VA - Revolutions In Sound: Warner Bros. Records ~ The First Fifty Years (2008)

Unlike other labels subjected to exhaustive multi-disc retrospectives like this whopping ten-disc Revolutions in Sound: Warner Bros. Records -- The First Fifty Years, Warner Brothers never embodied a scene or sound: they've always embodied what a major label should be -- a dominant force that chronicles and dictates the sound of the mainstream. Coming out at the tail-end of 2008, when the influence of major labels is on a slow steady decline, Revolutions in Sound can be seen as a portrait of a time that's beginning to recede into the past: a time when there was such a thing as mass entertainment, when the pop audience all shared a common bond of hit records they either loved or rallied against. Perhaps the greatest things about this monumental box set is that it captures that colossus while also illustrating that for a while, majors did take risks. Of course, Warner was the riskiest of all the majors, never held back by an anti-rock & roll sourpuss like Mitch Miller, who struggled to keep CBS out of the tumult of the '60s (this with no less than Bob Dylan as the label's flagship rock artist). Instead, Warner embraced the underground, recording some of the strangest to shake out of the '60s, and that adventure fits a label that turned to rock & roll to help establish themselves as a real player at the turn of the '60s. The label had started as an outgrowth of Warner's film division, releasing singles by heartthrob Tab Hunter and other Hollywood-related ephemera -- all chronicled in the first tracks of the 199-track box set (the set is a gargantuan 320 tracks in its USB drive edition; the extra 121 songs fill out the details), which includes the theme for "77 Sunset Strip" and Edd Byrnes' "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)" -- but in 1960, the label started to shift as they paid out a million dollars -- the largest record contract at that point in time -- to the Everly Brothers, giving them the one rock & roll act that was still actively recording and having hits as the '50s gave way to the '60s. The Everlys weren't the only act to help establish Warner in 1960: there also was Bob Newhart, whose Button-Down Mind was a blockbuster that year, giving the label two hits to build a house upon.

That process wasn't quite as simple as it sounds, as Warner spent the first stretch of the '60s with Kennedy-era comedy, novelties, and folk, never quite dipping head-first into rock & roll, outside of some surf and Bob Luman's "Let's Think About Living," (where he shook like Elvis). Warner didn't start to spread its wings until the back half of the '60s, after acquiring Frank Sinatra's Reprise -- the first of many purchases or distribution deals with smaller labels, almost all of which are included even if the contract later lapsed -- and starting to dig into the weird outgrowth of psychedelia. Warner had sunshine pop and Reprise signed Jimi Hendrix but they also got really, truly weird, taking risks on the acid-drenched Grateful Dead, underground rebels the Fugs, Hollywood eccentric Van Dyke Parks, and a host of other weirdos brought in via Frank Zappa's Straight, all represented proudly by Captain Beefheart. Warner wasn't all rock -- they still had Reprise running through the rat pack and they touched upon L.A. soul and funk, contributions that sometimes get overlooked thanks to the underground rock riches of the late '60s and '70s.

These were Warner's golden years and they stretched into the mid-'70s, as the label and its subsidiaries cultivated a stable of singer/songwriters -- Neil Young, Randy Newman, James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Gram Parsons, Bonnie Raitt -- and had some of the best and biggest rock & roll bands: everybody from the British glam and prog of Roxy Music, Jethro Tull, and T. Rex to the American blues boogie of Little Feat and the Doobie Brothers, with metalheads Deep Purple and rowdy ruffians the Faces falling somewhere in between. This wild, wooly time gave way to the slick, commercially oriented sound of the late '70s, when disco and soft rock sanded down the excesses, but before things got too slick Warner snapped up Sire, bringing the label punk godfathers the Ramones and many of their artiest offshoots, including Talking Heads, the B-52's, and Gang of Four. If from this point on the set sacrifices the aesthetic unity of the '60s and '70s -- as disparate as all those sounds were, it all seemed to fit -- it makes up for it in breadth, as Warner and their off-shoots had those post-punkers, the soft sounds of Christopher Cross and Al Jarreau, the dark neon club beats of Grace Jones, the exuberant Kid Creole, country superstars John Anderson and Rodney Crowell, metal gods Van Halen, superstar Madonna, moody British rockers New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen and the Jesus & Mary Chain, plus veterans like Paul Simon and Steve Winwood still doing great work, still selling records. More than anything, this period seems like the golden age of the major label, when the majors credibly touched on every bit of popular music -- when hip-hop surfaced at the end of the '80s, Warner had the controversial Ice-T, plus Digital Underground -- and could sell it. This was a time where it meant something to be on a major label, a paradigm that crested in the early '90s, then collapsed in the wake of corporate calculations in the later '90s. Although the last two discs on Revolutions in Sound cherry-pick this era well, it's still possible to hear the air go out of the balloon somewhere around 1996, after the Prodigy and Cornershop gave Warner two last bracing bits of the unexpected, and then everything settles down into pre-programmed niches, where there is a parade of forgettable active rockers and sensitive adult contemporary balladeers and even the Flaming Lips seem to fill a demographic need.

But that's the story of the majors: they started relatively small, got big and then got bigger, before they eventually all collapsed. To hide that would give Revolutions in Sound a bit of a false note, so it's good that the story ends anti-climatically. Because even with that slightly sour coda, it's hard to look at Revolutions in Sound and not feel a slight pang for the era of major labels and mass pop culture, especially because nobody did it as well, or as weirdly, as Warner.

Tracklist:

1. Tab Hunter - I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time (2:12)
2. Jack Webb - Try A Little Tenderness (2:45)
3. Warren Barker Orchestra - 77 Sunset Strip (2:08)
4. Spike Jones - My Old Flame (4:22)
5. Edd Byrnes with Connie Stevens - Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb) (2:03)
6. Connie Stevens - Sixteen Reasons (1:55)
7. The Everly Brothers - Cathy's Clown (2:22)
8. Bob Newhart - Abe Lincoln Vs Madison Avenue (7:28)
9. Esquivel - Chant To The Night (2:34)
10. Robert Preston and The Ensemble - Ya Got Trouble (from The Music Man) (3:57)
11. Jesse Colin Young - Morning Sun (4:01)
12. Maria Muldaur - Midnight At The Oasis (3:48)
13. Tower of Power - So Very Hard To Go (3:38)
14. Bob Seger - U.M.C. (Upper Middle Class) (3:12)
15. Little Feat - Dixie Chicken (3:52)
16. The Doobie Brothers - China Grove (3:14)
17. The Allman Brothers Band - Ramblin' Man (4:47)
18. Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell - Dueling Banjos (3:15)
19. Montrose - Rock The Nation (3:01)
20. Robin Trower - Day Of The Eagle (4:59)
21. Bob Luman - Let's Think About Living (2:03)
22. Wet Willie - Keep On Smilin' (3:23)
23. Doug Sahm - Beautiful Texas Sunshine (3:13)
24. Ry Cooder - Tattler (4:17)
25. The Peter Ivers Band - Alpha Centauri (3:08)
26. The Meters - Hey Pocky A-Way (Single Version) (4:01)
27. David Sanborn - Butterfat (3:02)
28. Graham Central Station - Your Love (3:19)
29. Curtis Mayfield - So In Love (5:09)
30. The Staple Singers - Let's Do it Again (3:28)
31. Elvin Bishop - Fooled Around And Fell In Love (2:58)
32. The Everly Brothers - Crying In The Rain (1:58)
33. Gary Wright - Dream Weaver (4:15)
34. Richard Pryor - Just Us (3:47)
35. Leon Redbone - Ain't Misbehavin' (I'm Savin' My Love For You) (4:03)
36. Emmylou Harris - Boulder To Birmingham (3:31)
37. Fleetwood Mac - Landslide (3:17)
38. Rod Stewart - Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright) (3:55)
39. Leo Sayer - You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (3:37)
40. Bellamy Brothers - Let Your Love Flow (3:04)
41. Michael Franks - Popsicle Toes (4:34)
42. George Benson - This Masquerade (8:03)
43. Peter, Paul and Mary - Blowin' In The Wind (2:55)
44. UFO - I'm A Loser (3:50)
45. Foghat - Slow Ride (8:13)
46. Steve Martin - Excuse Me (3:03)
47. Randy Newman - Short People (2:54)
48. Debby Boone - You Light Up My Life (3:37)
49. Shaun Cassidy - Da Doo Ron Ron (2:47)
50. The Ramones - Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (2:49)
51. Talking Heads - Love -> Building On Fire (2:57)
52. Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer (3:04)
53. Van Halen - Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love (3:47)
54. Trini Lopez - If I Had A Hammer (3:05)
55. Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way (3:39)
56. Rod Stewart - The First Cut Is The Deepest (3:51)
57. Margo Smith - Don't Break The Heart That Loves You (2:54)
58. Ambrosia - How Much I Feel (4:44)
59. The Doobie Brothers - What A Fool Believes (3:39)
60. Robert Palmer - Every Kinda People (3:15)
61. Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing (5:48)
62. Nicolette Larson - Lotta Love (3:09)
63. Steve Martin - King Tut (3:39)
64. Bootsy's Rubber Band - Bootzilla (5:36)
65. Allan Sherman - Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (A Letter From Camp) (2:43)
66. The B-52's - Rock Lobster (6:50)
67. M - Pop Muzik (3:19)
68. Wire - I Should Have Known Better (3:50)
69. Thin Lizzy - Do Anything You Want To (3:50)
70. ZZ Top - Cheap Sunglasses (4:46)
71. Rickie Lee Jones - Chuck E's In Love (3:27)
72. Randy VanWarmer - Just When I Needed You Most (4:00)
73. Christopher Cross - Sailing (4:19)
74. John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Watching The Wheels (3:31)
75. Larry Graham - One In A Million You (4:10)
76. Jack Nitzsche - The Lonely Surfer (2:33)
77. Change - The Glow Of Love (3:40)
78. Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime (4:19)
79. The English Beat - Best Friend (2:59)
80. Gang Of Four - Natural's Not In It (3:06)
81. Devo - Freedom Of Choice (3:28)
82. Brian Eno/David Byrne - The Jezebel Spirit (4:54)
83. Soft Cell - Tainted Love (2:39)
84. Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper (4:34)
85. Tom Tom Club - Genius Of Love (5:35)
86. Steve Winwood - While You See A Chance (5:14)
87. Jimmy Durante - September Song (3:08)
88. Al Jarreau - We're In This Love Together (3:45)
89. Rodney Crowell - Til I Gain Control Again (5:06)
90. ZZ Top - Pearl Necklace (4:04)
91. The Blasters - I'm Shakin' (2:21)
92. Rank and File - Amanda Ruth (3:09)
93. Modern English - I Melt With You (4:09)
94. Yaz - Only You (3:10)
95. Laurie Anderson - O Superman (For Massenet) (8:23)
96. Donald Fagen - I.G.Y. (What A Beautiful World) (6:02)
97. Roxy Music - Avalon (4:14)
98. Duke Ellington Orchestra - Night Creature (First Movement): Blind Bug (4:05)
99. Kid Creole and The Coconuts - I'm A Wonderful Thing, Baby (5:16)
100. Asia - Heat Of The Moment (3:50)
101. Dio - Holy Diver (5:48)
102. The Pretenders - Middle Of The Road (4:13)
103. New Order - Blue Monday (7:27)
104. Violent Femmes - Gone Daddy Gone (3:06)
105. John Anderson - Swingin' (3:01)
106. Elton John - I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues (4:43)
107. Rufus and Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody (4:42)
108. Van Halen - Jump (4:02)
109. Duke Ellington Presents The Dollar Brand Trio - Dollar's Dance (5:05)
110. Don Henley - The Boys Of Summer (4:49)
111. Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon (5:46)
112. Marshall Crenshaw - Someday, Someway (2:49)
113. David Lee Roth - Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody (Medley) (4:40)
114. a-ha - Take On Me (3:45)
115. The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary (4:17)
116. Dire Straits - Money For Nothing (8:23)
117. Bryan Ferry - Slave To Love (4:18)
118. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey (3:00)
119. The Dream Academy - Life In A Northern Town (4:17)
120. The Marketts - Out Of Limits (2:05)
121. Steve Winwood - Higher Love (5:51)
122. Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al (4:39)
123. Miles Davis - Tutu (5:13)
124. Club Nouveau - Lean On Me (5:51)
125. Hnsker Dn - Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely (3:30)
126. Dwight Yoakam - Guitars, Cadillacs (3:02)
127. The Replacements - Alex Chilton (3:12)
128. George Harrison - Got My Mind Set On You (3:50)
129. Roger - I Want To Be Your Man (4:10)
130. Atlantic Starr - Always (4:47)
131. Dean Martin - Everybody Loves Somebody (2:43)
132. Dolly Parton * Linda Ronstadt * Emmylou Harris - To Know Him Is To Love Him (3:49)
133. Erasure - Chains Of Love (3:35)
134. Information Society - What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) (4:35)
135. Al B. Sure! - Nite And Day (4:00)
136. Traveling Wilburys - Handle With Care (3:18)
137. Brian Wilson - Love And Mercy (2:53)
138. Jane's Addiction - Jane Says (4:51)
139. Daniel Lanois - The Maker (4:13)
140. Ry Cooder - Paris, Texas (2:53)
141. Julee Cruise - Falling (4:12)
142. Frank Sinatra - It Was A Very Good Year (4:24)
143. Madonna - Like A Prayer (5:40)
144. De La Soul - Me, Myself And I (3:40)
145. The B-52's - Love Shack (5:21)
146. Elvis Costello - Veronica (3:06)
147. Bee Gees - One (4:53)
148. Tommy Page - I'll Be Your Everything (4:07)
149. Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - What I Am (3:43)
150. Faith No More - Epic (4:51)
151. Ice-T - O.G. Original Gangster (4:42)
152. Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing (3:33)
153. Sandie Shaw - Girl Don't Come (2:10)
154. Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance (6:30)
155. Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus (3:43)
156. Béla Fleck and The Flecktones - The Sinister Minister (4:37)
157. Damn Yankees - High Enough (4:45)
158. Carlene Carter - I Fell In Love (3:41)
159. Travis Tritt - Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares) (2:32)
160. Chris Isaak - Wicked Game (4:46)
161. Seal - Crazy (5:56)
162. R.E.M. - Losing My Religion (4:26)
163. Electronic - Get The Message (5:19)
164. Dick & Dee Dee - Thou Shalt Not Steal (1:58)
165. Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up (4:23)
166. Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back (4:21)
167. House Of Pain - Jump Around (3:37)
168. Body Count - KKK Bitch (2:52)
169. The Black Crowes - Remedy (5:22)
170. Eric Clapton - Layla (4:32)
171. Eric Clapton - Tears In Heaven (4:31)
172. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge (4:24)
173. Los Lobos - Kiko And The Lavender Moon (3:35)
174. Neil Young - Harvest Moon (5:04)
175. The Olympics - Good Lovin' (2:30)
176. k.d. lang - Constant Craving (4:38)
177. Uncle Tupelo - The Long Cut (3:20)
178. R.E.M. - Man On The Moon (5:13)
179. Belly - Feed The Tree (3:28)
180. American Music Club - Johnny Mathis' Feet (3:41)
181. Candlebox - Far Behind (4:59)
182. BoDeans - Closer To Free (3:07)
183. Dead Can Dance - The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove (6:17)
184. Jane Siberry - Calling All Angels (5:11)
185. Me'Shell Ndegéocello - If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night) (4:31)
186. Dino, Desi and Billy - I'm A Fool (2:45)
187. Tevin Campbell - Can We Talk (4:44)
188. Joshua Redman - Wish (7:30)
189. David Ball - Thinkin' Problem (3:01)
190. Johnny Cash - Delia's Gone (2:18)
191. Tom Petty - You Don't Know How It Feels (4:49)
192. Tom Petty - You Wreck Me (3:23)
193. Green Day - Longview (3:58)
194. Deftones - 7 Words (3:43)
195. Filter - Hey Man Nice Shot (5:14)
196. Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know (4:06)
197. Dean Martin - Houston (2:40)
198. Seal - Kiss From A Rose (4:47)
199. Son Volt - Drown (3:18)
200. Clay Walker - This Woman And This Man (4:23)
201. Paula Cole - Where Have All The Cowboys Gone? (4:25)
202. Mark Snow - Materia Primoris: The X Files Theme (3:23)
203. Soul Coughing - Super Bon Bon (3:30)
204. Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song (3:44)
205. Cornershop - Brimful Of Asha (5:16)
206. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - People Ain't No Good (5:39)
207. The Prodigy - Breathe (5:34)
208. Tom Lehrer - The Vatican Rag (2:12)
209. Jim White - Still Waters (6:35)
210. John Fogerty - Hot Rod Heart (3:26)
211. The Goo Goo Dolls - Iris (4:49)
212. Loreena McKennitt - The Mummers' Dance (6:07)
213. Cher - Believe (3:57)
214. Barenaked Ladies - One Week (2:48)
215. Faith Hill - Breathe (4:07)
216. Built To Spill - Carry The Zero (5:43)
217. Static-X - Push It (2:34)
218. Disturbed - Down With The Sickness (4:38)
219. Don Ho - Tiny Bubbles (2:40)
220. Steely Dan - Cousin Dupree (5:26)
221. Jaheim - Just In Case (4:23)
222. Michelle Branch - All You Wanted (3:36)
223. The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize?? (3:32)
224. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop (4:28)
225. Hot Hot Heat - Bandages (3:30)
226. The Used - The Taste Of Ink (3:29)
227. Trapt - Headstrong (4:45)
228. Linkin Park - Breaking The Habit (3:16)
229. Damien Rice - Cannonball (5:08)
230. Frank Sinatra - That's Life (3:04)
231. Green Day - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams (4:20)
232. Big & Rich - Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy) (3:20)
233. Avenged Sevenfold - Bat Country (5:11)
234. Mike Jones - Back Then (4:03)
235. Pat Metheny Group - Excerpt from ''The Way Up: Part One'' (6:20)
236. Michael Bublé - Home (3:46)
237. Daniel Powter - Bad Day (3:54)
238. Josh Groban - Awake (5:11)
239. Regina Spektor - Fidelity (3:45)
240. Paul Simon - Everything About It Is A Love Song (3:55)
241. Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (2:40)
242. Muse - Starlight (4:00)
243. My Chemical Romance - Welcome To The Black Parade (5:10)
244. Mastodon - Colony Of Birchmen (4:20)
245. Linkin Park - What I've Done (3:27)
246. Rilo Kiley - Silver Lining (3:35)
247. Josh Groban - Ave Maria (5:17)
248. Tegan and Sara - Back In Your Head (3:01)
249. Against Me! - Thrash Unreal (4:14)
250. The Black Keys - Your Touch (2:42)
251. The White Stripes - Icky Thump (4:17)
252. Napoleon XIV - They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! (2:10)
253. Metallica - The Day That Never Comes (7:54)
254. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Purple Haze (2:50)
255. Grateful Dead - The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion) (2:10)
256. The Electric Prunes - I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) (2:57)
257. The Music Machine - Double Yellow Line (2:11)
258. Kenny Rogers & The First Edition - Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In) (3:19)
259. Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band - If You're A Viper (1:59)
260. The Mojo Men - Sit Down, I Think I Love You (2:21)
261. Miriam Makeba - Pata Pata (2:59)
262. Harpers Bizarre - 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) (2:36)
263. The Tokens - It's A Happening World (2:37)
264. The Association - Never My Love (3:07)
265. Franco Nero - If Ever I Would Leave You (from Camelot) (5:52)
266. The San Sebastian Strings - While Drifting (1:44)
267. The Beau Brummels - Magic Hollow (2:51)
268. Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra - Some Velvet Morning (3:38)
269. Van Dyke Parks - The All Golden (3:46)
270. The Fugs - Crystal Liaison (3:05)
271. Ramblin' Jack Elliott - Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (3:48)
272. The Neon Philharmonic - Morning Girl (2:11)
273. Tiny Tim - Tip Toe Thru' The Tulips With Me (1:58)
274. Mason Williams - Classical Gas (3:03)
275. Fleetwood Mac - Oh Well (9:00)
276. Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky (3:59)
277. J.J. Jackson - But It's Alright (2:51)
278. Lorraine Ellison - Stay With Me (3:28)
279. Sammy Davis Jr. - I've Gotta Be Me (2:54)
280. Peter, Paul and Mary - Leaving On A Jet Plane (3:26)
281. Grateful Dead - Box Of Rain (5:17)
282. James Taylor - Fire And Rain (3:22)
283. Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind (3:48)
284. Rod McEuen - Rock Gently (2:58)
285. John Sebastian - She's A Lady (1:44)
286. Jimmy Webb - P.F. Sloan (4:02)
287. Ides Of March - Vehicle (2:54)
288. Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Express Yourself (3:50)
289. Deep Purple - Speed King (4:59)
290. Jethro Tull - Locomotive Breath (4:23)
291. Faces - Stay With Me (4:38)
292. T. Rex - Bang A Gong (Get It On) (4:24)
293. Alice Cooper - I'm Eighteen (2:57)
294. Curved Air - Back Street Luv (3:35)
295. Tim Buckley - Song To The Siren (3:25)
296. The Beach Boys - Surf's Up (4:10)
297. Crazy Horse - I Don't Want To Talk About It (5:19)
298. James Taylor - You Can Close Your Eyes (2:29)
299. Neil Young - Heart Of Gold (3:06)
300. Little Feat - Willin' (2:55)
301. Bonnie Raitt - Love Me Like A Man (3:09)
302. Richard Thompson - The Poor Ditching Boy (3:01)
303. Fleetwood Mac - Spare Me A Little Of Your Love (3:43)
304. Seals & Crofts - Summer Breeze (3:23)
305. America - A Horse With No Name (4:07)
306. Dion - Sanctuary (2:49)
307. Randy Newman - Sail Away (2:51)
308. Arlo Guthrie - City Of New Orleans (4:29)
309. Allen Toussaint - On Your Way Down (3:58)
310. Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band - Low Yo Yo Stuff (3:39)
311. Roxy Music - Virginia Plain (2:57)
312. Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water (5:39)
313. Alice Cooper - School's Out (3:29)
314. Grateful Dead - Bertha (5:39)
315. The Allman Brothers Band - Blue Sky (5:10)
316. Todd Rundgren - Hello It's Me (4:37)
317. Malo - Suavecito (6:34)
318. Wendy Waldman - Waiting For The Rain (2:29)
319. John Cale - Andalucia (3:51)
320. Gram Parsons - In My Hour Of Darkness (3:42)

DOWNLOAD
rapidgator
nitroflare
uploadgig
zapfile