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To hear J. Geils Band front man Peter Wolf’s scat-jive intro to “Whammer Jammer” on 1972’s FULL HOUSE is to hear a transmission from another, much funkier planet — a skiggity-strange liggity-language that kiggity-kicks off another, longer miggity-missive from one Richard Salwitz (Magic Dick to you and me), blown through a blues harp with exceptional power and acuity, with a powerhouse band thumping behind him. Thing is, these were not alien beings — not an extraterrestrial among them, unless Boston went into orbit when the rest of us weren’t looking. This was perhaps the best live band on the

We're swoopin' in with some fresh tunes just as you've reached maximum Christmas music capacity. Take a break with the official release of some of our most beloved physical boxed sets (LIKE OMIGOD! THE '80S POP CULTURE BOX, NUGGETS, CAN YOU DIG IT? THE '70S SOUL EXPERIENCE, to name a few) in the digital space. We've even added a new one for good measure - THAT'S AUGHT: THE 2000s POP CULTURE BOX (hey, we've got to keep up the kids somehow). This one is not only the first Rhino boxed set to live exclusively in the digital space, but it is also the first to be compiled by the collective minds of

You may recall last month how we mentioned that Aretha Franklin’s 2008 album holiday album THIS CHRISTMAS would be getting its first-ever reissue on vinyl, but if you don’t recall that, well, it did, and it’s been out there since November 16, so we’re a little disappointed at the way you’ve let the moss grow under your feet. But, hey, it’s the holiday season, so we’ll let it slide. That said, we did want to draw your attention to something from the late, great Queen of Soul that dropped only a few days ago: the lyric video for her stirring rendition of the Christmas classic, “Silent Night.” In

54 years ago this month, Gerry and the Pacemakers released the single which served as the title track for their lone feature film, and before the month was out (in 1964), the lads had also enjoyed the opportunity to attend said film’s world premiere. Penned by Gerry Marsden, the man who – as you might’ve guessed – put the “Gerry” in “Gerry and the Pacemakers,” “Ferry Cross the Mersey” was arguably the most Liverpool-centric song to hit the US and UK top-10 until the Beatles released their “Strawberry Fields Forever” / “Penny Lane” single a few years later. (For those who don’t know, the Mersey

Yes, we know we just wrote about Aretha yesterday, and if you read that piece about her Christmas album coming to vinyl, then you also know that we took a moment to write about how Friday would be bringing a non-Christmas-centric Aretha release to stores. Well, since today’s Friday, it bears repeating: as of now, you can pick up your very own copy of Aretha’s ATLANTIC RECORDS 1960S COLLECTION, a six-LP box set which includes her first five studio albums with Atlantic, along with an additional LP featuring demos and outtakes. Want to know the titles of the album? We can oblige. I NEVER LOVED A

45 years ago today, Yes released their famed TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS album, which is a fine excuse to sit down and deliver five things about this groundbreaking double-LP set that you might not be aware of. It’s almost certainly the only double-LP concept album based on a footnote. While in Tokyo in March 1973, Jon Anderson was reading Parmahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi when he was – to use his own choice of phrase – “caught up in a lengthy footnote,” one describing the four bodies of Hindu text. Anderson suddenly had the idea to do an album revolving around these bodies

Hey, kids, remember last week how we shined a spotlight on “Unwrap You at Christmas,” Andy Partridge’s songwriting contribution to The Monkees’ first-ever holiday album? Guess what? We’ve got another new Monkees lyric video for you! Once again, fans of The Monkees’ previous studio album, GOOD TIMES, will be pleased to see a songwriter returning from that LP: Rivers Cuomo, who previously penned “She Makes Me Laugh” for the guys. Needless to say, it’s as catchy as all get-out, and it’ll help you get rid of and holiday blues that may be getting you down. Give a listen and add to your Christmas

38 years ago this week, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash released the second retrospective of their career, one which was decidedly not as successful as their first retrospective, Déjà vu, but still contained a heck of a lot of classic tunes. Produced by Crosby, Stills and Nash, along with Bill Halverson, REPLAY came about as a result of Stills and Nash touring Europe together and, after completing their jaunt, deciding that they wanted to record some new material together. Atlantic Records, however, wanted CSN material, so the label instead decided to release this compilation

When we first heard that Netflix was going to be releasing a Christmas movie featuring a new take on Santa Claus which would feature Kurt Russell playing Kris Kringle, we had the same reaction you probably did: “Oh, this is gonna be goooooood…” Similarly, when you first watched THE CHRISTMAS CHRONICLES, you may have wondered about one of the songs featured within the film, whereas we… Well, actually, we didn’t wonder about it, but that’s only because it was licensed from our catalog, so we already knew the song in question. “Please Come Home for Christmas” was originally released in 1960

30 years ago today, a small cavalcade of top-notch musicians united to pay tribute to Roy Orbison, who had passed away five days earlier. We describe it as a small cavalcade only because the Wiltern Theater, where the tribute in question took place, was only filled with about 200 of Orbison’s friends, which – given that the venue in question holds about 1,850 people – leads us to presume that the guest list was decidedly small that evening. Still, for a small audience, there were a lot of big stars in the house that night, among them Dave Edmunds, Don Henley, Jeff Lynne, Graham Nash, Tom Petty