"Johnny Cash At San Quentin" by JOHNNY CASH – Featured Guests June Carter Cash, Carl Perkins, The Carter Family and The Statler Brothers (February 2007 Sony BMG Legacy 2CD+1DVD Reissue/Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Scarred Through And Through..."

Following on from the extraordinary and surprising success of "Johnny Cash At Fulsom Prison" (a deserved No. 13 placing on the US Rock LP charts in June 1968) - 1969 turned out to be an even more blistering chart year for the mighty man of Country.

It seemed everything Cash did or had done in the past, sold. Sun Records repacked his 50s material into five volumes, other labels like Harmony joined in, he did a religious LP on Columbia called "The Holy Land" in February and a seasonal outing not surprisingly called "The Christmas Spirit" in December resulting in an astonishing 9 LP chart entries in the Top 200 for that year. All of it course culminated in his biggest success of all - after its 4 June 1969 release on Columbia Records (USA) and CBS Records (UK) - "Johnny Cash At San Quentin" climbed the mountain to the coveted No. 1 slot on both the Country and Rock charts (an unprecedented achievement for a Country singer to hit the Pop top spot). And the prison LP duo of Fulsom and Quentin has remained beloved ever since - and too damn right. Cash had even quit Amphetamines, found God, persuaded the gorgeous and savvy June Carter to marry him (bolstered no doubt by him dropping the destructive first and embracing the nurturing second) and soon he would have his own prime-time TV show syndicated all over the world. All good for Mister Badass...

But which version of "At San Quentin" do you buy (and there are a few to consider)? There is the truly excellent 2005 'Legacy Deluxe Edition' 2CD reissue of with Vic Anesini remasters (always a sign of quality). Or if you wanted both the Prison LPs, you could opt for the doubled up 2CD budget-priced combo of Folsom and Quentin issued January 2006 that simply lumps the two Remastered CDs together (each with some bonus material) – two jewel cases in a card wrap (Barcode 828767665825).

But (and even despite the inexplicable change of artwork which I must say I find slightly disconcerting) - I'd argue that the extra bits here (unissued CD cuts and the 1969 Granada TV Special DVD) make this February 2007 Three-Disc baby the one to get. There's a lot to swallow so let's get behind those bars, flip the bird, pump the shotguns (in case anyone gets rowdy) and break this sucker down...

UK released 15 February 2007 - "At San Quentin 1969" by JOHNNY CASH on Sony BMG Music Entertainment/Columbia/Legacy 88697060932 (Barcode 886970609326) is an Expanded 2CD and 1DVD reissue featuring guests CARL PERKINS, JUNE CARTER CASH, THE CARTER FAMILY and THE STATLER BROTHERS and that plays out as follows:

CD1 (54:27 minutes):

1. Blue Suede Shoes - CARL PERKINS (Previously Unissued)

2. Flowers On The Wall - THE STATLER BROTHERS (Previously Unissued)

3. The Last Thing on My Mind - THE CARTER FAMILY (Previously Unissued)

4. June Carter Cash Talks To The Audience - JUNE CARTER CASH (Previously Unissued)

5. Wildwood Flower - THE CARTER FAMILY (Previously Unissued)

6. Big River - JOHNNY CASH

7. I Still Miss Someone - JOHNNY CASH

8. Wreck Of The Old 97 - JOHNNY CASH

9. I Walk The Line - JOHNNY CASH

10. Medley: The Long Black Veil/Give My Love To Rose - JOHNNY CASH (Previously Unissued)

11. Fulsom Prison Blues - JOHNNY CASH

12. Orange Blossom Special - JOHNNY CASH (Previously Unissued)

13. Jackson - JOHNNY CASH and JUNE CARTER CASH (Previously Unissued)

14. Darlin' Companion - JOHNNY CASH

15. Break My Mind - THE CARTER FAMILY (Previously Unissued)

16. I Don't Know Where I'm Bound - JOHNNY CASH

17. Starkville City Jail - JOHNNY CASH 

CD2 (45:29 minutes):

1. San Quentin (4:09 minutes) - JOHNNY CASH

2. San Quentin (3:13 minutes) - JOHNNY CASH

3. Wanted Man - JOHNNY CASH

4. Restless - CARL PERKINS (Previously Unissued)

5. A Boy Named Sue - JOHNNY CASH

6. Blistered - JOHNNY CASH (Previously Unissued)

7. (There'll Be) Peace In The Valley - JOHNNY CASH

8. The Outside Looking In - CARL PERKINS (Previously Unissued)

9. Less Of Me - THE STATLER BROTHERS (Previously Unissued)

10. Ring of Fire - JOHNNY CASH with THE CARTER FAMILY

11. He Turned The Water Into Wine - JOHNNY CASH with THE CARTER FAMILY, STATLER BROS & CARL PERKINS

12. Daddy Sang Bass - JOHNNY CASH with THE CARTER FAMILY, STATLER BROS & CARL PERKINS

13. The Old Account Was Settled Long Ago - JOHNNY CASH with THE CARTER FAMILY, STATLER BROS & CARL PERKINS

14. Closing Medley: Fulsom Prison Blues/I Walk The Line/Ring of Fire/The Rebel-Johnny Yuma - JOHNNY CASH with THE CARTER FAMILY, STATLER BROS & CARL PERKINS

DVD "Johnny Cash At San Quentin", All Regions, 60 minutes, 1969 Documentary by Granada TV (UK)

Includes footage of the concert that became the LP, a full performance of "A Boy Named Sue" and one-on-one interviews with several prison guards and inmates talking about their experiences of jail. The music footage shown is:

This 3-Disc release goes to some pains to present the full concert as 'played' – a whopping 30-songs in chronological order including a spoken intro. But the original 10-song album of course had a different configuration and none of the guests. To sequence it, use the following tracks, [3/2] = Track 3 on Disc 2 etc

ORIGINAL LP "Johnny Cash At San Quentin", TRACK LIST SEQUENCE

Side 1:

1. Wanted Man [3/2]

2. Wreck Of The Old 97 [8/1]

3. I Walk The Line 9/1]

4. Darlin' Companion [14/1]

5. Starkville City Jail [17/1]

Side 2:

1. San Quentin [1/2]

2. San Quentin [2/2]

3. A Boy Named Sue [5/2]

4. (There'll Be) Peace In The Valley [7/2]

5. Folsom Prison Blues [11/1]

LP originally released June 1969 on Columbia Records CS 9827 (USA) and August 1969 on CBS Records S 63629 (UK) - both in Stereo. All songs by Johnny Cash except "Wanted Man" (Bob Dylan cover), "Wreck Of The Old 97" (Traditional song arranged by Johnny Cash, Bob Johnson and Norman Blake), "Darlin' Companion" (John Sebastian song, Lovin' Spoonful cover), "A Boy Named Sue" (Shel Silverstein cover) and "(There'll Be) Peace In The Valley" (Reverend Thomas Dorsey cover). It peaked at No. 1 on the US Country and Rock charts and at No. 2 in the UK LP charts. 

As it is with all these issues that come without an outer slipcase, the four-way foldout card digipak is a bit of a clunky and easy to damage affair – so you need to be careful with it. The 2CDs and 1DVD take up three of the four flaps (period pictures beneath the see-through trays) with a photo on the first flap of the prison crowd waiting for the show to begin - a sound engineer untangling cables in front of an empty microphoned stage. The colour booklet is an impressive 32-page melting pop of what unfolded on 24 February 1969 at San Quentin Prison - June and Johnny being interviewed on Page 2 with Page 31 showing the whole band ensemble taking a bow to the rapturous audience. There are reminiscences and critiques from Sylvie Simmons, Marty Stuart's liner notes to the 4 July 2000 single reissue CD on Legacy, Marty interviewed Merle Haggard (who was at the show and has admitted to having been forever changed by it), afterthoughts by both Johnny and June and promoter Lou Robin from March 2000 and finally Bob Irwin's notes on this latest issue and its improvements and completeness.

But of course the big news is the Audio - Remastered by VIC ANESINI. His is a name associated with Elvis Presley, The Byrds, Carole King, Mott The Hoople, Santana, Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, Nilsson, Spirit and so many more. The original live record famously bristled with life and danger and it does so even more now. Its like a beast unleashed. Fantastic and those unreleased tracks expand the listen so much...huge life around the sound. I also appreciate the Carter Family harmonies more now – giving an almost spiritual nature to the words and the feelings they elicited.

DVD: Some have expressed disappointment with the DVD and I can understand this. Its not been cleaned up for a start (scratchy and blotched), but I’d argue the content is so powerful you soon forget about that. It was a Granada TV show (UK), a documentary and NOT a film of the entire concert although 10 tunes are given sizeable chunks of footage in this order: Walk The Line, Folsom Prison Blues, Orange Blossom Special, Jackson (with June Carter Cash), Darlin’ Companion, Daddy Sings Bass (with Carl Perkins, The Carter Family and The Statler Brothers), San Quentin, Wanted Man, A Boy Named Sue (Long Version) and (There'll Be) Peace In The Valley. But for me the DVD offers a welcome sobering counterbalance to the slight bravura macho streak of the LP. 

As a stand alone, the record feels at times like a celebration – this DVD does not. If anything its a chilling reminder as shot after shot of the actual existence they lived is paraded in front of you – haunted faces behind scraped steel bars, lonely figures parading in the yard, the pump-action shotguns of the guards resting on railings, cold cups of coffee on the concrete with barbed wire overhead, pictures of kids and family on the walls they may never see again. But it's the inmates and guard interviews that amaze and unsettle – one officer with a grizzled face straight out a thousand cop precinct movies describing his 23 years of seeing young lives wasted – his California Correctional Department badge immaculate on the sleeve of his shirt, black cap on his head with its gold badge shining. 

You can see he has a heart, but you can also literally taste the weariness emanating off of him – his voice almost slurring as he talks with barely contained sadness of how the inmates survive – interracial gangs – homosexuality – toilet tissue under their shirts to make their muscles seem bigger and avoid a beating. One inmate who avoided death literally as he was being brought down to the notorious leather straps of the SQ gas chamber (always used at 10 a.m. ever Friday morning) talks calmly about he strangled a woman and her 12 year old son after a drunken liaison but still doesn't know why - his gaze lost as he describes it. Its not very romantic or uplifting but it is stone cold brutal and sobering. As Cash sings how San Quentin "...left me scarred through and through..." and "...I walked out a wiser but weaker man..." - there is an eruption from the crowd – this is their guy and he knows their language.

This is the show where Cash couldn’t get to see his audience because there was too much equipment on stage and the Granada crew refused to budge themselves or any of it - so Cash gave his famous two-finger salute to the camera. It’s a shot that’s now on a thousand teeshirts – the man’s indomitable spirit. But re-listening and re-watching this amazing thing in 2019 – 50 years haven't lessened its power, just perhaps brought the reality more into focus. "Johnny Cash At San Quentin" is a seriously powerful piece of work and this reissue has brought home ALL sides of it – complete and in yer face.

And as I think about those faces in the crowd, smiling, longing, lifted up, given new hope if only for an afternoon – then the cameras cutting coldly to those blank stares from behind prison bars afterwards – I hope some of them made it...

"Hot Buttered Soul" by ISAAC HAYES (August 2009 Universal/Stax 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue – Bob Fisher 24-Bit Digital Remaster) - A Review of his 1969 US Masterpiece by Mark Barry...

 

"...You Socked It To Me!"

Not 30, not 40 - but 50 years old! Can the full-on sexpot that is "Hot Buttered Soul" really be the big fifty in 2019 – God Gawd y’all!

In July 1969, I was a spotty Dublin kid approaching eleven years of age that September and quickly assimilating all the blast furnace music changes emanating from both the UK and USA. Rock, Pop, Psych, Prog, Blues-Rock, Folk-Rock - I chewed it all up. Kind of with it for the times or at least the older lads around me who did all the advising were.

So one of my earliest memories was seeing the LP sleeve for Isaac Hayes’ second platter in a Dublin record shop window (probably Spring 1970) - a big bald black head, sunglasses and gold chains. People gawked at it – old biddies suspected it was rude and salacious but not sure how and quickly went by in a sort of cloudy catholic huff. Me - I'd never seen anything so damn cool.

My school-pal's bigger brother told me about the 'mistic' grooves contained within (courtesy of Stax's blistering backing band, The Bar Kays) and advised me to ask the rock dude in the shop to maybe play a slice (the bugger wouldn't). But it stuck with me. That Summer as I recall, I was back at his place and there it was on the Garrard – a secondhand copy with that yellow label grooving through "Hyper-unpronounceable" and then flipping over to the huge string section in the second half of the near 19-minute "By The Time I Get To Phoenix". And I was hooked.

We now know that over at Motown, Norman Whitfield and his like-minded musical cohorts were moving away from boy-gets-girl 3-minute love-ins and channelling something more serious, more socially conscious and dare we say - sexually expansive. They had The Temptations and The Four Tops opening up to spectacular effect – beginning that process – and the Rare Earth label beginning to take shape too. But with "Hot Buttered Soul" and its four uncompromising slabs of longevity, Isaac Hayes seemed to join up the loverman and psychedelic Soul dots for Stax Records faster than Marvin Gaye or Barry White or anyone else for that matter. And the man looked and sounded amazing too – yeah baby. Let's get to the hyperbolic details...

UK released August 2009 - "Hot Buttered Soul" by ISAAC HAYES on Universal/Stax 0888072314580 (Barcode 888072314580) is an 'Expanded Edition' 24-Bit CD Remaster with Two Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (56:39 minutes):

1. Walk On By [12:03 minutes] - Side 1

2. Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic [9:39 minutes]

3. One Woman [5:11 minutes] - Side 2

4. By The Time I Get To Phoenix [18:42 minutes]

Tracks 1 to 4 are his second studio album "Hot Buttered Soul" – released July 1969 in the USA on Enterprise Records ENS-1001 and January 1970 in the UK on Stax SXATS 1028. Produced by AL BELL, MARVELL THOMAS and ALLEN JONES - it peaked at No. 1 on the US R&B LP charts and No.8 on the US Pop LP charts

BONUS TRACKS:

5. Walk On By (Single Edit, 4:33 minutes)

6. By The Time I Get To Phoenix (Single Edit, 6:57 minutes)

Tracks 6 and 5 (note order) are the A&B-sides of a US 7" single released July 1969 on Enterprise ENA-9003 and October 1969 UK 45 on Stax Records STAX 133 with the sides reverse ("Walk On By" as the A)

The 12-page colour booklet sports typically informative and affectionate liner notes from long-time R&B and Soul writer BILL DAHL including archived interviews with one of the LP's principal producers Marvell Thomas (other contributors include Audio Engineers Terry Manning, Ed Wolfrum, Ralph and Russ Terrana). There's a few photos of the main man including a colour centre-spread shot of him receiving another Gold Disc from some label lady - her grin equalling his period sassy clothes (dig the duds baby). But the big news is a 24-bit Remaster by BOB FISHER at Pacific Multimedia and its sounds so good. The fuzz guitar solo on "Walk On By" – his voice to the fore – the string arrangements as they kick in – all are really good. For sure the age of the tapes and the speed at which the album was put down shows in some severe separating – but it’s a lively remaster – air around all of it – allowed to breathe. Let's get to the music...

The stories that surround this record are legend. Stax and Enterprise Records Producer Al Bell is on a plane to Jamaica and apparently sees an advert in an inflight mag about some sexy ‘hot buttered rum’ that awaits him when he lands. And the canny boy thinks – um – with a bit of word switch-er-roo – there’s an even sexier album title. Written by Jimmy Webb and of course made a huge hit by Glen Campbell over on Capitol Records, Hayes was more than enamoured with how Campbell arranged the song and had already begun to unravel it at live shows, practising and honing his spoken monologue before the groove kicked in. But in the studio as they recorded nineteen minutes of "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" – Hayes pressing down one organ note and rapping the story intro – drummer Willie Hall had only a cymbal to tap (ding ding) and keep time. But nearly 10 minutes in and piano-player Marvell Thomas sees him catch his eye – something’s wrong. Hall the Drummer has cramp, so up pops Thomas, takes the stick and apparently without missing a beat, takes over while allowing Willie Hall to massage his hurting arm back to playing shape. Didn’t miss a beat and its on the tape!

The band was the re-made Bar Kays (after the fatal plane crash that killed most of them and Otis Redding) – with original member JAMES ALEXANDER on Bass, newcomers MICHAEL TOLES on Guitar and WILLIE HALL on Drums. Isaac of course sang and played organ/piano with co-producer MARVELL THOMAS also contributing piano. The three backing singers were Saxophonist CHARLIE CHALMERS, his soon to be wife SANDRA RHODES and her sister Donna. In fact it was Charlie Chalmers and Sandra Rhodes who gifted the lovely yet sensual "One Woman" to the sessions. It had already be covered by Al Green on his "Green Is Blues" LP and issued in June 1969 (a month before the HBS LP hit the shops) as a Hi Records 45 for Green (Hi 2164). The fourth tune is a 34-character long tune about bravado and hubris called "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" which itself is a misspelling on the artwork – the mistic should read nistic – as sung by the trio throughout its funky bass-driven groove.

Revolutionary for the day, I would agree however with many critics who regularly throw up the word indulgence as being one of the albums downfalls. Both the centrepieces – a cover of the Bacharach/David song "Walk On By" (made a hit by Dionne Warwick in 1964 on Scepter records) and the cover of "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" (already discussed) seriously test your patience in 2019. In fact I’ve often edited on computer "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" to play from after 09:30 minutes to the end to avoid the monologue. And the single edits possibly only go to proving their argument. But that doesn’t stop the whole LP from feeling like magnificence to me – a record that is and was artistically pushing it when so many would have played safe.

"Hot Buttered Soul" is obviously of its time – but man what a time it was. And to think that it still sounds sexy a full 50 years after the event is ample testament to its seductive brilliance. Take it for what it is brother, but take it – damn right!

"The Studio Album Collection" by JIM CROCE (March 2015 UK Edsel 7CD Box Set of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Photographs And Memories..."

South Philly singer-songwriter JIM CROCE was a strange one in Blighty. A massive star in the USA when his first solo album proper "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" hit the racks in May 1972 on ABC Records - within a year and a half he'd had two No. 1 singles and one number one album.

Yet in England (where most of his catalogue was carried by Vertigo Records) - his music meant little and saw bugger all chart action. Even a killer single like "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" with the equally impressive and touching ballad "Photographs And Memories" on the flipside (issued August 1972 on Philips 6000 069 in the UK) did zip despite the incredibly radio-friendly hooky A-side that American DJs sent all the way to the top (and back in the days when those 45 sales figures were huge).

Tragedy struck too. In late September 1973, Croce and other band mates were on their way from Louisiana to a gig in Sherman, Texas when their light aircraft crashed on take off killing all six inside (including the pilot). Croce was only 30 and it was already over. Yet his way with a melody, his raconteur wit and his great lyrical songs stayed with people and saw a Greatest Hits set grab an impressive No. 2 spot on the Stateside Rock LP charts in October 1974 (even then there was still nothing in the UK by way of chart action). And that's where this rather cool little CD Box set comes swaggering in.

UK released 16 March 2015 - "The Studio Album Collection" by JIM CROCE [featuring Ingrid Croce] on Edsel CROCEBOX01 (Barcode 5014797891036) is a 7CD Box Set with Card Repro LP sleeves and Booklet that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "Facets", 26:39 minutes, 11 Tracks

1. Steel Rail Blues [Side 1]

2. Coal Tattoo

3. Texas Rodeo

4. Charley Green, Play That Slide Trombone

5. The Ballad Of Gunga Din

6. Hard Hearted Hannah (The Vamp From Savannah) [Side 2]

7. Sun Come Up

8. The Blizzard

9. Running Maggie

10. Until It's Time For Me To Go

11. Big Fat Woman

Tracks 1 to 11 are the privately financed and issued "Facets" LP - released August 1966 in the USA on CROCE-101 (No Label), 500 copies only, most sold by JC at gigs

Disc 2 "Jim And Ingrid Too", 17:39 minutes, 7 Tracks

1. Child Of Midnight

2. Marianne

3. Railroads And Riverboats

4. Hard Times Are Over

5. The Railroad Song

6. Maybe Tomorrow

7. Pa (Song For A Grandfather)

Seven Studio Outtakes first issued March 2004 in the USA as Disc 2 in the 2CD Deluxe Edition reissue of "Facets" (Shout! Factory D2K 34724 - Barcode 826663472424). No recording dates or musician credits provided then or now. The recordings are probably 1967 and 1968 and are far better recorded quality than the bootleg feel of the original 1966 privately made "Facets" LP

Disc 3 "Croce" by Jim and Ingrid Croce, 27:23 minutes, 11 Tracks

1. Age [Side 1]

2. Spin, Spin, Spin

3. I Am Who I Am

4. What Do People Do

5. Another Day, Another Town

6. Vespers

7. Big Wheel [Side 2]

8. Just Another Day

9. The Next Man I Marry

10. What The Hell

11. The Man That Is Me

Tracks 1 to 11 are the US LP "Croce" originally issued September 1969 on Capitol ST-315 in Stereo and credited to JIM and INGRID CROCE. It was reissued 1974 in the USA and Canada as "Another Day, Another Town" on Pickwick SPC-3332 in different LP artwork (railway tracks sleeve) with nine rearranged tracks (the two dropped were "The Next Man That I Marry" and "I Am Who I Am"). That 1974 LP variant can be sequenced by using the following CD tracks – Side 1: 5, 6, 7, 4 and 2 / Side 2: 1, 8, 10 and 11. It was reissued yet again by Pickwick with the same catalogue number and nine tracks sometime in 1976 (Pickwick SPC-3332), but again with different artwork (painting/cartoon side profile face sleeve).

Disc 4 "You Don't Mess Around With Jim", 33:12 minutes, 12 Tracks

1. You Don't Mess Around With Jim [Side 1]

2. Tomorrow's Gonna Be A Brighter Day

3. New York's Not My Home

4. Hard Time Losin' Man

5. Photographs And Memories

6. Walkin' Back To Georgia

7. Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels) [Side 2]

8. Time In A Bottle

9. Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy)

10. Box No. 10

11. A Long Time Ago

12. Hey Tomorrow

Tracks 1 to 12 are the US LP "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" issued May 1972 in the USA on ABC Records ABCX-756 - July 1972 in the UK on Vertigo Records 6360 700 (peaked at No. 1 on the US LP charts, didn't chart UK)

Disc 5 "Life And Times", 29:51 minutes, 11 Tracks

1. One Less Set Of Footsteps [Side 1]

2. Roller Derby Queen

3. Dreamin' Again

4. Careful Man

5. Alabama Rain

6. A Good Time Man Like Me Ain't Got No Business (Singin' The Blues)

7. Next Time, This Time [Side 2]

8. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown

9. These Dreams

10. Speedball Tucker

11. It Doesn’t Have To Be That Way

Tracks 1 to 11 are the LP "Life And Times" - released January 1973 in the USA on ABC Records ABCX-769 - June 1973 UK LP on Vertigo Records 6360 7011 (peaked at No. 7 on the US LP charts, didn't chart UK)

Disc 6 "I Got A Name" , 31:47 minutes, 11 Tracks

1. I Got A Name [Side 1]

2. Lover's Cross

3. Five Short Minutes

4. Age

5. Workin' At The Car Wash Blues

6. I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song [Side 2]

7. Salon And Saloon

8. Thursday

9. Top Hat Bar And Grille

10. Recently

11. The Hard Way Every Time

Tracks 1 to 11 are the LP "I Got A Name" - released December 1973 in the USA on ABC Records ABCX-797 - April 1974 UK LP on Vertigo Records 6360 702 (peaked at No. 2 in the US LP charts, didn't chart UK)

Disc 7 "The Lost Recordings", 31:46 minutes, 12 Tracks

1. You Don't Mess Around With Jim

2. New York's Not My Home

3. Tomorrow's Gonna Be A Brighter Day

5. Walkin' Back To Georgia

6. Operator

7. Time In A Bottle

8. Seems Like Such A Long Time Ago

9. Mississippi Lady

10. These Dreams

11. A Good Time Man Like Me Ain't Got No Business (Singin' The Blues)

12. Lover's Cross

Tracks 1 to 12 are early home studio recordings for the 1972 LP "You Don't Mess Around With Jim". Edsel have reissued that 1972 album as a standalone CD in 2015 on Edsel EDSA 5025 (Barcode 740155502539) with the above 12 tracks - 1972 Home Demo Recordings for the "You Don't Mess Around With jim" Album added on as Bonuses.

Each of the 7CDs listed above are in individual singular card sleeves that repro the front and rear of their original vinyl albums - excepting of course the two specially created compilations - "Jim and Ingrid Too" and "The Lost Recordings" (both with newly made up artwork). All seven slide into a hard card slipcase box sided by a very tastefully laid out 36-page accompanying booklet featuring lyrics, recording credits (if known) and a new essay on Croce's life and legacy by ALAN ROBINSON written in December 2014. As with so many Edsel reissues, although the titles are licensed from the majors, there is precious little by way of Remastering credits except that their long-time Audio Engineer - PHIL KINRADE – has mastered this compilation.

The "Facets" album from 1966 reflects its privately pressed and recorded origins and has what can generously be described as bootleg quality - good but never great. The rest are thankfully a whole lot better - especially the core trio of solo LPs "You Don't Mess Around With Jim", "Life And Times" and the album that was recorded before he was tragically taken and released after his passing "I Got A Name". And I'd swear they're the Rhino Remasters. All the instruments are clear and clean. The second CD called "Jim & Ingrid Too" (Disc 2 in the Shout! Factory 2004 Deluxe Edition reissue of "Facets") has shockingly good audio for all of its seven cuts. But that 2004 Shout! Factory reissue unfortunately gives absolutely no indication of when, where or who played on these songs (not elaborated on here either). But given their audio, it might be enough to surmise that they were recorded circa 1967 to 1968 in a professional studio – put down no doubt before the husband and wife "Croce" set on Capitol Records in 1969. Although neither the booklet nor the rear sleeve of the other rarities set here (CD7 entitled "The Lost Recordings") gives any info on those 12 tracks - they're 1972 home demos for the "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" album and their audio quality reflects that. The real studio albums however sound great.

The first bare bones album is OK, the outtakes second CD far, far better despite its short playing time, but whilst the husband and wife Sonny & Cher routine of "Croce" has some pretty and funny moments – mostly it comes over as twee 60ts and is terribly dated (Ingrid hasn’t the best of voices either). The leap to May 1972 and the first solo album proper "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" on ABC Records in terms of audio and quality songs is enormous. It's as if Croce had been crafting and saving up for years because the songs on "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" are fantastic. While the radio-grabber title track gets all the hooky plaudits, to this day there are people who can’t listen to the emotive ballad "Time In A Bottle" without getting soppy. It’s a truly affecting song and the great audio feels like that of Steve Hoffman when DCC reissued and remastered his material. Terry Cashman and Tommy West (trading as Cashman and West on ABC Records in the USA and Probe Records in the UK) aided and abetted on all three of the proper solo albums and with smashes like "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", "Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)", "One Less Set Of Footsteps" and "I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song)"– Croce found himself up there with the likes of Don McLean, Gordon Lightfoot and even James Taylor as being beloved by the public and admired by music critics at one and the same time.

This is a nice set and a reminder of his sad loss – a legacy that shows (some say) that Jim Croce might have taken on the singer-songwriter big boys had his wit and charm been given a chance. In the meantime, try to seek this out rather elusive box set and enjoy those musical photographs of simpler times...

"Free/Identity/Promises Of The Sun" by AIRTO - 1972, 1975 and 1976 Albums on CTO Records (January 2019 UK Beat Goes On Records (BGO) Compilation - 3LPs Plus Bonuses Remastered Onto 2CDs) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Lucky Southern..."

By 1972, Brazilian-born superstar Percussionist AIRTO MOREIRA had already dropped two albums and sessioned up to the wazoo before releasing his third platter "Free" on Creed Taylor's CTI Records (engineered by the legendary Rudy Van Gelder). "Free" had been preceded by his 1970 debut "Natural Feelings" and its 1971 follow-up "Seeds On The Ground" – both LPs originally on Buddah Records in the States.

In its tasty and eclectic gatefold sleeve, the five songs of album number three also famously featured a virtual who's who of quality Jazz types bringing up the improvisational rear - Bassists Stanley Clarke and Ron Carter, Return To Forever's Keyboardist Chick Corea and Horn Player Joe Farrell, Keith Jarrett on Keyboards, Hubert Laws on Flute, George Benson on Guitar and the LP even boasted a Flora Purim composition ("Flora’s Song") and two guest vocals from the great lady (she became Airto's wife in the Sixties). Corea, Clarke and Flora Purim would of course feature in the band Return To Forever, formed in 1972 after the "Free" sessions. Prior to all this he'd played with Miles Davis on seminal period albums like 1971's double album "Live-Evil" and would re-join the mercurial trumpeter for 1973's "Black Beauty" and 1974's "Big Fun. Heady stuff and wild days indeed...

Back to 2019 - England's Beat Goes On Records (BGO) now give Moreira a long-overdue and stylish three-onto-two CD reissue and remaster - lumping in Airto's celebrated 1972 CTI set (three bonus outtakes from the sessions are included too) with two later albums he did for Arista Records after he left CTI. Both of these had more of a Latin and Samba influence than the improv Jazz of before - his 1975 set "Identity" and 1976's "Promises Of The Sun". The first of these "Identity" featured Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and again Flora Purim as guests whilst "Promises..." boasted talent like Vocalist and Guitarist Milton Nascimento, Guitarist Toninho Horta and Keyboard whizz Hugo Fattoruso. Here are the promising details...

UK released 11 January 2019 (December 2018 in the USA) - "Free/Identity/Promises Of The Sun" by AIRTO on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1366 (Barcode 5017261213662) offers Three LPs with Three Bonus Tracks Remastered onto 2CDs and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (55:16 minutes):

1. Return To Forever [Side 1]

2. Flora's Song

3. Free [Side 2]

4. Lucky Southern

5. Creek (Arroio)

Tracks 1 to 5 are his third studio album "Free" - released October 1972 in the USA on CTI Records CTI 6020. Produced by Creed Taylor - Track 1 written by Chick Corea, 2 by Flora Purim, 3 by Airto Moreira, 4 by Keith Jarrett and Track 5 by Victor Brazil.

BONUS TRACKS:

6. So Tender

7. Jequie

8. Creek (Arroio) (Alternative Version)

Tracks 6 and 7 first appeared on CTI CD Remasters in 1988 as session outtakes – Track 8 first appeared on the 2003 'Master Series' CD Reissue and Remaster of "Free" on CTI/Epic/Legacy 5127852. Track 6 written by Keith Jarrett, 7 by Moacir Santos and 8 by Victor Brazil

Disc 2 (73:24 minutes):

1. The Magicians (Bruxos) [Side 1]

2. Tales From Home (Lendas)

3. Identity

4. Encounter (Encontro No Bar)

5. Wake Up Song (Baiao Do Acordar)/Cafe [Side 2]

6. Mae Cambina

7. Flora On My Mind

Tracks 1 to 7 are his seventh album (sixth studio) "Identity" - released December 1975 in the USA on Arista AL 4068 and April 1976 in the UK on Arista ARTY 119.

8. Batucada [Side 1]

9. Zuei

10. Promises Of The Sun

11. Candango

12. Circo Marimbondo

13. Le De Casa

14. Ruas Do Recife

15. Georgianna

Tracks 8 to 15 are his eight album (seventh studio) "Promises Of The Sun" - released June 1976 in the USA on Arista AL 4116

The card slipcase houses a 2CD jewel case and a 20-page booklet featuring new liner notes from CHARLES WARING, a regular writer for BGO and one of Mojo’s Jazz reviewers. You get all the album credits, photos and a very good history of his Jazz Fusion years at CTI Records, his less successful Brazilian vs. Fusion rhythms with Arista only to eventually sign to Warner Brothers in the late Seventies doing Jazz Funk and trying to ride that very commercial wave.

Highlights on "Free" include ten minutes of Fender Rhodes, doubled-up flutes, Samba rhythms and Flora's ethereal vocals on the opening track "Return To Forever" – not just the name of the band they’d formed but a song they’d recorded prior to the "Free" sessions for ECM Records in February of that productive year, 1972. Keith Jarrett contributes Acoustic Piano to Side 1's other sweetie - "Flora's Song" – aided very nicely by Hubert Laws on Flute and Jay Berliner who classes up the overall feel with lovely Acoustic Guitar. The album's title track opens Side 2 and lives up to its name with ten and half minutes of free form (giggles and shouts ahoy from the players) whilst Keith Jarrett provides "Lucky Southern" - two and half minutes of KJ and George Benson trading guitar and piano solos. Return To Forever's Joe Farrell gives you a muscular saxophone solo on the album closer "Creek (Arroio)" while woodwinds keep it anchored. I have to say too that the three Bonus Cuts are exactly that - bonuses - "So Tender" at five minutes is Keith Jarrett on a beautiful sounding piano while "Jequie" by Brazilian Saxophonist Macir Santos may only be three minutes, it still allows guitarist Jay Berliner, Chick Corea on Piano and Flute player Hubert Laws enough room for all three to impress.

By the time we jump past three albums ("Fingers" in 1973, "Virgin Land" and "In Concert" with Deodato both in 1974) – Airto arrives at 1975 and 1976 for the "Identity" and "Promises Of The Sun" albums on Arista Records with his home country and its Latin/Samba rhythms firmly in the uppermost of his thoughts. Again there are genre-celebrity players on both records - Airto producing "Promises..." with Flora to gain total control when prior he’d used others. Without being overt, there is commerciality to these records – both sensing the Jazz Funk wave sweeping across music and into the mainstream. Airto even gets into some lurve vocals and deeply groovy territory on the tribute tune "Flora On My Mind" - the passion declarations amped up by Raul De Souza's trombone. Over on the almost environmental "Promises Of The Sun" (the album's title track written by and featuring Milton Nascimento) - Airto resorts to bird noises throughout to a backdrop of soothing woodwinds and delicate guitar from Toninho Horta. And on it goes... 

In September 2002, the then Brazilian President awarded Airto Moreira and his wife Flora Purim their country's highest honour for lifetime achievements in music - the 'Order Of Rio Branco'. And on the evidence presented here on this gorgeous sounding 2CD reissue highlighting an array of musical styles - its hardly surprising. Another winner from BGO...