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"...Dual Soliloquy..."
This career 'Anthology' for the guitar virtuoso Roy Buchanan in Universal's 'Chronicles' Series of 2CD compilations unfortunately opens in the worst possible way. You have to wade through four genuine clunkers to get to the goods, but man when you do - you so get the slew of 5-star ratings.
This twofer maybe old now in 2023 (it's been reissued probably twice since 1992), but I've seen it online for about six quid or less, and that's a whole lot of dids for not a lot of quids. To the bent notes and floppy hats...
UK released 28 September 1992 - "Sweet Dreams: The Anthology" by ROY BUCHANAN on Universal/Polydor/Chronicles 517 086-2 (Barcode 731451708626) is a 26-Track 2CD 'Chronicles Anthology' of Remasters that plays out as follows:
CD1 (75:24 minutes):
1. Baltimore *
2. Black Autumn *
3. The Story Of Isaac *
4. There'll Always Be *
5. Sweet Dreams
6. Pete's Blues
7. The Messiah Will Come
8. Tribute To Elmore James
9. After Hours
10. Five String Blues
11. C.C. Ryder (Live) *
12. My Baby Says She's Gonna Leave Me
13. Please Don't Turn Me Away
14. Country Preacher
15. Wayfaring Pilgrim
Tracks 1 to 4 and 11 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
Tracks 5 to 7 are from his debut album "Roy Buchanan" released September 1972 in the UK on Polydor 2391 042 and September 1972 in the USA on Polydor PD 5033
Tracks 8 to 10 are from "Second Album" released February 1973 in the UK on Polydor 2391 062 and February 1973 in the USA on Polydor PD 5046
Tracks 12 and 13 from the album "That's What I Am Here For" released February 1974 in the USA on Polydor PD 6020 and in the UK on Polydor 2391 114
Tracks 14 and 15 from the album "In The Beginning" released December 1974 in the USA on Polydor PD 6035, February 1975 in the UK as "Rescue Me" on Polydor 2391 152.
CD2 (77:16 minutes):
1. Down By The River (Live) *
2. I'm A Ram (Live)
3. I'm Evil (Live)
4. Good God Have Mercy
5. If Six Were Nine
6. Green Onions
7. Soul Dressing (Live In Japan)
8. Hey Joe (Live In Japan)
9. Fly...Night Bird
10. Turn To Stone
11. Dual Soliloquy *
Tracks 1 and 11 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED *
Tracks 2 and 3 from the album "Live Stock" released August 1975 in the USA on Polydor PD 6048 (no UK issue) - September 1975 in Germany on Polydor 2391 192
Tracks 4 and 5 from the album "A Street Called Straight" released October 1976 in the UK on Polydor 2391 233 and May 1976 in the USA on Atlantic SD 18170
Track 6 from the album "Loading Zone" released July 1977 in the UK on Polydor 2391 295 and June 1977 in the USA on Atlantic Records SD 18219
Tracks 7 and 8 from the single-album "Live In Japan" released May 1978 in JAPAN on Polydor Records MPF1105
Tracks 9 and 10 are from the album "You're Not Alone" released May 1978 in the USA (no UK issue) on Atlantic Records SD 19170
The 20-page booklet features a history of the mercurial/tragic guitar player from Arkansas and his trademark Telecaster surgically woven into his hips. Penned in March 1992, longtime music chronicler COLIN ESCOTT does a great job of explaining the sometimes torturous journey Buchanan made - a genius on the axe but with no distinctive vocals that stood out - he was forever trying to find an out front vehicle that maybe only Billy Price got to on the "That's What I Am Here For" album in 1974. When I worked at Reckless Records in both Islington and Berwick Street in Soho, Buchanan albums would come and go without too many people noticing or bluntly caring. While he could play to make the hairs on the back on your neck stand up and do a polka - he could seem to get it together on a cohesive LP. Still the TED JENSEN Remasters are fabulous and I've never heard that rare "Live In Japan" album, so that's a treat. To the music...
We are given four songs from his unreleased first album "The Prophet" touted for release sometime in 1971 on Polydor Records (recordings took place in October 1969, January, July and November 1970 and February 1971). Charlie Daniels and his group act as the backing band (Bob Wilson on keyboards with Tim Drummond on Bass) - provided three of the tunes - "Baltimore", "Black Autumn" and "There'll Always Be" - whilst number four was a Leonard Cohen cover version of "The Story Of Isaac". But laughably for an album supposedly showcasing Buchanan's extraordinary Jeff Beck-like chops on the axe, you hear little of it and Daniels has a terrible voice and the material is plodding at best.
It isn't until Tracks 5 and 6 from his self-titled debut album "Roy Buchanan" (September 1972) that you start to instantly hear the pyrotechnics he had on a guitar that everyone talked about. The Don Gibson song "Sweet Dreams" that titles the compilation is very cool (he learned it from Tommy McLain's version and not the more famous Gibson or Paty Cline hits), but the slow Blues Rock of "Pete's Blue" (his own composition) is mind-blowing for 1972. Things boogie-up nicely for "Second Album" (February 1973) when he gives us the R&B guitar-and-piano jaunt of "Tribute To Elmore James". Two more cuts surface from that second studio album - a firy Blues in "After Hours" and more of the same in "Five String Blues" - both six minutes plus pieces showing why RB was described in the press as the 'The Best Unknown Guitarist In The World'. It proved a popular album (more coherent than the debut) and shifted units in the USA especially - hitting No. 86 on the Billboard Rock LP charts and enjoying a stay of 13 weeks (his debut had hit No. 107 in September 1972).
The old 50ts R&B dancer "C.C. Ryder" is next and becomes the fifth Previously Unreleased track. Recorded May 1973 live at The Marquee Club in London - his other four musicians do well to keep up with his 6:49 minutes of slow shuffle to fast building of the song (his playing is fantastic throughout). As a newbee, it's a total find, coming on like John Mayall's Seventies Band on fire and does much to wash the taste of those first four out of your Anthology mouth (one reviewer who had heard the test pressing of the LP described it as 's' two letters and a 't' sending Polydor Records in a new recordings needed panic. "My Baby Says She's Gonna Leave Me" features Billy Price on Lead Vocals while RB goes ape on the pinging guitar notes throughout. UK released February 1974, at least Price gave the whole "That's What I Am Here For" album a Soulful-Rock vibe which moved RB's sound on from just Blues or Rock ("Please Don't Turn Me Away" is the same). "Country Preacher" is a piano-tinkering guitar-lilting short one that comes as a pleasant interlude after all the flash playing that's preceded it. But it is whomped by the fantastic Soulful slow Blues of "Wayfaring Pilgrim" - his playing just so damn good whilst guest Neil Larsen gives us a fabulous piano solo. Both "Country Preacher" and "Wayfaring Pilgrim" were on the February 1975 UK album "Rescue Me" which was called "In The Beginning" in the USA and issued December 1974 there.
Over on CD2 we get five great live tracks, two from the rarely seen Japan-only LP of 1978, two others from the US album "Live Stock" that didn't get a UK release and the first - a Previously Unreleased Slow Blues of 9:17 minutes duration - Buchanan sounding a lot like Stevie Ray Vaughan goofing off on a mellow Peter Green vibe as he covers Neil Young's "Down By The River". Once again, it's slow boil is bolstered by Billy Price on Vocals with Malcolm Lukens on Keyboards and is a very cool find. Things get funky with a cover of Al Green's "I'm A Ram" recorded the same night as the Previously Unreleased track - Buchanan letting rip - brilliant playing and feel from the band. Acoustic guitar leads in the soft Southern States good moonshine vibe of "Good God Have Mercy" - Buchanan taking Lead Vocals. He then lays into Hendrix's "If Six Were Nine" giving it a Sly Stone/Prince funk-up, Lukens providing the low-rider keyboards that sound so War. The "Loading Zone" studio LP of 1977 saw him give us an 8:09 instrumental version of "Green Onions" - the famous Stax hit for Booker T & The MG's, whilst the Japanese live album throws up Booker T hit No. 2 in the shape of "Soul Dressing" - another instrumental just short of 7:00 minutes (the respectful crowd lets him solo ala Carlos Santana).
By the time we hit 1978, a sort of Fusion sound has set in, very Gary Wright 'Dream Weaver' - the lovely floating "Fly...Night Bird" featuring Jean Roussel on Keyboards (he'd played on Cat Stevens albums in 1972). But my crave is a full-on grunge guitar run at Joe Walsh's fabulous "Turn To Stone". Walsh initially premiered it his first solo album after The James Gang - "Barnstorm" in 1972. Joe then returned to it for December 1974's "So What" album, but this in a more polished/sophisticated form. Buchanan has taken elements of both versions and put in his own floating piano funky fills atop guitar flourishes - making the 5:46 minutes of "Turn To Stone" a true highlight on this 'Anthology' for me. It comes to an end where it began - a whopping 12:06 minutes of "Dual Soliloquy" recorded July 1972 at the record plant for the debut but Previously Unreleased until here. Penned by him, it's just Roy Buchanan on the guitar without any others - and it's a find. Admittedly a tad more hissy than you would want it to be, "Dual Soliloquy" begins with peaceful strums that he builds in pace. But what gets you is the sheer musicality of it - and it feels like he's just goofing off. Music Historian Colin Escott quite rightly points out that it's a proper way of remembering him - one seriously great American guitarist capable of beauty and pyrotechnics in the same breath.
His loss in August 1988 robbed us of a Jeff Beck, an Eddie Van Halen - even a Jimi. But "Sweet Dreams: The Anthology" will help you remember why people were so impressed and remain so to this day...
