CD pressing of this 1972 album from the British Blues great. Alexis Korner, along with John Mayall, could be called the "father of British Blues". Even though he himself is not necessarily a well known name, he helped launch the careers of many top Rock and Blues stars from the 1960s. Bootleg Him! is a 20 track collection of odds & ends from his early career. Musicians appearing with Alexis on this album include Robert Plant, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Charlie Watts, Graham Bond, Paul Rodgers, Andy Fraser, the list goes on and on.

The first two albums by UFO featured an odd mix of crisp, focussed songs alternating with meandering electric guitar-led soundscapes. Flying starts off with perhaps their best of the former category, "Silver Bird." This story of a primitive islander seeing an airplane for the first time begins with a pleasant little acoustic guitar melody and builds into a soaring full-band musical expression of the wonder of flight. The next cut, all 19 minutes of it, conjures up the vaster expanses of space. To complain that "Star Storm" rambles is to miss the point; sometimes Michael Bolton's guitar is used as a pure sound effect rather than to convey any kind of rhythm or melody, and if you're patient, then listening can be an enjoyable, even absorbing, experience…

Carla Thomas was more than deserving of her title "The Queen of Memphis Soul," but she was hardly oblivious to the sleeker, more pop-influenced sweet soul and uptown soul coming out of Detroit, Philadelphia and Chicago. One of her strongest albums, The Queen Alone isn't the work of someone who took a Memphis-only approach, but of someone who was well aware of what Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick, Martha Reeves and others were up to. What's surprising is the fact that this album contains only two hits: the playful "Something Good (Is Going to Happen to You)," which made it to number 29 on Billboard's soul singles chart, and the idealistic, gospel-influenced ballad and number 11 R&B single "I'll Always Have Faith in You"…

This reissue of Overdog features the bonus single edits of Roundabout, one of their best loved and most powerful works. Along with a reissue of The Time is Near, this release sees the beginning of a reissue campaign by Esoteric Recordings of the classic Keef Hartley Band albums.
After the subtleties and suppleness of 1970's The Time Is Near…, the Keef Hartley Band's third full-length, the group returned the following year with Overdog, a set that kicks them into overdrive. Opening with a dramatic flourish of wah-wah guitar, the anthemic "You Can Choose" instantly wipes all memories of the intricate design of the preceding album off the board. Big and brash, "Choose" pounds rock into funk with savage delight…

As one of the most loved jazz vocalists, modern jazz heroines, and prolific vocalists, Rosemary Clooney gives a very beautiful and feminine side to Brazilian jazz on Brazil, a sensitive musical feeling of 16 ripe standards. This wonderful collection is dedicated to Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra, and Nelson Riddle through her amazing ambience of sensitive phrasing, lovely nuance, and splendid rhythmic shadings. Rosemary Clooney is joined by the lovely Diana Krall on "Boy from Ipanema" in a stunning vocal duet accompanied by Oscar Castro-Neves on guitar. John Pizzarelli sings "Wave," with the light, airy brilliance of a light kept burning throughout the night, and duets with Clooney on "Desafinado," "One Note Samba," "Let Go," "Dindi," and the reprise of the title track, "Brazil"…

Metamorphoses is another of those enormous productions by the French electronic music master. Offering a cycle of songs, Jarre and his platoon of keyboards - a wonderful meld of cutting-edge and vintage technologies - delve into the notion of change and evolution with a remarkable efficiency despite the plethora of guest vocalists and instrumentalists. His collaborations with Laurie Anderson ("Je me souviens") and Natacha Atlas ("C'est la Vie") are wonderfully successful. The former is a staggered sequencer-driven track whose pulse varies, throbs, and wanes as the vocals are articulated in syncopated fashion in alternating cadences. The latter is an Eastern-tinged house track, where elements of disco, breakbeat, and even jungle enter and leave the mix after leaving traces of themselves on what follows their articulation…

Esoteric Recordings America is pleased to announce the release of a newly re-mastered and expanded clamshell box edition of the classic album, Turn of the Cards by Renaissance. Released in 1974, the album was an artistic triumph and heralded the band’s commercial breakthrough in the United States.
Featuring highly gifted vocalist Annie Haslam, Michael Dunford (acoustic guitars), John Tout (keyboards, vocals), Jon Camp (bass, vocals) and Terry Sullivan (drums, percussion), Turn of the Cards was recorded in March 1974 at De Lane Lea studios in Wembley, North London and featured the band incorporating symphonic orchestral arrangements into their material extensively on classic pieces such as ‘Running Hard’, ‘Things I Don’t Understand’ and ‘Mother Russia’…

An album title that fits perfectly in two respects: "Silver Romance" is the name of the latest release by southern German melodic power metal act Freedom Call. The moniker not only stands for the band’s 25th anniversary - referred to by singer/guitarist and band founder Chris Bay tongue-in-cheek as "our silver wedding anniversary" - but also applies to the content of the recording.

The very idea that Manfred Mann, perhaps Great Britain's longest running rock band - other than the Rolling Stones - would have "hits" in the 21st century is rather odd and inaccurate (perhaps "hits according to who?" is the question). This set nonetheless features two CDs and 36 tracks. Virtually every single from the earliest Manfred Mann band is here, including "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," "Mighty Quinn," "5-4-3-2-1," "Sha La La," "Hubble Bubble (Toil And Trouble)," as well as wild covers of the hits of the day - because after all, Manfred Mann were, more than anything else, a cover band - "Fox on the Run," "Handbags and Glad Rags," "Just Like a Woman," "If You Gotta Go, Go Now," and of course, the tracks that put retirement money in Bruce Springsteen's bank account: "Blinded By The Light," "For You," and "Spirits In the Night"…

The two 1957 sessions that make up this CD featuring Earl Hines with a pickup rhythm section in Paris were recorded originally for Phillips, with bassist Guy Pedersen and drummer Gus Wallez. The pianist is in top form, including just a little of the Dixieland repertoire ("Royal Garden Blues" and "Muskrat Ramble") that typically dominated most of his recordings made in the U.S. during this period, and spending more time exploring favorite warhorses like "Hallelujah" and "Makin' Whoopee," as well as already classic jazz compositions such as "If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight" and "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)." While the tracks are generally brief, the music is consistently swinging at a high level and four bonus tracks have been added to the CD reissue, so it should be considered an essential purchase for fans of Earl "Fatha" Hines.

Underground Kraut-Kosmische monster, recorded / produced circa 1972-73 in Cologne by Toby “The Mad Twiddler” Robinson for his Pyramid label. Originally released as an ultra-limited handmade edition, original copies are lost forever in the mist of time. Featuring Mythos drummer Hans-Jürgen Pütz on percussion & effects, alongside synth / keyboard freak Alex Meyer, poet / vocalist Pauline Fund and mysterious guitarist Peter Förster. Tripped out ambient soundscapes, dark atmosphere, drones, plenty of MiniMoog, gothic Hammond organ, Rhodes, electric & 12-string acoustic guitars, ritual chants, effects, horror cinematic vibe.

It's appropriate that the great Freddy King is pictured on the disk cover; he's got two of his best on the album: "Hide Away" and "Have You Ever Loved a Woman", the latter surely one of the most searing and emotionally impassioned performances in the entire blues pantheon. This disk is absolutely crammed with bonafide blues classics from the likes of Howling Wolf, Elmore James, Slim Harpo, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Earl Hooker, and B.B. King.

Cult underground psychedelic 60's legends from Switzerland related to Toad, Brainticket, Deaf, and Les Sauterilles . This is their one and only album from 1969, containing a wide range of psychedelic and progressive styles. With dark passions and melancholic moods "Hey Mr Holy Man" is outstanding. This issue has three bonus tracks, two from a rare compilation LP, and one from an even rarer split single from 1968.. Sinister artwork illustration is the first record cover work of H.R. Giger.

This volume of Capitol/EMI's Legends Of The 20th Century profiles Nat King Cole, tracing his work as a jazz pianist and a massively popular singer. Both sides of Cole's talent are explored in this 22-track album, which includes "Nature Boy," "Unforgettable," "When I Fall In Love" and other vocal hits as well as jazz works like "Straighten Up And Fly Right," "When I Take My Sugar To Tea," "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66" and "Body And Soul." A fine sampling of highlights from both of Cole's careers.