Just bought or am in the process of buying -
KANSAS -
Kansas (first release) and Song for America re-masters.
I am everything early Kansas. Even before the beloved Steve Walsh left the band, I wasn't digging them as much during his latest discs with them but during their early days they were unbeatable. These two re-masters sound wonderful. They are quiet, full, rich and not loud. As if someone painted a sheen of glass over them. Not only that, these two discs (or albums at the time) bring me back to a time when I was at a musical high in my life and nothing else mattered.
STYX -
Anyone who was into Kansas usually was into Styx for some reason. My journey with Styx started just a tad bit before Kansas arrived. If you remember the Wooden Nickel releases, that's me.
EQUINOX and CRYSTAL BALL re-masters. I have not gotten these in yet - but I'm waiting with baited breath. I just scored good copies of these on vinyl, meaning the originals, but I'm looking forward to hearing what these sound like re-mastered. Now will someone please step it up and re-master The Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight please ?
RIK EMMETT -
Once again, I am all about early Triumph, but moreso Rik Emmett who was one of my three childhood guitar heroes. See if you can guess who they were - they are all mentioned in this post.
Once Rik left Triumph, I would say most kids like me abandoned him or didn't know how to follow his career at the time. Strangely, he went into soft pop music land. His 10-11 solo discs catered to this genre, and while it is tough to listen to them on a regular basis, his vocals are what keeps me coming back for all of his music. He did venture into jazz, blues, classical, etc and guitar fans would do well to go seek those out. In the meantime, I snagged this one:RIK EMMETT / Then Again....... This is Rik's latest release from 2021. An all acoustic version of Triumph songs - yes they are all here > Never Surrender, Magic Power, Fight the Good Fight, etc ..... I was very surprised to hear how badly this was recorded considering lots of his other stuff is high end audio material. The sound is very dry, the vocals seem to be mixed in the background, and sadly, his voice isn't what it used to be, at least on this recording. His voice is more gritty, rough, and raw.... the vocals and the acoustic guitar seemed to have been recorded at two different locations, according to my ears although I'm sure that is not the case. This disc had me most excited of all of these, and was the biggest letdown in the end.
FRANK MARINO & MAHOGANY RUSH - The Power of Rock & Roll
I scored a MINT vinyl copy of this recently at a record store. Could not believe my eyes when I saw it. It's in almost perfect condition. I haven't played it yet because I've just been staring at it. I am a HUGE Frank Marino fan since day one. When kids were listening to the Bee Gees and Saturday Night Fever, I was playing Mahogany Rush. I've got mostly all of MH recordings in one form or another, and even bought his last bluray show ( and only one ever recorded ) for $120 which was the only price it was available. I still scour the earth looking for his records, to replace my worn, torn, kid-neglected ones that can barely make it out of the rack without them falling apart.
Sadly, Frank Marino recently announced his retirement from touring and making music in general due to an un-announced illness that he has ...... saddest thing ever. I did manage to see him play live opening up for Nazareth and AC/DC on a triple bill I believe back in 1979. It doesn't get any better than that for a kid.
I just bought these from The Lasers Edge but haven't gotten them in yet to comment ......
ROBIN TROWER / Bridge of Sighs Re-mastered -
If you were into guitar gods in the 70s, you were into Robin Trower, as I was. He has some great records over the years, but none that beat this one. I cannot wait to hear what this sounds like cleaned up.
BLUE OYSTER CULT / Secret Treaties Re-mastered -
Another one of my goto bands from the 70s, and one of the best live acts ever...... I saw them 3 times and they were absolutely fabulous. Their live albums are the best but Secret Treaties to me is by far their signature disc to go to. I've got their early material on vinyl, but with these re-masters you get extra bonus material as well....for $5, these are hard to beat.
FOGHAT / Live -
Their first live album ever, and mine just disintegrated from years of use. They were the blues-rock king of the 70s, and seeing them open up for ZZ Top back in oh, 1976 was king. I was there to see Foghat, not ZZ Top and walked out about halfway thru ZZ's set, Foghat blew them off the stage back then. I figured I would get the CD so I wouldn't ever wear out a vinyl copy again .......
TRANSATLANTIC / The Whirlwind -
Back to more recent material, if you will .... I've tried desperately to get into Transatlantic because of my new found love of Neal Morse, but found it difficult. I did some research on Transatlantic and found this to be a 77-minute song. Comments welcome, but I figure if I can't get into this one, I'll abandon my TA journey once and for all .....
RUSH / Moving Pictures (40th anniversary release) -
How many versions of one release does one have ? In my case, this is the 6th version that I own and the best sounding to my ears. The re-mastered version (this one anyway) sounds amazing and Neal's drums really stand out here. You also get 2 bonus concerts from that era as well. This one was not money breaking like the other anniversary releases.....
At last but not least - I bought the $100 IQ Archive set that they recently re-issued. It is the 2003-2017 re-issued discs never released before..... it comes in a beautiful vinyl sized book with pictures, liner notes, summaries, and all kinds of goodies......and all of the discs are placed inside the book. Without going into detail, here is what is included for discs ........
IQ20 anniversary show live CD
IQ30 anniversary show live CD
Frequency Tour CDs 1 & 2 (re:mixed)
The Road of Bonus (extras not on the Road of Bones live CD)
The Road of Bones of Live CD ( the only one available outside of this box set )
Tales from a Dark Christmas (yes !! IQ has a Christmas CD and this is it )
Subterranea / Complete Concert in HD Video - (not the original Subterranea show, this is with the newest lineup)
IQ30 / Complete 30th anniversary concert in HD video (these two shows are amazing)
Amazing release from an amazing band ..... there aren't many bands I would buy something like this from, but IQ is one of them and they do it right........
