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Universal Music Recordings is proud to announce a new box set celebrating a breakthrough year in the life of one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Thin Lizzy.<br/> <br/>THIN LIZZY 74-75 - NIGHT LIFE / FIGHTING is the follow-up to the best-selling and critically acclaimed follow-up to the best-selling and critically acclaimed THIN LIZZY 76. The 7CD set features new stereo mixes and the original versions of the studio albums released by the band in 1974 and 1975, 'Night Life' and 'Fighting'. The other discs contain unreleased versions from the band's vault, radio sessions, demos and a live show from Derby College of Technology recorded on November 21 1975. <br/> <br/> <br/>THIN LIZZY 74-75 - NIGHT LIFE / FIGHTING is housed in a 10 x 10 box with a 40-page hard-backed book with sleeve notes by renowned music writer Mark Blake and packed with rare photos.<br/> <br/>By mid-1974, Thin Lizzy were at a crossroads; they'd had a hit, Whiskey In The Jar, which they hated, and guitarist Eric Bell's lifestyle choices led to him being fired, and a young Gary Moore was drafted in for a tour and some demos. Scott Gorham, a twenty-something American guitar player, had come to London on the vague promise of a gig in his brother-in-law's band Supertramp, but it turned out they weren't hiring after all. <br/> <br/>Thin Lizzy's rhythm section, Phil Lynott on bass & vocals, and drummer Brian Downey set up base camp at the Iroko Country Club, an African restaurant/bar on North London's Hampstead Hill, to audition new guitarists after Moore left to do his own thing. One of the early candidates was 'Robbo', an eighteen-year-old Glaswegian Brian Robertson, who arrived three weeks after auditions began. However, Lynott was looking for something else, and it soon became apparent that he was looking for two guitarists in the band. "The thing is, I'd never heard of Thin Lizzy or any of their music," admits Gorham. "I was the complete underdog." However, Gorham got the gig, and Lizzy signed to Phonogram Records' rock imprint Vertigo. But there'd been some sleight of hand involved, Vertigo had been impressed by Lizzy's last demo, especially Gary Moore's playing on the ballad 'Still In Love With You'. <br/> <br/>Making 'Night Life' was a baptism of fire for Thin Lizzy's new recruits. The line-up had only been together a few weeks before Vertigo put them in London's Trident Studios with American producer Ron Nevison, who had engineered The Who's Quadrophenia and Bad Company's best-selling debut. The two guitarists complemented each other, with Robertson's rigorous, blues-based sound counterbalanced by Gorham's freer approach. However, Gary Moore's version of 'Still In Love With You' made it onto the finished album. 'Night Life' was released on November 8, 1974, with a cover illustration by artist Jim Fitzpatrick, whose black panther surveying an urban landscape acknowledged the Black Panthers' political organisation. The album stalled outside the Top 50, though. "I think Ron made the album he wanted to make," offers Gorham. "My frustration is the original record never sounded the way we did on stage."<br/> <br/>Downey is more sanguine about the record: "It was our first album with two musicians that had never been in a studio before. Making an album as good as that was a big achievement, whether it sold any copies or not."<br/> <br/>Lizzy's steep learning curve continued through March and April 1975, on their first trip to the US, opening for Canadian rockers, Bachman-Turner Overdrive. After Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Lizzy opened for ZZ Top, Rush and Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band before flying home. Thin Lizzy's cover of Bob Seger's 'Rosalie', the live version of which would later give Lizzy a top 20 hit, would be included on their fifth album, which, after being unsatisfied with the experience on 'Night Life', would be produced by Lynott alone with engineer Keith Harwood, fresh from David Bowie's Diamond Dogs and the Rolling Stones' It's Only Rock'n'Roll.<br/> <br/>'Fighting' had more edge and focus than 'Night Life'. "America influenced us," suggests Downey. "If we hadn't gone to America, I don't know how 'Fighting' would have turned out. We saw how much hard rock was accepted in America, and this changed our direction." The LP cover, though, would cause red ace faces for decades to come; the British version of the album showed them in a Westbourne Grove alley, staring down the photographer's lens, brandishing weapons: Robertson held a knife and Downey and Lynott various lengths of pipe. "If there was a chart for the worst album covers of all time, that would be in the top ten," laughs Gorham, who has no idea why he wasn't given an offensive weapon and just stood with his arms folded.<br/> <br/>Released on September 12, 1975, Fighting peaked at Number 60 in the UK. "I don't know if we were disappointed," says Robertson. "Because it did better than Night Life."<br/> <br/>Thin Lizzy finally achieved their much-needed breakthrough in 1976. Their reputation would be forged with the groundbreaking Jailbreak, Johnny The Fox and Live And Dangerous albums. But the road to victory began in 1974 and 75.

Robert Plant's Saving Grace, his first album with a new band of distinguished players, is what he calls "a song book of the lost and found." Its genesis was during lockdown in "The Shire," when Plant's customary wandering was all but forbidden. It was in the English countryside that he connected closely to this diverse group of musicians-vocalist Suzi Dian, drummer Oli Jefferson, guitarist Tony Kelsey, banjo and string player Matt Worley, cellist Barney Morse-Brown-who had a shared lean towards his corners of evocative song. Produced by Plant and the band and recorded over six years in the Cotswolds and on the Welsh Borders, Saving Grace breathes fresh life into a treasury of songs by Memphis Minnie, Bob Mosley (Moby Grape), Blind Willie Johnson, The Low Anthem, Martha Scanlan, Sarah Siskind, and Low.

Treat: The Wild Card [CD]

De finska metalikonerna är tillbaka med sitt 15:e studioalbum, "Borderland". Amorphis har under sin över tre decennier långa karriär varit ett band i ständig utveckling. Från den tidiga death metal-debuten "Karelian Isthmus" via genrebrytande album som "Tales From The Thousand Lakes" till 2000-talets storslagna melodiska era. Deras musik har alltid varit en mix av mytologi och melodiska landskap.<br/><br/>Nu tar bandet nästa steg. I stället för att rusa vidare valde de att fokusera fullt ut på sitt nästa kapitel. Resultatet är "Borderland" - ett noggrant utformat verk som bygger på deras hyllade sound, samtidigt som det väver in nya, aktuella element.

Går det verkligen att sammanföra hundra år gammal poesi med det mest svenska av alla musikgenrer, nämligen dansband?<br/>Svaret på den frågan måste bli ett rungande JA! efter att Larz-Kristerz tagit sig an nobelpristagaren Erik Axel Karlfeldts dikter och med bravur visat att dalkarlens strofer är som gjorda för deras unika mix av country, pop, visa och glesbygds rock n roll.<br/>Kanske är den största beröringspunkten mellan dessa giganter den påtagliga tidlösheten.<br/>Karlfeldts naturromantiska diktning har sällan låtit mer autentisk än den gör när Larz-Kristerz levererar den som bara dom kan.<br/>Det är respektfullt, berörande och oemotståndligt på ett otvunget sätt som återger Karlfeldts poesi liv.

Fearless is the definitive career-spanning anthology from Ronnie Wood - legendary guitarist, master songwriter, and global rock icon. <br/>This double album tells the story of Ronnie's extraordinary musical journey, from his earliest recordings as a teenage prodigy in the 1960s to four brand-new tracks, his first new solo material since 2010's 'I Feel Like Playing'.<br/>Featuring standout moments from all seven of his solo studio albums, as well as co-writes and essential moments with the Rolling Stones, the Faces, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Lane, the Jeff Beck Group and more.<br/>Twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a cornerstone of The Rolling Stones since 1975, Ronnie Wood's name is etched into the DNA of rock music.<br/>From his earliest steps in the studio right through to its quartet of new tracks, 'Fearless' celebrates a virtuoso guitarist, gifted songwriter, performer, sometime frontman and international treasure. It's a fitting compendium of 60 years and counting of unique creativity.

Testament: Para bellum 2025 [CD]