Various Artists - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Hillbilly Music, 1962 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

In 1915, Pablo Casals performed the exact repertoire on this album at the Peabody Institute of Music in Baltimore. Now, available again except this time, the Israeli cellist Amit Peled performs the works. Peled is a Professor at the University and takes great pride in not only his students but his renditions of Casals' recordings. The famous Casals Gofriller cello has been loaned to Peled for a period of at least several years and it is that cello listeners will hear on this recording.

Largely unknown and unheralded, this collection of Hell-Bound Hayseeds will come as a revelation. Mostly cut on microscopic or private-press labels and distributed in minuscule amounts, these Tortured Troubadours tell of torments, temptations and tumults - Satan, drugs, murder, suicide, demonic visions, infanticide and redemption - all in one handy package. A labor of love - years in the making - 'Hillbillies In Hell' presents 30 timeless testaments of transgressions, tribulations and moral turpitude. Originally issued on forgotten 45s, some of these sides are indescribably rare and most are officially reissued here for the very first time. All for your diabolical listening pleasure. *Astounding compilation of original tortured rockabilly/hillbilly/country sides!*Remastered from the original master tapes!*24 page full colour booklet with exclusive liner notes and photos!*New Deluxe Digipak Edition features 2 extra tracks!

This continues the strand of R&B and country collections associated with Acrobat's highly popular InchAmerica's Greatest HitsInch series, this one focusing on the top R&B records in the US Billboard charts during 1962. This great value 103-track 4-CD anthology includes, with a few exceptions, just about every record which peaked in the Billboard R&B Top 10 during that year. By this time, the R&B scene had evolved considerably as the rock 'n roll scene had matured and Tin Pan Alley had marketed it's teen-oriented offshoots, and there was an exciting feel to the charts, with substantial crossover into the pop charts through artists like Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, The Crystals, The Four Seasons, Booker T & The MGs, and The Marvelettes. There was also a significant weight of other records from the increasingly powerful Motown, Tamla and other labels producing material which would have a significant influence on emerging talent across the pond in the UK, like The Beatles, who absorbed some of the songs in this anthology into their repertoire, sowing the seeds of the British invasion which was soon to transform the pop landscape once more. With the blurring of the boundaries between the genres, the more traditional blues and R&B artists whose music had helped lay the groundwork for rock found it harder to reach the top positions in the R&B chart, and the foundations of the soul boom of the late '60s and 70s was clearly in evidence in many of the hits included here. As with all these collections, it provides a window onto a dynamic and exciting musical environment, and includes a number of unfamiliar names and recordings of which even enthusiasts of the genre may not be too aware, and which will be welcome additions to their collections. It contains a 12,000+ word booklet featuring background notes on every record.