Pop & Rock News

Whatever the worldly origins of using a glass or metal object to slide across the strings of a guitar, this style has become famously associated with the blues. For many of the finest early blues practitioners it was the ultimate mode of musical expression as it could emulate the sound of the human voice to great effect.

Includes a FREE download card allowing you to download the full album as well as extra Bottleneck Blues tracks.

The profound effect of the bottleneck style on the Mississippi Delta blues is demonstrated by legends such as Charley Patton, Son House and Bukka White. They were able to harness the heightened resonance and volume that it allowed, and create extraordinary effects such as that of a train whistle. Bukka White's 'Jitterbug Swing' shows how his guitar style was influenced by playing the diddley bow or jitterbug as a child, a single-stringed instrument played using a slide and thought to derive from West Africa.

Far away from the raw intensity of the Delta blues sound, both Barbecue Bob and Curley Weaver were prominent figures on the East Coast who displayed bottleneck finesse with an incredible rhythmic feel. Also from the East Coast, Darby And Tarleton were a white, early country music duo whose playing was heavily influenced by the Hawaiian guitar style popular in American mainstream culture at the time, and largely responsible for spreading the slide guitar craze throughout the country.

Though born in the Mississippi Delta, Earl Hooker's family moved to Chicago when he was just a baby and by the mid-'40s he was performing with one of the early legends of Chicago blues, Robert Nighthawk. Hooker is perhaps best known for his distinct slide guitar style and as a sideman for such luminaries as Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, and John Lee Hooker (his cousin). In 1968, he assembled a crack band including Pinetop Perkins, and Freddie Roulette, and they're heard here in fine form on what is probably Hooker's most well-known and best recorded effort. Reissued on vinyl in a deluxe tip-on jacket. On gold 180 gram vinyl.

Fred McDowell's Vol. 2, originally released on Arhoolie in 1966 is one of the finest recorded examples of the Hill Country Blues style. With a distinctive and hypnotic guitar style McDowell powers through 12 tunes here, almost all originals. A stone classic reissued on vinyl in a deluxe tip-on jacket. On blue vinyl.

Lightnin' Hopkins had already recorded dozens, if not hundreds, of sides for various labels by the time he hooked up with Chris Strachwitz in the late '50s, but his recordings for Strachwitz's Arhoolie label are some of the rawest and strongest of his career. Originally released in 1968, this classic slab of Texas blues is reissued here on high quality vinyl with an exact reproduction of the paste-on sleeve. On red 180 gram vinyl.

The very first release on the legendary Arhoolie label, from way back in 1960, is also the first for Texas acoustic blues great Mance Lipscomb who was a mere 65 years old at the time of its release. Prior to being 'discovered' by the label's founder, Chris Strachwitz, Lipscomb had spent his life as a sharecropper in his hometown of Navasota, Texas. Lipscomb's 'discovery' was one of the greatest by-products of the blues and folk revival of the late '50s and early '60s as this fantastic vinyl reissue of his first album will attest. Classic country-blues from a master. On green vinyl.

Barrett Strong certainly found himself in the right place at the right time in 1946, when his family re-located to Detroit. The city
already had an active music scene, and Barrett became part of it when his three sisters included him in their gospel group, The
Strong Singers. During the fifties they befriended the local star Jackie Wilson. It was through Wilson that the eighteen year-old
Barrett was introduced to Berry Gordy, whose local record label, Tamla, was trying to find its feet. Gordy recognised Barrett's piano
and singing skills and took him on... and the rest became musical history.
With its raw enthusiasm and songwriting, this album is a great example of the earliest development of Berry Gordy's
Motown empire. Barrett Strong had bags of talent and helped bolster the company finances with his hits. He was the first major
Motown star, and this fine album celebrates his earliest work.

Originally released in 1974, Big Fun presents music from three different phases of Miles Davis's early-seventies 'electric' period.

Sides one and four ('Great Expectations' and 'Lonely Fire') were recorded three months after the Bitches Brew sessions and incorporate sitar, tambura, tabla, and other Indian instruments. They also mark the first time since the beginning of Miles Davis's electric period that he played his trumpet with the Harmon mute which had been one of his hallmarks, making it sound much like the sitar. This contributed to creating a very clear and lean sound, highlighting both the high and low registers, as opposed to the busier sound of Bitches Brew which placed more emphasis on the middle and low registers.

'Ife' was recorded after the 1972 On the Corner sessions, and the framework is similar to tracks from that record. It has a drum and electric bass groove and a plethora of musicians improvising individually and in combinations over variations on the hypnotic bassline.

Recorded in March 1970, 'Go Ahead John' is an outtake from Davis's Jack Johnson sessions. The recording is a riff and groove- based, with a relatively sparser line-up of Steve Grossman on soprano saxophone, Dave Holland on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, and John McLaughlin on guitar with wah-wah pedal.

Hailed as one of the most beautiful women in the world, Sophia Loren began her film career in 1950 at the age of 15,
working her way through bit parts and minor roles and on to international stardom, winning awards that include a Best
Actress Oscar (1961), a Grammy, and several Golden Globes. Additionally, along the way she established a reputation
as a singer of considerable talent - as the recordings on this compilation surely confirm. Enjoy this superb LP including
"Felicita", "Almost In Your Arms" and "Tu Vuo Fa' L'Americano".

Continuing in our series of Chess Record Reissues, Jackpot Records presents this compilation of landmark original studio singles, from Chicago blues artist Howlin' Wolf. Originally recorded from 1954-1965. Howlin' Wolf electrified the sound of the Mississippi Delta blues and brought it to Chicago, laying down what would be come the foundation of rock and roll in the early 1950s. Delivered in his gruff, haunting voice, his lyrics spoke of his hard life experiences and his signature growlin' mesmerized audiences and blues musicians alike. Howlin Wolf helped make Chess Records a historic label and solidified Chicago as the worlds capital of blues. - Legendary Chess Recordings from 1954-1965 - Pressed on Limited Colored Vinyl - Top 100 of greatest artists of all time -Rolling Stone - 4.5 stars out of 5 - All Music Guide.

Electric Chicago Blues at it's finest. Super Super Blues Band started out merely as Super Blues, a conglomerate of blues pillars Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters and Little Walter. When Little Walter bowed out and was replaced by Howlin' Wolf, they rightfully threw another Super on the name, and went on to release this burning, irreverent and even sometimes hilarious set of drunken, wild-eyed electric blues. Long form jams roll on in a trance as the trio of blues legends flex egos, talking shit to each other, trading off leads and ducking blasts of unexpected wah-wah guitar lines. Songs are peppered with an incredible level of banter between the trio of bandleaders that predicts the call and response sing- talking of early hip hop, laced with random screams in the background that teeter between celebration and danger. That these three ever got into the same room together is a miracle, and that they produced something so intense, energetic and weird is another almost unbelievable feat. The record is special enough as a stand-alone document of this meeting/melting of the minds before you find out the backing band consists of Hubert Sumlin, Otis Spann and freaking Buddy Guy. Lordy. Might have needed one more 'super' in there. - Features Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters & Bo Diddley together - Orignal Artwork w/ liner notes by Richard Meltzer - Limited Color Vinyl Pressing.

In 1969 Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady formed Hot Tuna. Begun as an acoustic spinoff of the Jefferson Airplane, the American blues rock band eventually became the full-time focus of founding members Casady and Kaukonen, emerging as a popular touring act of the 70s.

The album Pair a Dice Found was originally released in
1990 and was Hot Tuna's first new album release in more
than a decade.


The song 'Eve of Destruction', a protest song originally written by P. F. Sloan in mid-1964, was released as a single.

Mark Tilton (guitarist, singer and founder member of The Membranes) fronts Black Crack his five-piece colliding garage rock, punk and blues.
"Like Iggy Pop meets Charles Bukowski" ~ D. Gilhooly (Roughsleeper)
"He's a class act" ~ Marc Riley, BBC Radio 6

Considered by many to be one of the best live albums of all time, this classic album by The Allman Brothers Band, recorded at the pinnacle of their success, was a huge hit for the band. In 1971 The Allman Brothers Band was already one of the most popular groups in America, but by the time this album hit the streets their brand of Southern rock had become a national obsession. One of Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time," it was the band's last with guitar hero Duane Allman, who was killed in a motorcycle accident later that year. Two 180-gram LPs with two bonus tracks.