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Are You Experienced
(more) »rank: 828by: The Jimi Hendrix Experience
: essential recording:As emblematic of its time as of its sorcerer-like creator, 1967's Are You Experienced unleashed Jimi Hendrix onto a world in the midst of such cultural and musical shakeups that it really didn't seem as 'far out' as it actually was. It wasn't just Hendrix's virtuosic skill as a pure player that was so impressive; it was, even more, the range and scope of sheer sound that he coaxed, cajoled, and ripped out of his instrument. 'Purple Haze,' 'Manic Depression,' and 'I Don't Live Today' filled ears with indelible sonic images, and songs like 'Foxey Lady' and 'Fire' pointed the way ...
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Electric Ladyland
(more) »rank: 855by: The Jimi Hendrix Experience
: :\N essential recording:Bursting with ideas and energy, Jimi Hendrix's second album release of 1968 (following Axis: Bold as Love) was a double-LP set that showcased virtually everything the guitar genius had to offer: blistering blues ('Voodoo Chile'), galaxy-patrolling space jams ('1983... A Merman I Should Turn to Be'), psychedelic soul ('Crosstown Traffic'), and skyscraping rock ('Voodoo Child (Slight Return)'). In the midst of all this was even a hit song--Hendrix's remarkable reading of Bob Dylan's 'All Along the Watchtower,' featuring a series of baton-passing guitar solos, all distinct and brilliant. Seemingly diffuse when first released; in hindsight, kaleidoscopically eclectic. --Billy Altman
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Led Zeppelin 1
(more) »rank: 875by: Led Zeppelin
:Album Description:2005 Japanese standard jewel case pressing of Led Zeppelin's 1969 album. Features the same tracks and mastering as the US edition but includes an OBI and Japanese/English insert. Warner. 2005. :As it turned out, Led Zeppelin's infamous 1969 debut album was indicative of the decade to come--one that, fittingly, this band helped define with its decadently exaggerated, bowdlerized blues-rock. In shrieker Robert Plant, ex-Yardbird Jimmy Page found a vocalist who could match his guitar pyrotechnics, and the band pounded out its music with swaggering ferocity and Richter-scale-worthy volume. Pumping up blues classics such as Otis Rush's 'I Can't Quit You Baby' and ...
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Physical Graffiti
(more) »rank: 1007by: Led Zeppelin
:Album Description:Japanese-only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) paper sleeve pressing of this absolute classic album from the Rock legends, originally released in 1975. SHM-CDs can be played on any audio player and delivers unbelievably high-quality sound. You won't believe it's the same CD! Universal. 2008. essential recording:This 1975 release came smack in the middle of a long and nearly mythic career. Physical Graffiti is the last great Led Zeppelin title, recorded before the influences of the day (synthesizers, disco) ended Zeppelin's reign as the kings of loud and sexy blues-metal. Playfully experimenting with new sounds, the band blended Middle Eastern rhythms, folk-stylings, ...
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Led Zeppelin II
(more) »rank: 942by: Led Zeppelin
:Album Description:2005 Japanese standard jewel case pressing of Led Zeppelin's 1969 album. Features the same tracks and mastering as the US edition but includes an OBI and Japanese/English insert. Warner. 2005. essential recording:Riff rock had been what Jimmy Page's former band, the Yardbirds, were all about, and on Led Zeppelin's second album, released, like its predecessor, in 1969, the inventive guitarist demonstrated that he'd indeed learned his lessons well. Witness 'Whole Lotta Love,' a woozy epic based on one simple, head-banging-friendly guitar riff. Or the mock-dramatic 'Heartbreaker,' propelled by far more intricate but similarly effective note squashing. Between Page's sonic wizardry, John ...
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Abraxas
(more) »rank: 1366by: Santana
:Album Description:Released in 1970, Abraxas, Santana's second album, sees the band expanding its already wildly diverse Latin rock sound by adding deeper elements of blues and jazz to the sizzling mix. Abraxas is home to two more of the group's signature monster hits: the hypnotic, rhythmically hectic interpretations of Tito Puente's 'Oye Como Va' and Fleetwood Mac's 'Black Magic Woman.' Sundazed's exact vinyl replica of this calienté classic is sourced directly from the original Columbia masters. essential recording:Santana's 1970 follow-up to their Woodstock-propelled smash '69 debut found leader Carlos Santana further expanding his San Francisco group's already broad musical boundaries. To wit: ...
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Texas Flood
(more) »rank: 1150by: Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
: essential recording:This legendary 1983 debut by the fallen torchbearer of the '80s-'90s blues revival sounds even more dramatic in its remixed and expanded edition. Stevie Ray Vaughan's guitar and vocals are a bit brighter and more present on this 14-track CD. And the newly included bonus numbers (an incendiary studio version of the slow blues 'Tin Pan Alley' that was left off the original release, and live takes of 'Testify,' 'Mary Had a Little Lamb,' and the instrumental 'Wham!' from a 1983 Hollywood concert) illuminate the raw soul and passion that propelled his artistry even when he was under the spell of ...
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Stevie Ray Vaughan - Greatest Hits
(more) »rank: 1186by: Stevie Ray Vaughan
: essential recording:This legendary 1983 debut by the fallen torchbearer of the '80s-'90s blues revival sounds even more dramatic in its remixed and expanded edition. Stevie Ray Vaughan's guitar and vocals are a bit brighter and more present on this 14-track CD. And the newly included bonus numbers (an incendiary studio version of the slow blues 'Tin Pan Alley' that was left off the original release, and live takes of 'Testify,' 'Mary Had a Little Lamb,' and the instrumental 'Wham!' from a 1983 Hollywood concert) illuminate the raw soul and passion that propelled his artistry even when he was under the spell of ...
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Houses of the Holy
(more) »rank: 2150by: Led Zeppelin
:Album Description:Japanese-only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) paper sleeve pressing of this absolute classic album from the Rock legends, originally released in 1973. SHM-CDs can be played on any audio player and delivers unbelievably high-quality sound. You won't believe it's the same CD! Universal. 2008. essential recording:Buoyed by the runaway commercial success of Led Zeppelin IV, Jimmy Page used this 1973 follow-up to hone his already impressive production skills, and the result was a collection sporting an impressively expansive sound. Benefiting--especially on tracks such as 'Dancing Days Are Here Again,' 'The Crunge,' and 'Over the Hills and Far Away'--was Zeppelin's always underrated ...
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Axis: Bold as Love
(more) »rank: 2009by: The Jimi Hendrix Experience
:Album Description:Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Universal. 2008. :Jimi Hendrix's second album doesn't resonate through rock history the way its gatecrashing predecessor, Are You Experienced?, does. In places, it almost seems as if Hendrix is cruising, albeit sublimely. Yet it's a vital album, containing some of rock's molten milestones. There's the fluid psychedelia of 'Castles Made of Sand,' the viciously funky 'Little Miss Lover,' and the so-beautiful-it-hurts 'Little Wing.' Hendrix really hits altitude with 'If 6 Was 9,' where he waves his 'freak flag high' over a tidal wave of guitar and a cacophonous ...
