Cheap Trick - Sex, America, Cheap Trick (4CD Box Set) (1996)

"Sex, America, Cheap Trick" is a 1996 box set by the rock band Cheap Trick. It includes 17 previously unreleased songs, as well as the band's biggest hits. It is a classic example of a botched box set. Spanning four discs and 64 songs, the box contains nearly all of the group's hit singles and an amazing amount of rarities -- a grand total of 30 outtakes, live tracks, demos, single versions, soundtrack songs, and B-sides. Despite all of the abundance of material, there are still a lot of essential items missing, as well as several odd inclusions. Many of the group's biggest hits and concert staples are present, but Cheap Trick classics like "He's a Whore," "Downed," "Come On, Come On," "Taxman, Mr. Thief," "California Man," and several others are inexplicably absent. Furthermore, the final two discs bog down with slick radio-ready pop, even though they rescue all the highlights from the band's decidedly uneven '80s recordings. Still, the rarities -- particularly single versions of early tracks like "Oh, Candy" and "Southern Girls," demos like "Fan Club," and a ripping live set -- are usually worthy, even if they might have been better showcased on a double-disc rarities set.
Recorded between 1977 and 1995. Includes liner notes by Ira Robbins and Bruce Dickinson.
Digitally remastered by Vic Anesini (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York).
This bonus-laden four-disc boxed set is a dream come true for Cheap Trick fans, and catches latecomers up with the best of the power pop juggernaut's work through 1996. It features not only their pop-canon classics ("Surrender," "I Want You to Want Me") but also alternate takes, b-sides, unreleased tracks, and several live performances. Additionally, former TROUSER PRESS editor-in-chief Ira Robbins and producer Bruce Dickinson provide informative liner notes.

Track List:

Disc one
01. "Hello There - 1:40
02. "ELO Kiddies (single version)" - 3:41
03. "Hot Love" - 2:30
04. "Oh, Candy (single version)" - 3:06
05. "Mandocello" - 4:47
06. "Lovin' Money" (previously unreleased) - 4:09
07. "I Want You to Want Me (alternate version)" (previously unreleased) - 2:59
08. "Southern Girls (single version)" - 3:35
09. "So Good to See You" - 3:37
10. "Down on the Bay (live)" (previously unreleased) - 3:33
11. "Mrs. Henry (live)" (previously unreleased) - 9:36
12. "Violins (live)" (previously unreleased) - 6:12
13. "Ballad of TV Violence (live)" - 4:52
14. "You're All Talk (live)" - 3:55
15. "Fan Club (demo)" (previously unreleased) - 1:01

Disc two
01. "Surrender" - 4:14
02. "High Roller (alternate version)" - 3:59
03. "On Top of the World" - 4:06
04. "Auf Wiedersehen" - 3:41
05. "I Want You to Want Me (live)" - 3:43
06. "Clock Strikes Ten (live)" - 3:54
07. "Dream Police" - 3:53
08. "Way of the World" - 3:38
09. "Gonna Raise Hell" - 9:18
10. "Voices" - 4:22
11. "Stop This Game" - 3:57
12. "Just Got Back" - 2:04
13. "Baby Loves to Rock" - 3:17
14. "Everything Works If You Let It (alternate version)" - 3:56
15. "World's Greatest Lover(demo)" - 4:56
16. "Waitin For The Man / Heroin (live)" - 0:47

Disc three
01. "Day Tripper (live) (alternate unedited version)" - 4:17
02. "World's Greatest Lover" - 4:51
03. "I Need Love (demo)" (previously unreleased) - 3:57
04. "I'm the Man" (previously unreleased) (from the movie Rock & Rule) - 2:11
05. "Born to Raise Hell" (previously unreleased) (from the movie Rock & Rule) - 2:45
06. "Ohm Sweet Ohm" (previously unreleased) (from the movie Rock & Rule) - 2:49
07. "She's Tight" - 2:57
08. "Love's Got a Hold on Me" - 2:36
09. "If You Want My Love (alternate extra bridge version)" - 4:26
10. "Lookin' Out for Number One" - 3:42
11. "Don't Make Our Love a Crime (demo)" (previously unreleased) - 3:34
12. "All I Really Want" (B-side) - 2:30
13. "I Can't Take It" - 3:27
14. "Twisted Heart" (previously unreleased) - 4:17
15. "Invaders of the Heart" - 3:58
16. "Y O Y O Y" - 1:35

Disc four
01. "Tonight It's You" - 4:47
02. "Cover Girl" - 3:42
03. "This Time Around" - 4:33
04. "A Place in France" (previously unreleased) - 3:52
05. "Funk #9 (The Doctor demo)" (previously unreleased) - 3:35
06. "Take Me to the Top" - 4:00
07. "Money Is the Route of All Fun" (previously unreleased) - 2:48
08. "Fortune Cookie (demo)" (previously unreleased) - 3:40
09. "You Want It" - 3:40
10. "The Flame" - 5:38
11. "Through the Night" (B-side) - 4:18
12. "Stop That Thief" (previously unreleased in the U.S.) - 3:55
13. "I Know What I Want (live)" (B-side) - 4:44
14. "Had to Make You Mine" - 3:16
15. "I Can't Understand It" - 3:29
16. "Can't Stop Falling Into Love" - 3:49
17. "Come on Christmas" - 2:32

Release Date: August 13, 1996
Recording Date: Dec 1974 - 1995
Label: Epic
Genre: Pop Rock
Playtime: 263:59
producers: Bruce Dickinson, Tom Werman, Jack Douglas, Cheap Trick, George Martin, Roy Thomas Baker

Personnel:
Robin Zander (lead vocals, rhythm guitar)
Rick Nielsen (lead guitar, backing vocals)
Tom Petersson (bass guitar, backing vocals)
Bun E. Carlos (drums, percussion)

Al Stewart - Beach Full Of Shells (2005)

"A Beach Full Of Shells" is the seventeenth album by Al Stewart, released in 2005. Like most of Stewart's later works, much of the content of the CD alludes to people or moments in history. Al Stewart has always had a distinctive vocal style -- making his radio hits like "Year of the Cat" immediately recognizable -- while also possessing a knack for writing tuneful pop songs. A Beach Full of Shells qualifies as his first U.S. release since 1995, and while it's been some time since the singer conquered the pop charts, both his vocal style and craftsmanship remains intact. It would be a mistake, however, to view Stewart as no more than the maker of pop confections specially designed for a mass radio audience. The cover of A Beach Full of Shells offers the first clue of a playful mind that enjoys the weight of words: there are two types of shells on the beach, one from the sea, the other for use in a gun. The complexity of his approach is best experienced on "Somewhere in England 1915," a lengthy song (nearly seven minutes) with shifting dream imagery. Weaving fantasy with brief references to World War I, the narrator eventually wakes up 90 years later to find himself on the edge -- the song seems to suggest -- of yet another war. Stewart accomplishes all of this without ever being obvious, giving the song a subtle quality as it reveals its surprises to the listener. This, however, is only one of many moods on A Beach Full of Shells. "Katherine of Oregon" is as light as air, a pleasant, flowing ballad with nice acoustic guitar and light percussion, while "Mona Lisa Talking" shifts through a number of intriguing chord changes to offer a little common sense advice. Stewart originally wrote the song "Class of '58" as 13 minutes long. When the record company rejected it, he rewrote it to the truncated 4-minute version on the album.[citation needed] The long version was subsequently released as a single. In the blurb on the single, it is suggested that the album A Beach Full of Shells was originally intended to focus around this song, which describes the life of a musician on the 1950s rock and roll scene.

Track List:
01. "The Immelman Turn" - 4:39
02. "Mr. Lear" - 3:00
03. "Royal Courtship" - 4:10
04. "Rain Barrel" - 4:00
05. "Somewhere in England, 1915" - 6:56
06. "Katherine of Oregon" - 3:07
07. "Mona Lisa Talking" - 4:26
08. "Class of '58" - 4:10
09. "Out in the Snow" - 2:51
10. "My Egyptian Couch" - 2:18
11. "Gina in the Kings Road" - 3:49
12. "Beacon Street" - 2:20
13. "Anniversary" - 2:53

Released: 2005
Recorded: Capitol Studio B, Hollywood, CA, The Sign Of The Scorpion, Studio City, CA
Genre: Folk
Label: EMI
Playtime: 48:39
Producer: aurence Juber
Audio Mixer: Greg Townley
Arranger: Laurence Juber

Personnel:
Al Stewart (vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards)
Eric Gorfain, Daphne Chen (violin)
Leah Katz (viola)
Richard Dodd (cello)
Jim Cox (piano, Hammond b-3 organ)
Domenic Genova (bass guitar)
Steve Forman (bodhran, percussion)
Steve Lively (background vocals)
Laurence Juber (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, percussion, programming)
Dave Nachmanoff (acoustic guitar, background vocals)
Novi Novog (viola)
Michael Jochum (drums, percussion)

The J. Geils Band - "Live" Full House (1972)

"Live" Full House is the third album by American rock band The J. Geils Band, released in 1972. The J. Geils Band made many fine, sometimes great, studio albums but where they really captured their full, thrilling potential was on the concert stage. Most live albums tend to be a poor excuse for actually being at the show in question, but the Geils Band's live albums jump out of the speakers with so much joy, fun, and unquenchable rock & roll spirit that you might as well be there. "Live" Full House was their first live record, and it is a blast from start to finish. Recorded in 1972 at Detroit's Cinderella Ballroom, the group runs through songs from their first two albums, The J. Geils Band and The Morning After, kicking out the jams on rockers like the Motown chestnut "First I Look at the Purse," Otis Rush's "Homework," and one of the group's first self-penned classics, "Hard Drivin' Man," as well as positively scorching through an incredible version of John Lee Hooker's dark and evil blues "Serves You Right to Suffer." It's easy to overlook J. Geils himself on guitar when you have a magnetic frontman like Peter Wolf or the unstoppable force that is harp player Magic Dick (check "Whammer Jammer" for proof of his greatness), but his soloing on this track serves notice that he could tear off a ferocious solo with the best of them. "Live" Full House is a short, punchy shot of rock & roll genius by one of the great bands of the '70s and one of the best live albums ever recorded.

Track List:
01. "First I Look at the Purse" (Robert Rogers) – 3:56
02. "Homework" (Dave Clark, Al Perkins, Otis Rush) – 2:34
03. "Pack Fair and Square" (Walter Travis Price) – 1:41
04. "Whammer Jammer" (Juke Joint Jimmy) – 2:21
05. "Hard Drivin' Man" (J. Geils, Peter Wolf) – 4:23
06. "Serves You Right to Suffer" (John Lee Hooker) – 9:32
07. "Cruisin' for a Love" (Juke Joint Jimmy) – 3:32
08. "Looking for a Love" (James Alexander, Zelda Samuels) – 4:55

Released: September 26, 1972
Recorded: April 21-April 22, 1972 at The Cinderella Ballroom, Detroit
Genre: Rock
Playtime: 32:54
Label: Atlantic
Producer: Geoffrey Haslam, The J. Geils Band
Engineer: Geoffrey Haslam
Live Mixing: Dinky Dawson
Arranger: J. Geils

Personnel:
Stephen Bladd - drums, vocals
J. Geils - guitar
Seth Justman - keyboard, vocals
Danny Klein - bass
Magic Dick - harmonica, trumpet
Peter Wolf - vocals

Jimmy LaFave - Austin Skyline (1992)

Jimmy LaFave (born July 12, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter and folk musician.
In 1992 he signed with Colorado-based Bohemia Beat Records and recorded his debut, "Austin Skyline". The album featured four Dylan covers and its title is both a tribute to Dylan (LaFave loved Dylan's Nashville Skyline) and his new hometown of Austin. In his review of LaFave's Cimarron Manifesto (2007) for the FolkWax E-Zine, Arthur Wood calls LaFave "one of the finest Dylan interpreters ever. Most of the songs on "Austin Skyline" were taken from live recordings of two shows LaFave played in Austin on two different nights at the Chicago House and at La Zona Rosa. Some of the songs were recorded in Marcia Ball's garage recording studio. One Angel is a sweet and tender song that exemplifies Lafave's plaintive voice and lyrical magic. The words aren't sophisticated, but they don't have to be. Songs aren't intellectual, they are written to feel. When Lafave sings "I have only one angel babe, my one angel is you." you feel and believe. Lafave explores beyond the tender side with Desparate Men. Great hook, great melody, very well done. Lafave also does an excellent job of showcasing Bob Dylan's material. He always manages to breathe some new spark into Dylan tunes (not that they need it). Hiway 61 and Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat are a couple of fine examples of Lafave's take on some classic tunes that defy you to stand still. Lafave has a unique voice and his song selection is perfect for his style and vocal work.

Track List:
01. Thru the Neon Night (LaFave) - 4:53
02. Girl from the North Country (Dylan) - 4:18
03. Desperate Men Do Desperate Things (LaFave) - 4:21
04. When It Starts to Rain (LaFave) - 4:05
05. Deep South 61 Delta Highway Blues (LaFave) - 4:00
06. Walk Away Renée (Brown, Calili, Sansone) - 4:47
07. Measuring Words (LaFave) - 4:16
08. You're a Big Girl Now (Dylan) - 6:07
09. Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat (Dylan) - 3:55
10. Only One Angel LaFave) - 5:06
11. Everytime (LaFave) - 4:22
12. Rocket in My Pocket (LaFave) - 4:53
13. Darkest Side of Midnight (LaFave) - 6:02
14. Restless Spirits (LaFave) - 4:29
15. Trouble Free (LaFave) - 3:43
16. Shelter from the Storm (Dylan) - 6:21

Release Date: 1992
Recorded: Live In Austin Texas
Label: Bohemia Beat
Genre: Blues, Folk, Rock
Playtime: 74:29
Producer: Jimmy LaFave

Personnel:
Jimmy LaFave (vocals, guitar)
Brian Wood (guitar, steel guitar)
Larry Jon Wilson, Larry Wilson (guitar)
Randy Glines (harmonica)
David Webb (keyboards)
Mark Patterson (drums)

The Motors - The Motors 1 (1977)

The Motors were a British pub rock/punk band, formed in London in 1977 by former Ducks Deluxe members Nick Garvey and Andy McMaster together with guitarist Rob Hendry (who was replaced in May 1977 by Bram Tchaikovsky) and drummer Ricky Slaughter.
Motors 1, is a fresh, exciting record, solidly rooted in electric guitars but light-years more subtle and three-dimensional than the rock'n'roll retreads the band's members had been playing prior to the Motors.
Nick Garvey and Andy McMaster first worked together as members of Ducks Deluxe, one of the tougher and more rollicking bands to emerge from the British pub rock scene, so when punk rock raised the ante on volume and attitude by the time their next band, the Motors, released their first album in 1977, they were more than willing to meet the challenge. While The Motors 1 is a long way from punk rock, it certainly reflects what many pub rock refugees learned from punk -- namely, keep playing straight-ahead rock tunes, but kick up the volume and tempo and forget trying to sound like the Band. The Motors 1 kicks off with the superb "Dancing the Night Away," an excellent fusion of pop melody with big guitar firepower, and the song is so effective that it sets a standard the rest of the disc can't quite match. But they do come close in spots, especially on the cranked-up "Phoney Heaven" and the Springsteen-esque "Bring in the Morning Light," while the neo-reggae lurch of "Cold Love" confirms these guys didn't have to limit themselves to four-square rock & roll. Nick Garvey and Bram Tchaikovsky are a formidable guitar combination on this album, while Rick Slaughter's drumming is sharply energetic and Andy McMaster is a truly valuable point man on bass, keyboards, and guitars. The Motors 1 is a fine set of meat-and-potatoes rock & roll played with the right amount of sweat and more smarts and craft than you might expect -- if more pub rockers had made records like this earlier in the 1970s, Johnny Rotten and Joe Strummer might have had to find something else to rebel against.

Track List:01. Dancing the Night Away (Garvey, McMaster) - 6:35
02. Freeze (Garvey, Hann, McMaster) - 4:30
03. Cold Love (Bellotte, Faltermeyer, Forsey, Garvey) - 4:44
04. Phoney Heaven (Garvey, Hann, McMaster) - 4:09
05. Bring on the Morning Light (Garvey, Hann, McMaster) - 3:33
06. Emergency (Garvey, McMaster) - 6:16
07. Whiskey and Wine (Garvey, Hann, McMaster) - 3:06
08. Summertime (Is Calling) (Garvey, Hann, McMaster) - 5:08
09. Be What You Gotta Be (Garvey, McMaster) - 3:54

Release Date: 1977
Label: Virgin
Playtime: 41:40
Genre: Pop, Rock
Producer: Robert John Lange

Personnel:Nick Garvey - lead vocalist / guitarist
Bram Tchaikovsky - guitarist / vocalist
Andy McMaster - bassist/keyboardist/vocalist
Ricky Slaughter - drummer