Originally formed in Yorkshire, England, in 1966, Smokie hit the British pop charts several times during the late '70s with updated psychedelic pop, influenced by the band's stay on Mickie Most's Rak Records as well as the writers of most of the band's hit material, Rak's Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Vocalist Chris Norman, bassist Terry Utley, guitarist Alan Silson, and drummer Ron Kelly had played in the Elizabethans, but formed the band Kindness in 1970. The quartet recorded many singles during the late '60s and early '70s, but failed to show any chart activity. By 1973, Kelly had left the band and was replaced by Pete Spencer. In 1975, the band, signed to Rak Records, and billed as Smokey, hit number three in the U.K. with "If You Think You Know How to Love Me."…

There has never been a better box set than the Faces' Five Guys Walk into a Bar…. There has never been a box that captures an artist so perfectly, nor has a box set taken greater advantage of unreleased and rare material, to the point where it seems as essential and vital as the released recordings. Simply put, there's never been a box set as necessary as this, since it tells the band's entire tale and explains exactly what the fuss is all about…

An unheralded landmark in art rock, this features Savage Rose keyboardist Thomas Koppel's score for a ballet by Flemming Flindt (the title translates to "Triumph of Death"). Nearly entirely instrumental (one song features Annisette on vocals), this is one of the finest classically influenced rock records…

Drenched in red, with a plain black and white cover photo of the band, Refugee had the distinction of being produced by the late, great Jimmy Miller and his protégé, the late Joe Zagarino, engineer from Exile on Main Street. This was a most prolific time for the legendary producer, Refugee having been released around the time of Sticky Fingers by the Rolling Stones, two albums by the Knack's Doug Fieger after Miller discovered Fieger and his band, Sky, signing them to RCA (where this album found distribution), and perhaps the most important parallel for Savage Rose, a release date for Refugee close to that of Delaney & Bonnie on Tour With Eric Clapton, considered by many one of Jimmy Miller's most significant recordings…

All right, he's made a record with his wife and a record with his pickup band where democracy is allegedly the conceit even if it never sounds that way, so he returns to a solo effort, making the most disjointed album he ever cut. There's a certain fascination to its fragmented nature, not just because it's decidedly on the softer side of things, but because his desire for homegrown eccentricity has been fused with his inclination for bombastic art rock à la Abbey Road…

Major 70s UK (founded in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England) pop/artrock band. The original line-up of Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, Lol Creme and Graham Gouldman had composed together and been in the band Hotlegs (Gouldman only briefly) before forming 10cc in 1972 and signing with Jonathan King's UK Records after being turned down by Apple Records. The band's music is a blend of pop, artrock often drawing on other genres, on the debut album especially the 50s…

THE COMPLETE WORKS is a 3 cd digipak collection devoted to the '80's output of Mel Galley's supergroup, Phenomena. Each disc features the complete album and selected demo versions and outtakes for each record…

Their first proper new release since the commercial breakthrough of Once Upon a Time (a live album intervened) and Simple Minds makes a decidedly, noncommercial follow-up. Street Fighting Years is a moody, dark affair. The music is yearning and most of the songs are politically charged lyrically…

Third album from Savage Rose, one of the very few truly original bands to come out of Denmark in the 1960's. In the early years there were quite a few changes in the line-up, but with the two Koppel brothers and the unique voice of Annisette as their corner-stones, they were always musically way ahead of most of bands of their time…