Introduction and welcome

Hey there, music seekers - 

This is "James Solway" - well it isn't, as that's my pseudonym for this blog for legal precautionary reasons, but you get the idea - and welcome to my music blog, "Rare Record Reviews". 

I've made this blog to hopefully shed some light on lesser known albums and singles from the 70s and 80s (and occasionally outside those golden years), whether commercially successful or not in their day, which regardless in my opinion did not get their fair dues as works of art.
In terms of works of art, I regard strong music in two ways:
- Lyrically significant, in terms of great storytelling or wisdom sharing, or simply lyrics cleverly written
- Musically significant, in terms of outstanding musicianship or groundbreaking sound, or simply a pleasure to listen to
Occasionally a third category, production significant, is used for music with amazing production values where the content may be more of average quality but the sound is sculpted in technically brilliant ways.

I will also be including famous albums (potentially in another section or blog) as I occasionally listen to them, and even an overall underrated artist I'm covering can have a big album in a career, but this will not be the focus of either my listening or this blog. If there is interest I will look to expand this category.

Finally, I will be listing recommended mediums to listen on. One feature of Rare Record Reviews will be to list the best way to listen to the album (not necessarily a standard or even legal way). While remasters can breathe new life into old records, especially those out of print, rare, or mastered poorly in the first case (see: Steely Dan, "The Royal Scam"), they can also destroy mastering and ruin great sound (see: Supertramp, any remastered album but particularly "Crime of the Century", or Duran Duran, "Duran Duran").
So what's the point of being a music fan, buying the current version of an album, and it's worse than when released 40 or so years ago? :O
Therefore, for many 70s and 80s records, I generally recommend quality vinyl rips done by dedicated fans. "Pbthal" is an example of a fan who does exceptional quality rips of old albums (his torrents are still out there). He used to run the website "Vinyl Done Right", before I believe it was taken down.
While I don't use a turntable, vinyl is a great medium not because of any retro placebo effect or physical superior format that some might (and do) obsess over, but because the mastering was generally done better (and quieter), by experts who haven't been rivalled since - Bob Ludwig, Ken Scott, "Mutt" Lange, and too many more to give their dues to.
A vinyl is better because when "ripped" - recorded using modern hardware - properly, it is a much more accurate picture of what the record was supposed to sound like, close to the original master - not a redone copy of a copy of the original master. A flawed yet useful analogy could be that of a master painter's original work, versus a modern painter reinterpreting the same work while trying to copy it.
My experience with hundreds upon hundreds of such unofficial rips is they are generally high in quality, lossless and have already been denoised properly (i.e. the hiss and pops and clicks inherent in vinyl have been removed for a quality listening experience). If you find one that hasn't, try for another. If it is super rare and there is only one rip available with noise, let me know where to find it and I'll try to download it, and upload a denoised copy for you - my skills are limited in comparison to some, but it will be easier to listen to and an improvement in any case.

That all said, I will also post vinyl rips with my album reviews, for the albums I have found them for. The format will be in 16-bit/48KHz 320kbps MP3's, taken from the 24/96 FLAC versions and downsampled to 16/48 properly. They sound fine for most listening, even on my expensive Sennheiser headphones. Lossless versions will be available by donation (or you can hunt them yourself!).
If the vinyl is not the premier way to experience an album (in my humble view), this will be mentioned in the post. I will try and post multiple experiences with sources for a particular album, usually at a minimum vinyl and remastered CD. 

I will revise this list where appropriate, but hopefully this answers any questions you might have and whets your appetite for music! 
Any questions or comments, please email jsolwayrock@XYZ.gmail.com, or reply here. (Remove the "XYZ." part, it's an anti-spam measure.) As this is not my primary email account, allow some time for a reply.