Widely considered one of the greatest songwriters of his generation, Townes Van Zandt has been hailed by such singers as Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, and Willie Nelson. Fat Possum is proud to reissue four titles from his early career - "Townes Van Zandt," "Our Mother the Mountain," "Delta Momma Blues," and "Flyin' Shoes" - that comprise an essential introduction to his best songs. Recorded between 1969 and 1978, Van Zandt's most prolific (and most critically acclaimed) decade, these four titles are the heart of any serious consideration of Van Zandt's career. Featuring some of the most iconic cover art in album history (designed by Milton Glaser), each is a classic in every sense of the word. The four titles are the first in a series of Townes Van Zandt reissues that Fat Possum is undertaking in conjunction with the Van Zandt estate.

The 70s were the decade of progressive rock music of all calibers. And it seems not one country of this world was spared when the new kind of sound spilled over like a giant wave of inspiration. Even the European Eastern Block countries where rock music was regarded as subversive by the authorities had their share of rock bands with a hippie, heavy or freaked out direction. We recall Omega from Hungary, SBB from Poland or Modry Efekt from the Czech Republic and of course Phoenix from Romania. The latter were the biggest rock music export of their home country but there were others with them building a solid spine for the still young and expanding rock scene. One of these nowadays rather unknown forces was Progresiv TM, a band not to categorize too easily. They loved big melodies with a yearning approach for the vocals, mixed up blues, folk, jazz and playfully twisted rock patterns…

Three Man Army's third and final studio album was, most confusingly, titled Three Man Army Two (Reprise/Polydor, 1974). It's a shame that this great early hard rock band aren't better known! So I was more than happy to grab this 2010 Jap SHM reissue when I came across it. I wasn't dissapointed, as it sounds so much better than a 1993 Repertoire copy that I was more familiar with.

The original double-LP version of this compilation was one of the most generous in the Bee Gees' catalog, assembling 20 of their biggest disco-era hits and most important album tracks in one place, all while the disco boom was still alive in a lot of places. The expanded Reprise double-CD edition of this collection, released in September of 2007, boosts the original compilation's running time by more than 30 minutes, most of the latter made up of remixes and alternate mixes of established hits, such as a 12" promo version and a Teddybears remix of "Stayin' Alive," a Jason Bentley/Philip Steir remix of "You Should Be Dancing," a Count De Money remix of "If I Can't Have You," a Future Funk Squad remix of "Night Fever," and a Supreme Beings of Leisure remix of "How Deep Is Your Love." There's also one previously unissued track, "Warm Ride," without a word of mention about when or where it came from – in its defense, it's as good a song as anything the Bee Gees actually released in the second half of the '70s.

Mahal's stint with Warner Bros. was not among his most artistically productive, documenting an era in which he become preoccupied with fusing his brand of blues with Caribbean rhythms and steel drums. This double-CD set contains the entirety of three 1976-1978 LPs for the label, in addition to some unreleased material. Those three LPs – 1976's Music Fuh Ya (Musica Para Tu), 1978's Evolution (The Most Recent), and the 1977 soundtrack to the little-known film Brothers – form most of what's on this compilation. There's a sameness to Mahal's easygoing blues-on-the-beach approach, and a sometimes irritating reliance on Caribbean steel drums for color, that wears down the listener's attention span in such a large dose.

The Impulse 2-on-1 series is a mixed bag: "The Joy Of Sax" (1977) and "Warm And Sonny" (1976). Despite the fact that these recordings are over-produced in the extreme by Esmond Edwards, who jammed up the music with too much percussion, boring guitar solos and strings that were not needed, Sonny Criss and his brilliance on the alto saxophone still shines through. As these were Sonny's last two recordings, done just before his tragic death in 1977, they are worth having, and Sonny sounds beautiful, as always.

An exclusive 8-CD box set containing albums and rare recordings made by the Czech jazzrock legend Martin Kratochvíl! The box set includes albums not previously released on CD or unavailable for many years, as well as studio recordings with a hallmark of surprise from the repertoire of Martin Kratochvíl’s Jazz Q. The compilation has been put together by the band’s front man and supplemented by an interesting memoir of his colleague Tony Ackermann.
From the introductory “Pozorovatelna” (Observatory) to the concluding bonus “Co se na desky nevešlo” (Outtakes), the listener is presented with first-class pieces performed by superlative instrumentalists and vocalists. Besides the keyboard wizard Kratochvíl, you will hear Francl, Padrůněk, Vrbovec and Dugganová, and, as time went by, other of his permanent or occasional musical partners…

The group Full Moon represented one of the first attempts at fusing jazz, blues, and rock in the very early 1970's. The group's members consisted of some surivivors of the 60's, mainly from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Buzzy Feiten, a guitar legend at age 18 played lead guitar for Butterfield from 69-71, and then went on to record two albums with Stevie Wonder, and even toured with Stevie Wonder in the Rolling Stones tour of 1972. Phil Wilson was the original drummer for Butterfield, and wanted to write songs and do something other than blues. "Brother" Gene Dinwiddie was a consumate and perfectionist sax player who also wanted to write songs. Freddie Beckmeyer on drums, and a young Neil Larsen on keyboards rounded out the group. Neil Larsen was a keyboardist with no bounds, and a favorite of jazz producer Tommy LiPuma…

Vibraphonist Gary Burton, one of the defining voices of ECM’s formative years, is worthily honored in this second “Works” series installment. His contributions as virtuoso and interpreter of the instrument are unparalleled, and on ECM both aspects of his career found ample space in which to flourish. This particular era of the 1970s, which followed his RCA blitz, showed him also to be a musician of great patience, as on The New Quartet. The 1973 classic dropped him into a studio with guitarist Mick Goodrick, bassist Abraham Laboriel, and drummer Harry Blazer for a set as gorgeously played as it was conceived. From it we are treated to Keith Jarrett’s “Coral,” of which every spindly leaf is accounted for, and Carla Bley’s “Olhos De Gato,” which waters a groove that is laid back but never subdued. Those chamber sensibilities give way to more luscious details in “Vox Humana,” another Bley tune that references 1976’s quintet outing, Dreams So Real.

Pekka Streng (1948-1975) was both a mystic and a tragic character, being a pioneer of the small scene of Finnish psychedelic folk music. At late 1960's he participated in activities of The University Student Theatre, and he also did some radio plays which made so good impression to the staff at YLE (Finnish Radio Broadcast co.), that he was recommended to Otto Donner, who invited Pekka to do recordings for the famous Love Records label. On these albums along with the help famous Finnish musicians Pekka sings and plays acoustic guitar, and also all of the songs and lyrics on these records are written by him.
His first record "Magneettimiehen Kuolema" ("The Death of A Magnet Man", 1970) was done with the famous prog band Tasavallan Presidentti…

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young had come out of Woodstock as the hottest new music act on the planet, and followed it up with Deja Vu, recorded across almost six months in the second half of 1969 and released in March of 1970, supported by a tour in the summer of that year. As it happened, despite some phenomenal music-making on-stage that summer, the tour was fraught with personal conflicts, and the quartet split up upon its completion. And as it happened, even Deja Vu was something of an illusion created by the foursome – Neil Young was only on five of the album's ten tracks – which meant that an actual, tangible legacy for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young was as elusive and ephemeral to listeners as Ahab's Moby Dick.

The first Three Man Army album, despite its confidently trio-based title, actually teamed Paul Gurvitz and Adrian Gurvitz with a number of different drummers, including Buddy Miles, Spooky Tooth's Mike Kellie, and Vanilla Fudge's Carmine Appice. Though the Gurvitzes were able at mimicking the cliches of early-'70s hard rock, their material was ordinary to the point of dullness, and their guitar soloing stereotypical almost to the point of unwitting self-parody.

The group's first album for Polydor is several steps above their EMI work. Most of the psychedelic-era influences are softened here and broadened, and transmuted into something heavier and more serious, even as the Beatlesque harmonies remain intact…

Although this hit soundtrack was recorded with cheap '70s synthesizers, the simple scores composed by John Carpenter are acclaimed masterpieces. Carpenter sets the mood for his horrific movie with such tracks as "The Shape Stalks," "Laurie's Theme," and, of course, his main theme, which consists of the beating out of a 5-4 rhythm. A definite first pick for those interested, this soundtrack even bests most scary music albums.

Kazumi Watanabe has for the past 40 years been one of the top guitarists in fusion, a rock-oriented player whose furious power does not mask a creative imagination. Watanabe studied guitar at Tokyo's Yamaha Music School and he was a recording artist while still a teenager. In 1979, he formed the group Kylyn and, in 1983, he put together the Mobo band. Several of his recordings have been made available by Gramavision and they show that he ranks up with Al DiMeola (when he is electrified) and Scott Henderson among the pacesetters in the idiom.