"Taj Mahal" by TAJ MAHAL (September 2000 UK Columbia/Legacy CD Reissue with Bob Irwin and Vic Anesini Remasters – Part of the 'Columbia High Fidelity "360 Sound" Series' of CD Reissues) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Wake Up Mama...Turn Your Lamp Down Low..."

I've always had a soft spot for the Blues of Henry Fredericks from New York’s Harlem (Taj Mahal to you and I) - and his stunning 1968 self-titled "Taj Mahal" debut album still ranks in my books as one of the all-time-greats. Like "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac" (1968), John Mayall's "Blues From Lauren Canyon" (1968), Johnny Winter's "Second Winter" (1969) or Shuggie Otis' 1970 debut album "Here Comes Shuggie Otis" - "Taj Mahal" is the kind of good-time hair-shaking bum-waddling Blues-Rock that I adore. And to me it still sounds as fresh as a daisy - with maybe less hair and a wee bit of a middle-aged droop around the tum tum (not mine you understand). Here are the 'Leaving Trunk' and 'E Z Rider' details…

UK released September 2000 - "Taj Mahal" by TAJ MAHAL on Sony/Columbia/Legacy COL 498173 2 (Barcode 5099749817326) is a straightforward CD transfer of his debut LP from 1968 and plays out as follows (33:00 minutes):

1. Leaving Trunk [Side 1]

2. Statesboro Blues

3. Checkin' Up On My Baby

4. Everybody's Got To Change Sometime

5. E Z Rider [Side 2]

6. Dust My Broom

7. Diving Duck Blues

8. The Celebrated Walkin' Blues

Tracks 1 to 8 are his debut album "Taj Mahal" - released February 1968 in the USA on Columbia CL 2779 (Mono) and CS 9579 (Stereo) and in the UK on Direction 8-63279 (Mono) and S 8-63279 (Stereo). The Stereo mix is used in this 2000 remaster and there are no bonus tracks.

The 12-page booklet is a nicely substantial affair reproducing the album’s original rear artwork and liner notes by Tom Nolan on the inner pages. There is then a short essay on Taj Mahal by Stanley Crouch, album and reissue credits – all peppered with a bunch of outtake photos from the recording sessions.

Remastered for CD by the dynamic duo of BOB IRWIN and VIC ANESINI in 2000 and put out as part of the “Columbia High Fidelity “360 Sound” Series” - these are Audio Engineer names I actively seek out. Anesini alone has handled hugely prestigious catalogues like Elvis Presley, Simon and Garfunkel, Carole King, Janis Joplin, Hall & Oates, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Jayhawks, Mott The Hoople, Santana and many more. This CD reissue is part of Sony's "Columbia High Fidelity "360 Sound" Series" – a logo along the spine of the under inlay. When Columbia started issuing their 'Stereo' LPs in the USA in the 60ts they used the "360 Sound" logo on the album's artwork and label as a part of their selling point – best sound – all around - etc. I'm not sure anyone has noticed this CD logo down the spine inlay - but everyone knows that the 'Legacy' moniker on a CD is a mark of their remastering quality. Whatever way you look at it – this CD rocks like a mother and in the very best way.

Taj Mahal’s debut album is the stuff of Blues-Rock legend - an absolute gem. Recorded in August 1967 (released early 1968) and Produced by Dave Rubinson - the band consists of guitarists Ry Cooder (credited as Ryland P Cooder) and Jesse Edwin Davis with veterans James Thomas on Bass and Charles Blackwell on Drums. Taj sang all the tunes and mainly stuck to harp playing except on the brilliant 8-minutes of "The Celebrated Walkin' Blues" where he puts in some great slide-guitar work. Other guests included Bill Boatman on Rhythm Guitar and Sanford Konikoff on Drums.

It opens with a blaster – a cover of a Sleep John Estes classic called "Leaving Trunk" where our hero had better leave before his lady's husband gets home. Immediately you're in the presence of a huge warbling Harmonica and those chucky flicking guitars – it's a fantastic updating of old world Blues – sort of like what Paul Butterfield's band did on Elektra Records a few years earlier (see my review of his "Original Album Classics" 5CD Mini Box Set). Blind Willie McTell provides us with the Boogie of "Statesboro Blues" where Taj wants his woman to "...wake up mama...turn your lamp down low..." Continuing in that wicked rollicking vein – we get another shuffling winner in the shape of "Checkin' Up On My Baby" written by another great Harmonica warbler Taj deeply admired - Chess Records' Sonny Boy Williamson. The perfection of Side 1 ends with another nugget from the pen of Sleepy John Estes - "Everybody's Got To Change Sometime". Once again the audio is magnificent – loud and ballsy but not too trebled to ruin it. Direction Records tried it as a UK 45 on Direction 58-3547 with "Statesboro Blues" as the flipside – but despite the strength of both sides – no one seemed to notice in early 1968.

Side 2 opens with the only Taj Mahal original on the album "E Z Rider" which Direction tried as a 2nd UK 7" single with "You Don't Miss Your Water" as its flipside (Direction 58-4044) but again it failed to raise a ripple. The band counts in that slide-guitar barroom slasher from Elmore James "Dust My Broom" which oddly enough is good only – more workmanlike than great. Things pick up with "Diving Duck Blues" again from the fertile pen of Sleepy John Estes where an inebriated Estes tells us that "...if a river was whiskey...I'd dive to the bottom and never come up..." (thirsty and dangerous work). But it ends on a tour-de-force – the near nine-minute Slow Blues of "The Celebrated Walkin' Blues". It's a Traditional arranged by Taj and it captures everything that was great about his house band – that chugging Cooder Guitar – sweetly complimentary Mandolin plucking while he warbles on the Harp inbetween pleading lyrics. It's brilliant - and by the time the tune hits that Rhythm Section entry about 2:20 mnutes – you’re won over. Great stuff...

Niggles - the original album was also issued in MONO - and as you can see from the playing time provided above - it could easily have been fit on here as a first - but alas. There was a non-album single in 1967 on Columbia 4-44051 with "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" b/w "Let The Good Times Roll" – again both AWOL when there was loads of room. I would also love to one day see a LEGACY DOUBLE DELUXE of this fantastic debut - there must be some outakes in storage somewhere - and live sets with that stellar band...

Selling for less than four quid in most places – a Blues Rock barnstormer you need on your shelf and in your Stereo...all '360' degrees of it...

"Tell Mama: The Complete Muscle Shoals Sessions" by ETTA JAMES (2001 Universal/MCA/Chess “Blues Classics Remastered & Revisited” CD Reissue – Erick Labson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Do Right Woman..."

It's arguable that all eleven of the 2001 American Reissues listed below in Universal's fabulous "Blues Classics: Remastered & Revisited" CD Series are must-buy winners – guaranteed to put a pep in your step, a glint in your eye and an animated wanton in the trouser area (if I may be so rude on a wet Monday morning). But after spending 57 minutes in the company of their lone Etta James entry "Tell Mama..." - you can’t help feeling that this CD compilation is just a little bit more special than all the others. Here is a proper little sweetheart of a release available to us good Limey folks for notta-lotta wonga. Here are the shimmy-shimmy details...

US released May 2001 – "Tell Mama: The Complete Muscle Shoals Recordings" by ETTA JAMES on Universal/MCA/Chess 088 112 518-2 (Barcode 008811251826) is a 22-track CD compilation and plays out as follows (57:09 minutes):

1. Tell Mama

2. I'd Rather Go Blind

3. Watch Dog

4. The Love Of My Mind

5. I'm Gonna Take What He's Got

6. The Same Rope

7. Security

8. Steal Away

9. My Mother In Law

10. Don't Lose Your Good Thing

11. It Hurts Me So Much

12. Just A Little Bit

Tracks 1 to 12 are the LP "Tell Mama" – released January 1968 in the USA on Cadet LP 802 (Mono) and Cadet LPS 802 (Stereo). Although the "Tell Mama" album was released in supposed 'Stereo' – Universal's tape research shows that true stereo mixes for Tracks 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 were never made - fake Stereo was used on the issued LP - so they've been replaced here with the true Mono mixes. Bearing that in mind - Tracks 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 are in STEREO – Tracks 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 are in MONO.

BONUS TRACKS (all in Mono, only Mono Masters exist):

13. Do Right Woman, Do Right Man (recorded 30 Nov 1967)

14. You Took It (recorded 2 Aug 1968)

15. I Worship The Ground You Walk On (1968 USA 7" single on Cadet 5606, B-side of "I Got You Babe")

16. I Got You Babe (1968 USA 7" single on Cadet 5606, A)

17. You Got It (recorded August 1968)

18. I've Gone Too Far (recorded August 1968 – Previously Unreleased)

19. Misty (recorded August 1968 – Previously Unreleased)

20. Almost Persuaded (1969 USA 7” single on Cadet 5630, A)

21. Fire (1968 USA 7" single on Cadet 5620, B-side of "You Got It")

22. Do Right Woman, Do Right Man (Alternate) (recorded 30 Nov 1967 – Previously Unreleased)

This CD will allow fans to sequence the A&B-sides of four US 7" singles using the following tracks:

1. Tell Mama [1] b/w I'd Rather Go Blind [2] (Nov 1967, Cadet 5578)

2. Security [7] b/w I'm Gonna Take What He's Got [5] (March 1968, Cadet 5594)

3. I Got You Babe [16] b/w I Worship The Ground You Walk On [15] (June 1968, Cadet 5606)

4. Almost Persuaded [20] b/w Steal Away [8] (Jan 1969, Cadet 5630)

The four-way foldout inlay has new liner notes by LEE HILDEBRAND (it also reproduces the original Morry Roth LP liner notes) as well as track-by-track annotation. There are colour photos of Etta in the Studio with the seated horn section of James Mitchell, Charles Chalmers and Floyd Newman - another with the rest of the band – Calvin Scott, Billy Foster, Jimmy Ray Johnson and Albert Lowe, Jr. – and a final shot of an smiling Gene "Bowlegs" Miller with Producer and owner of Fames Studios – Rick Hall. It’s nicely done if not a tiny bit slight – but that cannot be said of the fabulous ERICK LABSON remasters. Labson has handled as many as 1000 remasters overt the decades including the vast majority of the huge Chess Records catalogue as well as prestigious Rock catalogues like Steppenwolf, Three Dog Night, Neil Diamond, Wishbone Ash and The Who (to name but a few). But his work here is gorgeous – especially on those stunning Stereo cuts.

The LP is very much a product of the 60ts R&B times – fast-slow, fast-slow and so on. A fast belter opens proceedings with the Stereo take of "Tell Mama" putting hairs on your chest – which is followed by the magnificent ache of "I'd Rather Go Blind" (Christine McVie would almost make the song her own with Chicken Shack on Blue Horizon who covered it that year). Etta doesn't appreciate her jealous lover in "Watch Dog" as she tells us "...I don't want no man of mine everywhere I go...he's right behind...he's like the FBI!” You on the other hand will love this groovy shimmy and shake dancer penned by Don Covay. Time for Ed Townshend's "The Love Of My Man" where Etta tells us he's the greatest chap in the whole wide world. Shortly after she’s telling us in uncomfortable sucker-mode that even though 'he beat on me and he cheat on me' her man's ok really because in private he can be so sweet (what a guy).

The chipper Lloyd Webster/Leonard Caston number "The Same Rope" advises that if Etta's man leaves he maybe using that rope to hang himself when he realises what he's done (stunning audio on this especially in the rhythm section). She does a great job with Otis Redding's "Security" and the sexy arrangement she gives Jimmy Hughes' "Steal Away" is refreshing while still retaining the brilliance of that wicked original. Etta has a family itch she needs to scratch in the cautionary "My Mother In Law" where she tells us that she's "...Sick and tired of your mother...always sticking her nose in my business...seems like I married her...instead of you..." (oh dear). And on it goes to her slinky cover of Rosco Gordon's "Just A Little Bit" - a wicked hip-wiggler bound to put your arteritis out to pasture...

The 10 bonus tracks offer three Previously Unreleased (18, 19 and 22) while her single-only cover of Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" is Previously Unreleased on album. Unfortunately it's easy to hear why her cover of "Misty" was canned – its jazzy arrangement feels dated, out of place and just doesn’t suit her. Better is the boogie of "You Took It", the Don Covay dancer "You Got It" and the chugging Clarence Carter funk of Willie Dixon's "Fire".

A wicked CD Reissue currently retailing at just over three quid from certain sellers. "I'm on fire! I'm hot!" Etta assures us on the funky R&B winner "Fire"...and I think she’s right...

Titles in the "Blues Classics: Remastered & Revisited" CD Series are:

(1 and 2 are SUHA GUR remasters, 3 to 11 are ERICK LABSON - I've reviewed most)

1. Bad News Is Coming - LUTHER ALLISON

(1972 Gordy LP, 2001 CD Remaster + Four Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks) - Universal 440 013 407-2 (Barcode 044001340727)

2. Luther’s Blues - LUTHER ALLISON

(1974 USA 9-track LP with 3 Previously Unreleased bonuses, 70:28 minutes)

Universal 440 013 409-2 (Barcode 044001340925)

3. Two Steps From The Blues - BOBBY BLAND

(1961 USA 12-track LP on Duke with 2 bonuses, 35:12 minutes)

MCA 088 112 516-2 (Barcode 008811251628)

4. The Real Folk Blues/More Real Folk Blues - JOHN LEE HOOKER

(October 1966 and September 1991 LPs on Chess, 2LPs on 1CD, 79:44 minutes)

MCA/Chess 088 112 821-2 (Barcode 008811282127)

5. The Real Folk Blues/More Real Folk Blues - HOWLIN' WOLF

(January 1966 on Chess and January 1967 on Chess, 2LPs on 1CD, 66:45 minutes)

MCA/Chess 088 112 820-2 (Barcode 008811282028)

6. Tell Mama: The Complete Muscle Shoals Sessions - ETTA JAMES

(January 1968 US 12-Track LP on Cadet - 13-22 being bonuses, 57:11 minutes)

MCA/Chess 088 112 518-2 (Barcode 008811251826)

7. Live At San Quentin - B.B. KING

(1990 13-Track Compilation on MCA, no extras, 64:09 minutes)

MCA America 088 112 517-2 (Barcode 008811251727)

8. At Newport 1960 - MUDDY WATERS

(1960 US 9-Track LP on Chess with 10-13 being 4 Mono Studio Tracks from June 1960 as bonus tracks, 44:41 minutes)

MCA/Chess 088 112 515-2 (Barcode 008811251529)

9. Fathers & Sons - MUDDY WATERS (with Paul Butterfield, Otis Spann, Mike Bloomfield, Donald 'Duck' Dunn and Buddy Miles)

(Tracks 1-10 and 15-20 is the August 1969 2LP set on Chess in Full with Tracks 11, 12, 13 being previously unreleased - and 14 previously unreleased in the USA). (77:38 minutes)

MCA/Chess 088 112 648-2 (Barcode 008811264826)

10. The Real Folk Blues/More Real Folk Blues - MUDDY WATERS

MCA/Chess 088 112 822-2 (Barcode 008811282226)

11. The Real Folk Blues/More Real Folk Blues - SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON

(January 1966 and January 1967 LPs on Chess, 2LPs on 1CD, 65:28 minutes)
MCA/Chess 088 112 823-2 (Barcode 008811282325)

"Street Corner Symphonies Volume 11: 1959" by VARIOUS ARTISTS (2013 Bear Family CD – Marcus Heumann Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"…My Love Must Be A Kind Of Blind Love..."

Hot on the heels of their definitive "Blowing The Fuse" and "Sweet Soul Music" CD Series (15 volumes to each genre of R'n'B and Soul) comes Bear Family’s Vocal Group attack - 15 discs spanning 1939 to 1963. Volumes 1 to 10 hit the shops in batches of 5 (May and October 2012) and the last five in May 2013. And while critics will argue that Vocal Group music has already been done to death by Rhino (3 x 4CD Box Sets across the decades) and a mountain of other cheapo labels taking advantage of the 50-year copyright law - this is the first time someone reputable (other than Rhino) have had a go - and typically these German-issued Bear Family CDs are gorgeous in all the right places - presentation and audio. You get 34 tracks and a format-incredible total playing time of 83:23 minutes. Time for 'A Teenager In Love' to 'Wiggle Wiggle' as 'The Angels Listened In'...

Released May 2013 in Germany - "Street Corner Symphonies Volume 11: 1959" on Bear Family BCD 17289 AR (Barcode 5397102172892) breaks down as follows (I've provided American 7” single catalogue numbers on all tracks – those with two or more catalogue numbers are reissues in the same year – 83:23 minutes):

1. I Only Have Eyes For You – THE FLAMINGOS (End 1946, A)
2. Love Potion No. 9 – THE CLOVERS (United Artists 180, A)
3. This I Swear – THE SKYLINERS (Calico 106, A)
4. The Angels Listened In – THE CRESTS (Coed 515, A)
5. Island Of Love – THE SHEPPARDS (Apex 7750, A)
6. You're So Fine – THE FALCONS (Flick 001/Unart 2013, A)
7. Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home) – THE IMPALAS (Cub 9022, A)
8. My Love Will Never Die – THE CHANNELS (Fury 1021, A)
9. Wiggle, Wiggle – THE ACCENTS (Brunswick 55100, A)
10. Dedicated To The One I Love – THE SHIRELLES (Arranged & Directed by Stan Green) (Scepter 1203, A)
11. Senorita I Love You – THE IMPRESSIONS (Abner 1025, A)
12. A Teenager In Love – DION & THE BELMONTS (Laurie 3027, A)
13. Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko Bop – LITTLE ANTHONY & THE IMPERIALS (End 1060, A)
14. Hushabye – THE MYSTICS (Laurie 3028, A)
15. Moonlight Serenade – THE RIVIERAS (Orchestra Conducted by Al Semola) (Coed 508, A)
16. Who’s That Knocking – THE GENIES (Shad 5002, A)
17. Just To Be With You – THE PASSIONS (Arranged And Conducted by Paul Swain) (Audicon 102, A)
18. Charlie Brown – THE COASTERS (Atco 6132, A)
19. Dearest Darling (You're The One) – HUEY SMITH (and The Clowns) (Ace 571, A)
20. Dry Your Eyes – THE DELLS (Vee-Jay 324, A)
21. (Baby) Hully Gully – THE OLYMPICS (Arvee 562, A)
22. Puppy Love – LITTLE JIMMY & THE TOPS (V-Tone 102/Len 1011, A)
23. Rockin' In The Jungle – THE ETERNALS (Hollywood 68, A)
24. You Were Mine – THE FIREFLIES (Ribbon 6901, A)
25. Good News – THE FIESTAS (Old Town 1074, A)
26. Mope-itty Mope – THE BOSS-TONES (Boss 501/V-Tone 208, A)
27. Sea Of Love – PHIL PHILLIPS with The Twilights (Khoury’s 711/Mercury 71465, A)
28. Let It Please Be You – THE DESIRES (Hull 730, A)
29. There Goes My Love – THE FANTASTICS (RCA Victor 47-7572, A)
30. My Beloved (Without Strings) – THE SATINTONES (Motown 1000, A)
31. Oh Rose Marie – THE FASCINATORS (Orchestra Under The Direction Of Jesse Stone) (Capitol 4247, A)
32. This Broken Heart – THE SONICS (Harvard 801/Checker 922, A)
33. There Goes My Baby – THE DRIFTERS (Atlantic 2025, A)
34. Shout (Parts 1 & 2) – THE ISLEY BROTHERS (RCA Victor 47-7588, A)

The 84-page non-detachable booklet is a feast of indepth liner notes on each release by Grammy-winning writer and lifelong fan BILL DAHL. Let's put it this way - there's a 'Photo Captions' index on Page 82 that tells who's who in the black and white publicity shots that accompany most (not all) of the photos. It actually lists the singer's names  - who else but Bear would do this? The text is peppered with pictures of those old American 45s on long-forgotten labels like Flick, Unart, Scepter, Boss, Ghoury’s, Harvard, Hull and Cub as well as bigger names like Atco, Mercury and even Motown. You get rare 7” picture sleeves for The Accents, The Crests and The Falcons. The CD repros the rare "I Only Have Eyes For You" by The Flamingos on End and the spine makes up a single photograph of the series name when you line up all 15 volumes alongside each other on a shelf. Long-standing and trusted names like Walter DeVenne, Nico Feuerbach, Victor Pearlin, Colin Escott and Billy Vera have been involved in the research - while Audio Engineer MARCUS HEUMANN did the superb mastering (Disc Transfers by Victor Pearlin and Lothar Blank). The sources (as you can imagine) differ wildly but to my ears the sound quality is improved on everything that I've heard before (including some of the Rhino box sets). The audio and presentation are top-class here (a norm for Bear Family)...

With a huge 34 tracks and a format-packed playing time of 83:23 minutes – you certainly can't accuse this CD of scrimping it. Sounding gorgeous and virtually defining Vocal Group bliss – 1959's Volume 11 opens with a genuine masterpiece that I would put close to the top of my Desert Island disc selection – the beautiful "I Only Have Eyes For You" by The Flamingos. What a song – never fails to send me. It may look like Turpentine and taste like India Ink - but "Love Portion No. 9" seems to be doing the babe-pulling business for The Clovers - that is until one of them kisses a cop at 34th and Vine. Strings arrive with "This I Swear" by the white-boys-n'-gal combo of The Skyliners where our hero promises to never make her cry (he even sounds sincere folks).

Things go Dion & The Belmonts pop with The Crests on "The Angels Listened In" where our hero is convinced of heavenly intervention every time he looks at his girl. "Island Of Love" is an excellent slow-dancer as is the decidedly low-fi but emotion-packed "You're So Fine". A great smoocher and a genuinely clever inclusion is "My Love Will Never Die" by The Channels with soaring vocals from Lead Tenor Earl Lewis – as lovely as The Flamingos opener. Coming on like a companion rhythm to "Itty Bitty Pretty One" things gets bop-a-long with the infectious "Wiggle, Wiggle" by The Accents where Lead Vocalist James Jackson advises his lady on what to do with her rather fine posterior (but in a nice way you understand). By the time we reach The Shirelles with "Dedicated To The One I Love" and "A Teenager In Love" by Dion & The Belmonts – you can already feel the racy free-love of the 60ts beckoning.

Although it was huge on the charts - the almost African rhythms of "Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko Bop" by Little Anthony & The Imperials sits a little uncomfortably here. The squeaky clean "Hushabye" by The Mystics (written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman) sounds incredible audiowise. “Moonlight Serenade” feels a little too syrupy for its own good – better is the bopping “Who’s That Knocking” by The Genies which sounds a little like "Rama Lama Ding Dong". The pretty "Just To Be With You" by The Passions impresses but it's kicked into touch by the witty crowd-pleasing R&B of "Charlie Brown" by The Coasters (what a winner). Before they embarked on a staggering 40-year career in R&B and sophisticated 60ts Soul – The Dells gave us the lovely "Dry Your Eyes". Novelty time with "Hully Gully", the organ-driven seaside feel to "Puppy Love" and silly jungle noises for "Rockin' In The Jungle". Far better is the Otis Blackwell written "Good Times" by The Fiestas – a really great shuffling beat that's clearly going after the dancefloor crowd. "Sea Of Love" by Phil Phillips even had an Al Pacino/Ellen Barkin film named after it. "There Goes My Baby" indicates at the Soul to come. And on it goes to musical history with "My Beloved" by The Satintones – a long forgotten single but one that enjoyed the (now) astonishing catalogue number of Motown 1000 – the very first Vocal Group on the label...

To sum up – as 1959 plays you can feel the heyday of Vocal Groups as we've known and loved them already on the wane (and there's four more volumes to go No. 15) – but that doesn't mean that the song quality has gone out the window. I know many of these crossover R&B hits from other compilations – but their clarity here is stunning. You could argue the merits of having the manic Jackie Wilson crowd-pleasing vocal pyrotechnics of The Isley Brothers ending the compilation with both parts of the fabulous "Shout" – but I for one am glad it's here...

Niggles - they're too expensive as singles discs and perhaps they should have been doubles because real collectors will have more than a few titles on offer here. But Bear Family will argue '...not in this sound quality or looking this good...' - and they'd have a point.

Presented to us with love and affection by an independent record company that cares about forgotten voices that shouldn’t be forgotten. What a sweetheart of a compilation and another gold standard from Bear...

"I'll Remember" by TASTE [featuring Rory Gallagher] (2015 Universal/Polydor 4CD Book Set – Paschal Byrne Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With 500 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

CLASSIC 1970s ROCK On CD - Exception Remasters  

Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 
(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"...Blister On The Moon..."

When "On The Boards" by Rory Gallagher's TASTE was released on the first day of the new decade (1 January 1970) – yours truly was a goofy 11-year old Dublin kid recently progressed from short pants into long trousers with a rapidly growing obsession for Girls, Thunderbirds 2 and Rock Music (yum yum). As you can imagine - guitar-heroes who were 'Irish' could be typed on a very small piece of paper indeed. But man oh man when we stumped up our candidate for selection – Ireland produced a proper goodun.

So what of this much-anticipated reissue? As much as I worship the ground Rory Gallagher and his battered Stratocaster walked on – this 2015 Universal 4CD Reissue is both good and awful in very equal measures. The good news is that the PASCHAL BYRNE remasters of the two studio albums are off-the-wall brilliant. Byrne has a long and distinguished history as an Audio Engineer having handled the "Spirit Of Joy" Polydor 3CD Box Set and hundreds of other quality reissues for Universal and Esoteric Recordings over the last decade. But I'm sensing awards are in order because the boy has excelled himself here. The audio on the two albums is fabulous – the best I've ever heard - and I've known and loved these LPs for over 45 years. The Previously Unreleased outtakes from those studio efforts are also genuinely worth having too – stuff that will make blind men see, preachers lay their Bibles down and even persuade politicians to go straight (well lets not ask for too much shall we).

But (all puns aside) Discs 3 and 4 are a different matter. The professionally recorded Swedish gig is electrifying (it really is) but the 'Off Air' "BBC Live In Concert" stuff that finishes off Disc 3 is virtually unlistenable – poor bootleg standard at best. And the fact that an exclusive song like "Feel So Good" on the officially released "Live Taste" and "Live At The Isle Of Wight" LPs from 1971 and 1972 has been replaced with this lesser stuff will only rub salt into the wounds for fans. Disc 4 is not much better - the 'Belfast Sessions' are Demos notoriously inflicted with tape dropouts on almost all tracks that 'has not' been fixed - so they're curio value at best rather than a pleasurable listen. In fairness to the makers of the box – this stuff is included of course for completeness and some of the earlier tracks are actually worth listening to. But if they're audibly damaged – then why include them at all. The Major Minor single is crap and the Woburn stuff good rather than great (a very so-so recording). In truth - had this been a 3CD set containing the Swedish gig and the stragglers not duplicated from the official live albums slapped on at the end of Disc 3 – then it would have been perfect. As it is – I know I'll only be playing those first two discs and the live Swedish gig off the 3rd – and ditching the inferior rest. Here are the full details...

UK released Friday 28 August 2015 – "I'll Remember" by TASTE on Universal/Polydor 472 269-7 (Barcode 602547226976) is a 4CD Book Set Of Remasters and pans out as follows:

Disc 1 – "Taste" – 63:25 minutes:

1. Blister On The Moon

2. Leavin' Blues

3. Sugar Mama

4. Hail

5. Born On The Wrong Side Of Time

6. Dual Carriageway Pain [Side 2]

7. Same Old Story

8. Catfish

9. I'm Moving On

Tracks 1 to 9 are their debut studio LP "Taste" – released April 1969 in the UK on Polydor 583 042 and August 1969 in the USA on Atco SD 33-296

BONUS TRACKS (all Previously Unreleased):

10. Blister On The Moon (Alternate Version)

11. Leavin' Blues (Alternate Version)

12. Hail (Alternate Version)

13. Dual Carriageway Pain (Alternate Version)

14. Same Old Story (Alternate Version with No Vocals)

15. Catfish (Alternate Version)

Disc 2 – "On The Boards" – 71:10 minutes:

1. What's Going On

2. Railway And Gun

3. It's Happened Before, It'll Happen Again

4. If The Day Was Any Longer

5. Morning Sun

6. Eat My Words [Side 2]

7. On The Boards

8. If I Don't Sing I'll Cry

9. See Here

10. I'll Remember

Tracks 1 to 10 are their 2nd and last studio album "On The Boards" – released January 1970 in the UK on Polydor 583 083 and in the USA on Atco SD 33-322. It charted in the UK rising to No. 18.

BONUS TRACKS (All Previously Unreleased):

11. Railway And Gun (Take 2 – Off The Boards Mix)

12. See Here (Take 1 – Alternate Version)

13. It's Happened Before, It'll Happen Again (Take 2 – Beat Club TV Audio)

14. If The Day Was Any Longer (Beat Club TV Audio)

15. Morning Sun (Beat Club TV Audio)

16. It's Happened Before, It'll Happen Again (Beat Club TV Audio)

Disc 3 – "Live In Konserthuset" - 77:45 minutes (all Previously Unreleased):

1. What's Going On

2. Sugar Mama

3. Gamblin' Blues

4. Sinner Boy

5. At The Bottom

6. She's Nineteen Years Old

7. Morning Sun

8. Catfish

Tracks 1 to 8 recorded Live in Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden, 1970

"BBC Live In Concert"

9. I'll Remember

10. Railway And Gun

11. Sugar Mama

12. Eat My Words

13. Catfish

Tracks 9 to 13 are an "Off Air" Recording of TASTE Live at The Paris Theatre in London, 1970.

Disc 4 - "The Belfast (Early) Sessions" - 56:12 minutes (Previously Unreleased on CD):

1. Wee Wee Baby

2. How Many More Years

3. Take It Easy Baby

4. Pardon Me Mister

5. You've Got To Pay

6. Norman Invasion

7. Worried Man

8. Blister On The Moon - April 1968 UK debut 7" single on Major Minor Records MM 560, A

9. Born On The Wrong Side Of Time - B-side of 8, both are different mixes to the versions on the debut LP (which were re-recorded)

"Live At Woburn Abbey" (Woburn Abbey Festival, UK, 1968)

10. Summertime

11. Blister On The Moon

12. I Got My Brand On You

13. Medley: Rock Me Baby/Bye Bye Bird/Baby Please Don’t Go/You Shook Me Baby

TASTE (or The Taste as they were originally called) was Rory Gallagher on Lead Guitar and Vocals, Richard McCracken on Bass and John Wilson on Drums.

"I'll Remember" comes in one those 8" CD Book Packs with an attached 40-page booklet. Produced by Donal and Daniel Gallagher (his family) alongside Joe Black – the superbly detailed sleeve notes are by NIGEL WILLIAMSON and go into Rory’s early days in Belfast at The Maritime Club (Taste took over residency from Van Morrison's Them) on to their first reference on a London billboard (August 1967 as a support act to Robert Hirst at The Marquee) and even meeting John Peel in a transport café (he remained a huge fan of Gallagher for years). Pages 28 to 29 are festooned with photographs I’ve never seen before of the young band in Cork, on their way to a date Scotland, tours with Traffic, sharing the Bill with Roger Chapman’s Family at the Camden Roundhouse and so on. There’s even a very old newspaper clipping of a happy Rory amidst a bunch of Cork hopefuls on a 'Spot The Talent' show smiling beneath a Mrs. Mary Carey-O'Mahony who had to be 75 if not a day! It's properly great stuff and affectionate too...the only error I can see is that a Danish titled picture sleeve of "Born On The Wrong Side Of Time" is credited as a UK release when it never had a picture sleeve in this country.

SINGLES:

Eagle-eyed fans will know that the first Taste 45 was "Blister On The Moon" b/w "Born On The Wrong Side Of Time" on Major Minor Records MM 560 in April 1968 (long before they had an album) – and both cuts were different mixes to the re-recorded versions that turned up on the debut LP in 1969. Although it doesn’t state it directly on the packaging (it is mentioned in the excellent booklet) - they are here on Disc 4, Tracks 8 and 9 as part of ‘The Belfast Sessions’. That whole recording was issued in the UK as a Rory Gallagher LP called "In The Beginning" on Emerald Records GES 1100 in 1974 (it was later subject to successful prosecution). The only officially released British Polydor single came when the label put out the newly recorded LP cut of "Born On The Wrong Side Of Time" b/w "Same Old Story" as a first 7" single on Polydor 56313 in March 1969. But in that strange way that Polydor didn't support the first Stone The Crows LP with a 45 when they should have done – Polydor didn't bother to plug the 2nd Taste LP "On The Boards" with a single either although "What's Going On" was an obvious choice. In fact that track flipped with "Railway And Gun" and "If I Don't Sing, I'll Cry" b/w "I'll Remember" were both released as 7" singles in many European countries (a set of those picture sleeves adorns the last page of the attached booklet).

STUDIO LPS:

Produced by Tony Colton - the debut LP opens with a belter - "Blister On The Moon" - and immediately I'm hit with the quality remaster – the bass and drums so clear. We now get the first of the album's four cover versions – Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter's "Leavin' Blues" which sounds incredible – that strangely sparse slide sound he’s getting. The other three covers are a grungy (and hissy) "Sugar Mama" by Howlin' Wolf, his amazing cut of Robert Petway's 1941 Bluebird Records stalwart "Catfish" and a Countrified shuffle through Hank Snow's "I'm Moving On” (the rest are Gallagher compositions). His acoustic-only "Hail" sounds incredible while it's easy to hear why the re-recording of "Born On The Wrong Side Of Time" was an obvious single. “Dual Carriageway Pain” was badly recorded in my opinion and still sounds strangely tame - as if the song just needed to let rip somehow to infuse it with some genuine excitement. The same unfortunately applies to "Same Old Story" – a good tune hampered by a weedy recording. But then we get a true monster and surely why Hendrix was so impressed by Gallagher - his cover of "Catfish". Hendrix recorded "Catfish" himself in a similar 8-minute Bluesy vein (It was finally released as "Catfish Blues" on the superb "Blues" CD from 1994). It's as if Gallagher knew that something needed to be done – so he cranks the amps up to 90 and does an 8-minute Blues Rock thrashing of "Catfish". With heavy riffs like he's auditioning for Led Zeppelin - you can hear the amps rumbling in the background – his playing inspired because the structure of the song allows him to let go. It's a standout on an otherwise strangely tame debut LP...

The 2nd album "On The Boards" is an entirely different beast to the first – so much more sophisticated and filled with far better songs (all Rory originals). Again produced by Tony Colton but Engineered by Eddie Offord (late of Yes fame) – the audio is brilliant and the remaster absolutely brings that to life. "What's Going On" has always made me throw undignified shapes around my living room with a tennis racket (still does) – but little prepared me for the stunning audio on Bluesy "Railway And Gun" and the jazzy "It's Happened Before, It'll Happen Again" (Rory gives the Alto Saxophone a rare outing on this one). The Fleetwood Mac "Then Play On" boogie of "Morning Sun" is wicked too. The Johnny Winter style cool slide of "Eat My Words" sounds awesome, as does Rory's clever Harmonica inclusion on "If The Day Was Any Longer" (again with gorgeous Audio).

LIVE STUFF:

A six-minute "What's Going On" allows Rory to stretch out and get the crowd going but it’s the fabulous Blues Rock riffage of "Sugar Mama" that gets them clapping and screaming. He does a wicked electric slide version of Melvin Jackson's "Gamblin' Blues" where he sounds like Mike Bloomfield enjoying himself even though "...my woman eat me out of house and home..." We then get a track that would eventually turn up in studio form on his 1971 debut solo LP – "Sinner Boy". He slows it down with a 'new one' called "At The Bottom" which features his Harmonica playing (he would eventually record it for 1975's "Against The Grain"). Next up is a very cool version of Muddy Waters' "She's Nineteen Years Old" which has the crowd clapping to its salacious Blues beat – a great inclusion. It's followed by a forgotten nugget from "On The Boards" – a huge rocking version of "Morning Sun" fully brought to life in the live environment where Taste suddenly sound like a four-piece band and not just a trio. And it ends on the crowd-pleaser Blues-Rock of "Catfish" sounding every bit as powerful as the debut LP version – hair-raising note bending and all that. This is Heavy Hard Rock and I love it...

After the high of the Swedish recording – the BBC tracks come as a truly dreadful disappointment – they’re no better than a bad bootleg recording and even though "Eat My Words" is electrifying in all its slide-guitar glory – the audio makes it virtually unlistenable. Disc 4 offers some solace in 1967 demos of Big Joe Turner's "Wee Wee Baby", Howlin' Wolf's "How Many More Years" and a wicked Bluesy version of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Take It Easy Baby" which stretches to 7:13 minutes. The bad news is that those three-or-four-second tape drop-outs on "How Many More Years", "Pardon Me Mister", "You've Got To Pay", "Norman Invasion" (a three-minute instrumental) and "Worried Man" are still there making the listen a curio rather than a genuine pleasure. The Major Minor single versions of "Blister On The Moon" and "Born On The Wrong Side Of Time" in Mono sound strictly amateur-hour compared to their 1969 Polydor re-recordings and the Woburn Abbey gig is good rather than great. All in all – there's too much of Disc 3 and 4 that's dismissible. So there you have it – a very mixed bag - but I have to say that I’m lapping up the remasters of the studio albums and their alternate versions.

Once asked what’s it like to be seen as the greatest guitar player in the world – Jimi Hendrix reputedly replied, "I don't know. You should ask Rory Gallagher..." And at least parts of this "I'll Remember" 4CD release hammer home why the mighty Jimi was such an admirer...