THE BEATLES- RED (1962-1966) & BLUE (1967-1970)
The popular sets from back in the day get new remastering and new packaging, for people who think having a Beatles' greatest hits collection will suffice.
BUY IT--->http://www.amazon.com/1962-1966-Red-Remastered-Beatles/dp/B003YNFYCO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287334981&sr=8-1
BOB DYLAN- ORIGINAL MONO RECORDING (9CDS)
Product Description
This box collects Bob Dylan’s first eight 12-inch LPs, his albums from Bob Dylan in 1962 to John Wesley Harding in 1968, as most people heard them, as they were expected to be heard, and as most often they were meant to be heard: in mono. --- Greil Marcus, taken from the liner notes of Bob Dylan: The Original Mono RecordingsBob Dylan’s first 8 studio albums in mono for the first time ever on CD:
Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Time They Are A-Changin'
Another Side Of Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde On Blonde
John Wesley Harding
-Each CD housed in heavy, wrapped LP-replica jackets with reproductions of original inner sleeves and inserts
-60 pages
-Rigid slipcase to hold the 8 jackets and book
BUY IT--->http://www.amazon.com/Original-Mono-Recordings-Bob-Dylan/dp/B003XRDYX2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1287335010&sr=1-1
BOB DYLAN- THE WITMARK DEMOS (1962-1964)
This collection of publishing company demos has been widely bootlegged over the years, but this new 47 track release, which includes 15 previously unheard songs, is indubitably the way to go. Allison Stewart said this in the Washington Post, "The sound quality ranges from pretty awful to sort of awful." NO, it doesn't. I'm not sure what she was expecting. This isn't "Aja." It's an early look at familiar songs by the greatest songwriter of our time. It's Dylan and his guitar. Maybe it's not essential, as most of these songs hadn't changed much in their finished form. But it's priced to move as they say, and if you're a fan, it's a no-brainer.
BUY IT--->http://www.amazon.com/Witmark-Demos-1962-1964-Bootleg-Vol/dp/B0040GJ312/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_1
ELTON JOHN/LEON RUSSELL- THE UNION
I wanted this one. I wanted this one BAD. But something went wrong. It's as if the usually Midas Touch of producer T-Bone Burnett somehow crossed wires with Steve Lillywhite. This is not a Leon record with Elton helping out. I know Elton was doing the right thing here, so I don't blame him...too much. But this is not the record we hoped for. This is not the Shelter People, written by John/Taupin/Russell. This is 80's or 90's Elton dreck. This is "Leather Jackets" with Leon helping out.
It is possible that all involved respected each other so much, no one dared to step up and say, "Let's try something else" or "Gee El, that song sounds like something from "The Lion King." Too bad, really.
BUY IT--->http://www.amazon.com/Union-Elton-John/dp/B003TWP5JC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287335090&sr=1-1
KINGS OF LEON- COME AROUND SUNDOWN
Have I ever mentioned how much I hate this band? These guys could be one of the most unappealing and tuneless bands yet. Still, they are wildly popular, while Dwight Twilley sits in his garage in Tulsa making Beatles' cover records.
BUY IT, IF YOU MUST--->http://www.amazon.com/Come-Around-Sundown-Kings-Leon/dp/B003YK42LQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1287335113&sr=1-1
IGGY POP & JAMES WILLIAMSON- KILL CITY (REMIXED & REMASTERED)
This record is rarely mentioned as the one of the great moments of Iggy's career and it should be. 4 years after "Raw Power," Iggy Pop and James Williamson return with a raw, hook-filled collection of pop, rock and punk. This has seen many dubious releases on CD. None of which sounds as stunning as this new remaster, which has also been remixed. A big thumbs-up from me!
BUY IT--->http://www.amazon.com/Kill-City-Iggy-James-Williamson/dp/B0040MGPGC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287335176&sr=1-1
ROD STEWART- FLY ME TO THE MOON: THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK VOLUME 5
Blow it out your ass, Rod.
16 comments:
What can I say? Great running commentaries. I had low expectations about Elton and Leon, but was hoping you would tell me it was everything I thought it wouldn't be. Guess we were both wrong. I was also hoping that I wouldn't have to be $130 poorer today, but I guess the Dylan mono box is now on my 'buy myself an early Chanukah present' list. I have thoroughly resisted the red and blue albums through the years for the very reason you mentioned - a greatest hits album just doesn't cut it. So, if you're reading this, that can be on your 'buy rich a nice, if somewhat useless, Chanukah present' list. Thanks, as always. P.S. I don't like Kings of Leon either.
Raw Sewage is a waste of my air.
i hate kings of leon too! and at my age, i don't hate so much as i used to 30 or even 10 years ago. kings of leon, however, send me over to rage
Got the Iggy album last week and couldn't agree with you more. A great album, and it finally sounds as good as it deserves.
But Sal,
Tell us what you really think of Rod...
I burst out laughing...thanks for the hit!
first time i heard Iggy & James in a record shop I thought it was the Stones. I bought he single there and then and the album the following week. A great Rock & Roll album that has been out of my collection too long.
Elton & Leon has been on constant play since I go a hold of a copy a week ago. I haven't liked Elton for a long time and I was never that fond of leon, but I am really enjoying this album. The bit where Neil Young joins the mix is magical.
I was always a Rod fan, but this American songbook stuff doesn't interest me. His last album Soul Book was very good and in places sublime. His version of Rainy Night In Georgia is the best I have ever heard and I have heard a lot of versions of it.
Dylan is still away ahead of the curve and the Whitmark demos is a great release. I have a lot of unreleased Dylan stuff, but this collection had passed me by. I'm looking forward to hearingg it. Not sure what the point of the mono release is, but there you go.
Fly this to the moon, you tosser.
Other than that, interesting batch this week, eh? It's hard to hold out any hope for anything with Elton's name on it. And T-Bone seems to have gone off the rails of late. Did you catch his recent advice to new bands? Don't use Facebook, don't use the internet, because if you do, you're just another band in a million.
No, it's better to be another band in a million except without any of the modern-day tools the other 999,999 bands are using to get ahead.
I'm surprised he didn't add that those bands should also stay off his lawn.
I'll grab the Iggster for sure, thanks for that tip.
Something that seems to have slipped under your radar - and the rest of the world's - is the new David Sylvian comp, Sleepwalkers, which is a collection of recent and semi-recent collaborations. I know the guy isn't everyone's cup of tea, but hear me out...
Not everything on the CD is great, but some is and it's all interesting in the way that very little new music is. This is a guy who is really trying to find a new path for the pop form, and his last two records, Manafon and Blemish, are not just left field, they're up in the bleachers in the limited-visibility section. Both are amazing records that, if you let them, will punch you right in the gut (with this warning: whatever powerpop is, this is the polar opposite.)
But face it, pretty much everything new in pop music is about looking back; structurally and lyrically, it's all about the past, whether it's Gaga or Wilco. So the guy deserves props for exploring whatever new possibilities that still exist for the form. It certainly isn't benefiting him professionally or financially - he can't afford to tour and he's not selling diddly. But that's really because he's miles ahead of everyone else.
On the one new song on Sleepwalkers - the title song - he has his day, and it killed me when I heard it, because he's right and he knows it, and I know it too:
Something to wake us
From cultural slumbers
You fucking sleepwalkers
Go on and sleep
Go on and sleep
This is tomorrow
I love this guy.
Go to I-tunes and buy the
Leon cuts only on The Union. I love Leon and it's worth the Vegas Elton drek to give him his long overdue credit. The Leon cuts are quite strong.
Did you see it got a 5 star review in the new Rolling Stone???
"No, it's better to be another band in a million except without any of the modern-day tools the other 999,999 bands are using to get ahead.
I'm surprised he didn't add that those bands should also stay off his lawn."
OK, that rant made me snort liquid.
As for Sylvian, I've tried for years. The records with Bill Nelson, with Fripp, even saw him recently at Town Hall with either Jansen or Barbieri, I forget who. I enjoyed what I heard, but most of the time it's a very cold listen.
On your recommendation, I will check out this new one.
Thanks.
Yes the Leon cuts are better than the Elton cuts, and I am truly happy for him that this record was made.
But it's still a painful listen.
And Rolling Stone gives 5-stars to anyone over 60.
I don't think "Linoleum," his collaboration with Tweaker (a NIN offshoot), is on the new disk, but it's a great starting point
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K9JTj7oRXQ
Always appreciate the chance to vent.
Can I just say that I really love all that Rod Stewart does with those old boring American toons?
He makes them sound so fresh.
If only others could do the same with all those other boring songs from way back when.
It's truly pleasurable to hear one of the greatest English, errrr Scotish, errrrrrrr British singers at his awesome best.
Next week my appreciation of Russell Brand doing the Ray Davies Songbook.
I agree with you Sal, I also think Marty Stuart's " Ghost Train - The Studio B Sessions " will be in our 2010 Top Ten CD's..........
After further listening Sal, please provide an update on the great Richard Thompson's " Dream Attic "....you were extremely positive about it upon it's release almost two months ago.
The 1st half of the show last night at Town Hall was, I believe, that CD, song for song.
Followed by all his " huge " hits....after intermission.
Meanstreets,
I really like "Dream Attic," though I don't think it really takes off until track 6, "Demons In Her Dancing Shoes." Would be a much better album if it was 5 tracks shorter.
Thank you Sal,
I never, ever, left a " Richard Thompson " concert without being totally inspired, he is truly one of the greats....
And his fans are some of the most intelligent concert goers around...they get it, no glamour, no glitz....and " to get him " requires effort...a extremely unique, clever songwriter, & no better guitar player out there....
Post a Comment