LINER NOTES

Liner Notes

billdeyoungcom Bill DeYoung Yusuf Islam 2000Some were terrific fun to research and write. If there was time, I’d contact the artist and get new retrospective quotes in there. With the Cat Stevens project, I spent months on the phone talking with him, along with his longtime producers and many of the musicians who appeared on his records – some of my favorite stuff from the early to mid 1970s. That was a pure pleasure.

There wasn’t a lot of information available on the (extremely bizarre) Rosewood: Discoballs Pink Floyd tribute. I did a Sherlock Holmes on that one, and was able to reveal many of the principals involved.

And some were just money gigs – Kix and Damn Yankees, for example, and something I don’t remember much about called Heart of Metal 2.

Getting asked to write CD liner notes was always a privilege, whoever the artist, whatever the label. I love this kind of work, although the word counts are restrictive: There’s never enough room to say everything that needs to be said!

I’m pretty sure this is a definitive list – there might be one or two I forgot to write down. At this writing, just two of these titles – Manassas Pieces and Everybody’s Talking – are available on vinyl.

B
Paul Butterfield: Definitive Blues
The Definitive Black Oak Arkansas
Black Oak Arkansas: The Complete Raunch & Roll Live
Millennium Collection: Bell Biv DeVoe

C
Classic Masters: Patsy Cline
Classic Masters: Crowded House
Cactus: The Live Gigs 2
Chicago’s 40th
Chicago: Stone of Sisyphus
Only the Beginning: The Very Best of Chicago
Essentials: Confederate Railroad
Millennium Collection: The Call

D
Essentials: Damn Yankees
Donovan: Greatest Hits Live
Spencer Davis Group: Live Anthology
Classic Masters: Jackie DeShannon
Classic Masters: Dr. Hook

E
Eric Quincy Tate
England Dan & John Ford Coley: Definitive Pop

F
Essentials: Foghat
Foghat: Millennium Concert (DVD/CD)
The Definitive Foghat

G
Millennium Collection: Grass Roots
Essentials: Georgia Satellites
David Gray: A Bird Without Wings (unreleased)

H
Shine On: A Tribute to Pete Ham

Heart of Metal 2

I
Ides of March: Friendly Strangers
Millennium Collection: Donnie Iris

J
Classic Masters: Robert John

K
Essentials: Kix
Classic Masters: BB King

L
Millennium Collection: Left Banke (unreleased)

M
Moody Blues/Live at Red Rocks (Deluxe Edition)
Meat Loaf/Bat Out of Hell II (Deluxe Edition)
Millennium Collection: The Mindbenders

N
Classic Masters: Aaron Neville
Everybody’s Talking: A Tribute to Fred Neil

O
Time Warp: Very Best of Ozark Mountain Daredevils

P
Millennium Collection: Billy Preston

Q
Classic Masters: Quicksilver Messenger Service

R
Rosebud: Discoballs (A Disco Tribute to Pink Floyd)
Essentials: Eddie Rabbitt
Tom Rush/Live at Symphony Hall
The Rockets (aka Crazy Horse)

S
Cat Stevens (Box Set)
Stephen Stills: Manassas Pieces
Leo Sayer: Definitive Pop
Essentials: Leo Sayer
Classic Masters: Joe South
The Very Best of Seals & Crofts (unreleased)

T
.38 Special Anthology
Traffic: Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory
Traffic: On the Road
Traffic: When the Eagle Flies
The Very Best of Sylvia Tyson
Millennium Collection: The Troggs

W
Steve Winwood: Revolutions/The Very Best Of
Recollections: The Best of Rick Wakeman
Essentials: Gary Wright
Millennium Collection: Wet Willie