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Genre: Avant Garde
Release Date: 06/13/2006

Everything about this triple-disc set screams "classic" -- the scope, the rarities, the previously unreleased tracks, the packaging -- but most of all the music, Loren MazzaCane Connors' uniquely beautiful form of contemplative avant-blues. Call it experimental or primal, atonal or melodic, the man's music stands beyond such categories. Resolutely progressive (in essence, not in style) and exploratory, it often remains surprisingly accessible and gripping, especially in solo mode, which is what over 90 percent of this collection is all about. Even though Night Through: Singles and Collected Works 1976-2004 will cater to the needs of completists and fans, it was clearly put together with the casual listener in mind. The track list of each disc focuses on providing a captivating listen rather than sticking to a chronology. These three discs collect most of Connors' 7"s (two were left out at the artist's request), CD-R singles, and compilation album contributions, adding along the way handfuls of unreleased recordings old and new. Connors has never made it easy for the collector, with some singles being issued in only a few hundred copies, and only a few dozen copies of some CD-Rs put in circulation. For instance, "For NY 9/11/01," a pinnacle in the man's tearful quasi-blues playing, came out in only 50 copies, a few days after the attack. It can be appreciated here, alongside other high-quality rarities, such as the double-7" EP "The Stations of the Cross" (1996), the haunting 2003 Family Vineyard 7" "Moon Gone Down" (is that a real wolf howling?), and the delicate "Suzanne's Rain" from the FBWL compilation album Strings and Stings. Fans of the group Haunted House (with Andrew Burnes, Neel Murgai, and Connors' life partner Suzanne Langille) get treated to two songs from a 1999 show, including a 15-minute rendition of Lonnie Johnson's "Haunted House." What else, you ask? Duets with Langille and Robert Crotty, an early recording from 1976, and 20 unreleased tracks, mostly found on disc three. If you have heard of Connors but never jumped in, this is the place to start; it's the most complete overview you can find and care to listen to. If you know the man and his music, Night Through is an essential item that will give you three-and-a-half hours of emotion-drenching, beautifully tormenting music.

~François Couture, All Music Guide

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Guitar Solos
    Fred Frith / CD / 2003

Release Date: 06/13/2006
Genre: avntg