"The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions" by DUSTER BENNETT (2006 and 2018 Reissue UK 2CD Remasters on Blue Horizon and Floating World featuring Members of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…Hard To Resist…"

*** 2006 ORIGINAL and 2018 REISSUE ***

Originally UK issued 26 September 2006 by Sony in the UK as a 2CD set in a card slipcase (Sony/Blue Horizon 518517 2 - Barcode 5099751851721) - this huge two-disc haul made available extremely rare LPs and singles by one of Britain's great-unsung guitar/harmonica players - Anthony "Duster" Bennett. 

The blues-mad 22 year-old from Wales was pointed in the direction of the UK's Blue Horizon label in early 1968 by none other than Fleetwood Mac's PETER GREEN. Greeney was on the money of course and here's the rocking proof. 44 tracks, 3 full albums, 9 non-album singles tracks and 1 previously unreleased cut - yummy. 

What you have here is a July 2018 'copycat reissue' on Floating World Records (part of the Retro World group of labels out of the UK) - but minus the card outer slipcase and pitched at less than mid-price for a 2CD set (I've seen this for less than eight quid). Here are the reissue details...

UK released 27 July 2018 - "The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions" by DUSTER BENNETT on Floating World FLOATM6367 (Barcode 0805772636729) is a like-for-like reissue of the 2006 Sony/Blue Horizon 2CD Remastered Compilation and breaks down in the same way the original 2006 issue did... 

Disc 1 (76:13 minutes):

1. Hard To Resist" - an aborted 1st UK 7" single recorded 15 May 1968, Previously Unreleased 

2. It's A Man Down There

3. Things Are Changing - tracks 2 and 3 are the non-album A & B of a 1968 UK 7" single on Blue Horizon 57-3141

4. Worried Mind [Side 1]

5. Life Is A Dirty Deal

6. Country Jam 

7. Trying To Paint It In The Sky 

8. Times Like These 

9. My Lucky Day 

10. Got A Tongue In Your Head [Side 2]

11. Jumping At Shadows

12. 40-Minutes From Town

13. Shame, Shame, Shame

14. My Love Is My Love 

15. Shady Little Baby 

Tracks 4 to 15 are the album "Smiling Like I'm Happy" issued late August 1968 on Blue Horizon S 7-63208 in the UK in Stereo. Guests include Peter Green on Guitar, Ham Richmond on Piano, Stella Sutton on Second Vocals and Mick Fleetwood on Drums. 

16. Raining In My Heart

17. Jumpin' For Joy - tracks 16 and 17 are the non-album A & B of the 17 January 1969 UK 7" single on Blue Horizon 57-3148

18. God Save The Queen/Introductions/She Live Her Life Too Fast (Live)

19. Just Like A Fish (Live)

20. What A Dream (Live)

21. Just Like I Treat You (Live)

22. Talk To Me (Live)

Tracks 18 to 22 are Side 1 of the LIVE album "Bright Lights..." issued 1969 on Blue Horizon S 7-63221 in the UK. 

Tracks 1 to 6 on Disc 2 are Side 2 of the record - the album is credited to DUSTER BENNETT and HIS HOUSE BAND - most of which is FLEETWOOD MAC

Disc 2 (78:58 minutes):

1. I'm The One (Live)

2. I Wonder If You Know (How It Is) (Live)

3. My Babe/She's My Baby (Live)

4. Honest I Do (Live)

5. Bright Lights Big City (Live)

6. Fresh Country Jam (Live)

Tracks 1 to 6 are Side 2 of the LIVE album "Bright Lights..." issued 1969 on Blue Horizon S 7-63221 in the UK 

7. I'm Gonna Wind Up Ending Up Or I'm Gonna End Up Winding Up With You

8. Rock Of Ages Cleft For Me - tracks 7 and 8 are the non-album A & B of a 11 July 1969 UK 7" single on Blue Horizon 57-3164

9. Slim's Tune [Side 1]

10. I Chose To Sing The Blues

11. Sugar Beet

12. I Love My Baby

13. Vitamin Pills

14. Everyday

15. Act Nice & Gentle [Side 2]

16. Woman Without Love

17. That Mean Old Look 

18. Sweeter Than Sugar

19. On Reconsideration

20. Hill St. Rag

21. If You Could Hang Your Washing Like You Hang Lines

Tracks 9 to 21 are the album "12 DB's" issued October 1970 on Blue Horizon S 7-63868 in the UK and BH 4812 in the USA

22. I Want You To Love Me - the non-album B-side to "Act Nice & Gentle" (on "12db's") - a 1970 UK 7" single on Blue Horizon 57-3179

DUNCAN COWELL digitally remastered the original master tapes in 2005 to stunning effect (this 2018 reissue licenses those), the original 16-page Mike Vernon-written booklet (Blue Horizon label boss and original producer) has been replaced with newly revamped paragraphs by ALAN ROBINSON dated May 2018. MIKE VERNON and TOP TOPHAM (Topham was another one of the label's guitarists and founder member of THE YARDBIRDS) are name-checked, Bennett's three albums are pictured and there are hugely detailed session notes – same as the original issue. Robinson's efforts also update the story from 2006 to 2018 (net references). 

Great guest appearances abound - the superb stand-alone cover of Slim Harpo's "Raining In My Heart" features ALAN SILVESTRI and DAVE BIDWELL of CHICKEN SHACK, while B.B. King's rhythm section GERRY JERMOTT (Bass) and HERBIE LOUVELLE (Drums) feature on the fabulously funky "I Chose To Sing The Blues". Both TOP TOPHAM and PETER GREEN grace the raucous live version of Jimmy Reed's "Bright Lights Big City", while JOHNNY ALMOND adds a cool organ intro to the wonderfully slinky "Vitamin Pills". STELLA SUTTON adds lovely harmony vocals to the shuffling "Times Like These" (with Peter Green on Guitar). 

The mysterious HAM RICHMOND piano credit on the debut turns out to be none other than Bennett himself under a pseudonym! In fact many of the tracks feature ALL instrumentation by him alone - mean Harmonica blowing, Electric Piano, Snare and Bass Drums - damn he was talented! 

This is a clever reissue from Floating World – the original Blue Horizon issue having acquired nasty price tags since deletion years back. 

Signed to Zeppelin's Swan Song label by Jimmy Page in 1975, his career was poised for serious renewal, when in March 1976 at the age of only 30, Duster Bennett fell asleep at the wheel of his car on the way home from a gig - and sadly lost his life. 

At least this superb 2CD set is a fitting memorial to him and his musical legacy. 

The original 2006 Blue Horizon twofer did him proud; this 2018 reissue by Floating World of the UK simply apes that and at a cheaper price too. Nice one sons...

“Ascension Heights” - A 1970 LP Rarity Is Finally Reissued by BLUE HORIZON with Superlative Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks and Remastered Sound

At the pimply age of 15, Surrey-born Anthony “Top” Topham stepped onto stage in May 1963 at the Eel Pie Island Club in Twickenham with his new blues-wailing band - THE YARDBIRDS. A few months later he was replaced with ERIC CLAPTON and after that a certain JEFF BECK and JIMMY PAGE also joined that volatile crew. When you consider what a staggering influence CREAM, BECK and LED ZEPPELIN have had on everything in rock then and now - it’s a damn shame that Top Topham got musically lost in the mix somehow and has never been given the catalyst credit he so deserves.

Maybe this superb and slightly odd release will change all that.

This 19-track September 2008 single CD is based around his obscure sole album for the UK cult Blue Horizon label released in early 1970; it also top-quality remastered STEREO sound and 7 previously unreleased MONO bonus cuts.

Here’s the breakdown (59:43 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 12 are “Ascension Heights”, his only album released on Blue Horizon Records 7-63857 in January 1970 (recorded in London at CBS STUDIOS in October 1969)
Tracks 13 and 14 are “Christmas Cracker” and “Cracking Up Over Christmas”, his lone 7” single on Blue Horizon 57-3167, which preceded the release of the album in November 1969
Track 15 is “Hop House” which is a previously unreleased live BBC session recorded at The Paris Theatre in London on 8 January 1970 for the ‘Blue Horizon Hour’ on the JOHN PEEL SHOW – it was aired on BBC Radio 1 on 11 January 1970. It’s a slow blues tune with lovely fretwork from Top complimented by PETE WINGFIELD’s tasty keyboard rolls.
Tracks 16 to 19 are previously unreleased tracks recorded in May 1969 by then unknown Blue Horizon signing LLOYD WATSON, a talented 20-year old guitar player (Jamaican mother and English Dad) who looked and played a little like SHUGGIE OTIS meets PETER GREEN. Three are his own compositions with “You’re Gonna Ruin Me Baby” being a rocking Leslie Johnson/Jerry West cover version.

The tapes were transferred and remastered by SEAN LYNCH at TORCH MUSIC – the sound quality is GORGEOUS – really clear and clean – all the instruments given a fab new lease of life – superb stuff. The 12-page booklet has detailed liner notes and stories about Topham’s life by the label founder MIKE VERNON, colour and black & white photos from the period, full session discographies and a even sports a dapper card wrap sleeve on the outside that gives the whole package a real air of class and event.

The album “Ascension Heights” has always been a £100+ vinyl rarity (I’ve seen only one copy of it in my life), so its reissue here is to be welcomed. But it has also divided Blues purists for years because - for a blues label release – it's a slightly strange record! Firstly it’s entirely instrumental – and not in a blues way either. It doesn’t seem to quite know what it is. One minute it has the playfulness of Django Reinhardt jazz noodlings on “Spider Drag”, the next minute it’s Sixties Chet Atkins on “Globetrottin’”, the next second its funky Blood, Sweat and Tears without the vocals on the brass filled “Mini-Minor-Mo” (a personal favourite and one that soul boys should check out pronto) which also features PETE WINGFIELD on Piano. There are even times on “Hot Ginger” where it sounds a soulful version of Fleetwood Mac’s debut album! A heady mix to say the least! It’s varied, daring too – a grower that bears repeated listening.

The funky backbeat of “Christmas Cracker” sounds like something Booker T & The MG’s would dash off as festivities filler. It’s good if not great.

The 4 LLOYD WATSON tracks however are a real find – he had an excellent voice and presence; they’re mostly rockin’ blues and make for a fab surprise after the dearth of instrumentals that precede them. “Anything For You” finishes the disc in great Yardbirds meets Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac kind of a way and will have fans of both loving this release.

Another winner from Blue Horizon- highly recommended.

"Christine Perfect" by CHRISTINE PERFECT (Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac] Inside "The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions" (2008 Sony CD Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…Can't Go On Much Longer This Way…"

This March 2008 CD release on Sony/BMG/Blue Horizon 88697192162 (Barcode 886971921625) of "The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions" by CHRISTINE PERFECT is based around Christine McVie’s lone self-titled album for the cult UK label Blue Horizon in 1970 - and it’s a long-overdue reissue of a Fleetwood Mac solo rarity. 

Lancashire lass Christine Perfect had been with Stan Webb’s CHICKEN SHACK for three albums (also on Blue Horizon) - met the bass player John McVie of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac - fell in love - married - and the rest as they say is well-documented Fleetwood Mac history. Here are the details (45:45 minutes):

1. Crazy 'Bout You Baby

2. I'm On My Way

3. Let Me Go (Leave Me Alone)

4. Wait And See

5. Close To Me

6. When You Say

7. And That's Saying A Lot

8. No Road Is The Right Road

9. For You

10. I'm Too Far Gone (To Turn Around) – Album Version

11. I Want You

12. Tell Me You Need Me

13. I'm Too Far Gone (To Turn Around) – Single version

14. Hey Baby

15. It's You I Miss

16. Gone Into The Sun

Tracks 1 to 5 (minus "I'd Rather Go Blind" – see notes) make up Side 1 of her debut solo album "Christine Perfect" released 1970 in the UK on Blue Horizon 7-63860. Tracks 6 to 11 make up Side 2. The album was reissued in 1976 as "The Christine Perfect Album" on Sire with a different cover (sat in a whicker work chair). 

BONUS TRACKS:

Track 12 “Tell Me You Need Me” is a Previously Unreleased album outtake

Track 13 is her 2nd single around the album “I’m Too Far Gone (To Turn Around)”. It’s a slightly edited version on the album cut and was released February 1970 on Blue Horizon 57-3172 in the UK. The song is an Otis Clay/Benford Hendricks cover version made famous by Bobby Bland on his 1965 Duke Records hit (Duke 393). The album cut “Close To Me” was its B-side.

Tracks 14 to 16 are a Previously Unreleased BBC Session in Mono (see Notes)

DUNCAN COWELL remastered all tracks at Sound Mastering in London - and yet again - a typically great job has been achieved – warm, alive and none-too-hissy. The house band for the August/December 1969 sessions featured RICK HAYWARD and TOP TOPHAM of THE YARDBIRDS on Lead and Rhythm Guitars with MARTIN DUNSFORD on Bass and CHRIS HARDING on Drums. 

As forthcoming tasters two singles preceded the album’s release - “When You Say” and “I’m Too Far Gone (To Turn Around)”. Released October 1969 on Blue Horizon 57-3165 - the first “When You Say” was a DANNY KIRWAN penned song with the album cut “No Road Is The Right Road” as the B-side (both McVie and Kirwan play and produce). MIKE VERNON - the label’s boss - felt that at the time that it was a bad choice and I would agree. With a string-quartet arrangement dominating the whole song and it’s slow neither here nor there pace - the song is completely unrepresentative of what’s on the rest of the album. Having said that you can definitely here the beginnings of the sound that would permeate the “Kiln House" album by Fleetwood Mac in September of 1970 (a huge personal favourite of mine and I feel a very underrated early Seventies classic). With its Scott Walker meets Jack Nitzsche string melodrama - “When You Say” is an interesting song if not a slightly odd one.

With the September 1969 Melody Maker magazine win as Best Vocalist under her belt, and the 2 singles prepping the fans, the album was finally released in 1970 as “Christine Perfect” on Blue Horizon 7-63860 (it was reissued in 1976 as “The Christine Perfect Album” on Sire following the huge success of 1975’s “Fleetwood Mac” album). Its initial release was met with mixed reviews - and even her own position towards it over the years has ranged from scathing to outright disowning it – calling it the worst record she’s ever made. Of its 12 tracks, the first 5 are self-penned, 6 is the CHICKEN SHACK song “I’d Rather Go Blind” with Christine on award-winning lead vocals, 7 is the Danny Kirwan contribution “When You Say” and then the other 5 are various cover versions. The album’s opener, “Crazy ‘Bout You Baby” was noticed on an Ike & Tina Turner album from 1969 called “Outta Season” (their version is bluntly far better and funkier!). “I’m On My Way” (originally proposed as the album title) is a Deadric Malone penned song sung as a B-side by Bobby Bland on Duke Records in 1969. “And That’s Saying A Lot” is a Chuck Jackson cover sung by the superb soul maestro on Wand Records in 1965 and “I’m Too Far Gone (To Turn Around)” is discussed above. Which leaves the swamp funky boogie of “I Want You”, a TONY JOE WHITE stunner that turned up on his debut album for Monument Records “Black & White” in 1969. The rocking guitar work by both leads here is just fantastic (a real high on which to end the album). I also love the funky groove of “Let Me Go (Leave me Alone)” which would have been a far better single choice (lyrics from it title this review).

Given that there was room, the exclusion of Chicken Shack’s “I’d Rather Go Blind” is a bit of a blemish on an otherwise great re-issue and obviously makes a mockery of the word ‘complete’ on the outside wrap. This reissue clearly makes the presumption that real fans will already have the song from previous purchases and I suppose that’s fair enough. I still think it should have been on here especially as it breaks the actual track run of the original album - and for me that’s pissing about way too much. Still, on the upside for newcomers, if its exclusion here points that person in the direction of the sensational Chicken Shack 3 CD set “The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions”, then that’s a good thing, because in truth, it’s a far more rewarding and better-value purchase than this one.

Which brings us onto the bonus tracks - a real find is the sauntering ballad “Tell Me You Need Me” - an entirely new Christine song from the original sessions seeing the light of day here for the first time in nearly 40 years. It’s very of-the-time Fleetwood Mac, yet with her own personal touch to it – a real find as I say. Speaking of which the last three tracks are brand-new - previously unreleased mono recordings. They were taped at the BBC Recording Studios in Maida Vale, London on the 24th of November 1969 for airing on the Dave Lee Travis Sunday Show that weekend. “Hey Baby” is co-written with her old band partner Stan Webb of Chicken Shack, while “It’s You I Miss” and “Gone Into The Sun” are by Christine herself.  I love all three and am more than pleasantly surprised by their quality. “Hey Baby” is rocking boogie-woogie piano blues tune, the keys tinkered by the good lady herself with the same band as the albums sessions, Top Topham and Rick Hayward in particular providing superbly tight backup. “It’s You I Miss” could so easily have been a Peter Green guitar groove on any of the Fleetwood Mac Blue Horizon albums, while “Come Into The Sun” is good also, if not as exciting as the two that went before it. In truth, I’m digging the bonus tracks more than the actual album!

To sum up then, a 3 star album pushed up to 4 on this re-issue by its great sound, detailed presentation and excellent bonus tracks. A must-buy for fans - and for those disappointed by it in the first place - definitely worth another look…