mistakes, and that's a good average for an artist who is generally thought of as having generated just a handful of important records. What Haley had most of all was a distinctive sound - between the backbeat, the country boogie roots, and the R&B sources - that pretty much defined white rock & roll for almost its first two years (until Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins emerged in the spring of 1956); the first two CDs here offer that sound in abundance…

The rating of this six-CD set is no joke - yes, Bill Haley was supposed to be an irrelevant artist during the 1960s, but he did, in fact, generate well over 100 good and far-better-than-decent sides that are contained in this set. No, there's nothing remotely as earth-shattering or important as his best work for Decca from 1954-1955, and even most hardcore fans of that material may find the cost of this set difficult to justify; but take it from someone who shelled out for this box, it's worth a LOT more than you'd ever guess without hearing it - Haley and his band still knew how to work a song, as demonstrated several dozen times on this set. The title is actually a bit misleading, since the sides that Haley recorded for Warner Bros. Records amount to less than a third of the contents of this box…

A characteristically humongous (8-CD) box set from the wonderful obsessive-compulsives at Bear Family, documenting the Killer's '60s tenure at Smash Records. Lewis made consistently good music during this period, but the combination of his personal scandals and the British Invasion made him a pariah to radio programmers until mid-decade, when he returned to his country roots. Highlights of the set include the entirety of a Texas live show, with Lewis and his crack band rendering various early rock standards at dangerously high (i.e., proto punk) speed, some excellent duets with his (then) wife Linda Gail, and gorgeous renditions of standards like Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" and Merle Haggard's "Lonesome Fugitive." Lewis fans with deep pockets should grab this one immediately…

Iconic '80s rockers Night Ranger have sold more 17 million albums worldwide and boast several platinum and gold albums to their name. In celebration of their 35 plus year career and in anticipation of their brand new studio album, expected for spring of 2017, this new live album, featuring all of their classic and most recent hits, sees the band at the top of their game, delivering a superb performance not to be missed!…

Of all the British acts that started messing with the blues in the early '60s, the Animals always sounded the toughest and most committed to the cause. They didn't have a genius guitarist like the Yardbirds or the Bluesbreakers, and couldn't write memorable original material like the Rolling Stones, but Eric Burdon was one of the few singers in the U.K. whose guts and ferocity approached that of his influences (without sounding like he was simply copying what he'd heard), and the tough, no-nonsense attack of guitarist Hilton Valentine, bassist Chas Chandler, and drummer John Steel drove the Animals with style and power, while keyboard man Alan Price gave the band plenty of welcome melodic flair…

As its album title suggests, Starship's compilation Greatest Hits (Ten Years and Change 1979-1991) covers not only the group's popular heyday, 1985-1991, but also the earlier era, 1979-1984, which was actually the latter days of Jefferson Starship, after the departures of co-lead singers Marty Balin and Grace Slick, with former Elvin Bishop Group singer Mickey Thomas replacing Balin, and Slick, eventually, returning. The history that is described by the collection is largely one of attrition, effectively traced by the performer credits listed in the booklet. In 1979, the group is a sextet consisting of Thomas, lead guitarist Craig Chaquico, rhythm guitarist Paul Kantner (the last remaining holdout from the original Jefferson Airplane lineup), keyboardist Pete Sears, bassist David Freiberg, and drummer Aynsley Dunbar.