Search results: Black Box

Review: The Black Sabbath Hand Of Doom box set provides the ultimate collection for fans who opt to live in a world where the group never had any other vocalist apart from Ozzy Osbourne. Providing picture disc represses of all eight LPs released during the original frontman's tenure from 1970 to 1978 (2013's reunion album 13 is not included), the collection boasts the self-titled 1970 debut, the same-year follow up Paranoid, as well as the iconic slew of Master Of Reality (1971), Vol 4 (1972), Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973), Sabotage (1975), Technical Ecstasy (1976) and Never Say Die! (1978). Limited to 3000 copies (which isn't a large amount when considering how vital Sabbath's early material still is to this day) and complete with a large coloured poster, fan service rarely gets as ideal or essential as Hand Of Doom.

Review: American blues-slanted rock band the Black Crowes put out their second album The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion back in May 1992. It was the first time Marc Ford had featured on lead guitar in place of Jeff Cease who was sacked the year before. It also marked the first time Eddie Harsch joined on keys and set a record at the time for being the first album to feature four rock number ones, and the album itself also climbed to the top spot in the Billboard 200 album chart. Its mix of blues and Southern styles often sees the album being included in lists of the best rock albums of all time.

Review: Steely Dan's fourth studio album 'Katy Lied' was their 1975 standout moment, capturing a moment in time when the band had gained plenty of traction, and had already ridden the wave of fame for a good time. As a result, their music had grown in creativity and grandeur, expanding outwards from a mere prog rock outfit into a studio project, necessitating a steady stream of session musicians, highest-fidelity gear and lots of money. As ever, infectious guitar hooks and R&B funk structures make up most tracks here, making this an early party rock album if we've ever heard one. Katy may be a love interest or a sumptuous muse - but the title also alludes to a katydid, a species of insect related to grasshoppers or crickets.

Review: Who doesn't love the White Stripes? One can quite predictably measure a band's impact on commercial music history by way of just how many full-blown reissues they've released, many of which aim to repackage and represent albums to their fullest, most honest effect. By that metric, this ubiquitous duo are more than certainly going down in history; Elephant, the Stripes' fourth album, is lent the sonic perfection and signature packaging it deserves, with Analogue Productions and Third Man Records teaming up for the ultimate reissue edition here. They present in UHQR format on Clarity Vinyl this modern rock cornerstone, limited to 10,000 copies. It comes with gold foil numbered jackets, housed in a premium slipcase with a wooden dowel spine.

Review: Steely Dan are the kind of band where everyone has their favourite album, with a fanbase who might well get a little heated debating which phase of the band is superior. But when it comes down to it, everyone will agree Aja is their masterpiece, where that exacting studio process and the elevated songwriting hit some magical sweet spot that yielded the semi-mythical perfect album. The grooves are so slinky as 'Black Cow' opens the record up, they spring with joy out of 'Peg' and they lock down heavy on 'Josie', and there's so much more in between. This faithful reproduction from Analogue Productions is a limited audiophile edition for a band who were made for audiophiles.