The Rolling Stones Charlie is my Darling – Ireland 1965 Super Deluxe Box Set includes both DVD and Blu-ray discs that incorporate the new, official 2012 version of the film as well as the director’s cut and producer’s cut, plus significant unseen additional performance and other footage shot in Dublin and Belfast in September of 1965, bonus content, two audio CDs, one of which is the film’s soundtrack album and the other a compilation of 13 live recordings the band made over the course of their 1965 UK tour. A 10” vinyl record of the live material is also part of the package, as well as a replica poster heralding the September 4, 1965 date they played in Belfast. The Super Deluxe box is housed in an ingeniously designed luxurious “soft touch” package, each featuring one of over 200 Limited Edition numbered and enlarged cells randomly inserted from the film. There is also a stunning 42 page Collector’s Edition hardcover book that includes 14 never before seen, and painstakingly restored exclusive, photographs, including the key art, of the band from the Irish Photo Archive/Lensmen Photo Archive as well as colour photos taken by Marc Sharatt, the Stones’ tour photographer.

Repo Man Review by Stephen Cook
As a backdrop to his fast-paced and cartoon-like debut chronicling the wayward life of Los Angles repo men, punk auteur Alex Cox did well to use music from the city's early-'80s hardcore punk scene; the tongue-in-cheek histrionics of Fear and the Circle Jerks (who appear in the movie as a punk band-turned-lounge act) fit flush with the film's mix of displaced suburban youth, gruff, and wizened repo veterans, Mexican hoods, industrial-skid row scenery, and irradiated UFO conspiracy theorists. Along with tracks by punk godfathers Iggy Pop ("Repo Man") and Jonathan Richman (writer of "Pablo Picasso"), the album's additional L.A. hardcore highlights include Black Flag's "TV Party," Suicidal Tendencies's "Institutionalized," and the Plugz's "Hombre Secreto (Secret Agent Man)." The Plugz's noir-ish, punk en espanol tracks, in fact, formed the trademark sound of the film. One of the first soundtracks to use pre-existing band cuts in lieu of an original score, Repo Man is a fine, if not terribly thorough document of L.A.'s punk heyday.

It's about time these early Canned Heat albums were made available once again! Thanks in part to their appearance in the Monterey Pop and later Woodstock festival films, these two albums, especially Boogie With Canned Heat, built Canned Heat's reputation as a top-notch white blues band of the late '60s. The self-titled disc from 1967 features a rough mix of originals and blues standards, including "Catfish Blues," "Rich Woman," and "Big Road Blues." Boogie was released the following year and actually contained a hit single, "On the Road Again." The other tracks on the album, especially "Fried Hockey Boogie" and "Amphetamine Annie," became staples of early FM underground radio. Canned Heat would rarely sound this together as a working unit in the studio again.

Cut during the fall of 1972, Electric Light Orchestra II was where Jeff Lynne started rebuilding the sound of Electric Light Orchestra following the departure of Roy Wood from the original lineup. It was as personal an effort as Lynne had ever made in music, showcasing his work as singer, songwriter, guitarist, sometime synthesizer player, and producer, and it is more focused than its predecessor but also retains some of the earlier album's lean textures. Lynne, drummer Bev Bevan, bassist Mike D'Albuquerque, and keyboardist Richard Tandy comprise the core of the band, with two cellists and a violinist sawing away around them.

Who would have thought it? Reunited after splitting in the mid-'70s, the Pretty Things return with a new wave album. It's not what anyone might have expected, but it's very far from a disaster. The stop-on-a-dime arrangements and natural power show them to be well-seasoned, and Phil May, with an extremely mannered voice, comes across as a taunting frontman. In fact, you tend to feel that if Thin Lizzy had eased up on the metal, they might have made an album very much like this - great, catchy songs based in R&B and old rock & roll ("Lost That Girl") - but with the tongue firmly in cheek (check the Sting imitation on "No Future") while pandering to fashion. But when the results are as good as the jangly "Office Love" or "I'm Calling," you really don't care where the tongue's residing…

None of the Band's previous work gave much of a clue about how they would sound when they released their first album in July 1968. As it was, Music from Big Pink came as a surprise. At first blush, the group seemed to affect the sound of a loose jam session, alternating emphasis on different instruments, while the lead and harmony vocals passed back and forth as if the singers were making up their blend on the spot. In retrospect, especially as the lyrics sank in, the arrangements seemed far more considered and crafted to support a group of songs that took family, faith, and rural life as their subjects and proceeded to imbue their values with uncertainty.

Stage Fright, the Band's third album, sounded on its surface like the group's first two releases, Music from Big Pink and The Band, employing the same dense arrangements with their mixture of a deep bottom formed by drummer Levon Helm and bassist Rick Danko, penetrating guitar work by Robbie Robertson, and the varied keyboard work of pianist Richard Manuel and organist Garth Hudson, with Helm, Danko, and Manuel's vocals on top. But the songs this time around were far more personal, and, despite a nominal complacency, quite troubling. Only "All La Glory," Robertson's song about the birth of his daughter, was fully positive.

For some time, Judie Tzuke has secretly harboured a desire to branch out from her niche as the blonde girl who sings weepy ballads. And although she's managed it with this, her 13th studio album, the exquisite 'Queen Secret Keeper' achieves the objective without compromising artistic integrity or the selling short of existing fans.

The Band's first album, Music from Big Pink, seemed to come out of nowhere, with its ramshackle musical blend and songs of rural tragedy. The Band, the group's second album, was a more deliberate and even more accomplished effort, partially because the players had become a more cohesive unit, and partially because guitarist Robbie Robertson had taken over the songwriting, writing or co-writing all 12 songs. Though a Canadian, Robertson focused on a series of American archetypes from the union worker in "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" and the retired sailor in "Rockin' Chair" to, most famously, the Confederate Civil War observer Virgil Cane in "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

In an era where it's not uncommon for a superstar act to wait three or four years between releases, it's astonishing to realize that Carole King wrote and recorded a strong follow-up to 1971's bazillion-selling "Tapestry" that was released before the year was up! "Music" was a big commercial success, but anything would pale next to the ecstatic commercial response to "Tapestry", which was still high in the charts when this follow-up was released. The generically-titled "Music" didn't spawn any hits as big as "It's Too Late" or "So Far Away," but with several decades' hindsight, it's clear that "Tapestry" was no fluke; in its more low-key way, "Music" is every bit as fine an album.
Highlights include two jazz-tinged tracks, "Brother Brother" and the waltz-time title track, which features a remarkable saxophone solo by Curtis Amy…

It all happened on July 18, 2011 when Deep Purple entered the Arena di Verona, one of Europe's most spectacular concert locations, through the same entrance that was once used by the gladiators. Talk about being thrown to the lions!, jokes Don Airey, who has nothing but fond recollections of this memorable night. Live In Verona is an exceptional recording of the complete show, featuring the Hard-Rock veterans together with a full orchestra. The Neue Philharmonie, a 38-piece orchestra from Frankfurt, accompanied them for the whole European leg of the tour. Deep Purple connected with the orchestra instantaneously, which led to some unique, outstanding moments during the tour, when orchestra members surprised the band with original arrangements. It created the sort of environment that we could all equally enjoy., says Airey. Both eventually came together as one, creating an electrifying night.

Robin Trower's peak commercial period occurred during the mid-'70s, when the bluesy guitarist specialized in a style that relied heavily on the power of the almighty riff (as evidenced by just about any selection from his best known release, 1974's Bridge of Sighs). But on his 1997 offering, Someday Blues, Trower tries a different approach, as he cuts back on the Jimi Hendrix-esque riffing, and focuses more on Albert King-style licks, and letting Hammond organ fill in much of the open spaces. This approach is best sampled on "Feels So Bad" (which features some great vocalizing by Trower – who handles all singing on the album as well) and the slow-burning title track. And for fans of a classic, searing Fender Strat tone, the album-closing "Sweet Little Angel" is a must-hear. While there's nothing here that matches the six-string pyrotechnics of, say, "Day of the Eagle," Trower still proves to be a major blues-rock force on Someday Blues. It's just that now Trower puts an added emphasis on the "blues" rather than the "rock."

Coming off his two-volume tribute to Jimi Hendrix, Electric Chubbyland, Popa Chubby is still high on rock & roll. While his love of the blues remains strong and dominates a handful of the tracks here, Deliveries After Dark features more heavy metal thunder and hard rocking than usual. The furious "Sally Likes to Run" captures that arena rock feel with enough cowbell to keep Christopher Walken happy while the title track crunches like Deep Purple in "Highway Star" mode. The epic "Man of the Blues" should easily satisfy longtime fans with its classic Chubby sound, but "Grown Man Crying Blues" and "I'll Piss on Your Grave" sound like the blues by way of a rock band.

Rising is the eleventh studio album by the American hard rock band Great White, released in 2009. It was recorded in the winter of 2008 with completion in early 2009. Rising was mixed, produced, and engineered by Michael Lardie with all members of the group contributing to the final mix. This is the final album with long-time singer Jack Russell before the split that led to the creation of his own-fronted version of the band.

Opus Dei, the band’s first album for Mute, was mixed by Rico Conning (Wire, Pere Ubu, Swans, William Orbit) and the band’s classic Laibachian interpretations of Opus’ ‘Live Is Life’ (here presented in English as ‘Opus Dei’ and in German as ‘Leben heisst Leben’) and Queen’s ‘One Vision’ (reworked as ‘Geburt Einer Nation’) soon saw them emerge from the shadows as they garnered support from the likes of MTV and ITV’s The Chart Show. This mainstream spotlight, coupled with memorable features in the music press, opened up opportunities for the Slovenian collective that included their first world tour. Performances from the tour from London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, San Francisco, Berlin, Paris and “somewhere in Europe” make up the second CD of the expanded remastered edition.