The Troggs were one of the toughest and most gloriously unpolished bands to emerge from the U.K. during the British Invasion era - the leering, monolithic pound of "Wild Thing" and "I Can't Control Myself" was about the closest thing to the Stooges that emerged on vinyl before James Osterberg reinvented himself as Iggy Pop, and lead singer Reg Presley all but defined the word "lascivious" with his guttural howls and moans on their best recordings. The Troggs had dropped off the charts by the end of the '60s, but they were the sort of band that simply didn't believe in giving up, and in 1975 they returned to the studio to cut their first album in five years. Simply called The Troggs, the album found the group updating their sound just a bit, with the results at times suggesting a cross between Status Quo-style boogie and blue collar glam in the manner of Slade, especially on the honest self-celebration of "Full Blooded Band"…

This is a quasi-masterpiece of folk prog music full of refined details. The warm & pleasant acoustic bass contributes to give a slight jazzy tendency to the whole. The tracks are so good that even the country electric guitar parts are absolutely excellent. Everything is well put at the right time, at the right place: the palpable harmony is a strong point on this record. There are practically no psychedelic, spacy or experimental passage: everything is just down to earth; it is a pure, positive and sane music, excellent for your soul. The presence of a few orchestral arrangements, narration passages and many grand backing chants enhance the value of the tracks. The exemplary balance between all the instruments is quite noticeable. The quality of the recording is almost irreproachable considering the release year. Among the wide range of similitudes, let's mention Alan Parson's project, Ray Conniff and Barclay James Harvest…

Hootie and the Blowfish followed the huge success of Cracked Rear View with Fairweather Johnson in 1996, and while it had a lot to live up to, it still landed at #1 on the Billboard 200. With songs like Old Man and Me (When I Get to Heaven) and Tucker’s Town, it shows the band stretching out while holding onto the easy warmth that made so many people connect with them in the first place. Over the last thirty years, Fairweather Johnson has grown into a real fan favourite and stands as an essential part of ’90s rock history, capturing the rise, evolution, and lasting charm of one of the era’s most beloved bands.

In 1988, The House Of Love's debut album arrived as a fully-formed piece of pop perfection, following two years of intensive writing, rehearsing and live performances. 'The Gift' explores those two years, as the band leapt from the Camberwell squat scene into the centre of the UK's indie world as it went overground.

Magic Boy presents Jimi Hendrix's legendary first show at the Berkeley Community Theater in May 1970. Fans first became aware of his Berkeley performance when two early posthumous releases featured a stunning Hear My Train A Comin' on 1971's Rainbow Bridge and his electrifying rendition of Johnny B. Goode on 1972's Hendrix: In The West. The shambolic 1971 film Jimi Plays Berkeley stoked the fires further with extracts of Purple Haze and Star Banner. Magic Boy includes those two classics and assembles the performance in its running order for the first time. It also offers Ezy Ryder and Freedom in development before completion in the studio by the guitarist, plus Message To Love and Machine Gun from his recent Band Of Gypsys album, alongside Fire and Voodoo Child (Slight Return), all newly remixed by Eddie Kramer from the original multi-track tapes.

Sixty years into a career that began with Fairport Convention and has spanned decades as one of rock's most acclaimed singer-songwriters, Richard Thompson is still chasing surprise. On Hippies, Thugs and Heroes, he lets his subconscious take the wheel, pulling from a cast of old friends, false gurus, former selves, and invented characters who insisted on having their stories told.