June 05, 2023

Freudiana - Freudiana (1990) ☠

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*U.K. first pressing. 
Contains 18 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Art Rock, Progressive Rock
Label Number: CDP 79 5415 2
☠: Selected by Buccaneer
© 1990 EMI
Back in the '70s, engineer/producer Alan Parsons wanted to dedicate an entire album to fantasy writer Edgar Allan Poe. He hired numerous musicians and singers to help him in what would become the first album of the Alan Parsons Project. Initially meant to be a one-time experience, the "project" turned into a full-time band, and quite a successful one, with that. Some two decades later, Eric Woolfson, Parsons' long-time companion, puts up his own project. This time, it is not about Poe but about Freud. The subsequent band and album are both named Freudiana, as is one of the tracks. And of course, the whole is produced by -- who else -- Alan Parsons himself. The result is a concept album which offers -- to quote the liner notes: "an image of the composer seen through a Freudian mirror." The lyrics go through various interpretations of Freud's works, studying all his most famous cases (Wolfman, Ratman, Dora, Little Hans, Schreber and the Judge). Some songs (like "Little Hans") are reminiscent of the Beatles -- which shouldn't be too surprising, considering Woolfson used to be a member of Herman's Hermits. Others are obvious reminders of the Alan Parsons Project (most noticeably "Dora"). The rest can be progressive at times ("Funny You Should Say That," "No One Can Love You Better Than Me") and the whole is very creative and intelligent. Lead vocals, as on all of the Alan Parsons Project releases, are shared by a number of singers -- from Woolfson himself to Kiki Dee, Eric Stewart and John Miles. The strongest performances are by Leo Sayer ("I Am a Mirror") and the Flying Pickets (on the strange, yet incredibly powerful, "Funny You Should Say That"). Unlike Parsons' Poe project, Freudiana did not lead to any follow-up albums. Probably because this project was too obscure and unsuccessful. A pity.

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Queensrÿche - The Warning (1984)

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*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 9 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Heavy Metal
Label Number: CDP-7-46557-2

© 1984-1987 EMI-Manhattan
1984's The Warning proved to be a holding pattern for Seattle's Queensrÿche, offering quality classic metal with lyrics tending to the mystical and occult. The band would soon embark on a massive creative growth spurt, but they seem to be treading water on tracks like "En Force," "Sanctuary," and the pedestrian title cut. Bright spots include the technology nightmare portrayed on "N M 156" and the nine-minute epic "Roads to Madness," where singer Geoff Tate demonstrates all of his incredible range. The album's high point comes with the anthemic "Take Hold of the Flame," which became a monster smash worldwide, especially in Japan.

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Queensrÿche - Rage For Order (1986)

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*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 11 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A. 
Genre: Heavy Metal
Label Number: CDP 7 46330 2

© 1986 EMI America
After tasting success from both their self-titled debut EP and The Warning, Queensrÿche lost their edge a bit on this release. The hair metal movement was fast approaching and this once unique band now looked -- and for the most part, sounded -- like the average metal band of the day. The signature sound of Queensrÿche is still unmistakable, as Geoff Tate's voice sounds strong. The music here is simpler than on Warning; the lyrics are bit too heavy-handed and have not stood the test of time very well. "Walk in the Shadows" is a well-structured song with a good combination of Tate's howling and dramatic background vocals. "I Will Remember" was a precursor to "Silent Lucidity" and accentuated the power and emotion that Tate can evoke. The band was obviously trying to expand their approach to music with a heavy emphasis on theatrics, but the music suffered as a result. They succeeded with this approach to a certain extent on Operation: Mindcrime, but the band's musical limitations have always prevented them from moving beyond a classier version of Iron Maiden.

 tags: queensryche, rage for order, 1986, flac,
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Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime (1988) ⚓

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*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 15 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A. 
Genre: Progressive Metal
Label Number: CDP-7-48640-2

© 1988 EMI-Manhattan Records
Queensrÿche scored their breakthrough success with the ambitious concept album Operation: Mindcrime, which tells the story of a fortune hunter whose disillusionment with Reagan-era American society leads him to join a shadowy plot to assassinate corrupt leaders. For such a detailed story line (there is also a tragic romance thrown in), the band keeps its focus remarkably well, and the music is just as ambitious, featuring a ten-minute track with orchestrations by Michael Kamen. Those experiments don't tend to work as well as the tighter, more melodic prog metal songs, which are frequently gems, especially the singles "Eyes of a Stranger" and "I Don't Believe in Love." Granted, the lyrics and political observations can sometimes be too serious and intellectual for their own good (few bands, metal or otherwise, can make lines like "There's no raison d'être" work). But despite the occasional flaws, it's surprising how well Operation: Mindcrime does work, and it's a testament to Queensrÿche's creativity and talent that they can pull off a project of this magnitude.

 tags: queensryche, operation mindcrime, 1988, flac,
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Queensrÿche - Empire (1990) ⚓

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*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 11 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A. 
Genre: Progressive Metal
Label Number: CDP-7-92806-2

© 1990 EMI USA
After the breakthrough success and worldwide respect that Queensrÿche gained from their conceptual masterpiece Operation: Mindcrime, it was a fair assumption that they couldn't possibly outdo or perhaps even match themselves. Empire, released just two years after that watermark, reveals that Queensrÿche reinvented themselves (though certainly not for the last time). While many fans were clamoring for a conceptual sequel, the band offers a song-oriented approach that is more art rock and less metal (though Empire does rock hard in places). Far removed from the fantasy and techno-paranoiac themes of Operation: Mindcrime, the lyrics tackle social and physical handicaps ("Best I Can") and issues such as poverty and regret ("Della Brown"). Geoff Tate, Chris DeGarmo, and company focused much less on the darker side of love so prevalent in their earlier sound, and looked at romance head on with "Another Rainy Night" and "Hand on Heart." While Queensrÿche lost some die-hard metal fans with Empire, the mature sound and tight production of Peter Collins (Rush) saw the band break into the mainstream and hit number nine on the Billboard singles chart with the Pink Floyd-inspired power ballad "Silent Lucidity," which has remained one of the band's set standbys into the 21st century.

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Queensrÿche - Promised Land (1994)

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*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 11 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A. 
Genre: Progressive Metal
Label Number: 7243-8-30711-2-8

© 1994 EMI Records
Queensrÿche returned from a four-year absence with Promised Land only to find the hard rock landscape very different than the one they left in 1990. But Queensrÿche did something smart. Instead of trying to adjust themselves to fit into the world that their Seattle brethren had created, they simply stayed the same. Not only was the record a commercial success -- it went gold in four months -- but it was also an engaging album. Promised Land lacks the conceptual unity and consistent songwriting of Operation: Mindcrime, but it makes it clear that the band hasn't run out of ideas yet.

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June 04, 2023

Aphrodelics - Enormis (2001)

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Country: U.S.A. 
Genre: Hip-Hop 
Label Number: 74321 80200 2

© 2001 GiG Records/BMG
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Sangre Nàhuatl - D.Mo (2001)

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*Se incluye una foto del disco en el archivo.
Country: Mexico
Language: Spanish (Español)
Genre: Hip-Hop 
Label Number: None

© 2001 G.R.I.F.A. Studio
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Simple Minds - Sons & Fascination (1981)

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*First pressing. 
Contains 13 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Synth Pop
Label Number: CDV 2207

© 1981-1985 Virgin Records
For their fourth album in three years, Simple Minds signed on with Virgin and enlisted Gong's Steve Hillage as producer. The sessions continued the group's impressive run of high-quality output, but there are instances where ambition gets the best of them. Though their work with Hillage hardly spawned anything on a plane with the two albums that preceded it and the one that followed it, it's still a substantial piece of the Simple Minds puzzle. Bridging the art disco of Empires and Dance with the pop masterpiece New Gold Dream, the album falters when the band seems to be reaching a bit too far for their own good. The other stumbling block is Hillage's production: Where the basslines of Empires and Dance snapped and tugged and where the drums hit with brisk smacks and thick thumps, the echo-gauze of the production work diminishes the impact of the band's greatest asset and makes everything sound bigger and busier than necessary. (The massive qualities of New Gold Dream sound much more natural and less forced in comparison.) The record isn't without moments of brilliance, like the exquisitely detailed "70 Cities As Love Brings the Fall" (a great balance between grand melodies and bizarre noise), the insistently snaking "In Trance As Mission," and "Sweat in Bullet," which has sparkling keyboard parts and crafty guitar interplay. Aside from these moments, the mind tends to wander and wonder if the band was trying to do too much. Upon its release, Sons and Fascination was issued for a limited time with a bonus LP, the scattered Sister Feelings Call, which includes a great pre-Sons and Fascination A-side ("The American").

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Pet Shop Boys - Please (1986) ☠

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*Japanese first pressing. 
Contains 10 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Pop, Pop Rock
Label Number: CP32-5131
☠: Selected by Lass
© 1986 EMI
A collection of immaculately crafted and seamlessly produced synthesized dance-pop, the Pet Shop Boys' debut album, Please, sketches out the basic elements of the duo's sound. At first listen, most of the songs come off as mere excuses for the dancefloor, driven by cold, melodic keyboard riffs and pulsing drum machines. However, the songcraft that the beats support is surprisingly strong, featuring catchy melodies that appear slight because of Neil Tennant's thin voice. Tennant's lyrics were still in their formative stages, with half of the record failing to transcend the formulaic constraints of dance-pop. The songs that do break free -- the intentionally crass "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)," the lulling "Suburbia," and the hypnotic "West End Girls" -- are not only classic dance singles, they're classic pop singles.

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Simple Minds - Big Music (2014)

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*U.K. standard pressing. 
Contains 12 tracks total.
Country: Unite Kingdom
Genre: Pop Rock, Synth Pop
Label Number: SMBM03

© 2014 Caroline Records
When Simple Minds released Black and White in 2005, it was obvious they'd been doing some creative soul searching in light of the success of bands clearly influenced by them, namely, the Killers and Manic Street Preachers. 2009's Graffiti Soul saw the return of drummer Mel Gaynor to the fold. He brought a familiar, tight, propulsive foundation to Charlie Burchill's guitar playing and Andy Gillespie's imaginative synths. Jim Kerr's alternately whispering and soaring vocals were still at the fore, but were showcased inside more economical songwriting, and Jez Coad's production celebrated the band's pop identity. Big Music finds Simple Minds coming full circle -- going all the way back to 1979 for inspiration. They've rediscovered the urgent, keyboard-driven post-punk futurism of recordings such as Empires and Dance and Sons and Fascination. Rather than try to merely re-create them, they've integrated them with the more guitar-centric classicism of New Gold Dream, Sparkle in the Rain, and Once Upon a Time. Three tracks here -- "Blindfolded," "Midnight Walking," and " Imagination" -- draw directly from Simple Minds circa 1982-1985. Big beats and drum programs, careening synth pop, and Burchill's fat, edgy guitar frame Kerr's trademark clipped phrasing, which emotes even when he's whispering. "Honest Town," one of two tunes written with the Chvrches' Iain Cook, is a gem. It's as stirring as "Someone Somewhere in Summertime," but with its house intro and trancey pulse fueling the moving narrative (Kerr taking his dying mother for a last drive around their town), it dives headlong into dance music. This isn't an isolated incident. The other Cook collab, "Blood Diamonds," uses SM's textured, synth-driven romanticism to blur vintage and modern dance pop. The quirky, fat kick drums and loops in the intro, and the choruses of "Kill or Cure" evoke glitch with four-on-the-floor basslines and synth pulses adorned with shimmering guitars in the verses. Despite the Cult-esque guitar riff in the intro, "Imagination" is a largely electro-driven rocker; it suggests Sons and Fascination more than it does anything else -- Gillespie's multivalent keyboards are in accelerated swerve. "Concrete and Cherry Blossom" and "Broken Glass Park" are anthems laden with irresistible hooks and warm atmospherics. They revel in the cinematic drama of Kerr's voice. (The former contains the repetitive line "I'm on the rooftop" which unmistakably and unabashedly echoes "I'm on the catwalk....") The cover of the Call's "Let the Day Begin" substitutes enormous, zig -zagging synth vamps in place of the original's roaring guitars (though Burchill stings in the break alongside a bagpipe sample). This revisioning displays the song's continued appeal even when updated for the club floor. Ultimately, Big Music is certainly that. Here Simple Minds have finally come to terms with all the fragments of their musical identity, focused them in a complementary manner, and delivered a whole with an unapologetic pop savvy and flair. It is easily their most consistent offering since Once Upon a Time.

 tags: simple minds, big music, 2014, flac,
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June 03, 2023

Danny Elfman - So-Lo (1984)

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*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 9 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A. 
Genre: Pop, Pop Rock
Label Number: MCAD-25051

© 1984 MCA Records
A solo outing that fails by a wide margin to be distinguishable from an Oingo Boingo record. The key highlight is "Gratitude," which turned up in a stronger mix as part of the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack.

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Marillion - Fugazi (1984)

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*U.K. first pressing. 
Contains 7 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Neo-Prog
Label Number: CDP 7 46027 2

© 1984-1986 EMI
At the conclusion of the Script for a Jester's Tear tour, Marillion decided to give drummer Mick Pointer his marching orders, replacing him momentarily with Camel's Andy Ward and later by American studio whiz Jonathan Mover. Mover's recruitment proved to be short-lived, as Fish ushered in Steve Hackett's drummer/percussionist, Ian Mosley, whose spot-on drumming was the perfect foil for Marillion's meticulous musicianship. With Mosley, the band set out to record its sophomore effort. The first track to emerge from the Fugazi sessions would be "Punch and Judy" (which EMI released as the album's first single). In hindsight, this wasn't a smart move -- the single quickly vanished into chart oblivion. As the sessions turned into a grueling and at times exasperating multi-studio juggling act (ten different studios were used for the tracking/mixing of the record), Fugazi proved to be a somewhat disjointed follow-up to the classic Script for a Jester's Tear. Despite its superlative arrangements, the album lacked its predecessor's cohesion and focus, but all was not lost: Buried in the album's murky mix are three Marillion classics. "Assassing," "Incubus," and especially the album's title track showcase the band at its melodramatic best. The cryptic "Fugazi" was a highlight of the band's live set for many years to follow. [In 1998, EMI issued a remastered version of Fugazi featuring a bonus disc full of oddities and demos, including "Three Boats Down From the Candy," a 12" version of "Cinderella Search," and four of the album's original demos. The remastered version goes a long way toward restoring the album's original sonic aesthetic (lost somewhere along the way in initial vinyl and CD pressings).]

 tags: marillion, fugazi, 1984, flac,
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Mexican Fusca - Estilos De Muerte (2001)

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*Se incluye una foto del disco en el archivo RAR.
Country: Mexico
Language: Spanish (Español)
Genre: Hip-Hop 
Style: Gangsta Rap
Label Number: 609

© 2001 Discos Histeria
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Acaxao Movimiento - Acaxao Movimiento (2004)

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*Se incluye una foto del disco en el archivo RAR.
Country: Mexico
Language: Nahuatl, Spanish (Español)
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: None

© 2004 Acaxao Movimiento
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Bocafloja - Jazzyturno (2005)

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*Se incluye una foto del disco en el archivo RAR.
Country: Mexico
Language: Spanish (Español) 
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: None

© 2005 3G Producciones
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80chentas - Fauna Urbana (2009)

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*Se incluye una foto del disco en el archivo.
Country: Mexico
Language: Spanish (Español)
Genre: Hip-Hop 
Label Number: None

© 2009 Area Rek
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June 02, 2023

The dB's - Stands For DeciBels (1981) ☠

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*U.S. first pressings. 
Contains 12 tracks total and remastered audio.
Country: U.S.A. 
Genre: Jangle Pop
Label Number: IRSD-81000
 ☠: Selected by Lass
© 1981-1989 I.R.S. Records
 On their debut, the dB's combined a reverence for British pop and arty, post-punk leanings that alternate between minimalism and a love of quirky embellishment, odd sounds, and unexpected twists; Stands for Decibels is clearly a collegiate pop experiment, but rarely is experimentation so enjoyable and irresistibly catchy. Singing and songwriting duties are shared equally by Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple -- Stamey, more quirky and psychedelic-leaning with a winsome, pure-pop whine, is nicely balanced by Holsapple's more earthy drawl and straightforward approach. The album stands not only as a landmark power-pop album, but also as a prototype for much of the Southern jangle that would follow. [Stands for Decibels remained criminally unavailable in the U.S. for years. When IRS reissued it on CD in 1989, Holsapple's "Judy" was added as a bonus track.]

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Snoman - The Exceptional One (1993)

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*This is a digital store download purchased from Bandcamp. 
Contains 10 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A. 
Genre: Hip-Hop 
Label Number: None

© 1993 Snoman
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Native Nuttz - The Nativez Are Restless

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*This is a digital store download purchased from Bandcamp. 
Contains 13 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A. 
Genre: Hip-Hop 
Label Number: None

© 1994 Native Nuttz
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Drowning The Light - A World Long Dead (Limited Edition) (2007)

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*Limited edition pressing. 
Contains 11 tracks total.
Country: Australia
Genre: Black Metal
Label Number: None

© 2007-2008 Obscure Abhorrence Productions
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 tags: drowning the light, a world long dead, limited edition, 2007, flac,
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June 01, 2023

Donna Summer - The Summer Collection: Greatest Hits (1985)

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Country: U.S.A. 
Genre: Disco
Label Number: 826 144-2

© 1985 Mercury Records
Donna Summer's hit legacy has been ransacked almost as much as some of Motown's finest. This collection was issued in 1985, and since then, there have been dance/extended remix anthologies, other greatest hits packages, and Polygram's recent line, which is really the one to get if you want the whole Summer story. It is available on CD.

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The UBC - 2 All Serious Thinkers (1990)

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*This is a digital store download purchased from Bandcamp. 
Contains 16 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A. 
Genre: Hip-Hop 
Label Number: None

© 1990 The UBC
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