Gram Parsons' legend is so great that it's easy for the neophyte to be skeptical about his music, wondering if it really is deserving of such effusive praise. Simply put, it is, and if you question the veracity of that statement, turn to Rhino's peerless double-disc set, Sacred Hearts and Fallen Angels: The Gram Parsons Anthology. This is the first truly comprehensive overview of Parsons' work, running from the International Submarine Band, through the Byrds, to the Flying Burrito Brothers and his two solo albums, scattering appropriate rarities or non-LP tracks along the way…

The Byrds were one of the most progressive and exciting band in '60s rock, with no peers outside the Stones-Beatles-Beach Boys triumvirate. This box set, which collects their original Columbia albums, represents over 90-percent of their career, basically everything they released, all 12 albums (aside from their 1973 reunion album recorded for Asylum). This material was frequently astonishing at the time, and still is, ranging from their debut single "Mr. Tambourine Man" through the bracing folk-rock of their first two LPs, growing psychedelia and experimentation during 1966 and 1967, then a sudden detour into country-rock and mellow pop for the rest of the '60s…

Forrest Gump (1994) is one of the most successful films ever made, winning Tom Hanks his second successive Best Actor Oscar (he won the previous year for Philadelphia) as well as claiming the Best Picture Oscar and many other awards and nominations, including several for music. A unique fable of American life from the 1950s to the 80s, the film blends comedy, drama, war, romance and groundbreaking special effects into a social and political portrait of the passing years, all seen through the eyes of the intellectually challenged but immensely likeable Forrest Gump. The soundtrack is a double album featuring 31 classic pop tunes plus a suite from Alan Silvestri's rich orchestral music, represented more completely on the companion score album.

A blip in the Byrds' discography that could easily be missed, as all of the songs from these pre-Mr. Tambourine Man sessions are also found on the much more widely available In the Beginning. Byrds fans really need to track this down, though, because six of the 11 cuts are actually entirely different versions than the ones that appear on In the Beginning, and in some cases the differences are substantial…

These 12 songs were recorded by Twin Engine in 1971 with the intention of getting an album together for release on United Artists, but they weren't issued until more than 30 years later. The music has very much of a 1970 aura, mightily influenced at different points by the Let It Be-era Beatles (particularly in the guitar sound of "Give My Love a Chance," "The Time Is Now," and "Mistress of the Morning"), Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (a riff in "The Time Is Now" seems airlifted directly from Neil Young's "Cowgirl in the Sand"), American Beauty-era Grateful Dead, and the country-rock being laid down by the Flying Burrito Brothers/Byrds axis in Southern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. (That last influence may not have been entirely due to chance, as Byrds and/or Burritos members Chris Hillman, Clarence White, and Sneaky Pete Kleinow are all referred to in the packaging as having played on the sessions, though it's not specified who played on what track). It's very accomplished, and Twin Engine's duo harmonies are quite cheerful and invigorating.

Friday Music proudly presents for the first time on 180 Gram Translucent Blue & Green Swirl Audiophile Vinyl, the 50th Anniversary Edition of The Byrds’ "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo." Impeccably mastered by Joe Reagoso at Friday Music Studios & Capitol Mastering.