New download link updated

It appears that the auto response was giving a link to the Carol Connors album only, so apologies for that and now fixed. 

pj

Cirdan - Age Of Wonders (2018)

Cirdan is a progressive rock band formed in 2013 in the vibrant city of Amsterdam, Netherlands, which draws influences from classic prog acts like Yes, Genesis, and King Crimson, while infusing modern, experimental elements. The band was formed by guitarist Lucas van der Meulen, keyboardist Emma van Dijk, bassist Rico Janssen, drummer Timo Nissen, and vocalist Sanne de Vries. The band name, inspired by a character in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium (Cirdan the Shipwright), reflected the band’s love for fantastical and philosophical themes. Initially, Cirdan started playing in local clubs, refining their sound by blending traditional symphonic prog with elements of jazz fusion and post-rock. The band’s first release, 'Beyond The Horizon', was a self-produced demo in 2015, which gained them a dedicated underground following due to their high-energy live shows and sophisticated musical arrangements. In 2018, Cirdan recorded their debut full-length album, 'Age Of Wonders', which was met with critical acclaim. The album’s centrepiece was the 15-minute title track, which took listeners on a journey through the depths of space, both metaphorically and musically. The album's success led them to tour across Europe, performing at major progressive rock festivals like the ProgPower Europe Festival and the Meltdown Festival in the UK. The band continues to tour internationally, keeping their fans engaged with both new material and old classics, and plans are in force for a follow-up album to' Age Of Wonders'. The line-up remains largely unchanged, with Lucas van der Meulen and Emma van Dijk still the core songwriters, while Sanne de Vries's haunting vocals continue to be a central aspect of the band's identity.

Track listing

01 Nautilus
02 Eternal Wanderings
03 Age Of Wonders

04 For The World Outside
05 Eclipse Of The Mind
06 Where Dreams And Hope Once Danced
07 Just Hold On

Carol Connors - Big, Big Love (1967)

Carol Connors was born Annette Kleinbard on 13 November 1941 in New Brunswick, and after leaving Fairfax High School, Los Angeles in 1958 she formed a pop vocal trio with her friend Phil Spector, who wrote a song specifically to showcase Kleinbard's singing voice. 'To Know Him Is To Love Him' became The Teddy Bears' best-known and most successful recording, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1958, and granting Kleinbard the honour of being the first woman to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. After their initial hit, the trio disbanded because of the failure of their follow-up singles 'Don't Go Away' and Oh Why', a car accident that injured Kleinbard, and the fact that Spector preferred working behind the scenes to performing. In January 1960 she released the 'Alibi' single on Imperial Records, before legally changed her name to Carol Connors, apparently because she did not want her first name to be associated with Mousketeer Annette Funicello, and she signed to Columbia Records. 'My Diary' was released in March 1961, followed by 'Listen To The Beat' in September, but after one more single she left the label and signed to Era Records. 1962 saw two singles released on the label, with 'Big, Big Love' appearing in July and 'Tommy Go Away' following in November, before another label change to Capitol. Around this time she began writing songs, and in 1964 she wrote 'Hey Little Cobra' about the Shelby Cobra car, which was recorded by The Rip Chords, who were made up of Terry Melcher and Bruce Johnston. 

Buoyed by the success of a car song, in 1964 she released a single promoting the Yamaha motorcycle, with 'Yum Yum Yamaha' being credited to Carol Connors And The Cycles, before returning to her solo career with her only Capitol single 'Angel, My Angel'. In February 1965 she was picked up by Colpix Records for the 'Go Go G.T.O.' single with her sister Cheryl, before releasing her final 7" in 1966, with 'My Baby Looks, But He Don't Touch' appearing on Mira Records. Connors wrote many of her later singles, and so when she stopped recording as a solo artist she wrote and performed songs for several films, including the 1967 beach-party film 'Catalina Caper', performing her 'The Book Of Love' in the movie backed by the Cascades. Later song-writing successes include her co-write with Ayn Robbins and Bill Conti on 'Gonna Fly Now', the theme song from the film 'Rocky', which earned her an Academy Award nomination. She also sang the theme to the film 'Orca', 'We Are One', and co-composed three songs with Ayn Robbins for the soundtrack of the 1977 Disney film, 'The Rescuers'. In 1983 she was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for the 'Worst Original Song' for 'It's Wrong For Me To Love You', from 'Butterfly', which she co-composed with Ennio Morricone, but for this post let's concentrate on her best work, which is this great collection of 60's pop. 

Track listing

01 Alibi (single as Annette Bard 1960)
02 My Diary (single 1961)
03 You Are My Answer (b-side of 'My Diary')
04 Listen To The Beat (single 1961)
05 My Special Boy (b-side of 'Listen To The Beat')
06 What Do You See In Him (single with Hank Levine & His Orchestra 1962)
07 That's All It Takes (b-side of 'What Do You See In Him')
08 Big, Big Love (single 1962)
09 Two Rivers (b-side of 'Big, Big Love')
10 Tommy Go Away (single 1962)
11 I Wanna Know (b-side of 'Tommy Go Away')
12 Yum Yum Yamaha (single as Carol Connors And The Cycles 1964)
13 Angel, My Angel (single 1964)
14 Never (b-side of 'Angel, My Angel')
15 Go Go G. T. O. (single as Carol And Cheryl 1965)
16 Sunny Winter (b-side of 'Go Go G.T.O.')
17 My Baby Looks, But He Don't Touch (single 1966)
18 Lonely Little Beach Girl (b-side of 'My Baby Looks, But He Don't Touch')

19 The Book Of Love (from the film 'The Catalina Caper' 1967)

Chicane - Easy To Assemble (2003)

On 27 March 2000, Nocholas Bracegirdle, a.k.a. Chicane, released his second studio album 'Behind The Sun', which was a commercial success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK Albums Chart, and would go on to be certified Gold by BPI, selling over 100,000 copies. This would be the final studio released through his record label Xtravaganza, as over the next two years Bracegirdle became engaged in a lawsuit with Xtravaganza, which resulted in his departure from the label and his signing with WEA for the release of a third album, 'Easy To Assemble'. As a result of the lawsuit, Chicane lost the rights to the sound recordings from the 'Behind The Sun' album, including its singles. Originally scheduled for 2003, the 'Easy To Assemble' album's release was preceded by the lead single 'Love On The Run', followed by a promotional single, 'Locking Down'. However, after promotional copies of the album were distributed, the release was cancelled. In 2002, Bracegirdle had signed to WEA and had finished his third album, but as review copies were being sent out, the record label WEA was bought out by Edgar Bronfman Jr of Warner Music Group, resulting in the A&R manager and music director who signed Bracegirdle leaving the company, and its release was put on hold while he negotiated an exit from his contract. As soon as he extracted himself from his contract, he prepared to release the record independently, but the entire album had been leaked online from the promo copies, and it was pirated to such an extent that it was felt that it was not worth releasing it officially, which resulted in the commercial release of the album being cancelled. Eventually, under the new management of John Cavanagh, April 2006 saw the release of a new single on Globe Records, 'Stoned In Love', featuring singer Tom Jones on vocals. His next album, 'Somersault', was released on 23 July 2007, with two of the tracks from the unreleased album, 'Arizona' and 'Spirit', being re-recorded for inclusion, but here is the full 'Easy To Assemble' album, with the original recordings of those two tracks. 

 
Track listing

01 Love On The Run (feat. Peter Cunnah) 

02 Daylight (feat. Tracy Ackerman) 
03 East Side Story (feat. Bryan Adams) 
04 In Praise Of The Sun (feat. Vanessa St James) 
05 Locking Down (feat. Melissa Baten) 
06 Spirit (feat. Jewel) 
07 Arizona (Part 2) 
08 Some Might Say (feat. Joel Edwards) 
09 Kilometre 
10 Something Wrong (feat. Nadia Jordan)  
11 Empires