Badfinger completed their best album in 1975, then had it pulled from the shelves in a haze of managerial misdeals and contractual screw-ups. They were good soldiers, at least for a while, heading into the studio (without Joey Molland, who bailed at the last minute) to bash out another album for Warner, completing it in two weeks. Warner rejected the effort, lead songwriter Pete Ham committed suicide not long afterward, and the album sat in the vaults until late 2000, when Artisan/Snapper released Head First as a double-disc set (the second disc consisting of demos and outtakes). Head First confirms that Badfinger had settled into a groove with Wish You Were Here, finding an effective middle ground between their pop gifts and hard rock inclinations, with both Ham and Tom Evans contributing equally strong works.

Before the world even had a chance to hear the Modern Lovers, Jonathan Richman had already moved on. Richman founded the group in 1970 with bandmates who would go on to acts like the Cars and the Talking Heads, and in the early '70s, they recorded some truly electric demos that would help define a sound later understood as punk. These recordings wouldn't see wide-scale release until long after the first iteration of the band broke up, and by the time of Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers, Richman had dropped the angst and anxiety of his proto-punk beginnings in favor of a far friendlier, quieter, and more innocent style. Ironically, the 1976 debut album of Richman's revamped, gentler Modern Lovers arrived just one month before the proper release of the earlier version of the band's recordings, emphasizing how drastic of a change had occurred. While the raw excitement of the early pre-punk Modern Lovers was groundbreaking, there's an equally revelatory quality in the softness and vulnerability of what followed.

Billy Butler is well known to guitarists only, as the co-author of the early R&B funked-up standard "Honky Tonk," with organist Bill Doggett. The two albums featured in this single disc two-fer reissue – Guitar Soul and Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, both released in 1970 – offer a wider view of the man and his music. The opening track on Guitar Soul is a cut worthy of the Meters in its New Orleans-styled second-line funk called "Blow for the Crossing." Nine and a half minutes in length, it's dark, spooky, greasy, and funky as hell. With Seldon Powell on tenor, Sonny Phillips on organ, Specs Powell on drums, and Bob Bushnell on bass, it's a jam du jour. Everybody solos, but Butler and Phillips are the pair that bend the tune all over the place like Gumby on Pokey. With an elongated melodic line played by Powell on the saxophone and punched-up by the drums, there's nothing to keep the body still in its massive groove-o-phonics. But the almighty groove wasn't Butler's only strength. With a saxophonist like Houston Person, he could play the most elegant swing – as in their read of the Rodgers & Hart classic "Dancing on the Ceiling" on the second half of the album, or as a solo guitarist he could play from the Montoya fake book as he does on "Golden Earrings," with a classical guitar.

Although the Greatest Show on Earth (GSOE) were not the first bunch of rockers to incorporate a powerful brass and woodwind section, they are among the best and heaviest-sounding British bands to have emerged from the post-psychedelia of the late '60s and early '70s. GSOE were, in essence, the invention of EMI Records subsidiary Harvest, who were focusing in on new and progressive artists such as Pink Floyd and Deep Purple. When the group was initially signed in 1968, they were an R&B/soul revue whose forte was more along the lines of Stax or Motown, instead of trippy acid rock. After ditching their original vocalist, Ozzie Lane, they eventually settled on Colin Horton Jennings, a multi-faceted performer who would begin to compose originals that would allow the octet to incrementally abandon their Yankee soul leanings.

Considered to be one of Norway’s most iconic prog rock bands, Aunt Mary’s music has influenced generations of fans of all ages from around the world. Their music is the perfect blend of hard-rock heavy beats combined with cool symphonic and melodic undertones. Originally formed in 1969, very few Norwegian bands have achieved such international recognition as Aunt Mary. In the mid-1970s they were compared to giants like Deep Purple, Yes, and Jethro Tull. Each band member has contributed uniquely to Aunt Mary’s incredible stage presence and overall success throughout the years. The band is comprised of highly skilled talent - all equally proud to have contributed this important part of global pop culture. Aunt Mary continues to play sold out shows, especially at festivals, every single year.

In some ways, 1973 was a little early for Rod Stewart to release a greatest-hits album, since he had only released four albums to that point. Nevertheless, Sing It Again Rod is a good collection, featuring most of the obvious choices from his first four records…

Astonishingly daring debut album, not as focused or overpowering as King Crimson's first but still crashing down barriers and steamrolling expectations. The mix of medieval harmonies and electric rock got stronger on subsequent albums, but the music here is still pretty jarring…

Gasoline Alley follows the same formula of Rod Stewart's first album, intercutting contemporary covers with slightly older rock & roll and folk classics and originals written in the same vein. The difference is in execution. Stewart sounds more confident, claiming Elton John's "Country Comfort," the Small Faces' "My Way of Giving," and the Rolling Stones' version of "It's All Over Now" with a ragged, laddish charm…