Tom Waits' first two albums, 1973's Closing Time and 1974's The Heart of Saturday Night, documented his estimable strengths as a songwriter, but they didn't always give much of a sense of the personality that came through in his live performances. In front of an audience, Waits transformed himself into something resembling a minor character from a Jack Kerouac novel, a witty but bedraggled hipster from the seedy side of Los Angeles. His third album, 1975's Nighthawks at the Diner, was designed to show off Waits as an entertainer as well as a tunesmith; producer Bones Howe set up a nightclub facsimile in a recording studio, paired Waits with a solid band of jazz-inclined studio musicians, brought in an audience, and recorded what was in essence his first live album…

Bad Reputation is the eighth studio album by the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, released in 1977. As the front cover suggests, most of the tracks feature only three-quarters of the band, with guitarist Brian Robertson only credited on three tracks. He had missed most of their previous tour, following a hand injury sustained in a brawl, and this album turned out to be his last studio effort with Thin Lizzy. Bad Reputation reached No. 4 in the UK Albums Chart.

This is probably the most significant recording by Polish trumpeter virtuoso/composer Tomasz Stanko, surely at least among his Polish recordings before his later ECM period. Following Mile Davis, Stanko switched to Jazz-Rock Fusion (albeit a decade later) and his 1980s output with his Freelectronic ensemble is radically different from the Free Jazz he played in the 1970s. This double album consists of one studio recording and one live recording, both expressing Stanko's power as a performer and a composer to the max. The studio album, which was compiled over a period of two years, presents music composed by Stanko at the period when he was experimenting with hallucinogens and was deeply influenced by the writings of the Polish mystic / philosopher / avant-garde artist Witkacy (Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz), who was also an early experimenter with drugs…

Welcome to Long Beach 1971, the latest album in earMUSIC's Deep Purple reissue series that, over the last two years, has seen the release of rare live material from the band. It was recorded at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California, on July 30, 1971, and was broadcast on radio (KUSE 91.5 FM), a showcase for a support performance to Rod Stewart and The Faces. An official release for a concert that has long been considered a landmark for the band, the set featured tracks ( Speed King and Child in Time ) from their fourth studio album, June 1970's Deep Purple In Rock. This was a transitional release for the Mk II version of the band, being their first hard rock affair as well as their commercial breakthrough as the third leading über rock band of the day along with Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

Released 26 six years after their split, this 2000 release gathers the two studio albums recorded by German-based Brooklyn progressive rock band Sweet Smoke onto one disc. Produced by Rosie Schmitz and Winifred Ebert, 1970 debut Just a Poke is an experimental affair, featuring just two 16-minute epic tracks, "Baby Night," which includes a cover of the Doors' "The Soft Parade" and "Silly Sally," which contains a five-minute drum solo. While 1973 follow-up Darkness to Light, produced by John G. Möring and inspired by a previous trip to India, features a more acoustic flavor on its six psychedelic tracks.

The Ric Ocasek-produced Why Be Blue?, originally released on Break Out in 1992, is notable for its upbeat temperament (the title isn't ironic) and its display of Alan Vega and Martin Rev at a point in their career when they were neither ahead of nor with the times. Despite "Mujo"'s resemblance to Peaches & Herb's "Shake Your Groove Thing" (a disco reference, very out-of-place for 1992 music that wasn't house or shiny dance-pop) and the mid-'80s sophisti-pop melodic structure of "Flashy Love" (it could almost be an ABC cover), they weren't exactly behind the times. They were somewhere else entirely, if vaguely in line with the groups that continued to look to Suicide's past work for guidance.

5CD package containing albums from Electric Light Orchestra and Jeff Lynne's solo career. Albums are packaged in cardboard replica vinyl sleeves and bundled in a card slipcase. Albums featured: Armchair Theatre, Zoom, Mr. Blue Sky The Very Best Of ELO, Longwave & Electric Light Orchestra Live.

One album into their career in 1969, Mutantes showed few signs of musical burnout after turning in one of the oddest LPs released in the '60s. Similar to its predecessor, Mutantes relies on an atmosphere of experimentation and continual musical collisions, walking a fine line between innovation and pointless genre exercises. The lead track ("Dom Quixote") has the same focus on stylistic cut-and-paste as their debut LP's first track ("Panis et Circenses"). Among the band's musical contemporaries, Mutantes sounds similar only to songs like the Who's miniature suite "A Quick One While He's Away" – though done in three minutes instead of nine, and much more confusing given the language barrier. The album highlights ("Nao Va Se Perder por Ai") and ("Dois Mil e Um") come with what sounds like a typically twisted take on roots music (both Brazilian and American)…

This rare December 1953 session was unusual for Terry in that his guitar accompanist was not Brownie McGhee, but Alec Seward, who had previously recorded as Guitar Slim in a duo with "Fat Boy" Hayes" (aka Jelly Belly). It's unusual only in the personnel, however. It sounds like typical Sonny Terry, as he works his way through original material, including standards like "John Henry" and other blues tunes like "In the Evening" (the song that would provide much of the basis for Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain"). You'd have to say that it's usually more interesting to hear Terry with his longtime partner McGhee than it is to hear him with Seward, but it's not terribly different. The trademark vocal and harmonica whoops, and hollers are in gear and running throughout the album, sometimes to exhilarating effect, as on the rapid "The Fox Chase (aka "Hound Dog Holler")"…