JOHNNY CASH
THE COMPLETE SUN MASTERS
2008-CHARLY
VARIOUS PRODUCERS
Wow. This box set is exactly what it says it is...it's absolutely everything that Johnny Cash recorded for Sun Records between 1955 and 1958. 3 discs and a whopping 100 tracks even, this is the absolutely definitive document of the early career of one of rock and country's greatest. There are alternate versions, including versions of songs without the criminally sappy overdubs that were popular at the time. Demos, undubbed, dubbed, it's all here. Not to mention that the liner notes are impeccable, and the pictures alone are worth having. Lots of old album covers and early promo shots.
Just as good is the look that Charly Records takes at the period. They are openly critical of Sun's use of overdubs on Cash's material, and even make mention of just how plagiarized his breakthrough, "Folsom Prison Blues", really was. This is one of the best put together box sets you'll ever find...a true gem loaded with nothing but great material.
wow! This sounds awesome! Sounds like you just recently bought it. Is that true or have u had for a while.
I LOVE the Sun recording by Cash which I guess contain those overdubs so curious if I'd like this even more. Is there so much goodness in my near future? lol.
SONIC YOUTH
EXPERIMENTAL JET SET, TRASH AND NO STAR
1994-GEFFEN
Produced By BUTCH VIG & SONIC YOUTH
1. Winner's Blues
2. Bull In The Heather
3. Starfield Road
4. Skink
5. Screaming Skull
6. Self-Obsessed And Sexxee
7. Bone
8. Androgynous Mind
9. Quest For The Cup
10. Waist
11. Doctor's Orders
12. Tokyo Eye
13. In The Mind Of The Bourgeois Reader
14. Sweet Shine
Maybe the greatest hit or miss band of all time, albums from Sonic Youth seem to be either very good or very average. And, probably moreso than any other band, each person seems to have a favorite that others find terrible. Experimental Jet Set starts of in awesome fashion: "Winner's Blues", an acoustic number sung by Thurston Moore, is a great opener, followed by the excellent "Bull In The Heather" makes for a potent one-two punch. But, unfortunately, the album loses cohesion...and except for moments like "Androgynous Mind", it ends up being uneven and very saky.
The great moments are great, though, as they are with any Sonic Youth album. And interestingly enough: if you play this album very loud, you can actually hear their classic album Sister being played in the background. If you're a fan, this may be for you...or maybe not. Depends on which Sonic Youth you like.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
PINK FLOYD
THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN
1967-CAPITOL
Produced By NORMAN SMITH
1. Astronomy Domine
2. Lucifer Sam
3. Matilda Mother
4. Flaming
5. Pow R. Toc H.
6. Take Up Thy Stethescope And Walk
7. Interstellar Overdrive
8. The Gnome
9. Chapter 24
10. Scarecrow
11. Bike
The debut album from Pink Floyd has no David Gilmour, but plenty of the craziness that was Syd Barrett. This was his only album with the band before he went off the deep end, and it's loaded with some very strange stuff. Barrett was the chiref songwriter here: he wrote everything except for "Take Up Thy Stethescope And Walk", which was written by Roger Waters. And aside from the fact that a bunch of this sounds pretty dated, it's also classic psychedelic stuff...and a great portrait of crazy while it was happening.
Some of Barrett's lyrics are borderline ridiculous...but that's kinda part of the fun (you have to wonder what drugs he was on when he wrote about a gnome named Grimble Gromble). And musically, it's a lot different than the Floyd we came to know on Dark Side and Wish You Were Here and The Wall. This is a fascinating train wreck of an album...and it sure is fun to watch!
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
THE BEATLES
YELLOW SUBMARINE
1969-APPLE
Produced By GEORGE MARTIN
1. Yellow Submarine
2. Only A Northern Song
3. All Together Now
4. Hey Bulldog
5. It's All Too Much
6. All You Need Is Love
7. Pepperland
8. Sea Of Time
9. Sea Of Holes
10. Sea Of Monsters
11. March Of The Meanies
12. Pepperland Laid Waste
13. Yellow Submarine In Pepperland
The soundtrack to the cartoon is the answer to the age old question: did The Beatles ever make a bad album? The answer is, with Yellow Submarine, yeah...well, kind of. Not a proper studio album as it contains a track from Revolver (the title track), and the single "All You Need Is Love", only a couple of songs were actually recorded by the band for this project. The album has very simply, one point of redemption: the excellent John Lennon song "Hey Bulldog".
Otherwise, this is one you can probably live without. And don't forget that everything after track 6 is orchestral soundtrack filler by producer George Martin. Get the decent songs by The Beatles elsewhere and skip this one. Not on a par with the rest of their discography in any way.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
BECK
ODELAY
1996-GEFFEN
Produced By BECK HANSEN & THE DUST BROTHERS
1. Devil's Haircut
2. Hotwax
3. Lord Only Knows
4. The New Pollution
5. Derelict
6. Novacaine
7. Jack-Ass
8. Where It's At
9. Minus
10. Sissyneck
11. Readymade
12. High 5 (Rock The Catskills)
13. Ramshackle
Beck broke through to the mainstream with "Loser", but he made his name with Odelay. "Where It's At" came booming across America, with every kid in the country proclaiming that they had two turntables and a microphone. But Odelay is better than just that song: there are great tunes and cool sounding moments all over this album. "Devil's Haircut" is as solid an opener as you'll find. "The New Pollution", "Derelict", and "High 5 (Rock The Catskills)" solidified Beck's reputation as one of the coolest guys in music.
He hasn't been anywhere near that level of mainstream since this album, which is probably a good thing. He's soldiered on, and still makes some great music. But the really great Beck is still found on records like Mellow Gold and Odelay (Sea Change is pretty amazing as well). This album is a couple of weak tracks away from perfect. One of the great sounds of the 90's.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
JIMMY PAGE & ROBERT PLANT
WALKING INTO CLARKSDALE
1998-ATLANTIC
Produced By JIMMY PAGE & ROBERT PLANT
1. Shining In The Light
2. When The World Was Young
3. Upon A Golden Horse
4. Blue Train
5. Please Read The Letter
6. Most High
7. Heart In Your Hand
8. Walking Into Clarksdale
9. Burning Up
10. When I Was A Child
11. House Of Love
12. Sons Of Freedom
Just let it be noted that the exclusion of John Paul Jones from this and the other album by Page & Plant (No Quarter) seems like quite a snub...
With that said, after the success of the live and unplugged No Quarter, Jimmy and Robert recorded Walking Into Clarksdale, a full studio album. The 4 piece band is nowhere near what Led Zeppelin once was, but it does have some interesting moments. Mostly in the songwriting...not so much in the way of monster riffs that we had come to expect from Jimmy Page.
The real strength here is Plant. He brings things down a notch, and shows that his voice had been doing nothing but maturing in the 20 years since the last Zeppelin album. While page is definitely present, this is more Plant's album. And while not exceptional, still a pretty good showing from a pair of hard rock dinosaurs.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
THE BEATLES
YELLOW SUBMARINE
1969-APPLE
Produced By GEORGE MARTIN
1. Yellow Submarine
2. Only A Northern Song
3. All Together Now
4. Hey Bulldog
5. It's All Too Much
6. All You Need Is Love
7. Pepperland
8. Sea Of Time
9. Sea Of Holes
10. Sea Of Monsters
11. March Of The Meanies
12. Pepperland Laid Waste
13. Yellow Submarine In Pepperland
The soundtrack to the cartoon is the answer to the age old question: did The Beatles ever make a bad album? The answer is, with Yellow Submarine, yeah...well, kind of. Not a proper studio album as it contains a track from Revolver (the title track), and the single "All You Need Is Love", only a couple of songs were actually recorded by the band for this project. The album has very simply, one point of redemption: the excellent John Lennon song "Hey Bulldog".
Otherwise, this is one you can probably live without. And don't forget that everything after track 6 is orchestral soundtrack filler by producer George Martin. Get the decent songs by The Beatles elsewhere and skip this one. Not on a par with the rest of their discography in any way.
If you are a fan of George Harrison, his songs outshine (IMHO) Lennon's and McCartney's. "Only A Northern Song" and "It's All Too Much" are amazing Beatle tracks, much more interesting (musically) than "Hey Bulldog" or "All Together Now".
Now, "Hey Bulldog" is interesting lyrically, full of Lennonian weirdness. "All Together Now" is a finely crafted pop song of which Paul McCartney has made dozens, and this one is pretty typical of those. But the two George tunes are amazing.
"Yellow Submarine in Pepperland" is a George Martin composition used in the film. It's a beautiful orchestration around the themes within the Yellow Submarine song.
If you haven't seen the film, you have to see the film. Go see the film. It's one of the most one-of-a-kind films ever made.
MADNESS
1983-GEFFEN
Produced By CLIVE LANGER & ALAN WINSTANLEY
1. Our House
2. Tomorrow's Just Another Day
3. It Must Be Love
4. Primrose Hill
5. Shut Up
6. House Of Fun
7. Night Boat To Cairo
8. Rise And Fall
9. Blue Skinned Beast
10. Cardiac Arrest
11. Grey Day
12. Madness (Is All In The Mind)
It's too bad that the US never really got Madness (except for "Our House")...because this is really a great band. This album was a hastily assembled compilation released only in America to capitalize on the huge success of "Our House". And, as you might expect, there are plenty of holes. "Driving In My Car", a great song, was omitted, and there was nothing from the great Absolutely album. Some tracks, like "Shut Up", "Cardiac Arrest", and "Grey Day" were questionable choices.
But the good stuff here is really good. Why American audiences weren't all over songs like "Tomorrow's Just Another Day", "It Must Be Love" and "Night Boat To Cairo" is a mystery. And "House Of Fun" is maybe the most fun song of the 80's...and that's saying a lot. This band had great chops, was a hell of a lot of fun, and had more great songs than most of the bands that were big in the decade. Look for a better compilation, or better yet...go for one of their earlier albums, like Madness Presents The Rise And Fall. But this is still a decent introduction. It's just that they were a lot more than this represents.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
MADNESS
1983-GEFFEN
Produced By CLIVE LANGER & ALAN WINSTANLEY
1. Our House
2. Tomorrow's Just Another Day
3. It Must Be Love
4. Primrose Hill
5. Shut Up
6. House Of Fun
7. Night Boat To Cairo
8. Rise And Fall
9. Blue Skinned Beast
10. Cardiac Arrest
11. Grey Day
12. Madness (Is All In The Mind)
It's too bad that the US never really got Madness (except for "Our House")...because this is really a great band. This album was a hastily assembled compilation released only in America to capitalize on the huge success of "Our House". And, as you might expect, there are plenty of holes. "Driving In My Car", a great song, was omitted, and there was nothing from the great Absolutely album. Some tracks, like "Shut Up", "Cardiac Arrest", and "Grey Day" were questionable choices.
But the good stuff here is really good. Why American audiences weren't all over songs like "Tomorrow's Just Another Day", "It Must Be Love" and "Night Boat To Cairo" is a mystery. And "House Of Fun" is maybe the most fun song of the 80's...and that's saying a lot. This band had great chops, was a hell of a lot of fun, and had more great songs than most of the bands that were big in the decade. Look for a better compilation, or better yet...go for one of their earlier albums, like Madness Presents The Rise And Fall. But this is still a decent introduction. It's just that they were a lot more than this represents.
I bet my kids will LOVE this! Will start with their debut. I wasn't big on ska at the time, but always appreciated it especially live. Thanks, Roman! 😁
TOM VERLAINE
FLASH LIGHT
1987-FONTANA
Produced By FRED SMITH & TOM VERLAINE
1. Cry Mercy, Judge
2. Say A Prayer
3. A Town Called Walker
4. Song
5. The Scientist Writes A Letter
6. Bomb
7. At 4 A.M.
8. The Funniest Thing
9. Annie's Tellin' Me
10. One Time At Sundown
The lead singer and guitarist for Television made several solo albums during his career. Flash Light came out in 1987, and unfortunately, it sounds like it. Strangely, too, because there really aren't any keyboards on the record to blame it on. Most of the sounds are Verlaine's guitar, without a hint of heaviness to them, and Verlaine's vocals, without a hint of being in tune to them.
What saves this is that the songs are exceptionally well written. Verlaine as a lyricist is very interesting: he writes more like it's a letter to a friend than a song. And not just because "The Scientist Writes A Letter" starts off with "Dear Julia, Unless chance finds us face to face again, this is the last you'll hear from me". How do you make that melodic? Verlaine does it with ease. Or, on "At 4 A.M.": "Oh, sure...I remember Rosie...who could forget. She was working for Sammy the fool, wasn't she?". Yep...it's the songs that save the day here. They really do tie the room together.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
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