I absolutely love the Ace/Kent labels and probably buy at least one CD every month from them. I will just mention series/boxes from them, as there are too many individual discs to mention (including the wonderful Impressions' discs mentioned above). The selections and the remastering are consistently excellent. Ace has replaced Rhino as the preeminent reissues label. Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures Where the Girls Are The Golden Age of American Rock n' Roll The Fame Studios Story. Take Me to the River, A Southern Soul Story 1961-1977 Nobody Wins: Stax Southern Soul 1968-1975
This one's an instant party. What sets The Savages apart from most 80's neo-rock 'n' roll groups is the level of energy and song selection. Rather than retread the classics, they mostly cover little-known gems originally by acts like The Collins Kids, Big Al Downing, Smiley Lewis, Hop Wilson, Ronnie Molleen, Bobby Moore's Rhytm Aces, The Busters, Charles Thomas, Eddie Cash & The Cashiers, and Phil Flowers.
Always on the look-out for the Ace 2fers on Rick Nelson, Buddy Holly & Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. Darryl
Heads up, Ace has a massive 17-disc B.B. King box on the way: http://acerecords.co.uk/the-complete-rpm-kent-recording-box-1950-1965
I bought The Fireballs: original Norman Petty masters twice.... okay, it's because I accidentally smashed my 1st copy
They put out a great George Jones mid-60s live set years ago, they should reissue that one. The expanded Rick Nelson Live at The Troubadour 1969 is just fantastic. And other stuff...
They have released some excellent work but the two that don't stray far from my turntable are Little Richard - The Specialty Sessions and Larry Williams 2cd set At His Finest. Bad news because playing compact discs on a turntable buggers the stylus and cd. Honorable mention for Zombie Heaven and a pile of others. A great and thoughtful record label, Ace by name, ace by nature.
The ones I'm really into now are the "Early Girls" CD's. Great stuff! http://www.amazon.com/Early-Girls-1...F8&qid=1454491682&sr=1-3&keywords=early+girls
Here are some quick ones of the top of my head that I didn't see in a quick scan of the thread. There many of pysch and garage releases by individual bands as well. The Birth Of Surf - Vols 1-3 - Surf insturmentals G.S. I Love You - Various Japanese rock sides from the sixties. Nuggets From The Golden State series
And considering all the grey market competition, I assume Ace is doing well. I have the recent Murmaids cd on order.
"Zombie Heaven" for sure, "Fabulous Flips" (B-sides of 50's & 60's 45's), the "Old Town Doo Wop" series (containing some obscure but great tunes), "The Shadow Morton Story".
The word quality is synonymous with Ace Records. All of their CDs are manufactured as real silver pressed replicated discs and they do their best to keep most of the older titles in print. With so many excellent titles, it's difficult to pick a favorite. One which I was listening to just the other day is the Roy Acuff two-fer which includes 2 of his Hickory albums.
You're fortunate to live where you do, as it's probably easier to find bargain Ace titles on the second hand market. Still, I'm impressed with how affordable their titles are even in the U.S., especially when you compare the average price of their 2CD sets to other titles released by Omnivore and Real Gone.
For Ace stuff yeah, but most of what I like comes from the good ol' US and shipping costs aren't what they once were. Ace is one of those labels synonymous with quality, you generally know if it's on Ace it's going to be good, some of the collections are a real labour of love - the above mentioned Dave Godin soul series for example, there aren't many labels that would invest in putting out that kind of thing in such a quality format. All that and reasonable pricing too. My main frustration with them is that their catalogue isn't big enough!
You should have all U.S. orders shipped to your brother's address and bring them back when you visit. When I lived in Canada, I had the same problem. Shipping costs are unreal. I was able to ship items to a postal box in America, although they usually received so many items, there was an entire postal crate full of CDs and LPs waiting to be picked up. I didn't like the idea of my items not fitting in a secure box and sitting loose in a crate in the back.
I like their "Golden Age" releases, and it looks like, after a break, they are back with a recent one that seems to be right up my alley: Some other favourites in these series are: The Golden Age Of American Rock 'n' Roll: Special Country Edition The Golden Age Of American Popular Music: The Country Hits The Golden Age Of American Popular Music: The Jazz Hits The Golden Age Of American Popular Music: Hits With Strings & Things I also like their comps of "Garage" material, like: Uptight Tonight: The Ultimate 60s Garage Collection A-Square (Of Course) The Rationals: Think Rational! I have, and love, their complete set of Funkadelic remasters, and also: Music For Your Mother: Funkadelic 45s Motor City Madness: The Ultimate Funkadelic Westbound Compilation and the only career spanning cross-licensed compilation: Standing On The Verge: The Best Of Funkadelic
Picked this up recently. Saw a few Rick Nelson CDs in the bins, but the ace label caught my eye. Never been disappointed with an ace 2fer. Darryl
I have all of those (there are 2 of Country hits IIRC). I wish they'd do more of the vocal Popular Music Hits volumes. And they have never tackled Exotica I am amazed at how much vinyl they are releasing too.
