Listen to Country Joe and the Fish's "I Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die" and Fred McDowell's "Shake 'Em On Down"

German-born roots-music fan Chris Strachwitz founded Arhoolie Records in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1960 — a blues and folk boomtown on the verge of psychedelia. This deluxe-hardback book with four CDs covers Arhoolie's first decade as Strachwitz records the action at local gigs and in studio and living-room sessions: stark blues by Lightnin' Hopkins, Fred McDowell and Skip James; the prophetic ferment in the Berkeley folk community, including rare tracks by guitarist Perry Lederman and singer Barbara Dane; and early rumblings of the Fillmore spirit by Country Joe and the Fish, guitarist Jerry Hahn and the Joy of Cooking. It is the sound of a scene — and a great label — being born.

Gallery: Random Notes, Rock's Hottest Photos

“Let My Love Open the Door”

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."