A classic album by a group that helped rock music find its new direction. The Cars, Heartbeat City, was released in 1984 and immediately shot up the charts to Number 3. The album produced several songs instantly recognizable as classics that will forever be among the greatest pop songs ever recorded. Heavy beats. Cool lyrics. Lots of keyboards. This album represents 80's music at its peak, and was a forerunner of New Wave becoming pop and pop becoming New Wave.

Animals 2018 Remix - The iconic 1977 Pink Floyd album has been remixed for the first time by James Guthrie. Animals is a concept album, focusing on the social-political conditions of mid-1970s Britain, and was a change from the style of the band's earlier work. The album was developed from a collection of unrelated songs into a concept which describes the apparent social and moral decay of society, likening the human condition to that of animals. Taking inspiration from George Orwell's Animal Farm, the album depicts the different classes of people as animals with pigs being at the top of the social chain, dropping down to the sheep as the mindless herd following what they are told, with dogs as the business bosses getting fat on the money and power they hold over the other. Although it's been a long time since 1977, the narrative of the album still resonates today as our social and economic situation mirrors that of the time.

John Mayall's Bluesbreakers featured the best of the early 60s English rhythm and blues scene, including members of the Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Cream and more. This compilation of live tracks was recorded in the USA and Italy in the early 1980's, and features performances by John McVie (Fleetwood Mac) and Mick Taylor (The Rolling Stones) from the reformed Bluesbreakers tour of 1982. Over 70 minutes of the finest blues including a storming workout of "The Stumble". Full booklet. A replica of the release of Secret Records Limited.

Six years went by between the release of Crazy Horse's third album, At Crooked Lake, and its fourth, Crazy Moon, and a lot of water went under the bridge in the meantime. Crazy Horse was, in effect, three different bands on its first three albums because the only constants were bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina as lead singers, songwriters, guitarists, and keyboardists came and went. The band name seemed to be retired by 1973, but in 1974 Talbot and Molina hooked up with singer/guitarist Frank Sampedro as Crazy Horse, leading to sessions with their erstwhile employer Neil Young that resulted in the Young/Crazy Horse album Zuma. At the same time, they recorded some Crazy Horse tracks that sat around for years, finally being finished off in the summer of 1978 for release here. The result is the first album since their debut, 1971's Crazy Horse, that sounds identifiable as the band that backs Young.

This powerhouse set of live recordings from early in Robben Ford's distinguished career boasts solo-laden 10-minute-plus versions of B.B. King's "Sweet Sixteen" and John Lee Hooker's "It's My Own Fault." Ford, who has worked with Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis, and George Harrison, plays surprisingly sweet, agile saxophone on Don Raye's jazz ballad "You Don't Know What Love Is." His voice–if still that of a very young man–is throaty and melodic on the King and Hooker cuts. But it's his guitar that takes centerstage. Owing heaps to electric bluesmen B.B., Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Albert King, and Mike Bloomfield, Ford's rich tone, deliberate lines, and tuneful bends were world-class even in 1972.

When an album boasts Robben Ford on lead vocals and guitar and Jimmy Haslip on electric bass, one tends to assume that there will be some type of jazz influence. Haslip, after all, was a founding member of the Yellowjackets back in 1981 and was still with the group 29 years later in early 2010, while the eclectic Ford has a long history of excelling as both a blues-rocker and a jazzman. It turns out that jazz is, in fact, an influence on parts of Renegade Creation, which unites Haslip and Ford with Michael Landau (lead vocals, guitar) and Gary Novak (drums). Jazz isn't a huge influence on this 2010 release, but it is an influence. More than anything, however, Renegade Creation is an album of blues-rock and decidedly bluesy hard rock.

Recorded live 25/09/1999 & 26/09/1999 in London with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. Taken from the album 'Deep Purple In Concert - With The London Symphony Orchestra'.

A classic example of the whole not matching the component parts, Tramp featured several high-profile veterans of the British blues boom including Mick Fleetwood (drums), Bob Brunning (bass), Danny Kirwan (guitar), Dave Kelly (vocals), Jo Ann Kelly (vocals) and Bob Hall (keyboards). Hall, like Brunning, had earlier been co-leader of the Brunning-Hall Sunflower Blues Band. Tramp made their debut for Music Man Records in 1969 with a self-titled collection which lacked direction or convincing songwriting.

This superb five-disc box set gives a sweeping overview of the hugely influential music of blues legend Ma Rainey. Rainey was already a seasoned performer by the time she made her first recordings in 1923, and though she only recorded for six years she cut over 100 songs, many of which went on to become blues classics. Those tunes, including "C.C. Rider," "Bo Weavil Blues," and "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," are here, alongside dozens of other gems. Rainey ranged across styles and settings, from acoustic blues to jazz to jug bands, but her saucy, gritty vocal delivery remained a lynchpin. Given the historical impact of Rainey's output, the set's title - Mother Of The Blues - is no understatement.
Heard along the way are such notables as Lovie Austin’s Blues Serenaders (with excellent playing from cornetist Tommy Ladnier and clarinetist Jimmy O’Bryant), three groups drawn from the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra…

One of the denizens of Holyground Records, the combination studio and label that helped give Bill Nelson his start, A-Austr (who took their name from the first volume of an encyclopedia) ranged far and wide as far as musical influences went. The initial release of their single self-titled album was limited to 99 copies, with elaborate packaging, with copies eventually changing hands for a great deal of money. The album was eventually reissued, once again as a limited edition, once again attracting collectors. The music is intriguing, but the greatest interest, for many people, is perhaps the Nelson connection.

The companion piece to The Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg is not your usual progressive rock album. Very quirky, with many, mostly brief compositions, the album is a tad less spacy than Teapot, with just a few psychedelic-inspired lyrics, and it's very technically adept. Angel's Egg opens with a true space rock cut (one of the few on the album), filled with the usual Gilli Smyth space whispering and Daevid Allen voicings, then leads into the cleverly titled "Sold to the Highest Buddha," with Steve Hillage and Didier Malherbe prominent figures. The instrumental "Castle in the Clouds" finds Hillage coming into his own, with a sound identical to his solo work. "Givin' My Love to You" sounds like a bar song, with no music and a cluster of seemingly drunken fellas trying to sing. The instrumental "Flute Salad" gives way to "Oily Way," a showcase for Malherbe's jazzy flute…

Although tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon seemed to have been largely forgotten in the U.S. during his long residence in Europe, he was playing in prime form during the period and made occasional trips back to America. On this CD reissue, Gordon teams up with pianist Wynton Kelly (one of his last recordings), bassist Sam Jones and drummer Roy Brooks for an obscure original ("Evergreenish"), "The Jumpin' Blues," the veteran ballad "For Sentimental Reasons" and three songs that were long a part of Gordon's repertoire: "Star Eyes," "Rhythm-A-Ning" and "If You Could See Me Now." Dexter Gordon is in fine form on the excellent straightahead bop set.

The Pretenders' 1987 collection, The Singles, did a fine job of assembling most of the group's finest tracks up to that point in their career, so after another decade passed, their record company felt it was necessary to compile a more "updated" collection, 2000's Euro-only release Greatest Hits. Although it contains a total of 20 tracks, Greatest Hits ultimately fails to improve over its predecessor, for the simple fact that the early '80s was the Pretenders' artistic and commercial peak, and Greatest Hits contains too much latter-day material. Whereas it would have been a wise move to showcase such oft-overlooked classics as "Tattooed Love Boys," "Mystery Achievement," "Precious," "My City Was Gone," or "Birds of Paradise" (all of which weren't included on The Singles), Greatest Hits includes such not-as-strong selections as "Night in My Veins," "Breakfast in Bed," and "Human" instead. Although there are quite a few gems included ("Brass in Pocket," "Message of Love," "Talk of the Town," "Kid," "Back on the Chain Gang," etc.), Greatest Hits leaves out far too many prime selections to be considered truly definitive.