"The Complete Albums Collection" by PAUL SIMON (2013 Sony/Legacy 14-Album/15-CD Mini Box Set – Vic Anesini Remasters)

“...Something So Right...”

In 2015 Paul Simon has had a fourth number one album in an incredible (and at times choppy) career – albeit with a compilation that combines both Simon and Garfunkel with his Solo material for the first time. Got in mind of this Box Set peach. Classy presentation, gorgeous remastered Audio and a wad of Previously Unreleased stuff for those who haven’t bought the previous reissues. It’s even turned up on sale of late with a price that will entice. Frankly what’s not to love? The man’s day job as intelligent generational spokesman seems in tact. Here are the rhymin' details...

UK released October 2013 – "The Complete Albums Collection" by PAUL SIMON on Sony/Legacy 88691912922 (Barcode 886919129229) is a 14-album/15CD Mini Box Set with 5” Repro Card Sleeves and breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 – "The Paul Simon Song Book" (38:48 minutes):

1. I Am A Rock

2. Leaves That Are Green

3. A Church Is Burning

4. April Come She Will

5. The Sound Of Silence

6. A Most Peculiar Man

7. He Was My Brother [Side 2]

8. Kathy’s Song

9. The Side Of A Hill

10. A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d Into Submission)

11. Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall

12. Patterns

BONUS TRACKS:

13. I Am A Rock – Alternate Version

14. A Church Is Burning – Alternate Version

Tracks 1 to 12 are his debut album "The Paul Simon Song Book" – released May 1965 in the UK on CBS Records BPG 62979 (Mono) and CBS SBPG 62979 (Stereo). It was unissued (at Simon's request) in the USA until the "Collected Works" 5LP Box Set in 1981. First official CD appearance in the USA in 2004 - the CD uses the MONO mix. Tracks 13 and 14 are Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks that came with the 2004 CD reissue - Vic Anesini/Bob Irwin Remasters.

Disc 2 – "Paul Simon" (43:12 minutes):

1. Mother And Child Reunion

2. Duncan

3. Everything Put Together Falls Apart

4. Run That Body Down

5. Armistice Day

6. Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard [Side 2]

7. Peace Like A River

8. Papa Hobo

9. Hobo's Blues

10. Paranoia Blues

11. Congratulations

BONUS TRACKS:

12. Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard (Demo Recorded In San Francisco, February 1971)

13. Duncan (Demo Recorded In San Francisco, February 1971)

14. Paranoia Blues – Unreleased Version

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Paul Simon" – released January 1972 in the USA on Columbia KC 30750 and February 1972 in the UK on CBS Records S 69007

Disc 3 – "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" (50:08 minutes):

1. Kodachrome

2. Tenderness

3. Take Me To The Mardi Gras

4. Something So Right

5. One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor

6. American Tune [Side 2]

7. Was A Sunny Day

8. Learn How To Fall

9. St. Judy’s Comet

10. Loves Me Like A Rock

BONUS TRACKS:

11. Let Me Live In Your City – Work In Progress

12. Take Me To The Mardi Gras – Acoustic Demo

13. American Tune – Unfinished Demo

14. Loves Me Like A Rock – Acoustic Demo

Tracks 1 to 10 are his 3rd studio album "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" – released May 1973 in the USA on Columbia KC 32280 and in the UK on CBS Records S 69035. "Let Me Live In Your City" is a demo for "Something So Right". 2004 Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch remaster.

Disc 4 – "Paul Simon In Concert: Live Rhymin'" (59:25 minutes):

1. Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard

2. Homeward Bound

3. American Tune

4. El Condor Pasa (If I Could)

5. Duncan

6. The Boxer

7. Mother And Child Reunion [Side 2]

8. The Sound Of Silence

9. Jesus Is The Answer

10. Bridge Over Troubled Water

11. Loves Me Like A Rock

12. America

BONUS TRACKS:

13. Kodachrome

14. Something So Right

Tracks 1 to 12 are the album "Paul Simon In Concert: Live Rhymin'" – released April 1974 in the USA on Columbia PC 32855 and in the UK on CBS Records 69059.

Disc 5 – "Still Crazy After All These Years" (45:32 minutes):

1. Still Crazy After All These Years

2. My Little Town [with Art Garfunkel]

3. I Do It For Your Love

4. 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover

5. Night Game

6. Gone At Last [with Phoebe Snow and the Jessy Dixon Singers] [Side 2]

7. Some Folks’ Lives Roll Easy

8. Have A Good Time

9. You’re Kind

10. Silent Eyes

BONUS TRACKS:

11. Slip Slidin' Away – Demo

12. Gone At Last – Original Demo with the Jessy Dixon Singers

Tracks 1 to 10 are his 4th studio album "Still Crazy After All These Years" – released October 1975 on Columbia PC 33540 and in the UK on CBS Records S 86001.

Disc 6 "One-Trick Pony" (50:33 minutes):

1. Late In The Evening

2. That’s Why God Made The Movies

3. One-Trick Pony

4. How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns

5. Oh Marion

6. Ace In The Hole [Side 2]

7. Nobody

8. Jonah

9. God Bless The Absentee

10. Long, Long Day

BONUS TRACKS:

11. Soft Parachutes – Unreleased Soundtrack Recording

12. All Because Of You – Outtake

13. Spiral Highway – Unreleased Soundtrack Recording

14. Stranded In A Limousine – One of two new Exclusive Studio Tracks on the November 1977 LP "Greatest Hits, etc." – the other was "Slip Slidin' Away" which is not in this box set (only a Demo Version is).

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "One-Trick Pony" (Soundtrack to a movie) – released August 1980 in the USA on Warner Brothers HS 3472 and in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56846.

Disc 7 – "Hearts And Bones" (54:28 minutes):

1. Allergies

2. Hearts And Bones

3. When Numbers Get Serious

4. Think Too Much (b)

5. Song About The Moon

6. Think Too Much (a) [Side 2]

7. Train In The Distance

8. Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War

9. Cars Are Cars

10. The Late Great Johnny Ace

BONUS TRACKS:

11. Shelter Of Your Arms – Work In Progress

12. Train In The Distance – Original Acoustic Demo

13. Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War – Original Acoustic Demo

14. The Late Great Johnny Ace – Original Acoustic Demo

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "Hearts And Bones" – released October 1983 in the USA on Warner Brothers 9 23942-1 and in the UK/Europe on Warner Brothers 92-23942-1.

Disc 8 – "Graceland" (68:01 minutes):

1. The Boy In The Bubble

2. Graceland

3. I Know What I Know

4. Gumboots

5. Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes

6. You Can Call Me Al [Side 2]

7. Under African Skies

8. Homeless

9. Crazy Love, Vol. II

10. That Was Your Mother

11. All Around The World Or The Myth Of Fingerprints

BONUS TRACKS:

12. Homeless – Demo

13. Diamonds On The Soles On Her Shoes – Alternate Version

14. All Around The World Or The Myth Of Fingerprints – Early Version

15. You Can Call Me Al – Demo

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Graceland" – released August 1986 on Warner Brothers 9 25447-1 in the USA and in the UK on Warner Brothers WX 52

Disc 9 – "The Rhythms Of The Saints" (61:57 minutes):

1. The Obvious Child

2. Can’t Run But

3. The Coast

4. Proof

5. Further To Fly

6. She Moves On

7. Born On The Right Time

8. The Cool, Cool River

9. Spirit Voices

10.The Rhythm Of The Saints

BONUS TRACKS:

11. Born At The Right Time – Original Acoustic Demo

12. Thelma – Outtake (First issued 1993 on "Paul Simon 1964-1993")

13. The Coast – Work In Progress

14. Spirit Voices – Work In Progress

Disc 10 – "Paul Simon's Concert In The Park" (Disc 1 – 55:54 minutes):

1. The Obvious Child

2. The Boy In The Bubble

3. She Moves On

4. Kodachrome

5. Born At The Right Time

6. Train In The Distance

7. Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard

8. I Know What I Know

9. The Cool, Cool River

10. Bridge Over Troubled Water

11. Proof

Disc 11 – "Paul Simon's Concert In The Park" (Disc 2 – 61:53 minutes):

1. The Coast

2. Graceland

3. You Can Call Me Al

4. Still Crazy After All These Years

5. Loves Me Like A Rock

6. Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes

7. Hearts And Bones

8. Late In The Evening

9. America

10. The Boxer

11. Cecilia

12. The Sound Of Silence

Originally released November 1991 in the USA on Warner Brothers 26737-2 as a 2CD set.

Disc 12 – "Songs From The Capeman" (66:20 minutes)

1. Adios Hermanos

2. Born In Puerto Rico

3. Satin Summer Nights

4. Bernadette

5. The Vampires

6. Quality

7. Can I Forgive Him

8. Sunday Afternoon

9. Killer Wants To Go To College

10. Time Is An Ocean

11. Virgil

12. Killer Wants To Go To College II

13. Trailways Bus

BONUS TRACKS:

14. Shoplifting Clothes

15. Born In Puerto Rico – Demo with Jose Feliciano

15. Can I Forgive Him – Original Demo

Tracks 1 to 13 are the album "Songs For The Capeman" – released November 1997 on Warner Brothers 46814

Disc 13 – "You're The One" (56:40 minutes):

1. That's Where I Belong

2. Darling Lorraine

3. Old

4. You’re The One

5. The Teacher

6. Look At That

7. Senorita With A Necklace Of Tears

8. Love

9. Pigs, Sheep And Wolves

10. Hurricane Eyes

11. Quiet

BONUS TRACKS:

12. That's Where I Belong – Live

13. Old – Live

14. Hurricane Eyes – Live

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "You're The One" – released October 2000 on Warner Brothers 47844. Tracks 12 to 14 are from "You're The One: In Concert", Warner Home Video 38529, released February 2001

Disc 14 – "Surprise" (45:19 minutes):

1. How Can You Live In The Northeast?

2. Everything About It Is A Love Song

3. Outrageous

4. Sure Don't Feel Like Love

5. Wartime Prayers

6. Beautiful

7. I Don't Believe

8. Another Galaxy

9. Once Upon A Time There Was An Ocean

10. That's Me

11. Father And Daughter

Tracks 1 to 11 are the CD album "Surprise" – released May 2006 on Warner Brothers 49982

Disc 15 – "So Beautiful Or So What" (38:13 minutes):

1. Getting Ready For Christmas Day

2. The Afterlife

3. Dazzling Blue

4. Rewrite

5. Love And Hard Times

6. Love Is Eternal Scared Light

7. Amulet

8. Questions For The Angels

9. Love & Blessings

10. So Beautiful Or So What

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "So Beautiful Or So What" – released April 2011 on Warner Brothers 32814

The 62-page colour booklet is beautifully laid out – full track-by-track annotation (musicians, producers, studios etc) for every album. Inbetween the pages of info are period black and white photos – guitar on his back for “The Paul Simon Song Book” LP, the straw hat face shot for the “Paul Simon” LP and a live photo of Simon on stage with Ladysmith Black Mambazo before the credits for “Graceland”. As fans will already know many of the early albums were remastered in the 2000s by Ted Jensen and Vic Anesini – two names high on the list of those looking for quality audiophile. Produced by STEVE BERKOWITZ and BILL INGLOT, the whole box is listed as being mastering by VIC ANESINI at Sony Music Studios. There are also a couple of pages at the beginning by journalist ASHLEY KAHN on Simon’s long and prestigious career. Only one of the card sleeves is a gatefold (“There Goes Rhymin’ Simon”) and all have white rims around the front and rear artwork. A nice touch is that each CD is a picture disc (usually using the front cover artwork) and 37 Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks accompany the albums.

The rarely heard “Song Book” debut is a straight up Folk Acoustic record and with early versions of S&G tracks – it’s all the more beautiful for it. The remaster is tasteful – the ever so slight echo on his vocals for “A Church Is Burning” like he’s inside a chapel while the impossibly pretty “April Comes She Will” sounds like some Traditional Folk song that’s come from decades prior (already a classic). His wit is fabulous for “A Simple Desultory Philippic” and the “man ain’t got no culture!” lyrics always make me smile. His debut proper in 1972 produced two massive hits “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard” and “Mother And Child Reunion” – but there are prettier gems in “Everything Put Together Falls Apart” and my fave-rave “Peace Like A River” – for me the best track on a great starting point (gorgeous vocal break).

Things started to really cook with 1973’s “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon” and 1975’s “Still Crazy After All These Years” – with “Still” being an extraordinarily classy affair – winner after winner. Nuggets on “Rhymin’” are many – the vocal group slouch of “Tenderness” and the beauty of “Something So Right” – but I’ve always gotten the shivers for Side 2’s “St. Judy’s Comet” – it’s a typically brill Paul Simon song about famous daddy trying to get his daughter to sleep. The “Live Rhymin’” set has always seemed like a contractual stopgap to me – but relistening to it in remastered form is a bit of a Folky revelation. The crowd goes into rapture at the opening acoustic notes to “Homeward Bound” followed quietly by the pretty “American Tune”. Peruvian Folk Group Urubamba join Simon for a gorgeous rendition of “El Condor Pasa...” and the Jessy Dixon Singers tear into “Jesus Is The Answer” with a fervent passion that reminds me of Aretha’s mighty “Amazing Grace” double from 1972. In fact I suspect for many this unassuming live Seventies album/CD may be the thin discovery in this fat box set.

“Greatest Hits, etc.” gave us a stopgap LP in 1977 with two new studio songs - “Slip Slidin’ Away” and the brill “Stranded In A Limousine”. It won’t take many fans any time to work out that “Slip Slidin’ Away” is unfortunately conspicuous by its absence here (only a demo of it turns up as one of the bonus cuts) and it’s frankly a huge boo-boo on the blotter of this otherwise exemplary box set. I also think that fans should revisit the underappreciated “One-Trick Pony” LP – especially the lovely “Nobody” and “How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns”. You only ever seem to get the excellent bopper “Late In The Evening” on compilations these days. Another undiscovered masterpiece is 1983’s “Hearts And Bones” – and although it sports the most garish album artwork ever – gems include “Train In A Distance”, “Rene And Georgette Magritte With The Dog After The War” (for which I believe he won a Grammy) and the Johnny Ace/John Lennon tribute finisher “The Late Great Johnny Ace”. Inbetween is the witty “Cars Are Cars” and Al Di Meola’s astonishing guitar work on “Allergies”.

“Graceland” and “The Rhythm Of The Saints” need no introduction and there can’t be many households that don’t own these African and Brazilian rhythm giants (saw the Graceland Tour in the Royal Albert Hall with Lady Smith Black Mambazo – wow city). Although there are pretty vocal passages on the Puerto Rican album “Songs From The Capeman” on stuff like “Adios Hermanos” and “Bernadette” – I’ve tried again and again to give it the time of day but it resolutely refuses to fly. Those spoken passages inbetween tracks don’t illuminate either - if anything the whole project feels misjudged and ever so slightly patronising towards whitey. Musically it’s a no-go area for me. Things improve immeasurably with “You’re The One” – the Buddy Holly strum of “Old” and its lyrics about aging are funny while “Look At That” has that African rhythm again. “Love” sees Simon play gorgeous passages on Acoustic, Electric and Sitar Guitars while the album finisher “Quiet” has gorgeous atmospheric pipe instruments swirling around lyrics about a “time of quiet” – it feels almost Afro Celt Sound System or Peter Gabriel. The “Surprise” album took six years to arrive but was worth the wait with our Paul sounding world-weary (“How Can You Live In The Northeast”), contemplative (“Another Galaxy”) and naughty (“Outrageous”) all at the same time. Brian Eno helped out with the soundscapes but the album’s favourite son is the wicked “Father And Daughter” – a track that graced the recent “Ultimate Collection” compilation.

Although I’d admit that some of his later albums actually leave me cold (like the muse has abandoned him) – there’s so much spine-tingling goodness and cultural fabosity on offer here – that it’s nuts not to own it.

“...The deep forbidden music they’d been longing for...” Paul Simon sings on the beautifully crafted “Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War”.

Well pine no more – dig in and get some wood I say (in an entirely non-phallic metaphor kind of a way)...

"Hard To Explain: More Shattered Dreams - Funky Blues 1968-1984" by VARIOUS ARTISTS (2015 Ace/Beat Goes Public CD Compilation (BGP) - Duncan Cowell Remasters)

“...Gimme Some Of Yours...”

Back in my pre-Heart Attack and Vine days of 2011 – I excitedly reviewed the first Volume of “Shattered Dreams – Funky Blues 1967-1984” on Ace’s Beat Goes Public Label (BGP) and duly raved about its many charms and butt-wobbling eblutions. Well take me up the back passage with Shergar’s love truncheon but the crafty buggers have only gone and put out Volume 2 (no shame that lot) and it’s another star in a reasonably priced car. Here are the necessary toiletries...

UK released June 2015 – “Hard To Explain: More Shattered Dreams – Funky Blues 1968-1984” on Ace/Beat Goes Public CDBGPD 285 (Barcode 029667528528) pans out as follows (63:08 minutes):

1. The Creeper – FREDDY ROBINSON (from the 1979 LP “Blue Monday: The Stax Blues Masters Vol.2” on Stax 3015)

2. Gimme Some Of Yours (I’ll Give You Some Of Mine) – ARTIE WHITE (1970 USA 7” single on Gamma 11112, A)

3. You Upset Me Baby – LARRY DAVIS (1968 USA 7” single on Pisces 8114)

4. Walk On – FINIS TASBY (1977 LP Big Town 1009)

5. Getting Down With You – OBREY WILSON (2014, Previously Unreleased Bastille Productions Recording)

6. It’s Hard To Explain – RAY AGEE (1972 USA 7” single on Romark RK-118, A)

7. Don’t Down Me People Part 1 – MEMPHIS SOUL (2014 USA 7” single Numero 027, A - 70s Recording from Phoenix, Arizona and not Memphis)

8. Lovemaker – LOWELL FULSOM (1978 USA LP “Lovemaker” on Big Town 1008)

9. Cold Sweat – ALBERT KING (1969 USA 7” single on Stax 0069, A)

10. I Want You – SMOKEY WILSON (2014, Previously Unreleased Modern Recording)

11. I Don’t Understand It – ICE WATER SLIM & THE FOURTH FLOOR 9174 USA 7” single on Hawk Sound HS 1001, A)

12. Go Go Train – SMOKEY WILSON (1976 USA 7” single on Big Town BT-711, A)

13. He Made You Mine – BID DADDY RUCKER featured with The Johnny Otis Show (1972 USA 7” single on Hawk Sound H-101,B-side)

14. Fine Something Else To Do – FINIS TASBY (1984 UK LP “Blues Mechanic” on Ace Records CH 122)

15. Getting’ Down With The Game – ADOLH JACOBS (1972 USA 7” single on Romark RK-117, B-side of “Do It”)

16. I Finally Got You – JIMMY McCRACKLIN (1972 USA LP “Yesterday Is Gone” on Stax STS 2047)

17. Them Love Blues – EARL WRIGHT (1969 USA 7” single on Virgo 101, A)

18. Hey Little Girl – TOMMY YOUNGBLOOD (1970 USA 7” single on Kent 4516, A” and on the “The Soul Of Tommy Youngblood” Kent LP)

19. Sister Rose –SHAKEY JAKE HARRIS (1974 USA 7” single on Grenade GR 1004, A)

20. It’s Real (Part 1) – JIMMY ROBINS (1968 USA 7” single on Kent 487, A)

Tracks 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 to 14, 16 and 18 to 20 are STEREO

Tracks 2, 3, 4, 7 10, 15 and 17 are MONO

The 16-page booklet has detailed and (deeply) affectionate liner notes from genre lover and expert DEAN RUDLAND – picturing along the way those rare American 45 labels like Romark, Hawk Sound, Big Town and Grenade. There’s colour photos of Lowell Fulsom (looking dapper with his guitar and a white suit), Albert King thrilling the crowds live at WattStax and a black and white snap of Jon Kincaid & Smokey Wilson live at the Pioneer Club in Los Angeles in November 1980. At the end there’s a two-page interview with Phillippe Rault about songwriter and singer OBREY WILSON and Rault’s recordings with him in New Orleans from 1975 through to the early Eighties. It’s the usual classy affair from Ace.

NICK ROBBINS at Sound Mastering has handled the Transfers and Remasters – and there’s loads of Funky oomph and punch in these recordings - even the Mono cuts like “Gimme Some Of Yours (I’ll Give You Some Of Mine)” and the wildly brilliant “Don’t Down Me People – Part 1” punch way above their weight.

It opens with a belter from a 1979 Stax LP I used to own and treasure called “Blue Monday: The Stax Blues Masters Vol.2” which primarily featured Previously Unreleased Funky Blues cuts from that great label. Ace Records have smartly chosen Freddy Robinson’s infectious “The Creeper” to kick off proceedings in all its groovy Stereo glory. We dip aurally to Mono for the excellent “Gimme Some Of Yours” from Artie White but the Larry Davis cover of B.B. King’s classic “You Upset Me Baby” is a funk-version that doesn’t really work. Sounding stylistically similar to BB – guitarist Finis Tasby gives us a mid-tempo shuffle on “Walk On” - but things get infinitely better and Sly Stone/Millie Jackson biting Funky with Obrey Wilson on the nasty and lyrically loaded “Getting Down With You” where he assures his lady his love is “doggone hard” (which is very reassuring you have to say).

Organ Blues gets a lovely outing with “It’s Hard To Explain” by Roy Agee – a very cool groove similar to Albert King on Stax with strings. One of the compilation highlights is the mysterious group Memphis Soul giving it some Hendrix Guitar/James Brown’s JBs backing on the fabulous “Don’t Down Me People” – a stunning groove that Funks along in a Bluesy Rock way and just won’t quit (I wish they’d included Part 2). It’s cleverly followed by the title track to a long forgotten Lowell Fulsom album “Lovemaker”. Johnny Otis had a hand in the writing of “He Made You Mine” along with Ervin “Big Daddy” Rucker – probably the most straight up Blues cut on here. Some tracks like “Them Love Blues” and “It’s Real” try hard but don’t really excite while others like the sly hook for “I Finally Got You” from Jimmy McCracklin and the wicked guitar-boogie of “Sister Rose” (is alright with me) by Shakey Jake Harris are growers that will be on one of my home compilations real soon.

A more-than-worthy compliment volume to 2011’s “Shattered Dreams” (pictured above) – Volume 2 is making me groove the more I listen to it. And when it comes to Funky Blues I likes that a whole lot...

"Me And The First Lady/We're Gonna Hold On/Golden Ring" by GEORGE JONES and TAMMY WYNETTE - 1972, 1973 and 1976 Albums on Columbia Records (May 2015 UK Beat Goes On Records (BGO) Compilation - 3LPs on 2CD Reissue - Andrew Thompson Remasters)

This Review Along With 145 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

MORE THAN A FEELING 

1976

Your All-Genres Guide To 

Exceptional CD Reissues & Remasters

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs

Just Click Below To Purchase (No Cut and Paste Crap)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MORE-THAN-FEELING-All-Guide-Exceptional-ebook/dp/B0BGT69MVZ?crid=1RTTPB6MEK9Y7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.aCLqQD_0x4Xc4Kd7CEKllFnbfqhZ11PdMT_72etNzX9uk4_p_dYzE7ix7BD2qIIrl8-pAv90HElKfIB-_ZesIaS7TKJ-pDCFTgEP2k9aFX6a08GeBKgOKqyKHE6gcf0WacJEY4AKfVHlvo1EyZXb-psq6hf7c8WNvfvSSQUcNdP73WQfDavTWOHn5u81XeWCHJ47XMXWJqovt2Cx2c7BHgnvhCDYy23xFnpilpsAe90.T6uf-EhIxX_KJ8LfLu5E7Pk739m39vwP0A9sw0LfGno&dib_tag=se&keywords=more+than+a+feeling+mark&qid=1717663975&sprefix=more+than+a+feeling+mark%2Caps%2C78&sr=8-4&linkCode=ll1&tag=mabasreofcdbl-21&linkId=02abe7807076077061be2311e2d581b1&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

"...A Lovely Place To Cry..."

A 2CD set that offers fans three Columbia albums from the Golden Couple of Country GEORGE JONES and TAMMY WYNETTE featuring tales of marital bliss while behind closed doors they were all the time tearing each other's throats out - "Me And The First Lady" (August 1972), "We're Gonna Hold On" (November 1973) and "Golden Ring" (1976).

UK released May 2015 – "Me And The First Lady/We're Gonna Hold On/Golden Ring" by GEORGE JONES and TAMMY WYNETTE on Beat Goes On Records BGOCD1183 (Barcode 5017261211835) is a Compilation that offers 3LPs Remastered onto 2CDs - the first two albums on Disc 1 (56:36 minutes, 22 tracks) and the third album on Disc 2 (26:49 minutes, 10 tracks).

This three-album compilation comes in BGO's now standard outer card wrap that lends these releases such a classy feel. The 12-page booklet features basic recording credits and new liner notes from noted music writer JOHN O’REGAN with some photos in between. ANDREW THOMPSON has done the remasters – beautifully transferred – the Audio is superb - as you would expect with recordings made with the best Columbia had to offer.

Married in a hurry in 1969 for real, Bob Sherrell Produced all three records for what he knew was a market hungry for the image of The First Couple of Country. He gave the public what they wanted – crooning songs espousing martial domestic bliss with only the occasional hint of Hell, Guns and divorce on the horizon. The songs on "Me And The First Lady" mostly warble on about how much they love each other ("...we found a life together and it's gonna last forever...you took away my sadness...walking every day with gladness..."). 

Real life between them was apparently anything but and when they reached for honesty within a tune like the powerful "A Lovely Place To Cry" (co-written by Wynette with Earl Montgomery) – the heartache is there – naked like a wound and all the more affecting because of it. Stuff like "You And Me Together" has the longing of housewives while the uber-cheesy spoken-and-sung marriage-vows crowd-pleaser "The Ceremony" was performed with mock nuptials on stage much to the delight of infatuated crowds in love with their fame, garish cars, flash clothes and gated mansions.

The happy-wappy Delaney Bramlett song "Never Ending Song of Love" is a cheese puff piece too far – better is the title track "We're Gonna Hold On" - a Country Number 1 for the glamour King and Queen of Country. On the final album "Golden Ring" the old-time ballad "Near You" gave them another Country Number 1. 

This May 2015 Beat Goes On (BGO) three-on-two compilation for George Jones and Tammy Wynette offers albums that were hugely successful in the day, but seem forgotten now. Not all genius for sure – but there's hurting nuggets in between the happy-faced front and public show – and the Audio Remaster is gorgeous...

"The Cry Of Love" by JIMI HENDRIX - March 1971 Album (September 2014 UK Sony/Legacy/Experience Hendrix CD Reissue - BERNIE GRUNDMAN Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"…Set Her Free…." 

Like so many fans of "The Cry Of Love" - I came to the album via the original March 1971 vinyl LP housed in that tasty gatefold sleeve (Track Records 2408 101 in the UK). Even in cartoon form  - Jimi Hendrix looked like the coolest being on earth. I loved it to bits at the time (especially the leap forward in his songwriting) and across the years I've had battered copies of it rotating on dusty turntables ever since.

When CDs finally arrived - with the exception of a quickly withdrawn Euro version in 1991 on Polydor 847 242-2 - this posthumous album stubbornly refused to show in its original form. 

Then in April 1997 the Hendrix Estate put out the double-album Hendrix had 'probably' intended onto a single CD - calling it "First Rays Of The New Rising Sun". It combined tracks from that other 1971 posthumous album "Rainbow Bridge" and another tampered set "War Heroes" from 1972. But the artwork was different and to me the original 'feel' of "The Cry Of Love" I'd grown up with was completely gone.

But at last in September 2014 - here it is again - and in original 10-track form - a brand new CD Reissue and Remaster for "The Cry Of Love" by JIMI HENDRIX on Sony/Legacy/Experience Hendrix 88843099652 (Barcode 888430996526). 

The August 1970 lyrics from the original artwork are reproduced on the last page of the booklet and this time the reissue comes in a simple see-through jewel case rather than a fancy card digipak. Even through the 12-page booklet features a load of tasty live shots (the inlay beneath the see-through tray is the same) - there's only a credits page at the rear and no new essay on the album's place or its importance in his cannon of work. It's functionary at best when you would have hoped that a company called 'Experience Hendrix' would have actually honoured the man with some words you could 'experience'. 

But the real bee's knees here is a new BERNIE GRUNDMAN remaster from the original tapes and wow is the only appropriate response (40:20 minutes):

1. Freedom [Side 1]

2. Drifting

3. Ezy Ryder

4. Night Bird Flying

5. My Friend

6. Straight Ahead [Side 2]

7. Astro Man

8. Angel

9. In From The Storm

10. Belly Button Window

JIMI HENDRIX - Guitars and Vocals (all songs written by JH)
BILLY COX - Bass
MITCH MITCHELL - Drums 

Guests:
BUZZY LINHART - Vibes on "Drifting"
STEVE WINWOOD and CHRIS WOOD - Backing Vocals on "Ezy Rider"
BUDDY MILES - Drums on "Ezy Rider"
BILLY ARMSTRONG - Percussion of "Ezy Rider"
PAUL CARUSO - Harmonica on "My Friend"
KEN PINE - 12-String Guitar on "My Friend"
JIMMY MAYES - Bass on "My Friend"
NOEL REDDING - Drums of "My Friend"
EMERETTA MARKS - Background Vocals on "In From The Storm" 

Right from the moment "Freedom" leaps out of the speakers - the layered guitars and rhythm section seem so much clearer and not amped up for the sake of it. "Night Flying Bird" (one of my faves) is mind-blowing - those sliding lead in guitars and that funky backdrop - so cool and clever (lyrics from it title this review). Again Mitchell's cymbals and drums throughout "Straight Ahead" sound fabulous and the lovely "Drifting" has always been an equal for me to the more famous and revered "Angel" (which in itself sounds magical). I'd swear there's reduced hiss on "Belly Button Window" without compromising the space around the voice and guitar (which we now know was merely a demo) and that bass rattles at you on "Astro Man" with a renewed power. In facts it's so cool to just have it back as it was - and sounding this good.

"Back from the storm..." - Jimi sings on "In From The Storm". Indeed he is...and how...

"Selected Works 1973-1999" by EAGLES - A Review Of Their 2000 Elektra 4CD Book Set - Now Reissued In 2013 Into A Card Slipcase and Bernie Grundman Remasters...

"…Pretty Maids All In A Row…" 

Originally released as a Long Book in November 2000 - this November 2013 reissue on Elektra 8122796239 reduces that "Selected Works 1973-1999" 4CD retrospective into a manageable card slipcase and keeps the four-themed CDs, the booklet (24-pages) and best of all - the superb Bernie Grundman/Richard Davis remasters. Here are the witchy women, ornery outlaws and dry-roasted desperados...

Disc 1 "The Early Years" (49:44 minutes)
1. Take It Easy ("Eagles", 1972)
2. Hollywood Waltz ("One Of These Nights", 1975)
3. Already Gone ("On The Border", 1974)
4. Doolin'-Dalton ("Desperado", 1973)
5. Midnight Flyer ("On The Border", 1974)
6. Tequila Sunrise ("Eagles", 1972)
7. Witchy Woman ("Eagles", 1972)
8. Tran Leaves Here This Morning ("Eagles", 1972)
9. Outlaw Man ("Desperado", 1973)
10. Peaceful Easy Feeling ("Eagles", 1972)
11. James Dean ("On The Border", 1974)
12. Saturday Night ("Desperado", 1973)
13. On The Border Dean ("On The Border", 1974)

Disc 2 "The Ballads" (58:26 minutes):
1. Wasted Time Reprise
2. Wasted Time ("Hotel California", 1976)
3. I Can't Tell You Why ("The Long Run", 1979)
4. Lyin' Eyes ("One Of These Nights", 1975)
5. Pretty Maids All In A Row ("Hotel California", 1976)
6. Desperado ("Desperado", 1973)
7. Try And Love Again ("Hotel California", 1976)
14. The Best Of My Love ("On The Border", 1974)
8. New Kid In Town ("Hotel California", 1976)
9. Love Will Keep Us Alive (1 of 4 new tracks on "Hell Freezes Over", 1994)
10. Sad Café ("The Long Run", 1979)
11. Take It To The Limit ("One Of These Nights", 1975)
12. After The Thrill Is Gone ("One Of These Nights", 1975)

Disc "The Fast Lane" (69:55 minutes):
1. One Of These Nights Intro
2. One Of The Nights ("One Of These Nights", 1975)
3. Disco Strangler ("The Long Run", 1979)
4. Heartache Tonight ("The Long Run", 1979)
5. Hotel California ("Hotel California", 1976)
6. Born To Boogie (outtake from "The Long Run" sessions - previously unreleased)
7. In The City ("The Long Run", 1979)
8. Get Over It (2 of 4 new tracks on "Hell Freezes Over", 1994)
9. King Of Hollywood ("The Long Run", 1979)
10. Too Many Hands ("One Of These Nights", 1975)
11. Life In The Fast Lane ("Hotel California", 1976)
12. The Long Run ("The Long Run", 1979)
13. Long Run Leftovers (instrumental outtakes from "The Long Run" sessions)
14. The Last Resort ("Hotel California", 1976)
15. Random Victims Part 3 (outtakes from various recordings sessions)

Disc 4 "The Millennium Concert" (59:53 minutes):
1. Hotel California
2. Victim Of Love
3. Peaceful Feeling
4. Please Come Home For Christmas
5. Ol' 55
6. Take It To The Limit
7. Those Shoes
8. Funky New Year
9. Dirty Laundry
10. Funk 49
11. All She Wants To Do Is Dance
12. The Best Of My Love
Recorded live at The Staples Centre, Los Angeles, 31 December1999

When this rather dull looking 4-disc set came out in 2000 - fans were both thrilled and let down. The themes given to the first three CDs were cleverly sequenced for sure - giving the listener an EAGLES song experience that touches well know bases but also throws in some of those forgotten album gems like say "Saturday Night", "Train Leaves Here This Morning", "Try And Love Again" and "Pretty Maids All In A Row". But it doesn't take a genius to look at the total playing times of the CDs (especially Disc 1 and 2) and wonder - why so much empty space? And in 2000 - this sucker wasn't cheap either...

Fast forward thirteen years later - and it's 2013 reissue into a card slipcase (four-way foldout holder inside) whilst boasting on online price tag of just seven pound coins - represents a far better buy (and not just in terms of its more manageable and very pretty 'mini' box set packaging - but in the exclusives that aren't available anywhere else). The booklet has great liner notes by DAVID WILD with interviews, period photos, a note from original Producer Bill Szymczyk and Glenn Frey. Then there's the real deal - the gorgeous Bernie Grundman/Richard F. W. Davis remasters which brings stuff like "Doolin' Dalton", "I Can't Tell You Why" and the full version of "One Of These Nights" to life - warm, clear and beautifully produced.

The live show is good rather than great and suffers from the hugeness of the event - the duelling guitars on "Hotel California" feeling like their way back in the mix and instead of being out front. The "Funky New Year" track is good and "Please Come Home For Christmas" pleasant - but it takes Joe Walsh's "Funk 49" to really liven up things.

Written by Pete Vale, Jim Capaldi and Paul Carrack - "Love Will Keep Us Alive" showed that that melody magic hadn't disappeared and in the Elevens - the Eagles now seem more comfortable with their own legend than ever.

Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Randy Meisner, Don Felder and Timothy B. Schmit - what a line-up of talent. Put this cowboy builder in your ten gallon hat real soon...

"Back Porch Bluegrass / !!!Live!!!Almost!!! / Pickin’ And Fiddlin’" by THE DILLARDS - A Review Of Their First 3 Albums on Elektra Records - Now Remastered By Beat Goes On of the UK onto 2CDs in 2014...

"…Our Part Of The Country…" 

A clever release this - three impossibly rare early Sixties albums on Elektra Records featuring Bluegrass pioneers THE DILLARDS. You get stories about timber and Prairie people, drunken Billy goats, possum-eating bumblebees and peeved women about to go the grave - all of it sung by finger pickin' raconteurs on supersonic stringed instruments and shop-bought fiddles. Let's get deliverance on the duelling banjos right away...

UK released October 2014 - Beat Goes On BGOCD 1167 (Barcode 5017261211675) breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 (75:05 minutes):

1. Old Joseph

2. Somebody Touched Me

3. Polly Vaughn

4. Banjo In The Hollow

5. Dooley

6. Lonesome Indian

7. Ground Hog

8. Old Home Place

9. Hickory Hollow

10. Old Man At The Mill

11. Doug's Tune

12. Rainin' Here This Morning

13. Cold Trailin'

14. Reuben's Train

15. Duelin' Banjo

Tracks 1 to 15 are the album "Back Porch Bluegrass" - released 1963 in the USA on Elektra EKL 232 (Mono) and Elektra EKS 7232 (Stereo) - Stereo Mix Used

16. Black-Eyed Susie

17. Never See My Home Again

18. There Is A Time

19. Old Blue

20. Sinkin' Creek

21. The Whole World Round

22. Liberty!

23. Dixie Breakdown

24. Walkin' Down The Line

25. Jody's Tune

26. Pretty Polly

27. Taters In Sandy Land/Gimme Chaw T'Baccer

28. Buckin' Mule

Tracks 16 to 28 are the album "!!!Live!!!Almost!!!" - released 1964 in the USA on Elektra Records EKL 265 (Mono and Elektra EKS 7265 (Stereo) - Stereo Mix used

Disc 2 (33:44 minutes):

1. Hamilton County

2. Fisher's Hornpipe

3. Paddy On The Turnpike

4. Jazz Bow Rag

5. Apple Blossom

6. Tom and Jerry

7. Cotton Patch

8. Durang's Hornpipe

9. Wagoner

10. Sally Johnson

11. Crazy Creek

12. Drunken Billy Goat

13. Black Mountain Rag

14. Twinkle, Twinkle

15. Wild John

16. Soppin' The Gravy

Tracks 1 to 16 are the album "Pickin' And Fiddlin'" by THE DILLARDS with BYRON BERLINE - released 1965 in the USA on Elektra Records EKL 285 (Mono) and Elektra EKS 7285 (Stereo) - Stereo Mix Used

This 2CD reissue comes in BGO's now standard card slipcase and has a 24-page booklet which reproduces the full liner notes to their first 3 albums (song by song breakdowns and even guitar tunings) and best of all - a superb new 2014 remaster by ANDREW THOMPSON from tapes licenced from WEA. As this is primarily acoustic music with a double-bass rhythm section - the sound is wonderful - and amazingly evocative of their period.

Hailing out of Salem in Missouri - Doug and his brother Rodney Dillard (Doug on Banjo and Rod on Dobro and Guitar) formed the group in 1962 with Roy Webb and Mitchell Hammond on Mandolin and Double Bass. As JOHN O'REGAN'S superb liner notes amply show - their contribution to Bluegrass and American Roots Music is immense - in many ways introducing the genre to whole generations via their regular appearances on the "The Andy Griffith Show". Masquerading as "The Darlings" (a musical family on the prime-time American TV show) - Elektra Records with its long track record for Folk and Country acts were the natural home for the talented players.

Right from the brake-neck pace of the opening instrumental "Old Joseph" - their combined banjo/mandolin playing and the lovely clean production make for a pretty lethal combo. When the vocals arrive it feels like you're on the set of "O, Brother Where Art Thou?" The double-bass opening of "Polly Vaughn" has amazing clarity and they're won't be many who don't recognize "Duelin' Banjo" which Eric Weisberg later made famous on John Boorman's disturbing "Deliverance" movie in 1972 (actually charting the single).

The live album sees the boys chatting about the Ozarks and old men chewing tobacco as a 48 Hudson full of Jehovah Witnesses passes them disdainfully by. And again the sound is fabulous. The storytelling on "The Whole World Round" (lyrics above) about settlers moving from one remote part of the country to the next to get away from 'neighbors' and their 'chopping axes' is brilliant - a song that also showcases their superb Everly Brothers type harmonies (four part). The album I like least is "Pickin' And Fiddlin'" with Fiddle Maestro Byron Berline - which does exactly what it says on the tin - fiddle tune after fiddle tune. It's hard-core traditional Americana and not nearly as charming or as much fun as the Banjo/Mandolin/Guitar battles that preceded it.

"I don't know how many of you know who Bobby Dylan is - but he's probably done more for Folk Music than anybody..." - Mitch Jayne's wonderful preamble before Dylan's "Walkin' Down The Line" to the 1964 audience reels the crowd in (a great talker like Tom Paxton - witty and erudite) and they finish it with a mountain tune "Buckin' Mule" as they sound like an he-haw outtake from a Coens movie that's years ahead of its time. Great stuff. Doug would famously leave the group in 1968 to form DILLARD & CLARK with GENE CLARK of THE BYRDS and have a part in the whole Country Rock revolution...

THE DILLARDS won't be for everyone for sure (especially not that third album) - but the first two records are magical. And I love the way they make you feel like you're eavesdropping on real Americana - and not the hick part neither...

Brilliant...