“Eliminator: Collector's Edition” by ZZ TOP (September 2008 Rhino/Warner Brothers CD and DVD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...I Need You Tonight..." 

Originally released on LP and Cassette in March 1983 on Warner Brothers - the Blues Boogie of "Eliminator" was an absolute phenomenon for the Texas trio ZZ Top.

They’d been bubbling under for years and seven albums - "La Grange" in 1973 from the "Tres Hombres" LP, "Tush" in 1975 from the "Fandango!" album - and a minor hit with "I Thank You" in 1980. But none of it even remotely indicated what would happen in 1983 and 1984. "Eliminator" – one of the best boogie albums ever made – changed everything for ZZ TOP and us - it was little short of absolute global domination.

It was a combination of things - the umpteen tracks that were all single/radio friendly hits, the emergence of rotation MTV, the videos with leggy sexy babes – the fabulous 1956 coupe car – the ZZ TOP keyring flying through the air to the hapless buck trying to be a 'sharp dressed man' - the image of dusty dudes with beards - all of it combined in one heady mix to produce domestic sales in the USA topping 10 million with the same number estimated for the rest of the world. And if you take into account second-hand sales since that heady time 25 years ago and an early issue on CD, you’re looking at a "Rumours", a "Purple Rain" and even a "Thriller". 

"Eliminator's" history on CD however has not been the stuff of legend - which brings us to this good yet ultimately frustrating 2008 reissue. Here are the car jacks...

UK and US released September 2008 - this UK 2-Disc version gives us "Eliminator: Collector's Edition" by ZZ TOP on Rhino/Warner Brothers 8122-79951-1 (Barcode 081227995119) - a CD and DVD multi-media version that plays out as follows:

CD (78:27 minutes):

1. Gimme All Your Lovin' [Side 1 of the original LP]

2. Got Me Under Pressure

3. Sharp Dressed Man

4. I Need You Tonight

5. I Got The Six

6. Legs (Original 4:34 minute Mix) [Side 2]

7. Thug

8. TV Dinners

9. Dirty Dog

10. If I Could Only Flag Her Down

11. Bad Girl

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Eliminator" REMASTERED in its entirety with the original lengthier mix of "Legs" at 4:34 minutes re-instated for the first time (it was replaced after initial pressings by the shorter single mix of 3:37 minutes).

BONUS TRACKS (13 to 17 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED):

12. Legs (Single Mix)

13. Gimme All Your Lovin' (Live)

14. Sharp Dressed Man (Live)

15. I Got The Six (Live)

16. TV Dinners (Live)

17. Got Me Under Pressure (Live)

18. Legs (12" Dance Mix) ”

Tracks 13 to 17 are Previously Unreleased live tracks - 13, 14, 16 and 17 recorded at Castle Donington Festival in Leicestershire in England - 15 recorded at The Marquee Club in London (no dates supplied).

DVD:

THE VIDEOS

1. Gimme All Your Lovin'

2. Sharp Dressed Man

3. Legs

4. TV Dinners

LIVE ON THE TUBE 17 November 1983

5. Got Me Under Pressure

6. Gimme All Your Lovin'

7. Sharp Dressed Man

8. Tube Snake Boogie

The remastering of the original 1983 album is FANTASTIC – muscular, in your living room, detailed – all that it should have been these last two and half decades. I’ve waited years to hear “I Need You Tonight” in this sound quality and it was worth it. But the really bad news is the audio bonus tracks, which are a huge letdown. The live versions have what is laughable called ‘audio restoration’ on them – they sound like rubbish bootleg recordings – someone standing in a field with a microphone held up. The truly awful extended mix of “Legs” was on the box set anyway – unlistenable then and the same now. Worse - there are single edits of “Gimme All Your Lovin” and “Sharp Dressed Man”, but maddeningly they’re not included here - they should have been - it would have been far more appropriate to a supposed ‘collector’s edition’. Also there’s nothing new worth hearing – no outtakes, alternatives, no demos, no new songs – nothing. Really disappointing stuff I’m afraid. The album is great, but the supposed bonuses are awful.

Things fare better on the 2nd disc, an 8-track DVD. First up are the 4 famous videos that broke the album with a worldwide TV audience and their inclusion on this ‘special edition’ is only right and proper - they were such an integral part of the “Eliminator” experience. The prints are clean, but unfortunately blurry in that cheap 1980s kind of a way. They’re fun to re-watch, but not much more than that. Things get considerably better with tracks 5 to 8, which are professionally filmed studio performances. They were recorded live in front of a studio audience on 17 November 1983 for one the UK’s popular pop programs of the time - “The Tube”. The sound and visuals are great and while the vocals are live, I’m fairly sure some tweaking has been done to beef up the sound. Whatever way you look at it – this is primo ZZ TOP and makes up somewhat for the disappointing crap that is tail-ending the Audio CD. Fans will really enjoy these.

The packaging isn’t great either - a gatefold digipak with a 20-page booklet. The layers under the see-through trays have no photos of singles – outtakes – they’re blank – pretty crappy really. The car’s pictured a couple of times, lyrics reproduced, a basic essay on the album – but no real event feel to it – no live shots – no interesting formats pictured – fan stuff left out – it’s basic really, when it could have been so much better.

In truth, you’d have to say that if Rhino had just issued the remaster of the album with the single edits and the 12” mix added on at the end – then that would have been so much better. As it is, you’re being asked to spend £13 to £16 on a package that smacks of laziness and greed - and worse – leaves you with a bad taste in the mouth - an underwhelming experience that should have been a real celebration of a really great album…

To sum up – fantastic remaster of the album, good stuff on the DVD, but docked a star for the rubbish filler at the end of Disc 1...

"Used Songs 1973-1980" by TOM WAITS - A Review Of The 2001 WEA CD Compilation Remastered By BILL INGLOT...

This review is part of my Series "SOUNDS GOOD: Exceptional CD Remasters 1970s Rock And Pop" Download Book available to buy on Amazon to either your PC or Mac (it will download the Kindle software to read the book for free to your toolbar). Click on the link below to go my Author's Page for this and other related publications:

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"...Strangle all the Christmas Carols...." 

The Asylum label period of Tom Waits' extraordinary career began in 1973 with his debut album "Closing Time" and ended 8 albums later in 1980 with "Heartattack & Vine". He then signed to Island Records and in 1982 released "Swordfishtrombones" to howls of joy, amazement, praise and derision - all in equal measure. And most of his albums on Island ('82 - '93) and Anti ('99 to the present day) have been the same ever since - mad, bad, beautiful, discordant and utterly unique. Personally I love each period, Asylum, Island and the Anti label - I find them all to be manna in a world of increasingly plastic pop forced down our throats by gutless radio programmers every single day of our lives. And although the word "genius" is often overused, Waits is a genius - a maverick talent - and beloved by both his fans and the music industry for being so.

His Asylum albums were - if you like - his romantic troubadour period, a drunken Street bum with the heart of a poet and the itchy feet of Bukowski. He looked and sang the part too - greasy hair, freshly lit cigarette hanging out of his gob, wrecked clothes, a chronicler of the downtrodden and lost. But this was an artist whose songs were written with charm and real feeling for those on the outskirts - often touching and beautiful to a point where he could make you laugh with one song and cry with the next. But by "Heartattack & Vine", he had taken this persona it as far as it could go - hence the complete about face with his Island debut.

A little history for potential purchasers to explain why "Used Songs" is the best of scrappy bunch; the 1st compilation covering the Asylum Label period of his career appeared in 1981 and was called "Bounced Checks" (pictured below) - a single vinyl album containing a spattering of tracks and an unreleased live version of "The Piano Has Been Drinking" recorded in Dublin - a gig a friend of mine was privileged to be at. It's never been made available on CD to my knowledge. The second outing is "Asylum Years", a far better and more comprehensive 2LP set released on vinyl in 1984. Unfortunately, it's CD equivalent (also pictured below) which came out two years later is a bit of a mish-mash - a single disc that lost 9 of the original 24 tracks and added 3 new ones not on the original double! This 14-track truncated CD carried the then relatively new words "digitally remastered" on the front cover and was sought after for that reason. The sound on that CD is good - if not spectacular - and is available to this day. It's also worth noting that there are 8 tracks on the "Asylum Years" 1986 remastered CD that aren't on "Used Songs" - they are "Diamonds On My Windshield", "Martha", "The Ghosts Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napoleone's Pizza House)", "Grapefruit Moon", "Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own .38)", "Potter's Field", "Somewhere" (a superb cover of the famous Leonard Bernstein classic from "West Side Story") and "Ruby's Arms".



Which brings us up to "Used Songs 1973-1980", his 3rd and best compilation covering that period. Elektra/Rhino's set features 16 tracks Digitally Remastered in 2001 by tape experts BILL INGLOT and DAN HERSCH at DigiPrep - and the sound quality is full, clear and beautifully rendered. A real treat. "Used..." takes in songs from all 7 of his studio albums and one from the live double. Here's the layout and what track is from what album:

USED SONGS 1973 - 1980 (77:33 minutes):
1. Heartattack & Vine (on Heartattack And Vine", 1980)
2. Eggs & Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson)
(on the live 2LP set "Nighthawks At The Diner", 1975)
3. A Sight For Sore Eyes ("Foreign Affairs", 1977)
4. Whistlin' Past The Graveyard (on "Blue Valentine", 1979)
5. Burma Shave (on "Foreign Affairs", 1977)
6. Step Right Up (on "Small Change", 1977)
7. Ol' 55 (on "Closing Time", 1973)
8. I Never Talk To Strangers
(on "Foreign Affairs", 1977) [duet with BETTE MIDLER]
9. Mr. Siegal (on "Heartattack And Vine", 1980)
10. Jersey Girl (on "Heartattack And Vine", 1980)
11. Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis
(on "Blue Valentine", 1979)
12. Blues Valentines (on "Blue Valentine", 1979)
13. (Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night
(on "The Heart Of Saturday Night", 1974)
14. Muriel (on "Foreign Affairs", 1977)
15. Wrong Side Of The Road (on "Blue Valentine", 1979)
16. Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen)
(on "Heartattack And Vine", 1980)

Being a single disc there are some glaring omissions and odd choices, "I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You" from "Closing Time" is left off in favour of "Ol' 55". "Wrong Side Of The Road" is chosen instead of the beautifully evocative "Kentucky Avenue" or the fantastic "Romeo Is Bleeding", both from "Blue Valentine". "On The Nickel" from "Heartattack & Vine" isn't there either. And so on - you could bitch about choices for days. ("Ol' 55" first turned up on the 3rd EAGLES album "On The Border" and was probably most peoples first introduction to Waits - so its easy to see why it was chosen.) What is on here though, sounds fabulous.

Why is sound so important with this issue? Each of his Asylum albums are available on CD, but the earlier albums in particular are hissy and less that impressive sound-wise, because almost all of them came out in the initial vanguard of CD releases in the late Eighties - they weren't mastered well and have never been touched since. That's not the case with "Used Songs". The REMASTERING done by Rhino here makes all the difference. Right from the opening guitar and drum of "Heartattack & Vine", you're aware of the fantastic sound quality upgrade - it just pounds you. "Burma Shave", with just piano and vocals, is loud and beautifully clear. Then there's the delicacy of "Muriel" and "A Sight For Sore Eyes" and the hurting gargled-with-gravel vocals of "Tom Traubert's Blues" (his Waltzing Matilda song) - the sound on all of them is sweet and full, the saxophone and sassy rhythm section floating out of the speakers like some boozed-up turned-on jazz combo. It's thrilling, it really is! And lyrically, Waits has always been the equal of Joni or Bob - and way funnier. The booklet pictures the albums, there's a reproduction of a 1975 Jon Landau article from Rolling Stone, and a new liner note from Hal Willner - all tied off with a tasty card wrap, giving the whole package the class this release deserves.

Although it should have been a double, "Used" has the big advantage of its gorgeous sound and makes you pine for Extended Editions of each of his fantastic albums from that period. And on that point, when you think of the amount of lesser artists who have their entire catalogues released, remastered and pumped up with bonus tracks, and then you see someone of Waits' stature have no album from 1973 to 1993 in REMASTERED form by either WEA or Island on the market after 20 years of CD re-issues - it's just ridiculous and criminal. The same of course applies to Little Feat, Prince, Rickie Lee Jones, and the early Van Morrison Warner Brothers classics "Astral Weeks", "Moondance" and "His Band & The Street Choir". Come on Rhino and Universal - get their titles remastered and get them out there - for God's sake!

In the near 20 years I've spent working in record shops and dealing with rare records, I've met some great artists and huge talents in the industry and enjoyed chin waging with them all - fame doesn't really faze me that way. But my love of Tom Waits is different. Tom is God incarnate. If Tom Waits actually turned up in our humble little shop, I'd be knobbled! I'd be too busy kissing the hem of his garment to actually speak to the man! An Irishman lost for words - yikes!

To sum up, "Used Songs" is a fantastic set, a superb introduction to the man & his music and frankly, a beacon of light in a landscape of increasingly dim musical pap. I picked it up in FOPP in London for £5 and it's available from over 60 on-line retailers for about the same price - including P&P!

Sure I'm biased, I adore the guy and his music, I do - but BUY THIS CD. If you love music, you need to hear this man's songs - it will be the best musical fiver you've ever spent...

"Come Back Charleston Blue O.S.T." by DONNY HATHAWAY A Review Of His 1972 Soundtrack LP on Atco - Now Remastered & Expanded Onto CD by Rhino In 2007...

Donny Hathaway is part of my "SOUNDS GOOD: Exceptional CD Remasters Soul, Funk & Jazz Fusion" Download Book available to buy on Amazon to either your PC or Mac (it will download the Kindle software to read the book for free to your toolbar). Click on the link below to go my Author's Page for this and other related publications:

                       http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00LQKMC6I

Brought to him by ace saxophonist King Curtis, Jerry Wexler sat down to listen to a demo tape of "The Ghetto" by Donny Hathaway. A stunned Wexler promptly signed the young 23-year old to the magical Atlantic label with the sense of having `found something special - maybe even genius'. Hathaway quickly made good on that taped promise and produced a string of stunning soul albums in the early Seventies - "Everything Is Everything" (his debut in 1970), "Donny Hathaway" (his self-titled 2nd album in 1971) and the masterpiece that is "Extension Of A Man" in 1973. And then sandwiched between his fantastic "Live" set of March 1972 and his first duet soul album "Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway" in April 1972 came the soundtrack to "Come Back Charleston Blue" - a slightly out-of-synch-and-character outing that only partially works.

Originally released in April 1972 on Atco in the USA - this October 2007 expanded remaster by Rhino finally makes available that soundtrack rarity after 25 years in obscurity. Produced and supervised by Quincy Jones, the original 11-track single album (broken into 21 'bits') is topped up with two bonus tracks - versions of "Little Ghetto Boy" - an alternate studio take and a live version. Long-time in-house remastering supremo BILL INGLOT has done a bang-up job with the tapes as usual - the sound is gorgeous and far better than the cramped vinyl ever was.

Unfortunately, that's where the good news ends. Even as a rabid fan, I would have to admit that this album is not great by any stretch of the imagination - the runt of Hathaway's vinyl litter.
The album is - of course - a victim of the times in which it was made. Just 5 months earlier in December 1971, Isaac Hayes and his funky soundtrack to "Shaft" had been a global smash and ushered in the phenomenon of Blaxsploitation. Suddenly every soundtrack went `funky/soulful' crazy. That's ok, says you, but this soundtrack revolved more around old-world jazz and suffers badly for it. There are an awful lot of duffer Charleston boogie-woogie jazz pieces on here that are truly awful - and what's good - short funky passages peppered with an actual song every now and then - is very sporadic and inconsistent. There are also a lot of half-minute snippets on the album (the nature of a soundtrack) that are `interesting' but hardly essential.

Comparisons can be made to Marvin Gaye's excellent "Trouble Man" soundtrack - a solid favourite among fans - soulful and funky - with killer instrumental passages. I would say that "Come Back Charleston Blue" meets about half of those expectations. Highlights though include, "Harlem Dawn" (his first vocals on the LP) and "Little Ghetto Boy" the first proper song on the album. "Hearse To The Graveyard" is a fantastic instrumental to grace any funky CD-R you care to compile. "Bossa Nova" sounds like it came off an easy listening compilation made up by nondescript session men - half fun, half dire. "Tim's High" fares better, strings and soul with some great pleading `mercy' vocals - superb but maddeningly short at 1:30. The following track is probably the best funky instrumental on there - "Furniture Truck" sounds like Mission Impossible meets James Brown.
The two previously unreleased bonuses are superb - first is a new studio take on "Little Ghetto Boy" probably the album's best number. It's close to being as beautiful as the final take. The `live" version is soulful, funky and magnificent - the audience reacting to his `new song' with enthusiasm.

The MGM movie itself is long forgotten - and the liner notes admit to this - crap best left to posterity.

Those expecting the magnificent soul of his 3 stunning Atlantic albums should look elsewhere. What's really needed are DELUXE EDITIONS of his best studio works including a 2CD version of the awesome "Live" set from 1972 - like Rhino did with Aretha's expanded "Live At Fillmore West" 2-disc set. But as it stands, "Come Back Charleston Blue" is a flawed but worthy addition to his cannon of work and if it's belated reissue introduces his music to a new generation of soul lovers, then that's cool.

Aged only 33 and racked with depression he hadn't been able to handle for years, Hathaway took his own life in January 1979 in New York and robbed the Soul music community of a huge talent - someone of the musical and social stature of say Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Bobby Womack, Sam Cooke and Curtis Mayfield. Donny Hathaway is like Marvin, greatly missed and much loved to this day.

To sum up, "Come Back Charleston Blue" is a 3-star release, an only-ok album with some great bits on it. However, if you're like me, and you see his name on the cover, you get the shivers and have to own it! Good in places, but seriously underwhelming in others, the uninitiated should try a snippet listen on iTunes first before purchase. Then try 'Everything Is Everything' or 'Extension Of A Man'. God! How I envy you hearing those gems for the first time!

PS: This release is part of Rhino's "CLASSIC SOUL ALBUM - REMASTERED & EXPANDED" Series.
Most titles are first time onto CD and are rare soul albums from the Warner/Atlantic/Cotillio/Elektra vaults.
Some other titles are:

1. Ace Spectrum - "Inner Spectrum" (see REVIEW)
2. Blue Magic - "Blue Magic" (see REVIEW)
3. Leroy Hutson - "Paradise" (see REVIEW)
4. Ronn Matlock - "Love City" (see REVIEW)
5. Gwen McCrae - "Gwen McCrae"
6. Gwen McCrae - "On My Way"
7. Prince Phillip Mitchell - "Top Of The Line" (see REVIEW)
8. Prince Philip Mitchell - "Make It Good" (see REVIEW)
9. The Voices Of East Harlem -"Right On Be Free" (see REVIEW)

"The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions" by CHAMPION JACK DUPREE – Including The Albums "When You Feel The Feeling You Was Feeling” (1968) and "Scoobydoobydoo” (August 1969) - featuring guests Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke of Free, Mick Taylor of The Rolling Stones, Stan Webb and Johnny Almond of Chicken Shack and Duster Bennett (September 2005 UK Sony/Blue Horizon 2CD Compilation with Duncan Cowell and Mike Vernon Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With over 200 Others Is Available in my

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

"MANNISH BOY" 

BLUES, VOCAL GROUPS, DOO WOP, ROOTS

RHYTHM 'n' BLUES and ROCK 'n' ROLL ON CD 

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters 

Thousands of E-Pages

All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

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"...When You Feel The Feeling You Was Feeling..."

UK released September 2005 – "The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions" by CHAMPION JACK DUPREE on Sony/Blue Horizon 518516 2 (Barcode 5099751851622) is a 2CD set of Remasters housed in a card-wrap slipcase that finally makes available for the first time on the format both of Champion Jack Dupree's notoriously rare UK albums on the cult Blue Horizon Label. 

These sessions also featured hidden musical contributions from members of FREE and THE ROLLING STONES as well as more visible BH label mates like Duster Bennett and members of Chicken Shack. Here's how the discs are laid out:

CD1 (76:13 minutes):

1. See My Milk Cow

2. Mr. Dupree Blues

3. Yellow Pocahontas (Extended Version)

4. Gutbucket Blues/Ugly Woman

5. Street Walking Woman

6. Income Tax

7. Roll On

8. I've Been Mistreated (Extended Version)

9. A Race Horse Called Mae

10. My Home's In Hell

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "When You Feel The Feeling You Was Feeling” - released 1968 on Blue Horizon Records 7-63206 in the UK

11. How Am I Doing It

12. I Haven't Done No One No Harm 

Tracks 11 and 12 are the non-album B and A-sides of his 1st UK 7" single - released 1968 on Blue Horizon 57-3140

13. Street Walking Woman (Alternate Version)

14. Big Fat Woman 

15. Whiskey, Look What You Done To Me

16. Going Down To The Blue Horizon

17. Juke Box Jump 

18. Black Cat Shuffle

Tracks 13 to 18 are previously unreleased studio out-takes from the April 1968 "When You Feel The Feeling You Was Feeling" album sessions

CD2 (75:33 minutes):

1. I Want To Be A Hippy

2. Grandma (You're A Bit Too Slow)

3. Puff Puff

4. Blues Before Sunrise

5. I'll Try 

6. Going Back To Louisiana 

7. Ain't That A Shame 

8. Stumbling Block 

9. Old And Grey 

10. Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well

11. Postman Blues

12. Lawdy, Lawdy

Tracks 1 to 12 are the album "ScoobyDoobyDoo" - released August 1969 on Blue Horizon Records 7-63214 in the UK in Stereo. Issued USA 1972 as "Blues Masters Volume 10" with different artwork on Blue Horizon BM 4610.

13. Kansas City

14. Ba' La Fouche

Tracks 13 and 14 are the non-album A & B-sides of his 2nd UK 7" single - released 1969 in the UK on Blue Horizon 57-3512

15. Rub A Little Boogie (Live)

16. Black And White Blues (Live)

17. Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee

18. The Sheik Of Araby 

19. You Make Me Feel Alright (Live)

20. Do The Boogie Woogie (Live)

Tracks 15 to 20 are previously unreleased 'live' tracks from a June 1969 gig in the UK 

 

The original analogue tapes were transferred and remastered by DUNCAN COWELL and MIKE VERNON and the sound quality is just gorgeous - lively, warm and clear. The booklet features both albums' artwork, full session discography, knowledgeable liner notes and even has a classy card wrap on the outside. 

Champion Jack Dupree's style was boogie-woogie, his rolling piano licks accompanied by witty lyrics - often spoken before being sung (he wrote all tracks on Disc 1). You can just tell by looking at a photograph of his mischievous face - and the huge chomper of a cigar hanging out of the side of his mouth - that this man and his music are going to be infectious and endearing - and they are. Even when the recordings are just Dupree and his piano, the sound he makes is huge - and so entertaining - almost as if there's more going on than there is. And as if this wasn't good enough, both albums are bolstered up with heavy-hitter musicians from the British Rock, Blues and Jazz scene of the late Sixties. Four of the "When You Feel The Feeling..." tracks feature Paul Kossoff on Guitar and Simon Kirke on Drums of FREE. The songs are "Income Tax", "Roll On", "A Racehorse Called Mae" and "My Home's In Hell". 

STAN WEBB of CHICKEN SHACK contributes guitar on "I've Been Mistreated". Webb is also featured on the A-side of Dupree's 1st BH 7" single and Kossoff/Kirke on the B - the single being sought after for years for these reasons. The really cool news for FREE fans is the last two songs on Disc 1 which are previously unreleased - both contain Kossoff & Kirke in unheard songs. The takes are a bit rough and ready, but still fascinating to hear - even then with that 'Free' feel they brought to everything.  One of those last two tracks, "Black Cat Shuffle", also features fellow label mate DUSTER BENNETT on Guitar and a Deram label favourite, JOHNNY ALMOND on Sax - this is on top of the FREE types - bit of a Supergroup going there!

Moving on to Disc 2, the "Scoobydoobydoo" album featured MICK TAYLOR of THE ROLLING STONES on guitar on every track (including the A&B-sides of the 2nd Blue Horizon 7" single) - and the album also features turns from drummers KEEF HARTLEY and AYNSLEY DUNBAR. The last six live tracks were recorded 1 June 1969 in The Angel Hotel in Goldaming in Surrey, England. My heart always sinks when I see live tracks, but these are great and the quality of the recordings is excellent - capturing the crowd singing along to his cover of Sticks McGhee's "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee". 

A great release then that I urge you to take a chance on. And top marks to all the good people involved. Long may the Champion reign! And my God - when you think of the debt Rock owes to Black music and Black musicians…