3CD

DK40 (3CD)(Manifesto Records)Every fan knows that punk rock has had a fantastic relationship and tradition with bootleg records, and that tradition has now broken into the mainstream as well. Now in the twenty-first century, bands like The Doors, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Pearl Jam as well as artists like Jeff Tweedy, Neil Young and Lars Frederiksen have released a stream of great sounding like recordings under the “bootleg” moniker to the expressed joy and appreciation of fans, and have...

Artist: Elvis Presley Album: Boy From Tupelo 3CD Box set Label: (Legacy/RCA/Sony Music) It’s strange but, now forty years after his death, the image of Elvis Presley hasn’t faded but has become pretty two-dimensional. For many, the popular images of Elvis are basically that of the man who swiveled his hips and made women swoon as he sang “Heartbreak Hotel,” and that of the fat man who ate fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches and died on the toilet. To...

Judas Priest Turbo 30 (Legacy/Columbia/Sony Music) Skim through the catalogues of any number of rock bands who have enjoyed a lot of popularity and, invariably, it’s easy to find the fly in the creative ointment that fans abhor; that album was Into The Unknown for Bad Religion, it was Unmasked for KISS and Metallica has yet to live down Load. Maybe it just wasn’t the right time for those albums or maybe they were just weak and generally ill-advised...

Artist: Metallica Album: Hardwired… To Self-Destruct (Deluxe Edition 3CD) Label: Blackened/ADA/Warner Music It’s funny how the psychology of salesmanship works – after a certain point, one has to wonder where the logic goes. A great example of that can be found in the Deluxe Edition, 3CD version of Hardwired… To Self-Destruct. As previously stated in my review of the standard-issue 2CD version of the release, Metallica’s new album is a great trip back to the early, shreddy and fairly lean...