Here are 21 of popular music’s most spectacular gargantuan anthologies, each featuring 10 or more discs.
Read More »Blues
Music Reviews: Talking Heads’ ‘Tentative Decisions,’ plus Mississippi Sheiks, Jesper Lindell, and James Houlahan
How on earth (or elsewhere!) did Talking Heads' sound originate, and how did it evolve? 'Tentative Decisions' doesn't quite answer the question, but it's fun to hear these early live tracks.
Read More »Music Reviews: Nektar’s ‘Down to Earth’ Box Set, plus Duke Robillard and Paul McCandless
This follow-up to the "Remember the Future" album reached No. 32 on U.S. charts and produced the group’s only U.S. chart single, “Astral Man.”
Read More »Music Review: Stew Cutler and Friends – ‘Undercover (Mostly)’
Guitarist Stew Cutler merges blues, soul, and jazz with the best of them. But he's never done a covers album before.
Read More »Music Reviews: Fabulous Thunderbirds, plus Lester Young and Anthologies of Rockabilly and Appalachian Music
Not everything on these Fabulous Thunderbirds albums is fabulous, but Vaughan and Kim Wilson can be formidable singers and players, and, particularly on the early LPs, they and their bandmates delivered more than a few high-octane winners.
Read More »Music Reviews: Boxing Up the Bangles, plus ‘Rock the Plaza’ and Kim Wilson’s ‘Slow Burn’
It's about time we had a box set from the Bangles, whose well-hooked, harmony-laden tunes provided some of the brightest moments on Top 40 radio in the 1980s.
Read More »Music Reviews: Bob Dylan’s ‘Through the Open Window: Bootleg Series, Vol. 18,’ plus Dion, ‘The Rock ’n’ Roll Philosopher’
Like the rest of the Bootleg anthologies, this one isn’t intended to be anything like a best-of collection. Instead, it aims to dig beneath the surface and hold a magnifying glass to Dylan’s creative process.
Read More »Music Reviews: ‘Jac Holzman Presents Dylan’s Circle’ and Frank Zappa’s Expanded ‘One Size Fits All,’ plus Dallas Burrow, Rags Rosenberg, and the Far West
There’s not a bad track on the album, which isn’t surprising given how consistently Holzman’s fabled label [Elektra] issued superlative music in its heyday.
Read More »Music Reviews: ‘Joe Meek: A Curious Mind,’ plus a David Bowie Tribute, and Albums from Rory Block, Irving Flores, and Johnnie Johnson
Joe Meek offered his share of teen-oriented pop, but he also had a penchant for strange novelty songs, odd sound effects, and numbers that dealt with the occult, outer space, and life on other planets.
Read More »Music Reviews: Bob Dylan Covers, plus Ray Peterson, Memphis Minnie, America, and a Clifton Chenier Tribute
If you’re a Dylan fan, this eclectic box is a great place to go treasure hunting.
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