AvaxHome RSS: azorkamane

The Association – And Then Along Comes The Association

azorkamane — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:26:12 GMT

The Association – And Then Along Comes The Association
Rock | MP3 VBR 155 kbps | 35 MB | 1966

“

The group’s debut album may be better listening today than it was in 1966, because it can be appreciated more — and it definitely deserves a better reputation than it has among folk-rock, psychedelic pop, and pop/rock enthusiasts. The album is usually neglected because of the Association’s reputation as a soft rock outfit and the prominence of the hits “Cherish” and “Along Comes Mary,” both of which are too poppy for most serious ’60s archeologists. The original LP was one or two songs short of uniformly high-quality material, but that defect was compensated for by the better numbers and the production of the late Curt Boettcher.

”

The Association - Renaissance

azorkamane — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:13:37 GMT

The Association - Renaissance
Rock | MP3 V4 VBR 164 kbps | 34 MB | 1967

“

Renaissance was a difficult album for the Association to record. Coming in the wake of a serious hit album (And Then...Along Comes the Association) and two huge hit singles ("Along Comes Mary," "Cherish") and at a time when the group was experiencing more bookings than its members had ever dreamed possible, Renaissance was rushed out under pressure from the band's label. Alas, Renaissance bore little resemblance to its predecessor.

”

The Association - Stop Your Motor

azorkamane — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:20:51 GMT

The Association - Stop Your Motor
Rock | MP3 V4 VBR 165 kbps | 38 MB | 1971

“

Although their chart hits had long since dried up, Stop Your Motor (1971) became the Association’s penultimate long-player and second to last attempt at garnering any degree of hipness. Sadly, the sextet could not have been more out of step with the concurrent popular music trends, which must have been doubly frustrating as this effort actually includes a fair share of decent tunes that would have fit nicely into the burgeoning singer/songwriter genre. When Stop Your Motor was issued in the summer of 1971, it heralded the end of a two-year absence of new material.

”

The Association - Birthday

azorkamane — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:04:33 GMT

The Association - Birthday
Rock | MP3 VBR 168 kbps | 40 MB | 1968

“

Birthday is a strong record. Vocally, the intricate harmonies shine, and there is a lyrical depth on some songs that challenge the Association's reputation as a mere pop group. Granted, there are some light moments, such as the opening cut, "Come On In" (though the vocals do stand out on this cut). And "Toymaker" and "Hear in Here" show the vocal limitations of the lead singers. But "Like Always" does an excellent job of wryly commenting on the loss of a relationship, with the usual fine vocal interplay. "The Time It Is Today" mixes the political and personal in an effective way. And "Everything That Touches You" (their final Top Ten ) is one of their finest love songs, if not one of their best songs, period. The vocals are as intricate as the arrangement, and the sincerity of the lyrics is very apparent. Production by Bones Howe gives the record a very commercial, clean sound that fits well with the material presented.

”

The Association - The Association

azorkamane — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:46:31 GMT

The Association - The Association
Rock | MP3 V4 VBR 167 kbps | 45 MB | 1969

“

Never known as an album band, with the release of The Association, this band proved to listeners that it was moving in the right direction. Helped along with such Top 40 singles as "Goodbye Forever" and "Dubuque Blues," the Association were expanding their horizons in the ever changing market of pop/rock. Other highlights include "Look at Me, Look at You" and "Under Branches," and although The Association didn't exactly burn up the album charts, it did help to show that there was more to this band than just Top Ten singles. Well worth the effort in seeking out.

”

Albert King - The Best Of Albert King

azorkamane — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:42:18 GMT

Albert King - The Best Of Albert King
Blues | MP3 256 kbps | 114 MB | 1986

“

"The best of Albert King"? More like the best material that he happened to record for Stax between 1968 and 1973. Even that's debatable, the 13 tracks including covers such as "Honky Tonk Woman," "Sky Is Crying," and "Hound Dog." It does present a reasonable cross-section of his soul-inflected work of the period, drawing from over a half-dozen LPs and a couple of singles, though you might be as well or better off with his more focused individual titles. And for the true "best of Albert King," Rhino's Ultimate Collection remains the hands-down winner.

”

Willie Willis - Can't Help But Have The Blues

azorkamane — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:14:27 GMT

Willie Willis - Can't Help But Have The Blues
Blues | MP3 V4 320 CBR 329 kbps | 106 MB | 1998

“

Recorded at ASC-Sumet Studio, Dallas, Texas on April 28, 1998.

”

Wolfe - Delaware Crossing

azorkamane — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:25:36 GMT

Wolfe - Delaware Crossing
Blues | MP3 256 kbps | 118 MB | 2003

“

Funny thing about music, you can play the oldest of formulas, pay tribute to great writers and players and still sound vibrant and new.Take Delaware Crossing, the latest CD from the band Wolfe. The group is fronted by Todd Wolfe on vocals and guitars. If the name is familiar to you, it’s undoubtedly from his association with Sheryl Crow in her early years. He’s become an incredible blues guitarist and songwriter since those days and his band’s latest CD will be a welcome surprise for those of you who think that no one puts out a good old rocking blues record anymore.

”

Atomic Rooster - Nice & Greasy [Akarma]

azorkamane — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:56:51 GMT

Atomic Rooster - Nice & Greasy [Akarma]
Progressive Rock | MP3 V0 VBR 199 kbps | 58 MB | 2003

“

The original artwork for this album featured a joint stubbed out in a fried egg. We do not know what VC would have made of the laser-emitting flying penises devised by Akarma. Certainly the band seems to have lost focus, after the experiments of Made in England and there's a hint of weariness in Vincent's ironic sleeve notes. "This track is best heard in the family crypt at midnight while a full moon chases shadows through the tombstones - or a service station on the motorway which comes to much the same thing..." The space-funk instrumental work is still strong and Johnny Mandala (aka Goodsall) plays high-velocity licks, as Farlowe struts through a blues about the problems of distributing cannabis, as well as a loose Ray Charles pastiche. There's a moody cover of the Johnny Jenkins/Jackie Avery swamp rock classic Voodoo in You but the album as a whole doesn't have the distinctive presence of the earlier work. The band were approaching the end of their deal with Dawn - perhaps there's a feeling of duty, rather than pleasure in this session, which even the radiant cocks can't disguise.

”

Alan Jackson - A Lot About Livin' And A Little 'bout Love

azorkamane — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:22:33 GMT

Alan Jackson - A Lot About Livin' And A Little 'bout Love
Country | MP3 VBR 170 kbps | 38 MB | 1992

“

Three years after his first number one single, Alan Jackson took his brand of new honky tonk country and pushed it all the way into the mainstream, making it possible for another batch of acts to follow him. Sticking with producer Keith Stegall, Jackson wrote over half the tracks on the set, including a pair of singles, "She's got the Rhythm (And I Got the Blues)" and "Tonight I Climbed the Wall," as well as "Chattahoochee." The uptempo numbers with the jukebox kick are what works best with Jackson's restless country-soul voice — check "I Don't Need the Booze (To Get a Buzz On)." The smoking Western swing of "Up to My Ears in Tears" walks a line between Bob Wills and Buck Owens, and could have been covered by Dwight Yoakam. But the set's winner is its closer, the Geddins/Douglas classic "Mercury Blues." Taking the tune back to its country roots and claiming it for the Fender Telecaster's particular brand of pinch and tang, Jackson sings the hell out of it. At this point in his career, Jackson established himself as one of the most consistent talents country had to offer.

”

Alan Jackson - Under The Influence

azorkamane — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:05:01 GMT

Alan Jackson - Under The Influence
Country | MP3 VBR 168 kbps | 51 MB | 1999

“

Anyone who doubts Alan Jackson's roots as a honky tonk singer should turn to Under the Influences, his heartfelt salute to his favorite country singers. According to his self-penned liner notes, Jackson has "always wanted to do this album," and that's evident from the songs he chose to cover. There are several hits here, but they're the kind that aren't regularly covered — "Pop a Top," "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'," "Revenooer Man," "She Just Started Liking Cheatin' Songs," and "Once You've Had the Best." That, along with Jackson's loving reverence, makes this a step above the average covers album.

”

Shirley Bassey - Good Bad But Beautiful

azorkamane — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:53:01 GMT

Shirley Bassey - Good Bad But Beautiful
Vocal | MP3 192 kbps | 59 MB | 1975

“

Good, Bad but Beautiful is a 1975 album by Shirley Bassey. In the first half of the decade, Bassey recorded nine albums, with three making the top ten. In March of 1975, Bassey released a compilation that became her highest-charting album to date, The Shirley Bassey Singles Album(#2), and reflects the momentum Bassey had maintained since her 1970 "comeback". Good, Bad but Beautiful, released in the autumn of 1975, spent seven weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at #13. The album relfects the formula that brought Bassey back to the charts: a combination of contemporary songs combined with her forte of standards, show tunes, and torch songs, featuring arrangements aimed squarely at the adult contemporary, or middle-of-the-road, audience. This was also achieved by modifying her backup orchestra to include electric guitars, a string and brass section with a more contemporary sound, and drumming that is more soft rock-oriented than jazz-oriented, while side two's opener, "Feel Like Makin' Love" displays a smooth jazz style. This was Bassey's seventh album of the 1970s to make the Billboard 200, peaking at #186. It also reached #54 on the US R&B chart. In the UK the album was awarded a silver disc six weeks after it was released.

”

Andy Williams - Moon River & Other Great Movie Themes

azorkamane — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:42:48 GMT

Andy Williams - Moon River & Other Great Movie Themes
Vocal | MP3 160 kbps | 41 MB | 1962

“

The hit title song and lush interpretations of movie-theme classics.

”

The Easybeats - Easy [Reissue]

azorkamane — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:00:53 GMT

The Easybeats - Easy [Reissue]
Rock | MP3 VBR 241 kbps | 94 MB | 1995
Covers included

“

Their first album, not available outside Australia until the 1990s. The Vanda/Young songwriting partnership had yet to dominate the band in their early days, and most of the (entirely original) material here comes from the pens of George Young and singer Stevie Wright. It's more Merseybeatish and less oriented toward power-pop and staccato guitar attacks than their subsequent releases, which isn't really detrimental; it doesn't scale the peaks the band would shortly climb, but neither does it have the overdone good-time mania that made some of their efforts hard to take in more than limited doses.

”

Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live

azorkamane — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:42:59 GMT

Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live
Bluegrass | MP3 V2 VBR 182 kbps | 130 MB | 2002

“

Given Alison Krauss' tremendous popularity and her status as the first female bluegrass singer to cross over into genuine pop marketability, and given the fact that her guitarist, Dan Tyminski, is the voice behind "Man of Constant Sorrow" (or at least the version that served as an idée fixe in the blockbuster movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?), a live album was inevitable. That it should be a two-disc set can simply be chalked up to good luck.

”

Jay Sewall - All Blues

azorkamane — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:20:24 GMT

Jay Sewall - All Blues
Blues | MP3 V2 VBR 188 kbps | 2009

“

Quebec City, Jay Sewall launched the fifth album of his career : ALL BLUES. The date is particularly noteworthy, as 2009 is the fiftieth anniversary of the Miles Davis cult album KIND OF BLUE. To commemorate this anniversary, Jay Sewall has recorded a magnificent version off the piece All Blues on his new album. ALL BLUES is a unique album in Canada - it is the first blues album to showcase the harmonica as the lead voice. Seven of the hirteen pieces on Jay Sewall's fifth disc are his own compositions, and stylistically, it covers an impressive musical array: jazz-blues, soul, funk, gospel and even a New Orleans jug band tune!
ALL BLUES was produced by multi-instrumentalist Ken Whiteley, two-time Grammy nominee and winner of two Junos. On the album, we can hear Ken on guitars: national, lap steel, electric and acoustic, 12-string; on dobro, mandolin, banjo, and jug, as well as on piano and Hammond organ.

”

Bobby Darin - Sings The Shadow Of Your Smile-In A Broadway Bag

azorkamane — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:05:37 GMT

Bobby Darin - Sings The Shadow Of Your Smile-In A Broadway Bag
Vocal | MP3 320 kbps | 177 MB |1998

“

In 1966, five very different songs were nominated for Academy Awards. On The Shadow of Your Smile, which was released in March of that year, Bobby Darin flexed his musical muscles and covered them all. The first five tracks on The Shadow of Your Smile are Oscar nominees and were arranged by Shorty Rogers. "The Shadow of Your Smile" is a tender love song from The Sandpiper, which starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The sensitive "I Will Wait for You" was in the French film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Two songs were in comedies of the day: "The Sweetheart Tree" from The Great Race and "The Ballad of Cat Ballou" from the Western satire Cat Ballou. And some have called "What's New Pussycat?," from the movie of the same name, the "wildest song ever nominated." Darin showcases his dynamic range on pop standards on the rest of the record.

”

The Shadows - At Abbey Road The Collectors Edition [Import]

azorkamane — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:51:46 GMT

The Shadows - At Abbey Road The Collectors Edition [Import]
Instrumental | MP3 V2 VBR 184 kbps | 85 MB | 2003

“

Released, as its title suggests, within EMI's rightfully applauded At Abbey Road series of archive exhumations, this collection can also be regarded as the first truly essential Shadows compilation since 1976's Rarities package, in that it's the first since then to truly offer up something we've not already experienced a myriad times, in a mountain of forms, before.

”

The Alvin Lee Band - Free Fall

azorkamane — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:40:12 GMT

The Alvin Lee Band - Free Fall
Rock | MP3 |160 kbps | 34 MB | 2001

“

FREE FALL is an 11-track, 1980 solo release by Ten Years After guitarist Alvin Lee that features a guest appearance by The Beatles George Harrison and includes the songs "I Don't Wanna Stop" and "No More Lonely Nights."
Reissue of 1980 solo disc by former Ten Years After guitarist.Features Former Beatle George Harrison On Slide Guitar, Organist Jon Lord Of Deep Purple.

”

After All - After All

azorkamane — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:37:47 GMT

After All - After All
Rock | MP3 VBR 182 kbps | 51 MB | 2000

“

After All may have only been a band in the loosest sense of the term, but its only record is a quite wonderful — if ultimately difficult to categorize — one-shot relic of the transitional late-'60s. The four members of the combo were actually friends and acquaintances in different bands on the Tallahassee, FL, rock circuit before culling their skills together, along with lyrical assistance from young local poet and songwriter Linda Hargrove, when an opportunity to record an album in a Nashville studio presented itself. The resulting piece of work is the type of strangely compelling hybrid album that could only have come together in the musical gumbo of the post-psychedelic era. Drummer and primary vocalist Mark Ellerbee wrote most of the music, and his songs are basically freeform, open-ended tone poems that eschew typical verse-chorus and melodic considerations (although the odd melodic hook or harmony surfaces from time to time) for music that is much more amorphous and improvisational.

”