On déifie le premier album à la banane, encense le très expérimental White Light White Heat et vénère le troisième éponyme. Mais le quatrième et dernier opus studio du Velvet Underground est souvent négligé pour ne pas dire carrément oublié… Loaded est pourtant un véritable chef d’œuvre même si sa réalisation comme son casting furent on ne peut plus chaotiques. Déjà, l’œuvre renferme un bon nombre de chansons magistrales (c’est bien ici que les tubesques Sweet Jane et Rock’n’Roll apparaissent pour la première fois) à l’image de Who Loves The Sun qui ouvre le disque de manière solaire (logique vu le titre…) et très pop. On est bien loin de la décadence et de la noirceur de la Factory d’Andy Warhol des débuts… Sur un titre comme I Found A Reason, la jovialité aux airs Beach Boys est même de mise. Lou Reed claquera pourtant la porte avant la sortie du disque que terminera Doug Yule qui chante d’ailleurs sur certains morceaux. Même Moe Tucker ne pilote la batterie que sur quelques titres. Qu’importe, Loaded est une merveille qui ressuscite en habits de lumière pour ses 45 ans, remastérisé, avec en prime des prises alternative et des démos.

Rhino’s seventh installment of 50th Anniversary Studio Releases for Grateful Dead. FROM THE MARS HOTEL is the 7th album and 2nd released on Dead’s own label, Grateful Dead Records. The Deluxe Edition will feature the same remastered and Plangentized audio from the 50th Remaster PLUS the previously unreleased live performance from the University of Nevada-Reno on May 12, 1974. This was the first road show for the infamous “Wall Of Sound,” which debuted mere weeks earlier at home on March 23, 1974 at the Cow Palace. remastered by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer David Glasser, with Plangent Processes tape restoration and speed correction and Produced for Release by David Lemieux.

A founder member of SOFT MACHINE, Kevin embarked on a solo career in 1969, signing to EMI’s Harvest label and recording the album ‘JOY OF A TOY’ the same year. It is a mark of Kevin’s stature that his recordings during this period would feature contributions from notable musicians such as arranger and keyboard player DAVID BEDFORD, ROBERT WYATT, SYD BARRETT, MIKE OLDFIELD, LOL COXHILL, STEVE HILLAGE, ARCHIE LEGGET and more. This boxed set includes all of the surviving BBC sessions and In Concert appearances recorded by Kevin during this period, including a previously unreleased John Peel concert from 1970 and other tracks featuring Soft Machine, Bridget St. John and Gong. Other highlights include the inclusion of a complete set recorded at a Hyde Park Free concert in 1970, newly mixed and restored by Stephen W Tayler, previously unreleased session out-takes and a segment from a 1972 concert and a performance at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1973. Rounding off the set is a region free Blu-ray video disc which includes a series of live performances recorded for French television, along with two sessions for The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1972 and 1973 (with three previous unseen alternate performances from 1972) and the ‘Caribbean Moon’ promotional film.

Triple CD of classic 1960s French pop & rock 'n' roll - also known as "Yé-Yé" - compiled by celebrated French DJ, producer & remixer Kid Loco (French Funk Experience). Features Serge Gainsbourg (with Michele Arnaud), France's biggest rock band of the 60s Les Chats Sauvages plus Véronique Sanson's 'tribute' to Donovan's 'Sunny Goodge Street', 'Le Printemps Est Là' & Francois Lubiana's 'tribute' to Ben E King's 'Stand by me' 'Vienne La Nuit'. "Yé-Yé" was a Europe-wide phenomenon during the 60s as young French female singers and male rock 'n' roll groups created their own very French take on pop/ rock & roll - with the current interest in all things 60s & retro Yé-Yé's popularity is back once again. Beginner's Guide to French Pop features hits from a variety of French labels all now owned by EMI France including Odeon, Pathé Marconi, Trianon, Ducretet-Thomson, Columbia & La Voix de Son Maître.

True prog pioneers in Estonia, MESS were formed in 1974 around keyboard guru Sven Grünberg and master of electronics Härmo Härm (ex-POSITRON). With the help of a drummer, bassist and guitarist as well as artist Kaarel Kurismaa who provided ingenious stage designs full of props and intricate lightshows, MESS turned their every gig into a sonic and visual experience not to be missed. They were eventually joined on percussion by RUJA's founding member Andrus Vaht as well as by a host of musicians contributing oboe, French horn and church organ; even world famous Tõnu Kaljuste lent his choir to add flavour to their music. Highly recommended to fans of keyboard-driven space prog such as KLAUS SCHULZE, TANGERINE DREAM, JEAN-MICHEL JARRE and the likes.

Pink Floyd Some bands turn into shorthand for a certain sound or style, and Pink Floyd belongs among that elite group. The very name connotes something specific: an elastic, echoing, mind-bending sound that evokes the chasms of space. Pink Floyd grounded that limitless sound with exacting explorations of mundane matters of ego, mind, memory, and heart, touching upon madness, alienation, narcissism, and society on their concept albums of the '70s. Of these concept albums, Dark Side of the Moon resonated strongest, earning new audiences year after year, decade after decade, and its longevity makes sense.

The Mystery Lights return with their most ambitious offering to date. With Wayne Gordon back in the producer's chair, the group delivers an eclectic mix of real-deal psychedelia, punk, art rock, and even a splash of country via the Kinks(y) pop earworm "I'm Sorry I Forgot Your Name".

Musically, there is little to delineate the fifth long-player from Quicksilver Messenger Service, What About Me, from their previous effort, Just for Love. Not surprisingly, material for both was initiated during a prolific two-month retreat to the Opaelua Lodge in Haleiwa, HI, during May and June of 1970. The quartet version of Quicksilver Messenger Service - which had yielded the band's first two LPs - expanded once again to include Dino Valenti (aka Chester A. Powers, Chet Powers, and most notably on this album, Jesse Oris Farrow) as well as British session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins. The additional talents of Mark Naftalin (keyboards) were incorporated when Hopkins was unavailable. This began his short stint with Quicksilver Messenger Service, which lasted through their sixth LP, Quicksilver (1972). The most apparent change in Quicksilver Messenger Service's sound can be directly attributed to the return of Valenti…

Recorded Live at the Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Ilinois, 28 September 1987.

The Move were the best and most important British group of the late '60s that never made a significant dent in the American market. Through the band's several phases (which were sometimes dictated more by image than musical direction), their chief asset was guitarist and songwriter Roy Wood, who combined a knack for Beatlesque pop with a peculiarly British, and occasionally morbid, sense of humor. On their final albums (with considerable input from Jeff Lynne), the band became artier and more ambitious, hinting at the orchestral rock that Wood and Lynne would devise for the Electric Light Orchestra. The Move, however, always placed more emphasis on the pop than the art, and never lost sight of their hardcore rock & roll roots.

Small Faces were the best English band never to hit it big in America. Outside Europe, all anybody remembers them for is their sole hit, "Itchycoo Park," which was hardly representative of their psychedelic sound, much less their full musical range – but in England, Small Faces were one of the most extraordinary and successful bands of the mid-'60s, serious competitors to the Who and potential rivals to the Rolling Stones.

Quicksilver Messenger Service's debut effort was a little more restrained and folky than some listeners had expected, given their reputation for stretching out in concert. While some prefer the mostly live Happy Trails, this self-titled collection is inarguably their strongest set of studio material, with the accent on melodic folk-rock. Highlights include their cover of folksinger Hamilton Camp's "Pride of Man," probably their best studio track; "Light Your Windows," probably the group's best original composition; and founding member Dino Valenti's "Dino's Song" (Valenti himself was in jail when the album was recorded). "Gold and Silver" is their best instrumental jam, and the 12-minute "The Fool" reflects some of the best and worst traits of the psychedelic era.

THE DIRECT HITS were active on the 60s and Mod Revival circuit for the first half of the 1980s, issuing a string of now highly collectable records. Having evolved out of new wave band The Exits, THE DIRECT HITS formed around 1981 and signed to Whaam! Records, the label run by TV Personalities frontman Dan Treacy. First single ‘Modesty Blaise’ was a perfect blend of power pop, Mod rock and 60s stylings. Today, it sounds like Britpop over a decade too early! Compiled and designed by DIRECT HITS’ frontman Colin Swan, Here, There Or Anywhere is a comprehensive collection of the band’s output – and their first CD reissue for many years. Alongside ‘Modesty Blaise’ are tracks from their cult debut album Blow Up, issued on Whaam! in 1984, 1985 single ‘She Really Didn’t Care’, rare live tracks and a few selections from their second album House Of Secrets.

The Mars Volta have never taken the easy route. Their sixth album since Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala quit seminal post-hardcore outfit At The Drive-In in 2001, ‘Noctourniquet’ is framed around a narrative based both on Superman villain Solomon Grundy and the Greek myth of Hyacinthus. If you need refreshing, that’s the one in which Hyacinth, the (male) lover of the god Apollo, attempts to impress Apollo by catching his discus, but gets struck by it and dies. The music follows the same recondite, abstruse path as the lyrics - an ambitious, avant-garde swirl of prog, rock, post-rock and quasi-metal that carries the weight of such intense cerebral pressure. Suffice to say, there are no songs about wearing the same jeans for four days…

'The Doors announced themselves to the world with a near-perfect debut album,' writes veteran rock journalist Ben Fong-Torres in his notes for this unprecedented box. Indeed, The Doors' self-titled 1967 debut recorded in late '66 struck awe in fans and critics alike, and heralded the arrival of the one the most original and daring bands ever. Through five more studio albums, The Doors were fronted by the legendary Jim Morrison, and continually pushed the boundaries of contemporary music and popular culture. To mark the band's 40th anniversary, Rhino salutes their legacy with a 12-disc box housing remastered & expanded editions of these six album masterpieces.