Rocky Road From Classic Rock to Progessive to hip hop to today's hot new tunes!

---

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Rocky Road ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

PF Sloan, The Dillards, Marty Balin before Jefferson Airplane and much more...

Posted by dave c (A) on September 28, 2006 at 05:38:51

Just got sent this...

SHIPPING IS FREE through October 31st, and just in time for you to take advantage, there are no less than 26 brand new collectors' Choice Music exclusives! We've got a second wave of discs from The Electric Prunes; a lost piece of the Jefferson Airplane puzzle in the form of The Town Criers; two "sunshine pop" relics from The Goldebriars; a double-disc collection of #1 hits from the '50s; more oddities from Wildman Fischer; more bluegrass from the Dillards; a pair of hip-hop classics from Queen Latifah; a Christmas offering from the dB's and friends; more, quite literal, "classic rock" from the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble; five discs from John Sebastian that we're "welcoming back" from the Reprise vaults and more! And we'd be remiss not to ask: Does anyone remember the chorus, "Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads..." See below for further details on all of our brand new Collectors' Choice Music exclusives!
Free Shipping refers to free standard shipping on domestic orders only. Expedited and International shipping methods do not qualify for free shipping.

Title: Live In San Francisco
Artist: The Town Criers
This new exclusive brings you the only recording that has surfaced of the folk group that Marty Balin sung in before the Jefferson Airplane, the Town Criers! Formed in the backroom of the S.F. folk club The Drinking Gourd in the summer of 1963, The Town Criers (Balin, Bill Collins, Jan Ellickson and Larry Vargo) played the club circuit for a year before breaking up and Balin, no doubt drawing on this experience, subsequently opened his club The Matrix. The rest is history, informatively recounted here by band member Bill Collins along with pictures from his private archives. A missing chapter in the Airplane saga!
$12.95

We've been trying for years to license the two albums the Goldebriars released on Columbia in the mid-'60s. You could argue that these are the first "sunshine pop" albums ever released, as they mark the first recordings of the man many regard as the father of the whole genre, Curt Boettcher. And thanks to band member Dotti Holmberg-Waddell (who also contributes notes and lyrics), these reissues come to you with 12 and 10 bonus tracks, respectively, most of 'em unreleased!

Title: The Goldebriars
Artist: The Goldebriars
Their 1964 debut, with 12 unreleased bonus tracks!
$16.95!

Title: Straight Ahead!
Artist: The Goldebriars
The Goldebriars' second album moved farther away from straight folk to pop, with some unique, exotic touches that hint of the psychedelic storm to come! With 10 bonus tracks!
$16.95!

With the 'Prunes' first three albums firmly ensconced on our label roster (they're among our bestsellers), it only made sense for us to go after the last two albums this band made! Richie Unterberger's notes include quotes from legendary producer David Axelrod and drummer Richard Whetstone. Two of our most-requested titles!

Title: Release Of An Oath
Artist: Electric Prunes
Much of the same team that made the notorious 'Mass in F Minor' album were around for this 1968 album, though none of them were in the original band! But it's who was in the studio for this one that's important: producer/arranger David Axelrod, engineer Dave Hassinger and most notably guitarist Howard Roberts, who lets loose with some absolutely insane guitar solos. 'Mass in F Minor' took as its text a Catholic Mass; this one adapts the Kol Nidre, the sacred Jewish prayer recited on the eve of Yom Kippur...the '60s didn't get too much more far-out than this!
Release Date: October 2nd
$12.95!

Title: Just Good Old Rock & Roll
Artist: Electric Prunes
This 1969 album (by the "new improved Electric Prunes") was a far more straightforward affair than any of its Prune predecessors, with a funky, hard-rock sound akin to, say, Rhinoceros.
$12.95!

Don't forget about the previous Electric Prunes releases on our Collectors' Choice Music label! On Sale Now!

Title: I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night
Artist: Electric Prunes
Was $12.95 On Sale $9.88!

Title: Underground
Artist: Electric Prunes
Was $12.95 On Sale $9.88!

Title: Mass In F Minor
Artist: Electric Prunes
Was $12.95 On Sale $9.88!

Title: Measure Of Pleasure
Artist: P.F. Sloan
With P.F. Sloan back in action again with a new album, it seemed like the right time to reissue his only album for Atco, a 1968 release produced by the great Tom Dowd. It's a funky, bluesy, rootsy affair as you might expect with Mr. Dowd's involvement, and the songwriting, of course, is top-notch.
Release Date: October 16th
$12.95

Title: 50 #1 Hits From The '50s (2 CD Set)
Artist: Various Artists
We've done #1 hits collections of the '20s, '30s and '40s, so how could we 'not' take on the '50s?! Especially when that decade marked a gigantic pivot in last century's pop music away from the easy listening and pop vocal sounds toward R&B and rock 'n' roll (though, as you will see, the softer styles more than held their own throughout the '50s). You'll have to click through to our website for the full tracklisting, but you'll find certified chart-toppers from Mario Lanza, Rosemary Clooney, Dinah Shore, Perry Como, Kay Starr, Marty Robbins, Johnny Horton and more!
Release Date: October 16th
$27.95

Check out our other "#1 Hits" Collections! On sale now!

Title: 40 #1 Hits From The '40s (2 CD Set)
Artist: Various Artists
Was $27.95 On Sale $19.95!

Title: 30 #1 Hits From The '30s (2 CD Set)
Artist: Various Artists
Was $19.95 On Sale $14.95!

Title: 20 #1 Hits From The '20s
Artist: Various Artists
Was $16.95 On Sale $12.95!

From his days as an insider on the Greenwich Village folk scene to his role as leader of the Lovin' Spoonful through his solo work, John Sebastian has been a central figure in American pop music for over 40 years. Now, we'd like to "welcome back" the solo albums that John cut for Reprise in the '70s! Five new releases, with exclusive quotes in the notes from the man himself!

Title: John B. Sebastian
Artist: John Sebastian
John's solo debut was his highest-charting, reaching #20 in 1970, but it could have been even higher had not his old label MGM (Kama Sutra's parent company) put out a competing version!
$12.95

Title: Four Of Us
Artist: John Sebastian
This 1971 release was the most ambitious album of John's career, highlighted by the eponymous, 16-minute suite that took up all of side two! Contributors include the Esso Trinidad Steel Band, Dr. John and Felix Pappalardi!
$12.95

Title: Cheapo-Cheapo Productions Presents Real Live
Artist: John Sebastian
After issuing an unauthorized version of John's first album for Reprise, MGM continued its shenanigans by releasing an unauthorized live album, so John and his label struck back with this vastly superior 1971 concert recording, which features a charming assortment of covers, Spoonful favorites and newer tunes.
$12.95

Title: Tarzana Kid
Artist: John Sebastian
1974's 'Tarzana Kid' was peppered with big stars in supporting roles, like the Pointer Sisters, Lowell George, Emmylou Harris, David Lindley, David Grisman, Ry Cooder and even Phil Everly! And John used his stellar cast to its fullest, with an array of songs that were eclectic even by his standards.
$12.95

Title: Welcome Back
Artist: John Sebastian
This 1976 album marked a "welcome" return to the charts for John, thanks to the title tune theme song to the TV show starring Gabe Kaplan and a young John Travolta! But this album actually includes the single version, which was different from the demo used by the television show. The rest of the album features John as filtered through the pop sensibilities of producer Steve Barri.
$12.95

If you think our previous reissue of Larry "Wild Man" Fischer's debut album for Rhino Records was insane, wait till you hear what happened when he hooked up with Barnes & Barnes (Robert Haimer and Bill Mumy of "Lost in Space" fame) for his second and third records for the label! Where before Larry's albums consisted primarily of his a cappella ravings, here his childlike, heartfelt songs are given a quirky, even menacing accompaniment-so menacing, in fact, that one of Barnes & Barnes' productions, "The Bouillabaisse", frightened Larry so much that he refused to record anymore. You can read all about it in Bill Mumy's notes, which also accompany the duo's classic debut album, "Voobaha", here with unreleased bonus tracks including a demo of "Fish Heads"!

Title: Pronounced Normal
Artist: Wild Man Fischer
$12.95

Title: Nothing Scary
Artist: Wild Man Fischer
$12.95

Title: Voobaha
Artist: Barnes & Barnes
$13.95

We bet there are a lot of folks, especially youngsters, who see Queen Latifah in such screen blockbusters as "Chicago" and don't even know she broke into showbiz as a rapper! And a good one, too. Latifah brought some much-needed feminist consciousness to a male-dominated, often chauvinistic genre, as well as some fresh positivity, too (no thug life here).

Title: All Hail The Queen
Artist: Queen Latifah
Her 1989 release! Featuring the hit single "Ladies First" with guest Monie Love.
Release Date: October 2nd
$12.95

Title: Nature Of A Sista'
Artist: Queen Latifah
Queen's 1991 album for Tommy Boy just strengthened her claim to the female rapper throne!
$12.95


Juilliard-trained musicians Dorian Rudnytsky, Marty Fulterman and noted soundtrack composer-to-be Michael Kamen turned musical convention on its head by playing rock songs on classical instruments and vice versa on their three albums for Atco, and wound up attracting the attention of such august personages as Leonard Bernstein in the process! The critical buzz didn't result in much sales, but these two records, their second and third for Atco, are full of unexpected instrumentation and arrangement twists, as well as some solid songwriting and singing...adventurous rockers and popsters are gonna dig these!
Release Date for both: October 2nd

Title: Faithful Friends
Artist: New York Rock & Roll Ensemble
$12.95

Title: Reflections
Artist: New York Rock & Roll Ensemble
$12.95

Also available from the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble on our label...

Title: Roll Over / Freedomburger
Artist: New York Rock & Roll Ensemble
Was $15.95 On Sale $12.88!

Title: Back Porch Bluegrass / Pickin' And Fiddlin'
Artist: The Dillards
The Dillards' first two studio albums for Elektra were not only great bluegrass albums, but they also reflected the currents swirling within the genre itself as the '60s wore on. Produced by Jim Dickson, who was about to usher in the folk-rock revolution with the Byrds, "Back Porch Bluegrass" was pilloried by the trad country establishment for (gasp) featuring original tunes, so the Dillards turned around, and with fantastic fiddler Byron Berline, made a totally traditional, all-instrumental album with "Pickin' and Fiddlin'" that was so darn hot that it shut the critics up but good! Soon, the Dillards were to play their own major part in creating folk-rock, but here the group is merely the smokin'est bluegrass band around.
$16.95

Check out the other Dillards releases on the Collectors' Choice Music label! On sale now!

Title: Wheatstraw Suite
Artist: The Dillards
Was $12.95 On Sale $9.95!

Title: Copperfields
Artist: The Dillards
Was $12.95 On Sale $9.95!


Title: Let Them Eat Bingo
Artist: Beats International
Today we know him as Fatboy Slim, perhaps the world's best-known DJ/mixer, but Norman (nee Quentin) Cook has lived at the top of the charts for quite a while, first as bass player with The Housemartins, and then with Beats International, where he honed the remixing skills that serve him so well today. In fact, this 1990 album sounds like it could have come out yesterday. The patchwork formula Cook pioneered is a staple of today's club and dance music. A different dancin' 'Collectors' Choice Music' exclusive!
Release Date: October 2nd
$12.95

Title: It's Christmas Time Again
Artist: The dB's and Friends
There are a lot of modern rockers who consider this to be THE great Christmas album of the last 25 years or so. Originally released as a 7-song LP in 1986, and as a 17-song CD in 1993, this Chris Stamey-conceived holiday classic appears here on our 'Collectors' Choice Music' label with six new tracks, including a song by Peter Holsapple, 'Home for the Holidays', performed by the dB's! Click through to our website for the complete tracklisting, which includes entries from R.E.M. producer Don Dixon and Marshall Crenshaw and an unreleased track from Ryan Adams & Whiskeytown! 21 tracks!
Release Date: October 2nd
$16.95

Don't forget about our previous Collectors' Choice Music releases from the dB's!

Title: Stands For Decibels / Repercussion
Artist: The dB's
Was $16.95 On Sale $12.88!

Title: Like This
Artist: The dB's
$12.95


Even as the first sounds of new wave and punk rock were being heard in New York City in the mid-'70s, the first stirrings of "indie-rock" and "guitar pop" were occuring in the unlikely locale of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where Chris Stamey, Will Rigby and Mitch Easter were recording arguably the first "low-fi" records ever in their band the Sneakers. Though heard by few, the reverberations from these recordings spread everywhere from New York-where Stamey and Rigby were to form the dB's-to Athens, Georgia-where a band named R.E.M. hooked up with Easter to record their first two albums-to just about every college radio station in the land during the '80s. Now, Stamey and Easter have gone back into the studio to produce the definitive look at this seminal power pop band, consisting of tracks from their 1976, Don Dixon-produced EP 'The Sneakers', their 1978 LP 'In the Red' and their 1992 "reunion" record, 'Racket', plus three unrelease! d bonus tracks, all (except the debut EP) remastered and/or remixed for superior sound. A proud 'Collectors' Choice Music' exclusive, with notes by Scott Schinder!
Release Date: October 9th
Title: Nonsequitur Of Silence
Artist: Sneakers
$13.95

Though he first won fame in the '60s penning hits like 'Wild Thing' and 'Angel in the Morning', by the '70s Chip Taylor was recording country albums for Warner Brothers, of which this is his third and last. A big hit in Europe, and a favorite of Johnny Cash (whose 'Big River' is the only cover on the record), the album didn't make much of a mark over here, but remains the kind of cult classic in which we specialize here at 'Collectors' Choice Music'! Chip gives ample quotes in Richie Unterberger's notes, too.

Title: This Side Of The Big River
Artist: Chip Taylor
$12.95


Title: Out Of The Woods / Roots In The Sky (2 CD Set)
Artist: Oregon
Branching off from the Paul Winter Consort, Oregon (guitarist Ralph Towner, percussionist Collin Walcott, bassist Glen Moore and reedist Paul McCandless) brought a jazz sensibility to world music and vice versa, making meditative, beautiful music that managed to avoid the saccharine flavor of many of the more new age-y groups that followed in the same vein. Such bold experimentation does not often result in commercial success, so it's not surprising that these two albums are the only studio projects they ever made for a major label (Elektra), and they're regarded by fans of the band as among their best, especially showing off the compositional prowess that often was overshadowed by their dazzling improvisational skills.
Release Date: October 2nd
$19.95

Title: Finian's Rainbow
Artist: Original Soundtrack
Penned by "Yip" Harburg, Fred Saidy and Burton Lane, 'Finian's Rainbow' remains a favorite among musical fans for the way it took on such weighty subjects as the inequities of the American economic system and institutionalized racism with such a light, satirical touch! Fred Astaire and Petula Clark star in this 1968 film, which marked one of Francis Ford Coppola's first directing efforts!
$12.95

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---