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THE FIRST LIVE RENDITION OF THE WORLD FAMOUS TUBULAR BELLS! Mike Oldfield was a member of rock-band Barefoot for a while, and then became bass player for Kevin Ayers’ backing group The Whole World. He also played on an album by the Edgar Broughton Band, worked as reserve guitarist in the London production of Hair, and gigged with Alex Harvey. Then he met Richard Branson. Working at Branson’s recently acquired Manor studios as a backing guitarist, Oldfield played some of his own tapes to Branson’s engineer Simon Draper, who played them to Branson – Branson then offered Oldfield a six-album deal with his new label Virgin Records. Tubular Bells was released on 25 May 1973 as the first album on the Virgin label. The title track became a top 10 hit single in the US after the opening was used in the 1973 movie The Exorcist. Virgin now decided to organise a live performance of Tubular Bells at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall to promote the LP. Oldfield assembled a line-up to perform the music that on record he’d all-but single-handedly created. Mick Taylor, then still with the Rolling Stones played, alongside David Bedford, Robert Wyatt, Steve Hillage and members of the band Henry Cow – all of whom, save for Taylor, ended up making records for Virgin subsequently. At a later date Mike was to comment that he was unhappy with the performance adding, “I stood on the stage at the end of the concert and looked at the audience, and they looked at me. And do you know what they did? They actually applauded. I was amazed. I hated that concert”. However, the assembled masses who witnessed the first live rendition of this ground-breaking record disagreed, and Mike Oldfield’s preconceived ideas about the project not working were totally unfounded. The concert was recorded for live radio broadcast both in the UK and across the US, where it was synched by a number of networks and is now at last available on vinyl! SIDE A1. Tubular Bells Part One SIDE B2. Tubular Bells Part Two 3. The Sailor’s Hornpipe

Seattle's first 'alternative' band from the 60s, the Daily Flash were caught in the psychedelic explosion of the West Coast with their electrifying blend of folk-rock, pop, blues and jazz. This compilation (the most comprehensive to date) includes their essential 45s ("Jack Of Diamonds" of Nuggets fame, "Queen Jane Approximately", “The French Girl”...) plus unreleased studio / live recordings and rare demos / acetates.

After taking a hiatus from her music career in 1979, Yoshiko Sai made a comeback to the music scene with her album "Taklamakan" in 2008. However, she did not resume her live performances until the following year. Later she performed live in Tokyo in 2014 and 2015 but each time only once. This live album features a recording of her performance at a "Midnight Heavy Rock Party vol.2" held at Shibuya Mount Rainier Hall in 2014. Jojo Hiroshige and Futoshi Okano from Hijokaidan and other representative alternative musicians from Japan played as her backing band, making it a legendary performance where Yoshiko Sai miraculously made her comeback. This live recording has never been publicly released before, and P-vine is honored to be able to share this wonderful recording with her fans around the world.

Netherworld marks a considerable step onwards from the territory that Louise Patricia Crane explored on her debut long player Deep Blue, crafting audial landscapes that go further into both inner and outer space; hallucinatory and surrealistic yet also grittier and more direct. For all that this stemmed in part from early Genesis and The Beatles, Netherworld also sits in alignment with the luxurious but oddly intimate realm of modern classics, by the likes of Tears For Fears, Tori Amos and Joni Mitchell, with passionate intensity set in a bold, cinematic vista. In realising these romantic and expansive visions, Crane not only wrote or co-wrote the entire album, but arranged, co-produced and played a wide variety of instruments on it. Yet as a supporting cast, she has surrounded herself with a formidable selection of mercurial contributors. Once again, Jakko M. Jakszyk (King Crimson) brings his fiery and mellifluous solo guitar work, as well as contributing backing vocals, keyboards and co-production. Elsewhere, the flute soliloquies of Tiny Bard are the work of Jethro Tull’s Ian Andersonwhile saxophone duties are handled by Mel Collins, whose work with King Crimson marks only one chapter in an incredibly storied life in music. Providing violin and viola across the stylistic expanse of the album, Shir-Ran Yinon (New Model Army / Eluveitie) returns as a collaborator. The rhythm section for the lion's share of the record consists of the dream team of Tony Levin (King Crimson / Peter Gabriel) and Gary Husband (John McLaughlin / Billy Cobham / Allan Holdsworth) with Nick Beggs stepping in on bass for Dance With The Devil and upright bass on Long Kiss Goodnight. Crucially however, even amidst this kind of company, Louise’s voice and vision is never remotely overshadowed—with the talents on offer only serving to make the backdrop to her songs still more vivid, sharp and intense. In as much as Netherworld is a work that exists on a lineage of progressive music and the visionary artists who’ve expanded their boundaries of exploration to form sound-worlds as big as their imagination, it’s also a work of magical realism in the tradition of Pan’s Labyrinth, The Company Of Wolves or the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Haruki Murakami—in which the supernatural and otherworldly, lead to a shortcut to the essence of being human. In this World, Louise Patricia Crane is our Storyteller. Disc 1 (CD)Dance With The DevilTiny BardCelestial DustLittle Ghost In The RoomToil And TroubleThe Red RoomLady Peregrine's ConcubineSpirit Of The ForestBête NoireLong Kiss GoodnightThieves Fools And CrowsMidnight View日本人形 (Japanese Doll) Disc 2 (DVD)Dance With The Devil (5.1 Mix)Tiny Bard (5.1 Mix)Celestial Dust (5.1 Mix)Little Ghost In The Room (5.1 Mix)Toil And Trouble (5.1 Mix)The Red Room (5.1 Mix)Lady Peregrine's Concubine (5.1 Mix)Spirit Of The Forest (5.1 Mix)Bête Noire (5.1 Mix)Long Kiss Goodnight (5.1 Mix)Thieves Fools And Crows (5.1 Mix)Midnight View (5.1 Mix)日本人形 (Japanese Doll) (5.1 Mix) "7 (Boxset only)A Ladies Of The Road (King Crimson) AA Dirty (Johnny Winter)

Duel – Live At Hellfest is the brand new album of the Texas based rockenrollerz Duel. Recorded live at the mighty festival Hellfest in Clisson, France in June 2022. A heavy rock'n'roll trip that you must have in your record collection! Covert art made by the one and only Branca Studio.

Songs From The Wood' is the tenth studio album by British progressive rock band Jethro Tull, released in February 1977. The album signalled a new direction for the band, who turned to celebrating British pagan folklore and the countryside life in a wide-ranging folk rock style which combined traditional instruments and melodies with hard rock drums and electric guitars. This 40th anniversary reissue is remastered by Steve Wilson.

Over the course of their stop-start five years together, Honeybus ventured into the BBC studios on a dozen occasions, leaving a catalogue of recordings that mirrored their latest releases as well as offering up a fascinating alternate history. The songs that make up 1970’s much-loved “almost didn’t happen” Story album (reissued by Hanky Panky/Mapache in 2018, along with the rest of the group’s output) began appearing as early as the summer of 1968. The likes of ‘Scarlet Lady’, ‘Black Mourning Band’ and ‘Under The Silent Tree’ appear almost fully-formed, played as ensemble pieces, suggesting that their album counterparts were captured quickly and without fuss during snatched studio sessions throughout late 1968 and 1969. They also demonstrate Honeybus’s often overlooked skills as a live unit – BBC sessions notoriously allowed little scope for re-takes or overdubbing; you went in and you laid it down while the men in white coats watched the clock. Thrilling as it is to finally hear these alternate versions of familiar Honeybus cornerstones, it’s the surfeit of otherwise unrecorded material that’s the most startling revelation here. Under The Silent Tree: Gentle Sounds With Strings And Things At The BBC 1967-1973 presents no less than 10 unique Honeybus songs (plus a further four on the CD version only) that virtually constitute an entire second album’s worth of unheard material. We find ourselves in a kind of musical hall of mirrors, revealing in a whole new perspective on one of the last great cult pop groups of the ’60s, where every track offers a fresh outlook, a fresh thrill, a fresh sound. With strings and things.

The appetite for The Zombies material has increased over the years, and has continued to grow since their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. They have now become the subject of a soon to be released major documentary covering their ongoing career called ‘Hung Up On a Dream’ directed by Robert Schwartzman. Disbanding before their seminal Odessey & Oracle album was released, Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone have revived the band with a new touring line-up and album, while original bass player Chris White has continued his career as a songwriter and producer. The Best of The Chris White Experience is a limited edition 12” album release for Record Store Day 2024, featuring 10 tracks from Chris’ considerable production and writing catalogues. Produced on heavyweight 180g vinyl, it comprises selections from throughout the last 50 years and contains rare and unreleased performances. Including appearances from The Zombies, Argent, Diana Dors, Colin Blunstone and more remastered and available on vinyl for the very first time. This release will not be available in any other physical or digital formats.

RSD first. Limitation: 2500. “Let’s show the people coast to coast that we here in New Orleans can party! Are you ready to roll ’78 and light up 79?!” announces the boisterous (and probably slightly buzzed) emcee introducing The Marshall Tucker Band to the tight-knit community of joint-passing, beer-cheersing rock ‘n’ rolling regulars at The Warehouse, New Orleans’ legendary 1970s music hall. Not only would the audience of 2,000+ longhairs enjoy the New Year’s Eve concert that night, but so would a huge audience of radio listeners rockin’ in simulcast nationwide. The emcee claimed that this was the largest radio audience ever to hear a broadcast and at the time, it probably was. The band elevated themselves to the occasion and delivered an absolutely smokin’ performance of what were already their most memorable and cherished hits.
• Sourced from the original 24-track tapes
• Mixed in Macon, Georgia in 2019 by Paul Hornsby, the original Capricorn Records producer who recorded and produced their first six gold and platinum albums.
• Featuring never before published photos by The Warehouse’s photographer, Sidney Smith, plus images of archival documents form the recording engineers.

CD comes in a soft case, instead of the original crystal case. All booklets included.

"Some people think this record is unlistenable, while others consider this one of the key documents of the American music underground" - Byron Coley -55th Anniversary edition, one time pressing of 1500 foil numbered 2xLP copies -2 disc collection including original album remastered and Live in 1965 -Half-speed mastered vinyl cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios -Live in 1965 (Disc 2) remastered by Ryan Schwabe and available on vinyl for the first time -Comprehensive liner notes by Jesse Jarnow (Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America) and Peter Stampfel The year 1967 proved to be a strong point of the ’60s generation culture and the ever growing New York underground music scene. Steve Weber and Peter Stampfel provided a blithe sendup of musical Americana as they mined this tradition, while introducing outrageous and zany virtuoso turns on acoustic guitar, banjo and violin. Their lyrics and vocals are uniquely their own. Their personalities were profoundly incompatible, like those of Gilbert and Sullivan.

First time reissue on vinyl
Remastered from the original master tape
180g heavy weight vinyl
Deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket
4-page insert with rare photos, liner notes & discography

40th anniversary remix
contains 24 page booklet

This is a live recording from 1976 of Japan's legendary female singer, Yoshiko Sai. Sai made her debut with the album "Mangekyo" in 1975. In July 1976, she released her second album "Mikko," which is still highly regarded as a classic worldwide. This recording captures a long live performance just before the album's release. In 2008, a live recording collection titled "live 1976/79" which was released on CD from P-vine, featuring seven tracks from this day's recording. However, this release features the complete performance of all 17 songs for the first time, including all the songs from the album "Mikkou," as well as unreleased tracks and cover songs!

CD1: Harvest Remastered
CD2: Neil Young BBC In Concert (The Royal Albert Hall, London, UK 23/02/71)
CD3: Harvest Outtakes
DVD1: Harvest Time (The Making Of Harvest) - previously unseen 2 hour documentary
DVD2: BBC In Concert, February 1971 - previously unreleased UK TV broadcast concert

Die DVDs haben keine Untertitel.

DVDs come without subtitles

Still sealed with hype sticker. 2022 reissue. Red and Blue vinyl Limited edition.

Light in the Attic, in cooperation with Laurie Anderson and the Lou Reed Archive, is thrilled to announce the forthcoming release of Why Don’t You Smile Now: Lou Reed at Pickwick Records 1964-65. Due out September 27th, the latest installment in LITA’s critically acclaimed Lou Reed Archive Series is a compilation of pop songs penned by Reed during his mid-60s stint as a staff songwriter for the long-defunct label Pickwick Records. The compilation follows on the heels of Lou Reed’s Hudson River Wind Meditations (2023) and Words & Music, May 1965 (2022).

One of the most original and innovative figures in music history, Reed (1942-2013) first gained recognition as co-founder and frontman of the massively influential Velvet Underground. Over the course of his five-decade career, the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer brought his singular vision to an eclectic expanse of musical endeavors, including era-defining albums like 1972’s Transformer and wildly experimental works like the 1975 avant-garde noise classic Metal Machine Music. But before establishing himself as an enduringly iconic singer, songwriter, musician, and poet, Reed got his start as an in-house songwriter (and occasional session guitarist/vocalist) for Pickwick Records—a label specializing in sound-alike recordings that emulated the major pop hits of the day. Encompassing everything from garage-rock and girl-group pop to blue-eyed soul and teen-idol balladry, Reed’s output for Pickwick ultimately offers a fascinating early glimpse at his ever-evolving and truly limitless artistry.

The album has been restored and remastered by GRAMMY®-nominated mastering engineer John Baldwin. Both the 2xLP & CD editions feature in-depth booklets with unseen photos, liner notes by Richie Unterberger (renowned music journalist and author of such acclaimed titles as White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground day-by-day), and an essay by Lenny Kaye (the legendary guitarist, Patti Smith Group co-founder, writer, producer, and curator of seminal garage-rock anthology Nuggets). The double-LP package is designed by multi-GRAMMY®-winning artist Masaki Koike and pressed at world-renowned plant Optimal (Germany). A special color vinyl edition is pressed on “Oxblood” wax (a/b side) and “Gold” wax (c/d side). This release marks the first official anthology of Lou Reed’s work for Pickwick Records and features rarities, cult classics (The Primitives’ “The Ostrich”), & previously unreleased material (The Beachnuts’ “Sad, Lonely Orphan Boy”).

Light in the Attic, in cooperation with Laurie Anderson and the Lou Reed Archive, is thrilled to announce the forthcoming release of Why Don’t You Smile Now: Lou Reed at Pickwick Records 1964-65. Due out September 27th, the latest installment in LITA’s critically acclaimed Lou Reed Archive Series is a compilation of pop songs penned by Reed during his mid-60s stint as a staff songwriter for the long-defunct label Pickwick Records. The compilation follows on the heels of Lou Reed’s Hudson River Wind Meditations (2023) and Words & Music, May 1965 (2022).

One of the most original and innovative figures in music history, Reed (1942-2013) first gained recognition as co-founder and frontman of the massively influential Velvet Underground. Over the course of his five-decade career, the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer brought his singular vision to an eclectic expanse of musical endeavors, including era-defining albums like 1972’s Transformer and wildly experimental works like the 1975 avant-garde noise classic Metal Machine Music. But before establishing himself as an enduringly iconic singer, songwriter, musician, and poet, Reed got his start as an in-house songwriter (and occasional session guitarist/vocalist) for Pickwick Records—a label specializing in sound-alike recordings that emulated the major pop hits of the day. Encompassing everything from garage-rock and girl-group pop to blue-eyed soul and teen-idol balladry, Reed’s output for Pickwick ultimately offers a fascinating early glimpse at his ever-evolving and truly limitless artistry.

The album has been restored and remastered by GRAMMY®-nominated mastering engineer John Baldwin. Both the 2xLP & CD editions feature in-depth booklets with unseen photos, liner notes by Richie Unterberger (renowned music journalist and author of such acclaimed titles as White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground day-by-day), and an essay by Lenny Kaye (the legendary guitarist, Patti Smith Group co-founder, writer, producer, and curator of seminal garage-rock anthology Nuggets). The double-LP package is designed by multi-GRAMMY®-winning artist Masaki Koike and pressed at world-renowned plant Optimal (Germany). A special color vinyl edition is pressed on “Oxblood” wax (a/b side) and “Gold” wax (c/d side). This release marks the first official anthology of Lou Reed’s work for Pickwick Records and features rarities, cult classics (The Primitives’ “The Ostrich”), & previously unreleased material (The Beachnuts’ “Sad, Lonely Orphan Boy”).

The LP includes their original song, Bye Bye Baby (co-created by Yoma Fujita and Haruomi Hosono) performed live in 1975, at the Spring Carnival in April 1976 at the Hibiya Open Air Concert Hall, and at the “Haruichiban Concert” in Osaka in May of 1976. The LP also includes two songs performed with Richard Bell from the Full Tilt Boogie Band (Janis Joplin’s band), John Sebastian, and Taeko Onuki at the Rolling Coconut Revue Concert in Harumi, Tokyo in 1977. Comprised with a total of 11 songs, this is the best of best selection of the live performances of the Makoto Kubota & THE Sunset Gang. Please enjoy their true essence with this LP. On February 15, 2023, a LP version of the album Rhythm Romance by Makoto Kubota & THE Sunset Gang is planned for release. This album is mastered based on the studio demo that was recorded in the late ‘70s on a 10-inch open-reel tape.

All tracks previously unreleased including unheard recordings from Daryl Hall and John Oates, David Johansen (New York Dolls), Terry Allen, Delbert McClinton, Andy Warhol’s Superstar Ultra Violet, Norma Jean Bell, and The Jim Carroll Band Restored and remastered audio by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer, John Baldwin Extensive booklet featuring unseen archive photos, ephemera and label history (LP: 20-pgs, CD: 40-pgs) Liner notes by journalist Joe Hagan with exclusive interviews Double LP pressed on 180-gram vinyl and housed in a gatefold jacket ‘Cocktail Party’ Vinyl Color Edition pressed on Clear Wax “Earl was a wonderful man with a great eye for new and innovative art. And such an amusing companion, too.” – Mick Jagger

Earl McGrath was the ultimate ’70s jet setter, an art collector and comic bon vivant who stumbled into the record business between legendary parties in New York and LA and discovered Daryl Hall and John Oates and then Jim Carroll. Atlantic founder Ahmet Ertegun gave Earl his own label, Clean Records, in 1970; Mick Jagger hired him to run Rolling Stones Records in 1977.

Friend to Joan Didion, Andy Warhol, and a galaxy of luminaries, Earl was an inveterate tastemaker. Actor Harrison Ford, who before Star Wars fame was Earl’s handyman and pot dealer, called him “the last of a breed, one of the last great gentlemen and bohemians.”

After Earl died in 2016, journalist Joe Hagan, author of the critically-acclaimed Sticky Fingers, the biography of Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner, discovered a trove of rare and unheard tapes in Earl’s apartment in New York—literally inside his closet. “I asked for a step ladder and the first box I pulled off the shelf was a master tape of Some Girls, the Stones album,” says Hagan.

Now Light in the Attic Records proudly presents Earl’s Closet, a double album of the treasures discovered inside, including unheard music by Daryl Hall and John Oates, David Johansen, Terry Allen, Delbert McClinton, Warhol “Superstar” Ultra Violet, Detroit sax legend Norma Jean Bell, Jim Carroll and an eclectic cast of undiscovered artists who once vied for fame and glory—folk, rock, country, funk and R&B gems that virtually no one has heard in decades. Whether it’s the almost-famous power pop of Shadow from Detroit, or the Delfonics-style soul of the Blood Brothers Six, Earl’s Closet retraces the dreams of artists who once sent demos to Earl McGrath. Longtime Light in the Attic-affiliated reissue producer Pat Thomas assisted Hagan in tracking down the artists and finalizing the paperwork.

At once an archival mixtape, a secret history and a journey into the heart of an era, Earl’s Closet features a deep booklet of documents, images and ephemera from Earl’s archive, expansive liner notes by Joe Hagan, who tracked down and interviewed the artists, and astonishing photographs by Earl’s late wife, the Italian countess Camilla Pecci-Blunt McGrath.

180g 2LP 45rpm

UK original in newspaper gatefold cover. Close to VG+.

Includes bluray disc.

Netherworld marks a considerable step onwards from the territory that Louise Patricia Crane explored on her debut long player Deep Blue, crafting audial landscapes that go further into both inner and outer space; hallucinatory and surrealistic yet also grittier and more direct. For all that this stemmed in part from early Genesis and The Beatles, Netherworld also sits in alignment with the luxurious but oddly intimate realm of modern classics, by the likes of Tears For Fears, Tori Amos and Joni Mitchell, with passionate intensity set in a bold, cinematic vista. In realising these romantic and expansive visions, Crane not only wrote or co-wrote the entire album, but arranged, co-produced and played a wide variety of instruments on it. Yet as a supporting cast, she has surrounded herself with a formidable selection of mercurial contributors. Once again, Jakko M. Jakszyk (King Crimson) brings his fiery and mellifluous solo guitar work, as well as contributing backing vocals, keyboards and co-production. Elsewhere, the flute soliloquies of Tiny Bard are the work of Jethro Tull’s Ian Andersonwhile saxophone duties are handled by Mel Collins, whose work with King Crimson marks only one chapter in an incredibly storied life in music. Providing violin and viola across the stylistic expanse of the album, Shir-Ran Yinon (New Model Army / Eluveitie) returns as a collaborator. The rhythm section for the lion's share of the record consists of the dream team of Tony Levin (King Crimson / Peter Gabriel) and Gary Husband (John McLaughlin / Billy Cobham / Allan Holdsworth) with Nick Beggs stepping in on bass for Dance With The Devil and upright bass on Long Kiss Goodnight. Crucially however, even amidst this kind of company, Louise’s voice and vision is never remotely overshadowed—with the talents on offer only serving to make the backdrop to her songs still more vivid, sharp and intense. In as much as Netherworld is a work that exists on a lineage of progressive music and the visionary artists who’ve expanded their boundaries of exploration to form sound-worlds as big as their imagination, it’s also a work of magical realism in the tradition of Pan’s Labyrinth, The Company Of Wolves or the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Haruki Murakami—in which the supernatural and otherworldly, lead to a shortcut to the essence of being human. In this World, Louise Patricia Crane is our Storyteller. Disc 1 (CD)Dance With The DevilTiny BardCelestial DustLittle Ghost In The RoomToil And TroubleThe Red RoomLady Peregrine's ConcubineSpirit Of The ForestBête NoireLong Kiss GoodnightThieves Fools And CrowsMidnight View日本人形 (Japanese Doll) Disc 2 (DVD)Dance With The Devil (5.1 Mix)Tiny Bard (5.1 Mix)Celestial Dust (5.1 Mix)Little Ghost In The Room (5.1 Mix)Toil And Trouble (5.1 Mix)The Red Room (5.1 Mix)Lady Peregrine's Concubine (5.1 Mix)Spirit Of The Forest (5.1 Mix)Bête Noire (5.1 Mix)Long Kiss Goodnight (5.1 Mix)Thieves Fools And Crows (5.1 Mix)Midnight View (5.1 Mix)日本人形 (Japanese Doll) (5.1 Mix) "7 (Boxset only)A Ladies Of The Road (King Crimson) AA Dirty (Johnny Winter)

Analogue Productions are giving us the Ultimate Steely Dan experience. Their first seven classic albums are being released on Uhqr vinyl. You will never have had heard these recordings sounding so good, period! They are super deluxe packages with booklets, pressed on clarity vinyl using the best techniques to extract the maximum analogue information. They will be strictly Limited to 20,000/15,000 respectively worldwide. Expect huge demand. Pre-order now! The first two titles are due to ship in November/December with the rest to follow next year. Countdown To Ecstasy — Steely Dan's gold-selling second studio album now on Uhqr! Definitive reissue Ultra High Quality Record, the pinnacle of high-quality vinyl! 45 RPM LP release limited to 15,000 numbered copies Mastered directly from the original master tape by Bernie Grundman Pressed at Quality Record Pressings using 200-gram Clarity Vinyl® Purest possible pressing and most visually stunning presentation and packaging! Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing

Steely Dan's second studio album, originally released in 1973 by ABC Records, was certified gold-selling by the Recording Industry Association of America (riaa) for selling 500,000 copies in the U.S.

Founded by core members Walter Becker (bass) and Donald Fagen (vocals, keyboards), Steely Dan's popularity rose throughout the late 1970s on, and their seven albums throughout that period of time blended elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop. Steely Dan created a sophisticated, distinctive sound with accessible melodic hooks, complex harmonies and time signatures, and a devotion to the recording studio. Becker and Fagen, with producer Gary Katz, gradually changed Steely Dan from a performing band to a studio project, hiring session musicians to record their compositions. The duo didn't perform live between 1974 and 1993. But their popularity nevertheless grew throughout the '70s as their albums became critical favorites and their singles became staples of Adult Oriented Radio and pop radio stations.

Like Steely Dan's 1972 debut album Can't Buy A Thrill, Countdown to Ecstasy has a rock sound that exhibits a strong influence from jazz. It comprises uptempo, four-to-five-minute rock songs, which, apart from the bluesy vamps of "Bodhisattva" and "Show Biz Kids," are subtly textured and feature jazz-inspired interludes. Countdown to Ecstasy was the only album written by Steely Dan for a live band. "My Old School" features reverent horns and aggressive piano riffs and guitar solos. "The Boston Rag" develops from a jazzy song to unrefined playing by the band, including a distorted guitar solo by Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. Jim Hodder's drumming eschews rock music for pop and jazz grooves. Bop-style jazz soloing is set in the context of a pop song on "Bodhisattva." Commenting on the album's style and production, Tom Hull says it is "clean, almost slick," with "no dissonance, no clutter," reminiscent of 1940s bop and "the overproduced early 60s pop rock."

Countdown to Ecstasy has lyrical themes similar to Can't Buy A Thrill. It explores topics such as drug abuse, class envy, and West Coast excess. "My Old School" is inspired by a drug bust involving Walter Becker and Donald Fagen at Bard College, "King of the World" explores a post-Nuclear holocaust United States, and "Show Biz Kids" satirizes contemporary Los Angeles lifestyles.

Rolling Stone described Countdown To Ecstasy as "another dose of mainstream rock and roll, restating the basic themes of Can't Buy A Thrill, but this time concentrating a bit more on the rocking side of their style."

The original cover painting was by Fagen's then-girlfriend Dorothy White. At the insistence of ABC Records president Jay Lasker, however, several figures had to be added when he found the discrepancy between five band members and three figures on the cover unacceptable. The proofs for the album cover were later stolen during a dispute over the final layout. The back cover features an orchid surrounded by the band and their recording equipment.

After a brief battle with esophageal cancer, Walter Becker died on September 3, 2017 at the age of 67. Steely Dan has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001. VH1 ranked Steely Dan at No. 82 on their list of the 100 Greatest Musical Artists of All Time. Rolling Stone ranked them No. 15 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.

This stereo Uhqr reissue will be limited to 15,000 copies, with gold foil individually numbered jackets, housed in a premium slipcase with a wooden dowel spine.

Analogue Productions are giving us the Ultimate Steely Dan experience. Their first seven classic albums are being released on Uhqr vinyl. You will never have had heard these recordings sounding so good, period! They are super deluxe packages with booklets, pressed on clarity vinyl using the best techniques to extract the maximum analogue information. They will be strictly Limited to 20,000/15,000 respectively worldwide. Expect huge demand. Pre-order now! The first two titles are due to ship in November/December with the rest to follow next year. Can't Buy A Thrill — Steely Dan's platinum-selling debut studio album now on Uhqr! Definitive reissue Ultra High Quality Record, the pinnacle of high-quality vinyl! 45 RPM LP release limited to 20,000 numbered copies Mastered directly from the original master tape by Bernie Grundman Pressed at Quality Record Pressings using 200-gram Clarity Vinyl® Purest possible pressing and most visually stunning presentation and packaging! Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing

Steely Dan's platinum-selling debut studio album Can't Buy A Thrill, released in November 1972, was a commercial success, peaking at No. 17 on the Billboard chart. It later appeared on many professional listings of the greatest albums, including Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000) and Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2003)

The album was written by band members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, recorded in August 1972 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles, and produced by Gary Katz. Its music features tight song structure and sounds from soft rock, folk rock, and pop, alongside philosophical, elliptical lyrics. Two songs recorded during the Can't Buy A Thrill sessions were left off the album and released as a single: "Dallas" b/w "Sail the Waterway." This is the only Steely Dan album to include David Palmer as a lead vocalist, having been recruited after Donald Fagen expressed concerns over singing live. Drummer Jim Hodder also chips in lead vocals on one song, "Midnite Cruiser" (sometimes spelled "Midnight Cruiser"), as well as singing the "Dallas" single. By the time recording of the next album began, the band and producer Gary Katz had convinced Fagen to assume the full lead vocalist role.

AllMusic gave the album 4.5 stars, with reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine praising the core duo Walter Becker and Donald Fagen as "remarkable craftsmen." Erlewine noted that "there are very few of the jazz flourishes that came to distinguish their (later) albums", but added that the first single from the album, "Do It Again," incorporates a tight Latin jazz beat, while the second single, "Reelin' In the Years," features jazzy guitar solos and harmonies.

Rolling Stone, in its review, said the debut album was a collection of some of the group's best jazz/rock songs.

"Two of Fagen's four (vocal solo) songs were the singles, ‘Do It Again' and ‘Reelin' In The Years,' the later starting off (and continues throughout) with a ripping solo by session player, Elliot Randall, and in fact, was rated by Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page as his favourite guitar solo of all time. That's quite an endorsement. The song peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Charts. ‘Do It Again' charted at No. 6, making it their second highest chart for a single. ‘Dirty Work,' another great song from the record features Palmer. The album is tight, with some of the best musicianship money can buy." — Rolling Stone

The album cover features a photomontage by Robert Lockart that includes an image of a line of prostitutes, standing in a red-light area from Rouen in France waiting for clients. The image was chosen because of its relevance to the album title. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen themselves commented on the album art in their liner notes to the reissued The Royal Scam, saying that The Royal Scam album possessed "the most hideous album cover of the seventies, bar none (excepting perhaps Can't Buy A Thrill)." The cover was banned in Francisco Franco's Spain and was replaced with a photograph of the band playing in concert.

After a brief battle with esophageal cancer, Walter Becker died on September 3, 2017 at the age of 67. Steely Dan has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001. VH1 ranked Steely Dan at No. 82 on their list of the 100 Greatest Musical Artists of All Time. Rolling Stone ranked them No. 15 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.

This stereo Uhqr reissue will be limited to 20,000 copies, with gold foil individually numbered jackets, housed in a premium slipcase with a wooden dowel spine.