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For audio
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April 2003
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 SLY & THE FAMILY STONE |
 T.REX |
 BARRETT STRONG |
 DELANEY & BONNIE |
 THE SANDALS |
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THE
BEATLES Anthology (Apple/Capitol/EMI)
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SLY
& THE FAMILY STONE
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T.
REX
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BARRETT
STRONG
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DELANEY
& BONNIE Accept No Substitute (Collector's Choice Music)
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THE
SANDALS Wild As The Sea (Raven)
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The
mid ‘90s was a great time to be a Beatles fan. The Anthology
television series, coupled with three double disc Anthology
CD sets—featuring tons of outtakes and rare Beatles music—along
with a hardcover / paperback book further exploring the series, made
it the definitive story of the Beatles legacy. Apple /
Capitol have now given Beatles fans what they’ve been waiting
for in 2003 with a five DVD box set version of Anthology. The
eight part series is represented on four DVDs while a fifth DVD containing
an additional 81 minutes offers further reflections from the '90s reunion,
especially focusing on the making the John Lennon tracks “Free
As A Bird” and “Real Love”. The enhanced 5.1 Dolby Digital
and DTS soundtrack is quite impressive and—thanks to creative editing
and track indexing—the entire thing makes for spectacular viewing.
Presenting the entire Beatles story—encompassing their innovative
singles and albums and pioneering music videos—is no simple feat,
yet Anthology puts it perfectly into focus with vivid
clarity. 
With
35 tracks taken from ten different Epic Records albums, The
Essential Sly & The Family Stone is the group’s most
comprehensive CD collection yet. Encompassing every Epic single (A sides
+ B Sides) recorded between 1968-75, plus over a dozen key album tracks,
the 2003 double CD reissue set was expertly produced by Sundazed Records
music guru Bob Irwin and Jerry Goldstein and features
detailed liner notes by Tom Sinclair. As the liner notes put
forth, the music created by Texas native, guitarist/keyboardist Sylvester
“Sly” Stewart and company—including Sly’s brother
Freddie Stone on guitars—was an unusual and completely catchy
mix of rock, soul, jazz, pop and funk. All of Sly’s huge hits are
here—including masterpieces such as “Stand”, “Everyday
People” and “I Want To Take You Higher—from the group’s
1969 breakthrough album Stand! and their highest charting album
There’s A Riot Goin’ On (1971). Check out The Essential
Sly & The Family Stone and find out why Sly & Co. are still
mentioned in the same breath as key rock and R&B figures like Jimi,
Otis and Aretha. 
Rhino
bangs a gong and gets it on with their 2003 reissue of the T.Rex album
classic Electric Warrior. Produced by Tony Visconti and
released on Reprise Records here in the U.S., with the big FM
hit “Bang A Gong”, Electric Warrior was the album that
put Marc Bolan and T.Rex on the map here in the U.S. Rhino’s
reissue features the original 11 track album remastered and reissued
along and expanded with an array of bonus tracks released as singles
and b-sides around the Electric Warrior era. The 18 track CD
also closes out with a classic 20 minute studio interview between Bolan
and NYC FM dj Michael Cuscuna just after the Lp came out here
in Fall of 1971. Rhino’s booklet and reissue packaging is exemplary,
complete with extensive notes, photos and lyrics. Along with Bowie’s
Ziggy Stardust, Electric Warrior was probably the other innovative
pillar of U.K. glam rock and there’s still never been anything
quite like it since. 
Back
in 1960, Barrett Strong burst on the pop scene with one of the most
influential R&B hits of all time. Strong’s rendition of “Money”—composed
by Berry Gordy—was soon after covered by The Beatles
who really nailed it on The Beatles Second Album on Capitol.
“Money” was one of the first big hits on the then fledgling
Motown label. Interestingly Strong never released a full length album
on Motown but forty three years later the label sets the “Money”
man’s story straight with The Best Of Barrett Strong: The Millennium
Collection. The twelve track CD compiles the six singles—A
sides and B sides—Strong released on Tamla-Motown between 1959-1961.
Before the end of the ‘60s Strong would co-write some huge pop
gems like “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” but for those
looking to find out the story behind “Money”—still one
of the truly great R&B classics of all time—check out the Barrett
Strong Millennium Collection. 
An
influence waiting to happen, the southern, countrified, back to the
roots rock sound of the legendary singing duo of Delaney & Bonnie
had a major impact on George Harrison, Dave Mason and Eric Clapton,
each of whom would tour and record with them. Released in 1969 on Elektra
Records, the album that was supposed to come out on Apple found the
Bramletts in prime form surrounded by superstars like Leon Russell,
Bobby Keys, Carl Radle and arranger legend Jimmy Haskell.
Hearing it decades later, the album really holds up well and in retrospect,
it was sort of like a calm before the storm considering the heady music
to come during the Autumn of 1969. Reissued in 2002 by Collector’s
Choice, Accept No Substitute features fine liner notes and
an interview with Delaney Bramlett. 
California-based
surf-rock legends The Sandals are still remembered for their excellent
guitar based instrumental music featured in the mid ‘60s surfing
movie classic The Endless Summer. Featuring the combined
talents of Walter Georis, Gaston Georis and guitarist
John Blakeley, the still active group have a 40 year history,
the early core of which is represented on a 2003 CD retrospective on
Australia-based Raven Records entitled Wild As The Sea
- Complete Sandals 1964-1969. Leave it to the reissue
masters at Raven Records to put the early Sandals story into
proper perspective. Their Complete Sandals 1964-1969 compiles
31 tracks taken from The Endless Summer soundtrack, their
early Scrambler album, their underrated
late ‘60s album Last Of The Ski Bums, along
with several non-LP singles including several nifty pop vocal tracks
suggesting the Sandals’ diverging musical directions. Described
as one of the missing links in the surf and hot rod music canon, the
Raven release of Wild As The Sea features an impressive 12 page
booklet packed with up to date Sandals bio info and rare photos.