Arriving ten years after The Dark Horse Years: 1976-1992, The Apple Years: 1968-75 offers the first act of George Harrison's solo career presented in a handsomely produced, impeccably remastered box set. The outside packaging mirrors The Dark Horse Years but the discs housed inside the box show a greater attention to detail than the previous set: each of the albums is presented as a paper-sleeve mini-LP replicating the original album art (Extra Texture does indeed have extra texture on its sleeve), while the brief hardcover book contains perhaps the glossiest paper to ever grace a rock music box set. Better still, the remastering of all six albums is superb. Supervised by Harrison's son Dhani, the team mastermind by Paul Hicks, who worked on the acclaimed 2009 Beatles remasters, and featuring Gavin Lurssen and Reuben Cohen, bring The Apple Years to the same sonic standard as the 2009 Beatles remasters and the results are rich, deep, and alluring…

After recording Band on the Run as a three-piece with wife Linda and guitarist Denny Laine, McCartney added Jimmy McCulloch on lead guitar and Geoff Britton on drums to the Wings line-up in 1974. Having written several new songs for the next album, McCartney decided upon New Orleans, Louisiana as the recording venue, and Wings headed there in January 1975. As soon as the sessions began, the personality clash that had been evident between McCulloch and Britton during Wings' 1974 sessions in Nashville became more pronounced, and Britton - after a mere six month stay - quit Wings, having only played on three of the new songs. A replacement, American Joe English, was quickly auditioned and hired to finish the album…

Fifty years after Don McLean's seminal release, American Pie, Don headed into the studio to record new original tracks for his upcoming release, American Boys. Don had not thought he would do another original album, but the pandemic hit us all, and he had time to consider and write. American Boys was conceived with the help of Vip Vipperman, Mike Severs, and many musical friends. Much like McLean's American Pie and its nostalgic shift of music from the '50s through the '60s, along with subsequent releases confronting other socio-political flaws within America, American Boys also examines the severedness within the country, its injustices, inequality, and more. True to his artistic nature, Don delivers a thoughtful record.

After the breakup, Beatles fans expected major statements from the three chief songwriters in the Fab Four. John and George fulfilled those expectations - Lennon with his lacerating, confessional John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Harrison with his triple-LP All Things Must Pass - but Paul McCartney certainly didn't, turning toward the modest charms of McCartney, and then crediting his wife Linda as a full-fledged collaborator on its 1971 follow-up, Ram.
Where McCartney was homemade, sounding deliberately ragged in parts, Ram had a fuller production yet retained that ramshackle feel, sounding as if it were recorded in a shack out back, not far from the farm where the cover photo of Paul holding the ram by the horns was taken…

No one, least of all Deep Purple themselves, expected the success of 2013's Now What?! It placed at number one on four European album charts and in the Top Ten of six other countries. It also sold exceptionally well: It was certified Gold in Poland, Germany (where it sold over 100,000), the Czech Republic, and Russia – it was the band's first album to crack the U.K.'s Top 40 charts in 20 years. For InFinite, Deep Purple re-enlisted producer Bob Ezrin. At this point, he is almost a sixth member. This the longest running lineup in their history. InFinite is a heavier and more expansive record than its predecessor, but it's not as consistent. Ian Gillian is in excellent form – still possessing intense expressive power and range, his falsetto remains intact four decades on. Don Airey's organ and keys – so elemental in DP's musical architecture – is physical, atmospheric, and dynamic.