These days, rock fans around the world expect a certain level of discographic homogeneity from their stars. U2 might release different EPs, singles and even greatest-hits packages in various countries around the globe, but in when it comes to indentifying their primary releases (The Joshua Tree, War, All That You Can't Leave Behind, et al.) just about everybody in the world is in agreement.
This wasn't always the case. Before the 1970s, it was quite common for the discographies of rock stars to differ from nation to nation, market to market. Hardcore record collectors specializing in Beatles and Rolling Stones memorabilia know this all too well. Many of the groups' most iconic albums underwent radical alterations when making the trip from the United Kingdom to the States. This was due to crass commercialism, quite honestly. London Records, The Stones' American label, wanted to saturate the American market with as much product as possible. Thus, they made a habit of removing songs from albums (released in England on the Decca label originally) and coupling them with single-only tracks in order to produce even more albums to hawk. (Interesting aside: back in the day the British record-buying public thought it bad form to include singles on albums, as well as to pull singles from albums. They were seen as independent media.)
Between 1964 and '69, The Stones released eight albums, two greatest-hits collections and a pair of EPs in the U.K. Here in the United States, the numbers were 10 albums, two greatest-hits collections, a live record and a full-length, 1967's Flowers, that fell somewhere between album and compilation. As a result, old-school American fans have fond memories of titles the Brits didn't even know existed: England's Newest Hit Makers, The Rolling Stones, Now!, December's Children (And Everybody's) and, of course, the aforementioned Flowers.
I'm of the belief the original British versions are the better records. First off, London Records forced us Yanks to purchase a lot of music twice. The American Out of Our Heads consists of 12 tracks, four of which were also released via the 45 format: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man," "Play with Fire" and "The Last Time." That means we paid full album price for just eight new songs. Then there's the issue of artistic quality. This becomes quite evident when comparing the U.S. versions of Aftermath and Between the Buttons to their U.K. counterparts. The latter are so much more cohesive and fully realized that they're practically different records. Between the Buttons in particular is an interesting case; because London Records gutted the thing, American rock critics failed to embrace it quite like the British pop press did; different versions spawned different legacies.
Though the South has long been mythologized as the birthplace of the blues, country music and jazz, in the 1980s the region spawned a cluster of quirky bands — often tagged "college rock" — that would lay the foundation for alternative pop and indie rock, both of which took shape by decade's end. The sound these groups crafted was simple, but deliciously effective: a scruffy DIY fusion of post-punk's nervous energy, power-pop hooks and chiming folk-rock from the 1960s.
Hopefully, the release of the five-disc 
Determining the No. 1 album for this month's installment of Rhapsody's Rock Roundup was a no-brainer: The Beach Boys' Smile Sessions box set. The five-disc package compiles the recordings for the band's lost masterpiece, which was supposed to have come out in 1967 and turn the band into the high princes of psychedelic art-pop. As for other archival releases that charted, there's an expanded edition of Achtung Baby, U2's 1992 foray into electronic-tinged club rock, and Sting's 25 Years collection, a meticulous overview of his post-
The most psychedelic music in 
An annual celebration of the legacy of synthesizer inventor and engineer Robert Moog, Moogfest might seem like an odd place for a classic rock fan to search for the rawk. But I have my reasons. 
Only in its second year, Moogfest has quickly become one of the United States' more diverse and cutting-edge music festivals. It's also one of the country's most scenic. Taking place in Asheville, N.C., on Halloween weekend (October 28-30), the three-day event will be awash in the fiery reds and incandescent yellows that dot the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains in late autumn.
The singer-songwriter movement is generally depicted as an outgrowth of the 1960s folk revival. Near decade's end, as the story goes, denim-clad bards and feathery songbirds such as James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne shifted folk music's gaze off the world outside, including all its myriad political and social crises, and cast it upon humanity's inner realms (i.e. questions addressing emotional and psychic health, existential inquiry, love, relationships, even faith). Though these artists pushed folk into an orbit closer to pop's sonic palette, their music remained predominantly acoustic, centering around the solo performer as well.
In the early 1970s, decades before sexuality and gender in high school life became a CNN news bite, a music trend came along that slyly packaged these issues inside a lot of killer rock 'n' roll. I'm talking about glam — or, as that legendary arbiter of pop fad Dick Clark disturbingly called it back in 1973, the "fag-drag crazy transsexual rock scene."
With this installment of Rhapsody's 
A massive prog fan (and once a teenage nerd himself), 
This, the October installment of our Rock Roundup series, is packed with so much music it's really quite obnoxious. But how does one not err on the side of unchecked inclusivity when Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Nirvana, Lindsey Buckingham, Wilco, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead and Pearl Jam all release what amounts to a tidal wave of new joints, anthologies, remastered classics, archival releases and albums never before available on Rhapsody?
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This new 
Long before Steven Tyler starting leering at teenage girls on American Idol, long before Alicia Silverstone was contractually obligated to appear in all their videos, hell, long before even "Rag Doll," Aerosmith were the biggest, baddest boogie-rock band in all the land. And with all apologies to Alicia Silverstone and "Rag Doll," that's the era of Aerosmith we're choosing to focus on as Rhapsody unveils the band's complete back catalog. And so there's the self-explanatory playlist "Old School Aerosmith Effin Rocks," an in-depth exploration of their 1976 masterpiece Rocks, a recounting of Tyler's all-time sleaziest (and therefore best) moments, and a look at the "understated badass" guitarist school of which Joe Perry is a proud member. Time to get back in the saddle again. 
In the process of putting together this source material, I attempted to track down as much music writing on 
As a general rule here at Rhapsody HQ, our editors encourage us to transform our creative juices into raging rapids when concocting these 
Since releasing its first strange transmissions in 2004 and '05, Los Angeles-based Not Not Fun Records has become one of the underground's most exciting, prolific and influential labels. Their aesthetic is commonly described as "hypnagogic pop," a tag that does a nice job of capturing the gooey and decayed fusion of synthesizer music, psychedelia, dub, lo-fi rock, exotica and '80s dance pop favored by much of the label's roster. We're talking freaky heavies with names like Sun Araw, Peaking Lights, Robedoor, Maria Minerva, LA Vampires, High Wolf, Sex Worker, Dylan Ettinger and Psychic Reality.
We all reacted to the horrible events of September 11, 2001, in our own ways — wherever we were, whatever we were doing, whichever CD or radio station or fizzy pop single we first reached for to help us cope. Here, Rhapsody's editors offer their own musical perspectives, from saber-rattling country to hopeful worship music, from pop-punk bromides to plaintive protest songs, from the momentary tentativeness of comedy to the fieriness of hip-hop to the transcendence of jazz. As Sonny Rollins put it, "Maybe music can help. I don't know, but we have to try something." Here's what we tried. 
In the immortal words of 
Recently, I scoured the song catalogs for the video games Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Both contain gobs of questionable selections, including indie fluff by 
This month's Rock Roundup — a top 10, mind you — mixes current hits with a few classic reissues. The No. 1 slot belongs to an expanded edition of one of my all-time faves, The London Suede's Dog Man Star. When this art-rock epic came out in 1994, it instantly blew away my teenage mind. I had never heard anything quite like it. Over a decadent bed of strings and twisted guitars put together by guitarist Bernard Butler, singer Brett Anderson (who sounds like the perfect mix of 
The recent release of the collection 
Some high school memories aren't so good.
When classic rock nerds such as 
If you're keeping tabs, then you'll surely notice that July's Rock Roundup is radically different from its June predecessor. Such veterans as 
Click here to listen to the entire playlist: 
Welcome to 
Ever since fusion devolved into flaccid pop-jazz in the 1980s, the genre has been treated with suspicion by more than a few jazz snobs. In fact, fusion didn't get a fair shake right out of the gate. When Miles Davis went electric and started performing before rock audiences, critics couldn't stop condemning the man. "SELLOUT!" they proclaimed ad nauseam, even though the music he made was wildly challenging and ambitious.
The latest installment of my Rock Roundup column is dominated by legends and icons. Who can argue when Neil Young drops A Treasure, a rootsy live set from the mid-1980s that's heavy on Nashville flavor? And who can resist when Macca releases expanded editions of McCartney and McCartney II? The latter is a stone-cold masterpiece: homemade synth-pop that morphs from quirky to bizarre. There's this one bonus track called "Check My Machine" that sounds like proto-hypnagogic pop! (James Ferraro, you listening?) Also, don't sleep on The Hollies box set that gets an "honorable mentions" shout-out: those dudes were pop badasses. I never tire of "
I'm attempting to nail two themes with this, my latest cheat sheet. The first is a celebration of summer, of hanging on front porches while cranking killer rock 'n' roll. I know this concept has been slayed to death through the years, but only because it's a durable one. Rock music is capable of speaking to the deepest depths of the soul, as well as the most abstruse pockets of the brain. But oftentimes its most potent powers manifest themselves when in service of nothing more than good times and hanging out. The perfect chair, a rickety porch and sunlight filtered in just the right way can fuse with your favorite jams to elevate summer-month leisure time into something sublime and unique, something that infuses life with real meaning. Example: to this very day, I'll never forget the first time I heard 
First off, there are those who question the very existence of a 
The phrase "DEAD FREAKS UNITE" appeared in the liner notes to the 1971 live album 
In the early 1980s, some of the best New Wave bands were actually progressive rock groups. This is a bit of an exaggeration, of course. But not totally untrue, when you think about the super-creative ways in which Yes, Rush, Phil Collins and Queen fused the two genres. Ignoring the fact that punk had declared war on the classic rock fossils of the previous decade, these musicians boldly explored synthesizers, funk-inspired dance grooves, drum machines, sound collage, wiry arrangements and icy production techniques. Some truly great music was produced in the process. The Trevor Horn-produced 90125, the wildly experimental The Game and the titanic Moving Pictures are all bona fide classics. Then there's Collins' Miami Vice masterpiece "In the Air Tonight," one of the most striking (and moodiest) pop songs of the 20th century.
Why is the 
Rock is such an expansive and nebulous genre that it's rather difficult to rank its albums in terms of quality. But hey, I'm game to try anything. Below you'll find what I think are the top 15 rock albums dropped over the last month (give or take a few weeks, of course).
All of our life we've been kicked around, we've been put in jail, we've been shot at, we've had dynamite thrown at us. Then, you don't want us to have nothing.
There's a short paragraph in Ed Ward's "Italo-American Rock," an excellent essay that I first encountered in the original edition of The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, that encapsulates many of the key points I want to make about this thing called East Coast Horn Rock:
When it comes to adventures in music, you can do a lot worse than Coachella - a kaleidoscope of bands and fans spanning all manner of genres and scenes. Rhapsody sent its rock editor, 
When it comes to adventures in music, you can do a lot worse than Coachella - a kaleidoscope of bands and fans spanning all manner of genres and scenes. Rhapsody sent its rock editor, 
When it comes to adventures in music, you can do a lot worse than Coachella - a kaleidoscope of bands and fans spanning all manner of genres and scenes. Rhapsody sent its rock editor, 
I can't confirm this, but around Rhapsody HQ, I believe I'm known as the dude who enjoys churning out insanely sprawling playlists week after week. It's true — I possess a sense of thoroughness that borders on clinically diagnosable obsessive-compulsive disorder. Yet when it comes to certain artists, maniacal thoroughness is the only way to properly sum up their careers, sounds and myriad contributions to music. 
For the uninitiated, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a sprawling, three-day musical festival held in California's Inland Empire, not far from the mythical Palm Springs. It's a uniquely Californian event: a blend of hip modern music, green culture and, as scholar Erik Davis would put it, "creative hedonism" — all-night party camping, neon hula hoops, sweaty drum circles, freaky light installations, dreadlocks, etc.
If you're a regular reader of The Mix, then you know Rhapsody's aims with our 
The American mod was very real, but he was a vastly different creature from those that spawned him. In 1965 and '66, after 
It's once again time to round up the latest releases in the world of the rawk. In recent weeks, we here at Rhapsody have been singing the praises of new albums by Rise Against, R.E.M. and G. Love. In addition to these high-profile titles, Jeff Beck, new-breed Southern rockers Drive-By Truckers and sludge-metal lords Crowbar have all released records. Then there's the vintage stuff. These include quality retrospectives of wall-of-sound guru Phil Spector and his Ronettes, as well as a nice reissue of Thin Lizzy's debut album from 1971. Plus, we can't overlook Oh Me, Oh My: Aretha Live in Philly 1972, which is just sublime.
Ah, the Grunge Jock. He was an odd fellow.
Released in 1969, 
The Prom, 1963, a high school south of the Mason-Dixon Line: Memphis, Nashville, Charlotte or maybe even Jacksonville. That Irishman Jack Kennedy is still alive. 
Time to travel back to the mythical mid-1960s, when the folk revival stumbled into the British Invasion and 
With consumers tightening their financial belts in the wake of the splurge-fest known as the holidays, the first couple months of the year aren't known as a hot time for high-profile rock releases. Those don't arrive until spring, really. That said, 2011 has already produced a few real gems, including Mission Bell, from singer-songwriter Amos Lee, and The Party Ain't Over, Wanda Jackson's wonderful retro-rockabilly collaboration with the officially ex-White Stripe Jack White.
Welcome to another edition of Classic Rock Crate Digger, a column wherein Rhapsody nerd Justin Farrar wanders the never-ending maze that is our catalog in search of classic rock's forgotten gems. If you're new 'round these parts, then also check out the 
"Alternative metal" is an awfully nebulous genre tag, one that first emerged in the early 1990s. Looking back on those heady days, it was more or less slapped on any quasi-metal outfit that didn't fit nicely into an already established genre, be it thrash, groove metal, industrial metal, grunge, death metal, hardcore, progressive metal or even alternative rock. In fact, what united groups as disparate as Helmet, Jane's Addiction, Deftones and Life of Agony was how they blurred the lines between said genres, and in the process helped lay the groundwork for the rise of nu metal. Of course, this is either a good or bad thing depending what you think of Korn and 
When discussing their all-time favorite 
Last year was a fantastic one for rock music. A lot of new faces, from Laura Marling and Black Dub to Black Tusk and JJ Grey, seized pop's spotlight with some great music. Twenty-eleven looks to be a boss year as well — but for different reasons. The next 12 months will surely produce a sizeable batch of new talent, but it looks as if the coming year will mainly revolve around A-list stars dropping high-profile albums, many of them way, way overdue. Now obviously, a good number of these won't even come out. But the list of bands and musicians at least threatening new records is impressive nonetheless: Foo Fighters, Lenny Kravitz, Radiohead, Coldplay, Metallica, Paul Simon, ZZ Top and many more.
Throughout the 1980s and '90s, blues-rock meant 
Since the mid-1980s, few producers have exerted as much influence on modern rock as 
There's a new 
Love 'em or hate 'em, there's no denying the mega-impact of the greatest-hits package on classic rock. Let's face it: for the overwhelming majority of us, our first Steve Miller album wasn't 
Autumn 2010 has been the autumn of vintage classic rock and high-profile reissues.
Fellow Rhapsody scribe Chuck Eddy recently charted the 
A fan of classic rock? Then your music collection probably contains several titles released by Elektra Records, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.
Let's face it. The great classic rockers of yore — those who survived, that is — aren't getting any younger. In fact, most of them are downright old. And old looking: gray locks, wrinkles, sags, the whole nine yards. Sadly, the rallying cry "Hope I die before I get old" has been replaced with "Hope this fiber really does keep my colon healthy."
With The Killer dropping a new album, 
Ladies love 
Editor's Note: Listen to a selection of the songs mentioned here on a playlist at the end of this post, or click through to listen to all of the artists on Rhapsody. If you're not a member, 
Editor's Note: Listen to a selection of the songs mentioned here on a playlist at the end of this post, or click through to listen to all of the artists listed here on Rhapsody. If you're not a member, 
Welcome to another edition of Classic Rock Crate Digger, a (near) weekly column wherein Rhapsody nerd Justin Farrar wanders the never-ending maze that is our catalog in search of classic rock's forgotten gems. If you're new 'round these parts, then also check out the Crate Digger's