Browse by Catagory:
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1967-1970 (The Blue Album)
Release Date: 1993-10-05
Sales rank: 454
Even as the Beatles began heading toward an inevitable breakup, their prolific ways continued; this two-disc look back only skims the surface of their later achievements. Excerpts from Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, the white album, Abbey Road, and Let It Be compete for space with classic singles that do as much or more to prove their eclecticism: the epic ballad "Hey Jude," the plaintive "Strawberry Fields Forever," straight rock & roll of all stripes from the plainspoken "Revolution" and "Get Back" to the surreal "Come Together." Decades after the split, this (and its companion set of 1962-1966 cuts) remains a favored introduction for young listeners and a key sampler for veteran fans. --Rickey Wright |
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A Hard Day's Night
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Sales rank: 502
A Hard Day's Night was the first Beatles album of all-original material, and the first to feature George Harrison playing his Rickenbacker electric 12-string guitar (on the opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night," for instance). The distinctive sound of the 12-string inspired countless guitarists including Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of the Byrds. The film from which these songs hail remains a classic combination of happy 1960s naivete and nascent hipster wit. Many of the most important rock bands to emerge in the latter half of the '60s came into being because of A Hard Day's Night's irresistible vibrancy. The tunes flow like the finest red wine, as the title track leads to the glorious harmonica of "I Should Have Known Better" and the powerfully poignant "If I Fell." EMI. 2005.Strummmmm! That dramatic guitar chord that kicks of A Hard Day's Night (album, song, movie) still jumps right out at you, slaps you in the face, and jump-starts your heart. And you know what? Both the music and the film are still as crisp and lively as they were in 1964. Of course, only the first seven songs are actually in the movie (and they are the strongest of the bunch, from the rousing rock & roll of the title track and the hit single "Can't Buy Me Love," to the beautiful ballads "If I Fell" and "And I Love Her"). But nobody's going to complain about having songs like "I'll Cry Instead" and "Things We Said Today" in the second half of the record; they sure don't feel like leftovers. Yet another high-point for John, Paul, George, and Ringo--four fab fellows who hit the highest heights imaginable. --Jim Emerson |
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1962-1966 (The Red Album)
Release Date: 1993-10-05
Sales rank: 482
The closest the Beatles came to a greatest hits package, this document of the early part of their career features hit singles (in chronological order) and selected album tracks, running from "Love Me Do" through the groundbreaking Rubber Soul and Revolver albums. While this may be an excellent intro for beginners, real fans will never be content with only selections, especially when you're dealing with those aforementioned albums. Capitol packages the collection on two discs, copying the original vinyl version--but, of course, CDs hold more music than records did. Still, you do get 26 bona fide classics, so there's no real need to complain. --Bill Holdship |
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Hot Rocks 1964-1971 [DSD Remastered]
Release Date: 2002-08-27
Sales rank: 726
Remastered reissue of 1972 compilation, suitable for standard & 'Super Audio' CD players. Gatefold digipak. Rolling Stones Photos It's the rare greatest-hits album that takes on a life of its own. Generally, best-of collections are superceded by updated retrospectives. Hot Rocks is one of the rare exceptions to the rule. Originally released in 1972, it instantly became the Stones intro of choice, elbowing aside Big Hits, High Tide and Green Grass and Through the Past Darkly. Why? It happened to hit the racks when Mick and company were at their creative peak. The 21 tracks found here represent seven years of dizzying growth. From "Time is on My Side" through "Satisfaction" and "Let's Spend the Night Together," on to Sticky Fingers's "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses," Hot Rocks never lets up. The likes of Sucking in the '70s and Jump Back come and go, but this Stones overview will not be moved. --Steven Stolder |
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Pink Floyd - Live at Pompeii (Director's Cut)
Release Date: 2003-10-21
Sales rank: 3136
Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 10/03/2006Conceived by the French director Adrian Maben as "an anti-Woodstock film," Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii was shot in October 1971 in a vacant, 2,000-year-old amphitheater--a venue chosen to accentuate the grandeur and spaciousness of the band's Meddle-era music. This disc contains a new, 90-minute director's cut as well as the original 60-minute concert film, whose production and effects feel inescapably dated. Maben's cut goes to great lengths to lend the film a more contemporary feel, but it's the earlier version that makes this disc such a gem, being more focused on the music and more wholistic in vision. The anamorphic, 16:9 director's cut interweaves the Pompeii performances with fascinating but distracting interviews and music snippets filmed later (mostly during the recording of Dark Side of the Moon). The movie was originally prepared in a 4:3 aspect ratio, however, and the widescreen version crops perfectly framed images like the nine-square mosaic of drummer Nick Mason in "One of These Days." The original offers plenty of closeups of fingers on frets and keys, with shots that are often luxuriously long in duration. And the picture quality from Pompeii is revelatory: outstandingly sharp and clear, rich in subtle grades of light and color. Generous extras include everything from original posters, reviews, bootleg album covers, and song lyrics to a 24-minute interview with Maben. But for all the director's talk of the glorious acoustics in Pompeii's amphitheater, there's little natural ambience to be heard. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is clear, dry, and two-dimensional, though notably better than any previous video release. --Michael Mikesell |
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Please Please Me
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Sales rank: 864
Japanese exclusive reissue of 1963 album. This Toshiba/EMI pressing features an OBI strip (different from the last Japanese pressings issued in 1990) & an insert with Japanese text & lyrics in Japanese & English. Manufactured & pressed in Japan. This album has been direct metal mastered from a digitally remastered original tape to give the best possible sound quality. 2003.Their first-ever album, raw and rough and still very rock & roll. Lennon and McCartney begin to flex their writing muscles and had already scored two UK hits when this appeared, but they still relied heavily on the cover material to see them through. Their insecurity about their own abilities seems curious in hindsight since they'd pulled the title song and "I Saw Her Standing There" (with thanks to Little Richard) out of their hats. But they were an unknown quantity, still to launch a million bands and take pop music to places it had never dreamed off. A small step for four men, a giant leap for music. --Chris Nickson |
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Donovan's Greatest Hits
Release Date: 1999-03-30
Sales rank: 1032
Greatest Hits is the budget option for those who've concluded that two discs of Donovan is a disc too many and zero is one too few. Troubadour, Sony's 1992 Donovan box set, boasts nearly three times the tracks this 15-song single-disc retrospective offers, but Greatest Hits delivers what it promises: "Colours" and "Catch the Wind" from his folkie phase and "Mellow Yellow," "Sunshine Superman," and "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" from the lad's best-pal-a-flower-ever-had period. Also included are plenty more catchy folk-rock hits cut between 1964 and 1970 as well as four bonus tracks, including the delightfully earnest "Atlantis" and "Barabajagal," with the celebrated first-edition Jeff Beck Group providing backing. Donovan's blissed-out liner notes ("Whatever you think this song is about, it probably is") round out the package quite quaintly. --Steven Stolder |
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Help! [UK]
Release Date: 1990-10-17
Sales rank: 691
Japanese exclusive reissue of 1965 album. This Toshiba/EMI pressing features an OBI strip (different from the last Japanese pressings issued in 1990) & an insert with Japanese text & lyrics in Japanese & English. Manufactured & pressed in Japan. This album has been direct metal mastered from a digitally remastered original tape to give the best possible sound quality. 2003.How John Lennon's confessional song became the title for a silly James Bond spoof I really don't know. The funny thing is, it works both ways--as a young man's personal statement about learning to open up to others, and as the frantic theme for an exotic espionage chase comedy starring those lovable mop-tops (this time in color). Like A Hard Day's Night, only the first "side" of this album actually contains songs from the movie--the biggest hits being the eponymous cry for assistance and "Ticket to Ride." But part 2 has a few nice tunes as well, like "It's Only Love," "I've Just Seen a Face," and a little ditty called "Yesterday." And I always love it when they do an all-out screamer like "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," which sounds like John's raucous answer to Paul's "Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey" vocal on Beatles for Sale. Of course, it's essential--as are all the Beatles' soundtracks (all the Beatles' albums), with the possible exception of Yellow Submarine. --Jim Emerson |
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With the Beatles
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Sales rank: 1038
No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: BEATLES
Title: WITH THE BEATLES
Street Release Date: 08/09/1988
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POPThey still had plenty of covers to fill out the running time, but the Lennon-McCartney writing team was gathering steam and beginning to knock out pop classics as if they were pulling them out of thin air. "All My Loving" and "I Wanna Be your Man" come from this record, issued hurriedly to capitalize on English Beatlemania. But even when they were laying into some classic Chuck Berry, by this time the Beatles had acquired a unique sound in the blend of John's and Paul's voices, while George was coming on by leaps and bounds as a guitar player. While not absolutely essential, as a snapshot of a band in a place and time, With the Beatles is good for a smile. --Chris Nickson |
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Hollies - Hollies Greatest Hits
Release Date: 2002-03-26
Sales rank: 1610
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