The line-up on this newly released bootleg is said to consist of Florian Schneider, Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger, which tells us that this was probably recorded in that short period of time in 1971, estimated to 6 months, when Ralf Hütter had left the band. Supposedly, the recording was made at the Gondel Kino in Bremen, Germany on June 25, 1971. And it's an interesting recording.

The term "lost classic" is applied liberally and often erroneously to unreleased recordings that resurface years later in a maelstrom of hype. However, for the forgotten mod rock also-rans the Action, the term is not only justified, it is painfully bittersweet. On par with such classics of the era as The Who Sell Out or Ogden's Nut Gone Flake but more focused than either, the Action's Rolled Gold goes beyond "lost classic" – it is the influential masterpiece no one was ever allowed to hear. Despite being signed to Beatles producer George Martin's AIR label and benefiting from a strong club following, the Action never scored a chart hit. By the time they recorded these demo tracks in 1967, the band had grown weary of the musically limited mod scene, which was on its last legs. Guitarist Pete Watson had been replaced by Martin Stone, and the band had developed a more mature sound, one only hinted at on such previous cuts as "Twenty-Fourth Hour".

Matthews Southern Comfort is a transitional album for Matthews. Having recently exited Fairport Convention, this record pays tribute to that period of his career in both material ("A Castle Far") and in the choice of musicians who back him (many of them from Fairport Convention). At the same time, songs like "A Commercial Proposition" indicate where Matthews' future work is headed. With Second Spring, the other album included on this two-fer, Southern Comfort is a real band, and in addition to Matthews also includes Roger Swallow (ex-Marmalade) and Marc Griffiths (ex-Spooky Tooth). Although there is really nothing that makes this a memorable record, it's still quite nice overall.

What more could a Hendrix fanatic searching for the ultimate live Jimi experience ask for? The 1991 box set Stages contains a total of 4 CDs, each containing one full concert from the years 1967 (in Stockholm), '68 (Paris), '69 (San Diego), and '70 (recorded in Atlanta just two months before his death). Many Hendrix fans already owned bootlegged copies of these concerts, but this was the first time that they were released officially, in crystal clear sound and with informative liner notes. The four discs are an obviously interesting musical journey, showing the rapid musical transformation of Hendrix from showman to serious virtuoso…

This double CD of Pentangle's BBC recordings is comprised primarily of rare and previously unheard tracks. From 1968 to 1973 Pentangle were prolific session guests on BBC radio, their unique fusion of sounds providing access to programmes covering folk, pop and progressive rock. When BBC cupboards were trawled for these recordings in the early nineties they were almost bare - a mere handful of tracks survived in the tape archive (released on the band of joy/strange fruit labels). Here at last, with previously unreleased songs among classics from all six of their albums, is a representative history of the Pentangle at the BBC. The accompanying 12 page booklet includes comprehensive liner notes, a full discography of Pentangle's BBC recordings, and several rare photographs.

For the compilers of Time-Life Music's Singers & Songwriters series, which – more or less – chronicles the 1970s singer/songwriter movement, the 24-month period 1970-1971 marked the real birth of that trend, with the popular emergence of such defining figures as James Taylor, Carole King, Carly Simon, John Denver, and Cat Stevens, all of whom had their first big hits in the style included here.

Workingman’s Dead defies the erroneous belief that the Grateful Dead never attained brilliance in the recording studio. Forever prized for natural sonics, Workingman’s Dead attains audiophile reference status courtesy of this first-ever hybrid SACD version. As flawless as any rustic album ever released, the 1970 set now brims with soaring harmonies, organic execution, intertwined textures, and uncomplicated structures. The first Grateful Dead album to eschew cosmic jams and complex signatures, Workingman’s Dead stakes its existence to great songs, homespun warmth, and bare essentials.

Liege & Lief is the fourth album by the English folk rock band Fairport Convention. It is the third and final album the group released in the UK in 1969, all of which prominently feature Sandy Denny as lead female vocalist. (Denny did not appear on the group's 1968 debut album). It is also the very first Fairport album on which all songs have either been adapted (freely) from traditional British and Celtic folk material (for example "Matty Groves", "Tam Lin"), or else are original compositions (such as "Come All Ye", "Crazy Man Michael") written and performed in a similar style. By introducing songs of this genre into the group's repertoire Denny, who had previously sung and recorded traditional folk songs as a solo artist, was instrumental in this transformation. Although Denny quit the band even before the album's release, Fairport Convention has continued to the present day to make music almost exclusively within the traditional British folk music idiom, and are still most strongly associated with it.

And so the series continues - Groovy Hammond sounds, swingin, horn sections, spacey sitars, jangling guitars, jazzy flute excursions. From the spy movie chic of The Reg Guest Syndicate to The Gabrieli Brass. Dig the mellow eastern vibe of Andy Summers & Zoot Money's 'Soma', move to the cool soul of Music Through Six. Evocative, smooth, rocking, eminently danceable and very cool.

The success of the Austin Powers movies rekindled an interest in everything groovy, swinging and mod. The Instro Hipsters a Go-Go responded in kind, serving up fun but mostly forgotten instrumentals from the '60s and early '70s that sound equally good in a bachelor pad or discotheque. Instro Hipsters a Go-Go, Vol. 3 is a Wall of Sound made up of twangy surf guitars, tumbling drums, flourishes of strings and brass, and funky organs, especially on classic instrumentals like "Cherokee" and "Raunchy," which have been given mod makeovers here by the Mitch Murray Clan and the Ray McVay Sound. Harry Stoneham's "Mogul/I Spy/The Avengers" nods to the spy movie and TV show fetish of the time, while Shocking Blue's "Ackla Ragh"'s trippy sitars allude to the '60s and '70s fascination with Indian music. Though it's more eclectic than some other volumes in this series, this collection makes for very entertaining mood music that still conjures up this swinging, stylish era.

The Past & Present label presents volume 1 of the Talking About The Good Times series -
- an interesting collection of lovingly compiled '60s rarities, now digitally-remastered for
the delight of all you collectors out there. Rare acetates and scarce unreleased tracks
from 5 Gentlemen, Smoke, East Of Eden, Young Flowers, Orange Peel and others.
The whole album is just a groove-fest, and is deeply worth checking out. Don't even ask
about the price of the originals of these – you couldn't possibly afford them! You need
never know a moment's peace again.

Love broadened their scope into psychedelia on their sophomore effort, Arthur Lee's achingly melodic songwriting gifts reaching full flower. The six songs that comprised the first side of this album when it was first issued are a truly classic body of work, highlighted by the atomic blast of pre-punk rock "Seven & Seven Is" (their only hit single), the manic jazz tempos of "Stephanie Knows Who", and the enchanting "She Comes in Colors", perhaps Lee's best composition (and reportedly the inspiration for the Rolling Stones' "She's a Rainbow"). It's only half a great album, though; the seventh and final track, "Revelation", is a tedious 19-minute jam that keeps Da Capo from attaining truly classic status.

Sanctuary's mammoth triple-disc Pentangle overview poses a bit of a dilemma. First of all, it's called Pentangling, which is already the name of a 1973 compilation, and secondly, while not deliberately misleading, it focuses more attention on the solo careers of John Renbourn and Bert Jansch than it does on the entity that supplies the collection's title. Despite these petty gripes, Pentangling is filled to the brim with some of the finest recordings the British folk movement had to offer, and hearing the group as a whole, followed by an entire disc – one apiece – of two of the genre's most gifted guitarists, is rewarding in more ways than one: both men, as well as the band, released material well into the 21st century, but Pentangling focuses only on their treasured late-'60s/early-'70s output. Listeners looking for a more comprehensive take on Pentangle would be better off with Castle's excellent Light Flight: The Anthology, and Renbourn and Jansch both have lovingly packaged retrospectives that fare better than the ones offered here, but as far as entry points go, Pentangling does more than skim the surface.

Though Les Rallizes Denudes, also known as Hadaka no Rallizes, were one of the earliest and most revolutionary Japanese psychedelic rock bands, and have existed off and on through four decades, they are also one of the most obscure, barely known even in their native country…

3 CD Set, 75 great tracks. The Animals, The Lovin' Spoonful, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Sly & The Family Stone, Manfred Mann, The Beach Boys, The Hollies, Fleetwood Mac, The Band, Jeff Beck, The Seekers, Elvis Presley, Neil Sedaka, Fats Domino, Cher, Paul Jones, Lulu, Jose Feliciano, Peter And Gordon, Johnny Nash, Bedrocks, P. J. Proby, The Dubliners and more, and more…