The Complete Epic Recordings Collection

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble

Steve Ray Vaughan’s legacy as a blues, soulful guitarist is finally getting its due with a nomination for entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and The Complete Epic Recordings Collection , a 12-disc set that includes the four albums he recorded in his lifetime with Double Trouble — Texas Flood (1983), Couldn’t Stand The Weather (1984), Soul To Soul (1985) and In Step (1989) — along with the live albums Live Alive (1986), In The Beginning (1992), and Live At Montreux 1982 & 1985 (2001). Topping the set off are the first audio release of 1983’s A Legend In The Making, which features the trio’s renowned performance at Toronto’s El Mocambo club from 1983, and a double disc set of miscellaneous unreleased tracks simply called Archives.

There is no question that Stevie Ray Vaughan’s emergence on to music scene in the 80s was bright and incendiary, a vintage-flavored stain on the glossy video age, a reminder to everyone that it’s the music, not the eye candy, we’re still talking about. Today, SRV is celebrated as one of rock’s greatest guitarists whose meteoric rise came an abrupt and tragic end on August 27, 1990. Previous box sets and compilations only cover portions of the man’s story; The Complete Epic Recordings Collection gives you the complete picture and a little more. “Scuttle Buttin’” is enough to get the party started, and then it’s anyone’s guess, depending on whom you’re willing to gift-wrap this bad boy for.

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Wings

As Paul McCartney, the Energizer Bunny of rock, continues to play stadiums and issue new music, the archives have been shedding some sweet goodies. The reissues of Wings albums Venus And Mars (1975) and At The Speed Of Sound (1976) have been remastered and are accompanied by second discs filled with odd ball single releases, outtakes, previously unreleased demos and finished tracks. Deluxe versions feature DVDs with video from 1975-76, clearly a time when Wings was more of a “band” than an outlet for Paul McCartney.

Venus And Mars, the fourth Wings studio album, features the single “Listen To What The Man Said,” as well as one of the band’s heavier offerings, the epic “Rock Show.” McCartney hands a huge chunk of the vocals to guitarist Denny Laine on “Spirits Of Ancient Egypt,” while lead guitarist Jimmy McCulloch takes the lead on his own rocking contribution, “Medicine Jar.” The bonus disc is highlighted by the inclusion of “Junior’s Farm,” the 1974 #3 single that features drummer Geoff Britton (Joe English played on the subsequent albums).

At The Speed Of Sound came along just as Wings toured America for the first and only time. This time Laine sings two, the ethereal “The Note You Never Wrote” and the snappy “Time To Hide.” McCulloch assumes the role on one of his own, “Wino Junko,” drummer Joe English provides an admirable vocal on “Must Be Something About It,” and Linda McCartney makes her mark with the jaunty ‘Cook Of The House.”The album’s #1 single “Silly Love Songs” was one of the poppier numbers on an album that was lighter than its predecessor. Fortunately, “Let ‘Em In” and “Beware My Love” add some weight.

Actually, the most curious song on the reissue may be an alternate take of “Beware My Love” with John Bonham on drums. It doesn’t quite boom like a Led Zeppelin song, but you can definitely tell who it is by the smooth fills and general swing. You put Venus And Mars and At The Speed Of Sound together with a bow and card, and any Beatles and/or Paul McCartney fan you give this to should bow in respect and reverence to your superior tastes.

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A Passion Play

An Extended Performance

WarChild

The 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition

Jethro Tull

There is no question that 2014 will go down as a banner year for Jethro Tull fans. Aside from Ian Anderson’s continued forays into the solo realm with Homo Erraticus and Thick As A Brick 2, the real meat and potatoes are in the multi-disc sets of A Passion Play (1973) and WarChild (1974). Both sets feature two CDs and two DVDs in case-bound books, filled with photos and extensive liner notes. For fans of the Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, John Evan, Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond and Barrie Barlow lineup, arguably one of the more progressive eras in the band’s history, then brace yourself for a slew of extras and new Steve Wilson mixes that will stir your aural senses to new heights of euphoria.

A Passion Play – An Extended Performance includes the original album and the famed and abandoned Château d’Hérouville sessions, in stereo (on the CDs), and additional 5.1 DTS, AC3 Dolby Digital surround sound and PCM 96/24 PCM stereo mixes on the DVDs. The first DVD also has video clips of “The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles,” plus intro and outro film used in the Passion Play tour of 1973. Not only is A Passion Play presented here in its most optimum state, as a progressive opus of its kind should be, but the sessions that preceded it at the 18th century Château d’Hérouville near Paris, France have finally seen the light. A flurry of technical problems, accommodations and illness blighted the recordings, forcing the band to retreat elsewhere and fast-track A Passion Play to completion. This is essentially a whole other album that slides through the canal with the greatest of ease.

Coming a mere four months later, WarChild – The 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition adds 10 orchestrated pieces and “the Second Act” of 11 bonus tracks. All these extras were intended for a feature-length movie, a soundtrack album, and a new Jethro Tull album. As Ian Anderson explains in the liner notes, trying to sell the idea of WarChild as a black comedy film with religious overtones was met with resistance. The album , however, went to #2 on the Billboard charts and feature the Top 40 single “Bungle in the Jungle,” plus the classic Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day.” Tull shine as a strong-arm unit on others like “Back-Door Angels,” “SeaLion” and “The Third Hoorah.” The new Theatre Edition has a trio of unreleased recordings: “Tomorrow Was Today,” “Good Godmother,” and an arrangement of “WarChild” recorded after the version on the final album. It will be more than a happy holiday if you give A Passion Play – An Extended Performance and WarChild – The 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition to your local Tullhead.

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The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings

Six-CD Edition

Allman Brothers Band

In the history of the Allman Brothers Band, 2014 may well be remembered as the year the band called it quits. But earlier in the year, an unexpected surprise reared its beautiful head — five performances spread out over six discs from the fabled Fillmore East shows of 1971. The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings features the four shows from March 12-13, plus the complete June 27 performance, recorded by famed producer Tom Dowd, who not only produced ABB’s second album, Idlewild South, but also the sessions for the Derek & the Dominos project that bought Duane Allman together with Eric Clapton.

Free-flowing, unrestrained, yet totally in sync, on tempo and bleeding with unparalleled chemistry bordering on divine intervention, The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings comprises slight yet enticing variances on “You Don’t Love Me,” ‘Whipping Post,” “Trouble No More,” “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed,” “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’” and “Done Somebody Wrong,” plus the notorious 33-minute version of “Mountain Jam” and a bluesy “Drunken Hearted Boy” with Elvin Bishop. Surely, whomever receives The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings from you will have to recognize the brilliance of live music and how it’s done properly.

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Rocks: My Life In And Out Of Aerosmith

Joe Perry

It only seems fair that if Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler can spill the beans in his own taunting memoir Does The Noise In My Head Bother You?, then his Toxic Twin brother Joe Perry should be able to do the same. In Rocks: My Life In And Out Of Aerosmith, Perry gives his account of life as lead guitarist of Aerosmith, without being too sensationalistic. With a fawning foreword by Johnny Depp, Rocks has Perry and co-writer David Ritz exploring the path of a science-obsessed young man growing up in Massachusetts to becoming a musician, joining bands and meeting up with Steven Tyler. Together, they would take an ambitious, drug-fueled charge at stardom, making Aerosmith one of the biggest bands in the world.

Perry says Rocks tells the “loner’s story, the band’s story, the recovery story, the cult story, the love story, the success story, the failure story, the rebirth story, the re-destruction story, and the post-destructive rebirth story” — ultimately the story any Aerosmith fan would love to read. Nothing could be better than lighting a fire, throwing on Joe Perry’s Merry Christmas EP featuring “White Christmas,” “Silent Night,” “Santa Claus Is Back In Town” and “Run Run Rudolph” with Johnny Depp on rhythm guitar, and curling up with Rocks: My Life In And Out of Aerosmith.

~ Shawn Perry