BLUES: Our office playlist 27/10/22

GA-20 – One Night ManSteve “West” Weston. – Your Dog Keeps Looking At MeBloomin’ Hummerz – Killer On The RunEdgar Winter – Still Alive And WellRufus Thomas – Bear CatLew Jetton & 61 South – BetchaSue Foley – Truckin’ Little WomenJack Broadbent – GraceSTAN the BAND – Little SoldiersHound Dog Taylor – The Dog Meets […]

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BILLY JOEL: The Early Years (CD)

Unique early performance at Sigma Studios, Philadelphia 15th April 1972 Includes the entire WMMR-FM broadcast Digitally remastered for greatly enhanced sound quality Background liners “That was the one that made me the superstar I am” Billy Joel announced after playing the buoyant Everybody Loves You Now from his 1971 solo debut Cold Spring Harbor, a […]

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ROBERT PLANT: ‘There’s only me, Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart left’

Originally published in 2014 Robert Plant stands in the bright sunshine, eyes scanning a sunlit pedestrian square in Birmingham, while people pass on by, oblivious to the presence of one of rock and roll’s great frontmen. “I’ve been around so long I can be easily ignored,” he notes, with twinkly amusement. “Even people who know […]

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BACH: Mahan Esfahani records CPE Bach

Nalen Anthoni joins the harpsichordist as he records the ‘Württemberg’ Sonatas. Things ain’t what they used to be. Borough High Street as ‘a continued ale house with not a shop to be seen between’ – recounted by 17th-century playwright Thomas Dekker – is no more. But turn into Trinity Street for architectural changes that achieve […]

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JAZZ: Remembering Clifford Brown

Victor L. Schermer writes …… Benny Golson’s timeless ballad, “I Remember Clifford” is but one measure of the reverence and love with which Clifford Brown was regarded by musicians, friends, family, and fans. The affection in which he was held during his lifetime was made all the more poignant by his untimely death at the […]

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YES: Progeny: Seven Shows From Seventy-Two (14CD Deluxe Box Set)

A new 14-disc Yes box set that, as the name implies, contains the audio from seven complete concerts from 1972. These gigs are from the Close to the Edge tour and were performed in the weeks leading up to the shows heard on the 1973 live album Yessongs. The recently discovered reel-to-reel recordings have been fully restored and we are promised “incredible sonic […]

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BILLIE HOLIDAY: Lady in Satin (3CD Box Set)

Though some may not prefer later Billie with an orchestra, this is a profound and deeply soulful session. Here are the contents. For those wondering, this is an official issue from SONY/CBS France. The outtakes have been on bootlegs before, but this is the first official issue. CD1 includes the master takes plus a few […]

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CHARLES MINGUS:nShadows (Limited Clear Vinyl LP)

At the time, we were told …. For the first time on vinyl the great score composed by Charles Mingus for the legendary 1959 directorial debut of John Cassavetes Shadows. Much has been said about the controversial relationship between the two great masters. “(…)The score encapsulates Cassavetes’ and Mingus’s unique approaches to both improvisation and composition in […]

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GUNS N’ ROSES: Duff McKagan – The man who went from Guns N’ Roses to accountancy

“You can ask Duff about sex, substance abuse, Axl Rose and his near-death experience after his pancreas burst. But he can’t talk about his fund-management company right now.” If that sounds an unusual instruction before an audience with one of rock’s foremost hell-raisers, then Duff McKagan, bassist with Guns N’ Roses when the band carved […]

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AER0SMITH: Rehabilitated (2CD)

This important concert captures the band at the crucial turning point in their career. Broadcast live by WBCN from their home state of Massachusetts, it comes just a few weeks before the recording of walk this way, and shows the band in energetic form as they move on from ‘Done With Mirrors’ through rehab, and […]

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