Billy Idol was still a rock & roll bad boy despite being over the hill by the start of the new millennium. Billy Idol: VH1 Storytellers captures that typical snarl without the bombast and returns to basics. The real rawness behind such classics as "Flesh for Fantasy," "Cradle of Love," and "To Be a Lover" is stripped, and the acoustic mix found on this album showcases Idol's appeal on a different level. The sexiness is still there, and Idol and guitarist Steve Stevens compose a magic as well. Fans should be pleased, for the tantalizing swagger of "Rebel Yell" is ageless. Renditions of Generation X's "Kiss Me Deadly" and "Dancing With Myself" are just as exciting, however it's the intensity of the punk anthem "Ready Steady Go" that brings everything together. While Billy Idol was issuing smash singles during a decade criticized for being unoriginal, Billy Idol: VH1 Storytellers suggests otherwise.

"El Paso" brought the country music out of Marty Robbins into the pop limelight in 1959 and this, together with all of his resonantly impressive "Gun Ballads" album of the same year and the best of the rest of his 50s recordings are all present here in a budget priced double CD pack.

Yes, the Country & Western stars could also rock!!! Even though the Cowboys were a little more leisurely than the "real" rockers, listening to this edition can make you feel pretty warm. "Rockabilly Cowboys: 250 Original Recordings" is a comprehensive compilation of rockabilly and country music from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. This set is perfect for fans of early rock and roll, as well as those with an interest in the roots of country music. With 250 unique tracks, this collection is a treasure trove of musical history, showcasing the evolution of these genres and the pioneering artists who shaped them.

New album! Shortly before their 20th anniversary, the Viennese cult band unleash 15 new songs on the crowd that has been hungry for two years. The wide corset of their current stylistic range has little in common with the gloomy Psychobilly of the early days: The avowed horror, B-movie and trash fans play extremely accomplished hard and atmospheric dark rock, which adapts to punk, rock with playful ease. nRoll, Hard Rock and Gothic elements served. The quintet naturally draws richly from historical and fictional horror stories, but also likes to pack snappy systemic criticism into the lyrics ("Off With Their Heads!"). The songs always remain catchy and are crowned by hymn-like choruses - the Misfits school unites perfectly with shock rock legends such as Alice Cooper or W.A.S.P. The perfect soundtrack for a foggy walk at Vienna's central cemetery!

The likeable and always well-dressed quartet from Austria has been around for over 15 years, and it is not an understatement to say that Dead "Richy" Gein (standing drums, vocals), Mr. "Jim" Evilize (guitar), Dejan Decay (double bass) and Reverend Bloodbath (guitar, keyboards) have created their very own aesthetic playground from the already distinctive genres of psychobilly and horror punk, into which they effortlessly integrate more and more elements of other styles without any fear.

40 Days a Rotting is the latest studio album by the undisputed Kings Of Psychobilly. 14 new tracks as uncompromising as ever and encompasses all the elements that have always made up The Meteors brand of Pure Psychobilly, mashing up rockabilly, country, surf and rocknroll. A sound woven by Paul Fenechs rockin guitar and bile-spitting Beelzebub-rousing lyrics. 40 Days a Rotting proves once again that despite some aspiring would-be usurpers The Meteors won't be giving up that crown anytime soon.

Elvis Presley's movie soundtracks have long been notorious for being among his worst material – who can forget the legendary vinyl bootleg of '60s movie soundtrack highlights called Elvis' Greatest Shit? – but among the dreck, there were some wonderful songs, ideal for a single-disc compilation along the lines of Movies, which is one of six thematic Elvis compilations released in 2006. Unfortunately, Movies falls short of being a perfect comp of these highlights, since it misses such big songs as "Can't Help Falling in Love," "Return to Sender," and "A Little Less Conversation" (plus such enjoyable throwaways as "Bossa Nova Baby") are missing.

Every era has it's heroes and every scene has it's legends. The 80"s had the Stray Cats and today they are the indisputable icons of neo-rockabilly. When the US trio stormed the top of the charts in their adopted country of England, punk still reigned supreme in the United Kingdom. But Brian Setzer, Slim Jim Phantom and Lee Rocker brought that certain something that the mo-hawked men also had: a feeling for danger and rebellion. Impressive footage of this time includes two performances in Germany: one in 1981 in Cologne and one in 1983 at the Loreley. These are genuine recordings that make the trio's sound still accessible today. Both concerts are released here for the first time in the best possible quality and with a superb sound on DVD and CD.

The first installment of the Hard to Find 45's series is, like all of them, a smorgasbord of Top 40 hits, some of them indeed very hard to find on CD or even hear on the radio. Some of them are really not that hard to find on CD, though this disc (like every one in this series) takes pains to present original 45 RPM single versions, often in stereo. This volume concentrates on the first five years or so of rock & roll's popularity, and though rather pop-oriented, it does cover a good amount of variety within that scope.

Rockabilly is a music genre that has a rather peculiar status in the history of modern music.
As a trend, rockabilly lasted only a few years, but it generated a near-unmatched number of recordings from hundreds of studios from as many American cities and small towns. This phenomenon can be explained partly by youth's sudden urge to express itself in a time when the USA was the richest country in the world and people were drawing maximum benefits from the spirit of entrepreneurship that was taking the whole continent by storm. Back then, you could very easily improvise yourself a record producer or label owner: all it took was a little bit of equipment and a small garage, basement, or backstore space. You started by pressing a hundred-copy run for the artist's family and friends. Sometimes, the product reached the ears of bigger label owners who would ensure its wider distribution.Rockabilly appeared in the early 1950s. This form of musical expression can be summed up as a white, typically southern, and rural kind of rock and roll born in Memphis in 1954. The lyrics are often about recurring themes in '50s American pop culture, like cars and teenage love.

Amnesty International commemorates its 50th anniversary with the release of an album featuring the cream of the world’s music talent covering Bob Dylan songs, with contributions from a huge variety of artists including Adele, Patti Smith, Pete Townshend, Ke$ha, The Gaslight Anthem, Sting, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, Sinéad O’Connor, Kris Kristofferson, Bad Religion, Marianne Faithfull, My Chemical Romance, Bryan Ferry, Pete Seeger and many more. Entitled Chimes of Freedom: Songs of Bob Dylan the album features 73 tracks on four CDs.

THE BRITISH INVASION: The British Invasion was the signalling event of a gigantic social change that progressed through the decade, a decade in which each year seemed to contain ten years' worth of changes. it was an effect of historical and technological changes outside the purview of a CD review. It may be seen partially as a sub-generation of youth wanting something new of their own rather than inheriting their older sibling's teen scene. In the U.S. some feel the assassination of J.F.K. is often seen as a catalyst. Though Beatlemania was an international phenomenon, it can't be completely discounted as a factor. When it happened it was sudden and it almost totally obliterated the previous pop scene. The few who survived (Gene Pitney, Lesley Gore, Jan & Dean, Beach Boys, Four Seasons, Elvis) mostly had a final big hit or two in '64 then remained in a diminished way never having a Top 10 hit again. Only the Beach Boys and Four Seasons got through relatively unscathed. Another part of the big change in 1964 was the rise of Motown which obliterated most older R&B acts as much as the British Invasion did pop, a fact that is often ignored.

Legendary rocker, one of the purest incarnations of this wild music which was preparing to invade the musical landscape, Vince Taylor caused a real shock on his arrival in France. An inveterate showman, he will turn his concerts into moments of pure madness that will regularly turn into riot. He will record a breathtaking succession of "EP's" as incandescent as they are impeccably produced, with the complicity of talented musicians who are perfectly trained. Vince Taylor's career will be a chain of scandals and triumphs. Brought together in this luxurious triple digipak, Vince's recordings for Barclay in their entirety are for the first time accompanied by the first 8 tracks recorded in England at the start of his career, including the immortal Brand New Cadillac. The 16-page booklet, richly illustrated with rare documents, is accompanied by testimonies and comments from Dick Rivers, Marc Zermati, Philippe Maneuver and Jacky Chalard who all lived up close to the legend of "the black angel of rock"

It doesn't take much rhetorical muscle to argue that science fiction was one of the dominant genre artforms of the 20th century, from the Lumiere brothers to Spielberg, from Wells and Conan Doyle to Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke. This nearly exhaustive, lavishly packaged collection documents the genre's musical legacy across virtually every major genre on its five discs and 113 tracks. Each volume is divided by sub-genre–Movie Themes, TV Themes, Pop, Incidental/Lounge, Novelty–with each containing both the obvious contenders and some delightful surprises. The film disc alone contains a wealth of rarities, including music from Them!, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Andromeda Strain, Fantastic Voyage, and other notables. The packaging is brilliant kitsch: a 6.5-inch square, metal-lidded cube emblazoned on three sides with suitably tacky 3-D images of–you guessed it!–a floating brain. But the profusely illustrated, hard-bound, 200-page book (designed to emulate the Big Little Books of the 1940s and '50s) that's included gives the subject its serious due, with an introduction by Ray Bradbury and contributions from an array of other notables, including Forrest J. Ackerman, Billy Mumy, Joe Dante, Dr. Demento, and Matt Groening. Perhaps the best half-cubic-foot of sci-fi brain food every assembled. –Jerry McCulley

The Silver Fox’s complete Groove and RCA recordings in one place for the first time, including several new-to-CD tracks and one previously unissued. A high-class fusion of R&B, Country, Pop, Jazz and Easy Listening, produced by Chet Atkins in Nashville 1963-1965.
Charlie Rich looked and sang like Elvis’ brother – his mature older brother, hair a silver grey, and more into jazz than the jumped-up country sound that had taken over the world in the mid-50s. Like Elvis, Charlie Rich started out his recording career with Sam Phillips in Memphis. And like Elvis, he was an incredibly versatile performer, with a seemingly effortless style and a soulful vibrato; Greil Marcus once said he “could make it on all the charts at once: R&B, Pop, Easy Listening and Country. [He has] that much range.”