"The Trojan Albums Collection" by THE CHOSEN FEW – Including Three Albums "Hit After Hit" (1973), "Everybody Plays The Fool" (February 1975) and "The Chosen Few In Miami" (August 1976) Plus Eleven Bonus Tracks – Group Featuring Franklyn Spence and three brothers – Noel, Busty and Errol Brown with Producers Derrick Harriott and King Sporty. Music Contributions from Lloyd Charmers and KC and The Sunshine Band (August 2020 UK Cherry Red/Doctor Bird 2CD Anthology – Andy Pearce Remasters) - A Review to Mark Barry...

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"...Melting Pot..."

What you get here are three albums by Jamaica's much-loved crossover crew THE CHOSEN FEW issued on England's mighty Trojan Records between 1973, 1975 and 1976. The first two were DERRICK HARRIOTT Productions with the legendary DJ and Producer KING SPORTY taking them to the next Miami Sound level for platter No. 3. 

Coming on like a sort of dandily dressed Detroit Spinners - musically the band were not your Traditional Reggae or Ska outfit but more a sophisticated Chi-Lites meets The Stylistics by way of Jamaica. This is high falsetto-vocals mainstream Reggae with a dollop of drama-driven Soul thrown in from one of the island's most popular Vocal Groups. 

Their British debut LP "Hit After Hit" from 1973 is new to digital, the other two are mid-Seventies rarities seldom seen on CD - whilst the 11 Bonus Tracks include rare Bunny Brown and Lloyd Charmers 45s on Song Bird and Duke Records, pumping up proceedings to a whopping 44-tracks in total. The group included Franklyn Spence and three brothers – Noel, Busty and Errol Brown. Given the lung-prowess of the four especially with Noel Brown on Lead – the effeminate vocals often featured two or even all of the boys - and by the time they were into 1976 – American Miami Funk had entered into the equation too. Let's get to the musical melting pot...

UK released 7 August 2020 - "The Trojan Albums Collection" by THE CHOSEN FEW on Cherry Red/Doctor Bird DBCDD-066 (Barcode 5013929276130) is a 2CD Anthology offering the following:

CD1 (71:19 minutes):
1. You're A Big Girl Now (Version 1) [Side 1]
2. You're A Big Girl Now (Version 3)
3. Shaft 
4. Stranger On The Shore
5. I'm Sorry 
6. Mexican Divorce
7. People Make The World Go Round [Side 2]
8. Everybody Plays The Fool 
9. I Wanna Go Back Home (aka Going back Home)
10. Melting pot 
11. Ebony Eyes 
12. Do Your Thing 
Tracks 1 to 12 are the album "Hit After Hit" - released March 1973 in the UK on Trojan Records TRLS 56. 

NOTES: Five tracks on the LP were previously issued as UK 45s – they are:
Track 1 in 1972 on Grape GR 3033, A-side
Also 1972 as the B-side to "Everybody Plays The Fool" on Trojan TR 7882
Track 3 in October 1971 on Song Bird SB 1061, A-side
Track 7 in October 1972 on Song Bird SB 1082, A-side by ERROL BROWN and THE CHOSEN FEW
Track 8 in 1972 on Trojan TR 7882, A-side (B-side was Track 1 "You're A Big Girl Now")
Track 8 also January 1974 as the A-side to Trojan TR 7940 
Track 11 in 1972 on Trojan TR 7864, A-side 
The other seven tracks are exclusive to the LP 

BONUS TRACKS: 
13. Why Can't I Touch You (1970 UK 45-single on Song Bird SB 1046, A-side)
14. Um-Ba-Ya (We Need Love) (Not Originally Released In The UK - 1971 Jamaican 45 on Move & Groove)
15. Time Is Hard (1970 UK 45-single on Song Bird SB 1031, A-side)
16. Everybody Just A Stall (1971 UK 45-single on Song Bird SB 1067, A-side)
17. Am I Black Enough? (July 1973 UK 45-single on Trojan TS 7984, A-side - features Noel Brown)
18. Fat Boy by BUNNY BROWN (1973 UK 45-single on Song Bird SB 1073 - features Chosen Few)

LLOYD CHALMERS Section (Producer):
19. Children Of The Night by THE CHOSEN FEW (October 1973 UK 45-single on Duke DU 162, A-side) 
20. Stoned In Love by CHOSEN FEW (October 1973 UK 45-single on Duke DU 163, A-side)
21. It's Too Late by CHOSEN FEW (October 1973 UK 45-single on Duke DU 164, A-side)
22. You Are Everything by THE CHOSEN FEW (from the 1974 UK Compilation LP "Hit Me With Music" on Trojan Records TRLS 82)

CD2 (71:02 minutes):
1. I Love The Way You Love (Part 1) [Side 1]
2. I Second That Emotion 
3. Make Way For The Young Folks 
4. Hide & Seek 
5. Reggae Stuff
6. My Thing 
Everybody Plays The Fool [Side 2, see Track 8 on Disc 1]
7. Tears Of A Clown 
8. Hang On Sloopy 
9. Queen Majesty 
10. La La At The End 
11. I Love The Way You Love (Part 2) 
Tracks 1 to 11 and Track 8 on Disc 1 is their second album "Everybody Plays The Fool" - released February 1975 in the UK on Trojan Records TRLS 106. All tracks exclusive to the LP except, "Everybody Plays The Fool". Test pressings exist of the album with its title originally labelled as "I Love The Way You Love". 

BONUS TRACKS: 
12. (Can't Get Enough Of That) Collie Stuff (1975 Jamaican 45-single on Groovemaster, A-side, no catalogue no)

13. Night And Day [Side 1]
14. I Am A Man 
15. In The Rain
16. Wandering 
17. Funky Buttercup 
18. Candy I'm So Daggone Mixed Up [Side 2]
19. Why Can't We Live 
20. Drift Away 
21. Daniel 
22. Hit Me With The Music 
Tracks 13 to 22 are their third album "The Chosen Few In Miami" - released August 1976 in the UK on Trojan Records TRLS 131.

NOTES: Four tracks from the "...In Miami" LP were issued as UK 45s – they are:
Tracks 13 and 17 in July 1976 as the A&B-sides of Miami MIA 401
Tracks 17 (as Funky Butter) and 16 in January 1974 as the A&B-sides of Action ACT 4623 
The other six are exclusive to the LP 

The 16-page booklet is the usual jam-packed Doctor Bird affair – new and deeply in-depth liner notes from HARRY HACKS sided with pages of rare Jamaican and British 45s, trade adverts, reviews, gig showcases in the press and even full page shots of Trojan Master Tape Boxes. You get to see in colour all those Song Bird, Trojan and Duke 45 labels as well as the lesser spotted Move & Groove, Micron and Crystal designs from Jamaica. They have even found an advert for Wincarnis Tonic Wine that feature our heroes giving it some fluffy clobber dance poses circa the Hit After Hit album (1973).

The audio is courtesy of one of my fave rave Remaster Engineers – England’s ANDY PEARCE who along with MATT WORTHAM has transferred these. The albums were all well recorded – so the bass and drum whacks are impressive and powerful as they pour out of your speakers. It’s only when you get to the 1970 and 1971 single sides that the audio drops but again given their vintage – it’s still more than acceptable. By the time we are playing 1976 – you may as well be listening to quality recorded Soul and Funk meets Reggae. 

Alongside Errol and Bunny Brown originals - The Chosen Few touched on tunes made famous by many other contemporaries – especially Soul acts like Isaac Hayes on Stax ("Shaft" and "Do Your Thing"), Thom Bell and The Stylistics on Avco ("People Make The World Go Round", "You Are Everything" and "Stoned In Love"), The Main Ingredient on RCA Victor ("Everybody Plays The Fool"), Smokey Robinson and The Miracles on Motown ("I Second That Emotion" and "Tears Of A Clown"), Kool & The Gang on De-Lite ("Funky Stuff"), Curtis Mayfield on Curtom ("Queen Majesty") and Billy Paul on Philadelphia International ("Am I Black Enough For You?"). 

They went back to The Drifters on Atlantic for "Mexican Divorce", caught the beauty in Mentor Williams on Decca and his fabulous gimme de music so I can "Drift Away" tune too. Rock artists like Carole King and Elton John had covers of "It's Too Late" and "Daniel" whilst Blue Mink and their huge hit "Melting Pot" got thoroughly mashed-up. Even Acker Bilk is almost unrecognisable with fantastically fuzzed-up Funk guitars on his signature ballad "Stranger On The Shore" – a track that surely rates as one of the most inventive covers I've ever heard from the period. 
In fact by the time we get to 1975 and 1976 - Soul Music and American Funk was never far from The Chosen Few camp - KC & The Sunshine Band backing up recordings for the "I Love The Way You Love" LP sessions that eventually came out as "Everybody Plays The Fool". 

Producer and mentor King Sporty (married to Betty Wright of "Clean Up Woman" fame on Alston Records) kept them current with stuff like "Funky Buttercup" and sexy originals in the shape of "I Am A Man" and "Wandering". In fact reviews often referred to the "...In Miami" set from 1976 more as a 'funky' LP rather than Reggae - a hybrid of genres from a classy combo.

This is a superb little release from Doctor Bird – a reissue label that I look forward to. And with the upgraded audio, recommended to those who dig their Reggae with a slice of Soul...

"The Studio Albums 1978-1991" by DIRE STRAITS – Featuring Six Studio Albums "Dire Straits" (1978), "Communiqué" (1979), "Making Movies" (1980), "Love Over Gold" (1982), "Brothers In Arms" (1985) and "On Every Street" (1991) – Band featuring Mark Knopfler, David Knopfler, John Illsley, Pick Withers, Alan Clark, Hal Lindes, Guy Fletcher, Omar Hakim, Terry Williams, Danny Cummings, Paul Franklin and Phil Palmer, Chris White with Guests Barry Beckett, Roy Bittan of The E Street Band, Mike Mainieri, Sting, Vince Gill, Jeff Porcaro of Toto and Manu Katche of Peter Gabriel's Band (October 2020 UK Mercury/Vertigo/UMC Reissue - 6LPs onto 6CDs in a Clamshell Mini Box Set with 1996 Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Portobello Belle..."

What you have here is a reissue of the November 2013 Eight-LP VINYL Box Set – itself mastered and pressed by three giants in the field of Audio reproduction – BOB LUDWIG, BERNIE GRUNDMAN and CHRIS BELLMAN. For Friday, 9 October 2020 we get a repress of that vinyl set, but this time Universal also includes the CD variant for the first time as a Limited Edition (albeit it appears with newly mastered versions of the 1996 remasters). As with the 2013 vinyl box set reissue, both "Brothers In Arms" and "On Every Street" are extended into double-albums to handle the longer playing time (initial 1985 and 1991 pressings were single LPs). 

Which Remasters for CD though? Confusingly – there is no mention of the words "Digitally Remastered" anywhere – not on the hype sticker on the shrink-wrap - nor the box – not on the Mini LP sleeves with their inner lyric sleeves now tucked into the singular cards as oversized foldout posters – nor on the CDs themselves. The cards say copyright 1996 and 2020 – yet on re-listening to all of them today – they seem bigger and better than the 1996 versions. I could just be me, but I swear there is better mastering here. "Communiqué" and "Tunnel Of Love" are both gorgeous given a bit of welly on the volume button.

With the exception of "Brothers In Arms" which has had numerous anniversary and format reissues (SACD etc) and the first two Seventies records which have received expensive Platinum SHM-CD variants in Japan - the bulk of the others haven't been touched on CD since the June 1996 Remasters series. This 6-Disc set will be a way of getting great audio for the lot and it comes with Mini LP Repro Art Card Sleeves that we old farts worship at the smelly feet of.

There are a lot of brothers with arms, swinging sultans and gold that is over love to get through, so let's have at it...

UK released Friday, 9 October 2020 - "The Studio Albums 1978-1991" by DIRE STRAITS on Mercury/Vertigo/UMC 0839136 / 00602508391361 (Barcode 602508391361) is a 6CD Clamshell Mini Box Set of 1996 Remasters that plays out as follows:

CD1 Mercury 0841080 "Dire Straits" (41:52 minutes):

1. Down To The Waterline [Side 1]

2. Water Of Love

3. Setting Me Up

4. Six Blade Knife

5. Southbound Again

6. Sultans Of Swing [Side 2]

7. In The Gallery

8. Wild West End

9. Lions

Tracks 1 to 9 are their debut album "Dire Straits" – released June 1978 in the UK on Vertigo 9102 021 and October 1978 in the USA on Warner Brothers BSK 3266

CD2 Mercury 0841081 - "Communiqué" (42:44 minutes):

1. Once Upon A Time In The West [Side 1]

2. News

3. Where Do You Think You're Going?

4. Communiqué

5. Angel Of Mercy [Side 2]

6. Portobello Belle

7. Single-Handed Sailor

8. Follow Me Home

Tracks 1 to 9 are their second album "Communiqué" – released September 1979 in the UK on Vertigo 9102 031 and June 1979 in the USA on Warner Brothers HS 3330.

CD3 Mercury 0841083 - "Making Movies" (38:30 minutes):

1. Carousel Waltz Intro / Tunnel Of Love [Side 1]

2. Romeo And Juliet

3. Skateaway

4. Expresso Love [Side 2]

5. Hand In Hand

6. Solid Rock

7. Les Boys

Tracks 1 to 7 are their third album "Making Movies" – released October 1980 in the UK on Vertigo 6359 034 and November 1980 in the USA on Warner Brothers BSK 3480

CD4 Mercury 0841085 - "Love Over Gold" (41:12 minutes):

1. Telegraph Road [Side 1]

2. Private Investigations

3. Industrial Disease [Side 2]

4. Love Over Gold

5. It Never Rains

Tracks 1 to 5 are their fourth studio album "Love Over Gold" – released September 1982 in the UK on Vertigo 6359 109 and September 1982 in the USA on Warner Brothers 9 23728-1

CD5 Mercury 0841078 - "Brothers In Arms" (55:15 minutes):

1. So Far Away (5:11 minutes *) – Side 1

2. Money For Nothing (8:26 minutes *)

3. Walk Of Life (4:12 minutes)

4. Your Latest Trick (6:33 minutes *)

5. Why Worry (8:31 minutes *)

6. Ride Across The River (6:58 minutes *) – Side 2

7. The Man's Too Strong (4:40 minutes)

8. One World (3:40 minutes)

9. Brothers in Arms (7:00 minutes *)

Tracks 1 to 9 are their fifth album "Brothers In Arms" – released May 1985 in the UK on Vertigo VERH 25 and May 1985 in the USA on Warner Brothers 9 25264-1.

* NOTE: launched the year prior, the CD format was making huge inroads into format sales in 1985 and this album was one of the reasons why. The vinyl version had shorter tracks as follows:

Side 1: So Far Away (4:04 minutes) / Money For Nothing (7:00 minutes) / Walk Of Life (4:10 minutes) / Your Latest Trick (4:49 minutes) / Why Worry (5:16 minutes)

Side 2: Ride Across The River (6:59 minutes) / The Man's Too Strong (4:40 minutes) / One World (3:40 minutes) / Brothers in Arms (6:49 minutes)

The CD took advantage of longer playing time as can be seen from the timings supplied above with Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 9 being extended versions, some considerably longer than the LP cuts. This CD Remaster uses the extended versions.

CD6 Mercury 0841086 - "On Every Street" (60:35 minutes):

1. Calling Elvis [Side 1]

2. On Every Street

3. When It Comes To You

4. Fade To Black

5. The Bug

6. You And Your Friend

7. Heavy Fuel [Side 2]

8. Iron Hand

9. Ticket To Heaven

10. My Parties

11. Planet Of New Orleans

12. How Long

Tracks 1 to 12 are their sixth and final studio album "On Every Street" – released September 1991 in the UK on Vertigo 510 160-1 and September 1991 in the USA on Warner Brothers 9 26680-1. The CD variant of this album has the same playing times on all tracks as the vinyl LP – the CD catalogue numbers have -2 at the end of each instead of -1.

The core band featured Mark Knopfler, David Knopfler, John Illsley and Pick Withers initially with Alan Clark, Hal Lindes, Guy Fletcher, Omar Hakim and Terry Williams, Danny Cummings, Paul Franklin, Phil Palmer and Chris White joining proceedings along the way. And then there are those contributions from guests like Barry Beckett, Roy Bittan of The E Street Band, Mike Mainieri, Sting, Vince Gill, Jeff Porcaro of Toto and Manu Katche of Peter Gabriel’s Band.

The fold-out posters (as they are calling them) is a smart idea so you can actually read the lyrics and musician credits – the only spoiler being "Brothers In Arms" has that type-face that is just so difficult to make out (it is also the only CD that keeps its picture original design – the others are all plain black).

As the 1978 debut opens with that foghorn in the distance, you may have to give "Down To The Waterline" a bit of volume but there is no doubting how clean the transfer is. If I'm perfectly honest, the Japanese Platinum SHM-CD from September 2013 that I bought and reviewed (see separate entry) has more depth and clarity, but that is the only disc I felt a wee-bit lacking of the six. And even then "Sultans Of Swing" will still rock your speakers.

By the time you get to 1979 and "Communiqué" – the Production values are quite simply incredible. "Tunnel Of Love" and "Love Over Gold" are the same. But what a Box set like this does is to allow you to revisit those album nuggets that never made singles – the stunning sexy funk of "Six Blade Knife" and gritty edge of "In The Gallery" from the explosive debut – onto beauty like "Portobello Belle" and the razor-sharp acoustic guitars of "Where Do You Think You're Going?" on "Communiqué". Over on Side 2 of "Making Movies" is "Hand In Hand" - another oh so pretty Knopfler love song where his way with a ballad always moves me whilst groove lovers can flip back to Side 1 for the sheer Rock Funk of "Skateaway". 

I was watching fan posts of gigs in 2015 and 2019 where MK and his huge band tackle "Telegraph Road" and again – you forget about the sheer musical majesty contained within its thirteen and half minutes. "Private Investigations" still amazes with its combo of keyboard delicacy and big mickey guitar bombast. The extended "Your Latest Trick" on the CD of "Brothers In Arms" makes mincemeat of the seriously edited LP version and I love that slink in "Ride Across The River" as it opens Side 2 of that 1985 behemoth. Sometimes you're the Louisville slugger in "The Bug" – one of the better tracks on a hugely underwhelming final album "On Every Street". But no concerns whatsoever about either the mega "Brothers In Arms" or "On Every Street" albums here – the audio on both CDs is sensational.

Like the superbly comprehensive 6CD November 2019 mini clamshell Box Set "Every Move You Take" by THE POLICE - you do wish Universal had gone just a wee step further and included those rare DS 45-stragglers – the non-album "Eastbound Train (Live)" on the flipside of "Sultans Of Swing" or the hilarious "Badges, Posters, Stickers, T-shirts" on the B-side of "Private Investigations", the "Twisting By The Pool EP" with "If I Had You" and so on. And maybe a booklet with liner notes, photos, reissue credits that clarify.

But that not withstanding - I suspect this dinky little retro set will make its way into many Covid-Free Christmas Stockings for Xmas 2020.

I saw DIRE STRAITS live in Ireland twice – once with the four piece for "Communiqué" at The National Stadium when they just becoming big and then with the extended band for the "Love Over Gold" tour in a wet and windy outdoor racecourse. They got more than four encores on each occasion – the crowds at both amazed at the sheer musicality on display over the hours. It's the same here really. A proper little crowd pleaser and pick-me-up...

"Baron Von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun" by PAUL KANTNER, GRACE SLICK and DAVID FREIBERG – June 1973 US Album on Grunt Records featuring John Barbara, Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen and Papa John Creach of Jefferson Airplane, Craig Chaquico of Jefferson Starship, Jerry Garcia and Micky Hart of The Grateful Dead, David Crosby of The Byrds and CSNY, Chris Ethridge of The Flying Burrito Bros and The Pointer Sisters (March 2020 UK Esoteric Recordings - Newly Remastered Edition – Ben Wiseman Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Riders Of The Rainbow...."

David Crosby nicknames for Paul Kantner and Grace Slick as an album title - very cool idea. 

As I recall Jefferson Airplane and most of its solo offshoots were all but dead in the water by the time this album was released Stateside in June 1973 on their own Grunt Records. It peaked at a low No. 120 on the US Billboard LP charts - starting a decline from his first solo album "Blows Against The Empire" from December 1970 at No. 20 to the "Sunfighter" album from December 1971 at No. 89. In Blighty and Ireland as I recall, this triple-credited solo album barely registered – also turning up in shops June 1973 to a bit of curiosity in the artwork and odd name – but a yawn at most else.

Which is a damn shame because what's contained within is one of their better almost hidden solo-gems in a long cannon of Airplane/Starship works - a transition LP between the sound of old Airplane morphing into the new Starship (David Freiberg had been a Vocalist, Guitarist and Songwriter with Quicksilver Messenger Service). And Esoteric Records of the UK (part of Cherry Red) seem to think so too giving the wee uppity litter runt of the litter a properly tasty reissue that restores the weird original artwork (all that physical and mental health stuff) and uses first generation Grunt master tapes for a reasonably improved audio go-round to an album that hasn't done well on digital before. Let's get chromium, healthy and restore posterity's noble heritage...

UK released 27 March 2020 (delayed from 4 March) - "Baron Von Tollbooth And The Chrome Nun" by PAUL KANTNER, GRACE SLICK and DAVID FREIBERG on Esoteric Recordings QECLEC 2713 (Barcode 5013929481381) offers a straightforward Remaster of the 1973 album and plays out as follows (40:25 minutes):

1. Ballad Of The Chrome Nun [Side 1]
2. Fat 
3. Flowers Of The Night 
4. Walkin' 
5. Your Mind Has Left Your Body 
6. Across The Board [Side 2]
7. Harp Tree Lament 
8. White Boy 
9. Fishman 
10. Sketches Of China 
Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "Baron Von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun" - released June 1973 in the USA and UK on Grunt Records BFL1-0148 (same catalogue number for both countries). Produced by PAUL KANTER, GRACE SLICK and DAVID FREIBERG - it peaked at No. 120 in the US LP charts (didn't chart UK). 

PAUL KANTNER - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Glass Harmonica on "Harp Tree Lament" and "White Boy" 
GRACE SLICK - Lead Vocals, Piano on all tracks except "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun" and "Harp Tree Lament"
DAVID FREIBERG - Lead Vocals, Keyboards, Piano on "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun" and "Harp Tree Lament"

Guests:
JERRY GARCIA (of The Grateful Dead) - Guitar on all tracks except "Flowers Of The Night" and "Harp Tree Lament" - Steel Guitar on "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun" and "Your Mind Has Left Your Body" - Banjo on "Walkin'" 
JORMA KAUKONEN (of Jefferson Airplane) – Lead Guitar on "Your Mind Has Left Your Body"
CRAIG CHAQUICO (of Jefferson Starship) – Lead Guitar on "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun", "Flowers Of The Night" and "Fishman"
JACK TRAYLOR – Acoustic Guitar and Vocals on "Flowers Of The Night" - Vocals on "White Boy" and "Sketches Of China"
PAPA JOHN CREACH (of Jefferson Airplane) – Electric Violin on " Walkin'"
CHRIS ETHRIDGE (of The Flying Burrito Bros) – Bass Guitar on all tracks except "Your Mind Has Left Your Body", "White Boy" and "Fishman"
JACK CASADY (of Jefferson Airplane) – Bass Guitar on "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun", "Flowers Of The Night" and "Fishman"
JOHN BARBATA (of Jefferson Airplane) – Drums and Percussion 
MICKEY HART (of The Grateful Dead) - Gongs on "Your Mind Has Left Your Body" and "Sketches Of China" - Water Phones on "Your Mind Has Left Your Body"
DAVID CROSBY (of The Byrds and CSNY) - Vocals on "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun"
THE POINTER SISTERS – Vocals on "Fat"

The gatefold card digipak and picture CD reproduce the 1973 LP artwork whilst the 16-page booklet gives the artwork of the inner sleeve a placing too. You get lyrics to all the songs, the three faces behind skulls and two skeleton paintings of the inner sleeve as well as those Hippocrates, Aristotle, Da Vinci etc drawings that adorned the top of the inner plus that gobbledygook about ‘good health’ – now spread strikingly across the booklet’s centre pages. 

Instead of the separate insert which came with original LPs that gave track-by-track musician breakdowns as well as vocal credits, Esoteric have compiled a who-played-on-what list themselves on Page 7 of the booklet. There are new liner notes entitled 'Find Out What And Who You Are' by MIKE METTLER that feature interviews with Jorma Kaukonen and Craig Chaquico about their Lead Guitar solo contributions (which lifted up so many of the better tracks) and there are the usual reissue credits. A good read then, with a favourable reappraisal of the album in the grand scheme of JA/JS things. 

The remaster boasts first generation Grunt Records master tapes but as anyone who knows the 'love it or lump it' production values of this LP, the audio even in the hands of BEN WISEMAN (a very experienced Audio Engineer) is better but never great. Audiophile fans should look away immediately. Having said that and having had this album for near on 50 years now - the Remaster is better on more cohesive and less cluttered tracks like the guitar-driven "Flowers Of The Night" and the expansive grunge drone guitars of the head-game "Your Mind Has Left Your Body" are way meatier than I've ever heard them. When its good - it's good - but when stuff like Grace Slick's angry "Across The Board" comes on or that intrusive Mellotron sound that hunkers down in the background of "Harp Tree Lament" - there is only so much you should expect from this. I like the improvements and am glad I have them. To the tunes and players...

Lonesome Piano and Guitar open Side 1's "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun", Grace Slick taking the first lead vocal, lyrics about 'not needing to be baptised' - while Craig Chaquico's guitar notes make themselves known. Axeboy Chaquico had been around the JA camp since his notice-me-right-now solo for "Earth Mother" on Kantner's 1971 effort "Sunfighter". Prodigy Chaquico would of course get better and better and I can vividly recall watching the Old Grey Whistle Test on British TV as Bob Harris told his audience to note Chaquico's stunning playing on "Ride The Tiger" from the "Dragon Fly" LP in late 1974. Speaking on cool guests and their excellent contributions, David Crosby does a Harmony Vocal over the guitar that is so subtle and sweet too. I didn't like "Fat" at first, but typically it's the kind of song that grows in stature although the Remaster hasn't made the intrusive Mellotron sound any better (The Pointer Sisters guest as Backing Singers). 

A member of the obscure West Coast band Steelwind, guest and pal to the band Jack Traylor wrote and sings "Flowers Of The Night" - once again CC providing genuinely notable guitar work. Traylor also had an album on Grunt in 1973 co-credited to him and Steelwind called "Child Of Nature" (Grunt Records BFL1-0194) - not a vinyl you see every day of the week. Papa John Creach lends his violin to "Walkin'" - a good tune - while Side 1 ends on what I think is the album's best cut - the mind melding ever-so-spaced-out Pink Floyd feel to "Your Mind Has left Your Body". Jorma Kaukonen lets his lead guitar shimmer in the grunge, while Kantner sings about riders of the rainbow and other mad let it grow hippie lyrics. There is a huge and magnificent feel to this lengthy Side 1 finisher - like they were on to something soundwise and were riding the waves as they came crashing out through the speakers. 

Side 2 opens with Grace being angry at both women and men on "Across The Board" – and especially women who need men for their dimensional skill sets.  David Hunter of The Grateful Dead fame lends his lyrics to the David Freiberg song "Harp Tree Lament" – a tune that hasn’t dated well really. Soundwise, again Kantner comes on all Pink Floyd circa "Animals" or even "The Wall" with the ominous and brooding "White Boy" subtitled in brackets on the record label as "Transcaucasian Airmachine Blues". It floats and uplifts in that strange Floyd Prog Rock kind of way as Kantner name-checks races and colours and creeds – the guitar drenched in a very cool sustain. I find both the cod rocker "Fishman" and the murky warlords in "Sketches Of China" to be both overwrought – JA just not knowing when to stop with the layer after layer of instruments. 

There are those who rate "Baron Von Tollbooth..." as a five-star forgotten gem. I would proffer three stars elevated up to four for this tasty 2020 reissue. Whatever you remember, I was a little taken aback at how much I enjoyed revisiting this audio-compromised mishmash. Nice one again boys...

"Bootleg Him!" by ALEXIS KORNER – April 1972 US Double-Album on Warner Brothers and August 1972 UK Double-Album on RAK Records – including the groups Blues Incorporated, New Church, Duo, CCS and Alexis Korner Solo Material recorded between 1961 to 1971 – featuring Alexis Korner on Vocals and Guitars, Cyril Davies on Harmonica and Vocals, Herbie Goins on Lead Vocals, Robert Plant pre Led Zeppelin on Lead Vocals, Paul Rodgers of Free on Harmony Vocals, Larry Power on Guitar, Peter Thorup of CCS and Snape on Vocals and Guitar, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Ray Warleigh, Alan Skidmore, Chris Pyne, John Surman, Henry Lowther, Lol Coxhill, Victor and Annette Brox, Graham Bond, Brian Smith, Keith Stanger on various Horns, Chris McGregor, Keith Scott and Johnny Parker on Piano, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox of Pentangle on Double Bass and Drums, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker of Cream on Bass and Drums, Andy Fraser of Free and Chris Hodgkinson on Bass with Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones on Drums (November 1999 UK Castle Music/Essential Reissue – 2LPs onto 1CD Remastered) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Had My Fun..."

Following on from his "Alexis" debut album for Mickie Most's RAK Records in July 1971 (SRAK 501 being a wee bit of an underwhelming affair truth be told and especially given his fantastic output with C.C.S. at the time) – Blighty punters were greeted with the sprawling 2LP set "Bootleg Him!" by Alexis Korner in August 1972. 

It featured gorgeous but oddly inappropriate Roger Dean space-creature in winged-cape and denim-boots artwork on the front of its laminated gatefold sleeve whilst sporting a very flash four-page insert and endless other text details on the inside. Despite some copies having gold price stickers to catch your money-conscious eye - RAK Records SRAKSP 51 wasn't a cheap double-album of current material - but a ten-year career retrospective of unheard rarities from 1961 to 1971. Highlighting his staggering contribution to British Blues and in particular Blues-Rock – all of it featuring a cast of luminaries that took me a few hours to type out I can tell you. 

"Bootleg Him!" had first been issued in the same elaborate gatefold packaging in the USA - April 1972 on Warner Brothers 2SX 1966 – albeit in a card sleeve rather than laminate. As you can see from the detailed track-list provided below - only three of the 20 session songs were actually credited to ALEXIS KORNER. The other seventeen cuts feature bands AK either formed or fronted or did both - Blues Incorporated for the whole of the first LP - with Duo, New Church and Collective Consciousness Society (CCS) taking up the second (neither Duo nor New Church ever managed actual releases). 

And man what a hotchpotch "Bootleg Him!" is. Styles vary from straight up Acoustic Blues like his atmospheric cover of "Corina Corina", a song made famous by Atlantic Records Big Joe Turner in the Fifties, or the live purist Jazz soloing of "Honesty" where everyone in the band seems to have a go, much to the enthusiasm of the crowd or the Rock vs. Prog Rock elements of "Sunrise" from Side 2 of the self-titled October 1970 C.C.S. debut album where the musicians listed are maybe as many as 20. It's a bit of a ride. 

As you can see from the track-by-track musician lists below, famous and not-so-famous luminaries include the fabulous Harmonica playing of Cyril Davies - soul boy Herbie Goins on Vocals - Horn players from the Prog Rock and Jazz scene like John Surman, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Ray Warleigh, Chris Pyne, Alan Skidmore, Henry Lowther, Lol Coxhill, Harold Beckett, Victor and Annette Brox and Graham Bond play alongside Chris McGregor, Keith Scott and Johnny Parker on Piano, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker of Cream on Bass and Drums, Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser of Free on Harmony Vocals and Bass, Drummer Charlie Watts of The Stones and perhaps more genuinely gobsmacking than them all put together is a young 20-year old vocalist down to London in the shape of a throat-shredding Robert Plant pre Led Zeppelin (his session was September 1968). All this and people like Danny Thompson and Terry Cox from Pentangle and it's enough to make my Irish head spin. Let's get retrospective...

UK released November 1999 - "Bootleg Him!" by ALEX KORNER (and Others) on Castle Music/Essential ESMCD 806 (Barcode 5017615880625) offers the full 20-track double-album Remastered onto 1CD and plays out as follows (75:14 minutes):

Side 1:
1. She Fool Me - BLUES INCORPORATED (Billy Boy Arnold cover)
AK on Vocals and Guitar, Cyril Davies on Harmonica, Ken Scott on Piano, Colin Bowden on Drums

2. I'm A Hoochie Coochie Man - BLUES INCORPORATED (Willie Dixon song, Muddy Waters cover)
Cyril Davies on Lead Vocals and Harmonica, AK on Guitar, Dave Stevens on Piano, Dick Heckstall-Smith on Sax, Jack Bruce of Cream on Double-Bass with Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones on Drums 

3. Yellow Dog Blues - BLUES INCORPORATED (W.C. Handy cover, Instrumental)
AK on Electric Guitar, Chris Pyne on Piano, Ray Warleigh on Alto Sax, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox of Pentangle on Double Bass and Drums

4. I Wonder Who - BLUES INCORPORATED (Alexis Korner song)
AK on Lead Vocals and Electric Guitar, John Surman on Baritone Sax, Chris Pyne on Trombone with Dave Holland on Double Bass 

5. Dee - BLUES INCORPORATED (Alexis Korner song, Instrumental)
AK on Acoustic Guitar, John Surman on Baritone Sax, Chris Pyne on Trombone with Dave Holland on Double Bass

Side 2:
6. Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me - BLUES INCORPORATED (Charles Mingus cover)
AK on Lead Vocals and Electric Guitar, Alan Skidmore on Tenor Sax, Chris Pyne on Trombone with Danny Thompson and Terry Cox of Pentangle on Double Bass and Drums 

7. Rockin - BLUES INCORPORATED (Alexis Korner song, Instrumental)
AK on Electric Guitar, Graham Bond and Dick Heckstall-Smith on Alto and Tenor Saxes, Johnny Parker on Piano, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker of Cream on Double Bass and Drums 

8. Honesty (Live) - BLUES INCORPORATED (Dave Baker cover)
AK on Electric Guitar, Ray Warleigh on Alto Sax with Chris Pyne on Trombone with Danny Thompson and Terry Cox of Pentangle on Double Bass and Drums 

9. I Got A Woman - BLUES INCORPORATED (Ray Charles cover)
Herbie Goins on Leads Vocals, AK on Electric Guitar, Ray Warleigh on Alto Sax with Brian Smith and Nigel Stanger on Tenor Saxes and Danny Thompson and Terry Cox of Pentangle on Double Bass and Drums 

10. Mighty Mighty Spade & Whitey - NEW CHURCH & FRIENDS (Curtis Mayfield cover)
Lead Vocals and Guitars by AK and Peter Thorup of CCS, Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser of Free on Harmony Vocals and Electric Bass, Annette Brox on Harmony Vocals and Tambourine, Alto Sax by Ray Warleigh, Baritone Sax by John Surman, Tenor Sax by Lol Coxhill, Trombones by Chris Pyne and Malcolm Griffiths, Trumpets by Harold Beckett and Henry Lowther with Drums by John Marshall 

Side 3:
11. Corina Corina - DUO (Blues Traditional, Joe Turner cover)
Lead Vocals and Acoustic Guitar by AK with Victor Brox on Trumpet
 
12. Operator - DUO (Steve Miller (of the UK), Alexis Korner and Robert Plant song)
Robert Plant on Lead Vocals and Harmonica, AK on Acoustic Guitar with England's Steve Miller on Piano
 
13. The Love You Save - DUO (Joe Tex cover)
AK on Lead Vocals and Electric Guitar with Victor Brox on Piano 

14. Jesus Is Just Alright - NEW CHURCH (Arthur Reynolds cover)
Peter Fensome on Lead Vocals, AK on Harmony Vocals and Mandoguitar, Peter Thorup of CCS and SNAPE on Harmony Vocals and Electric Guitar, Ray Babbington on Bass with Annette Brox on Harmony Vocals and Tambourine 

15. That's All - ALEXIS KORNER (Traditional Blues cover)
AK on Lead Vocals and Acoustic Guitar with Chris Hodgkinson on Bass

Side 4: 
16. Evil Hearted Woman - DUO (Mance Lipscombe cover)
AK Lead Vocals and Tiple Guitar, Peter Thorup on Acoustic Guitar with Chris Hodgkinson on Bass 

17. Clay House Inn - ALEXIS KORNER (David Ward song)
AK on Lead Vocals and Acoustic, Larry Power on Electric Guitar, Chris McGregor on Piano, Chris Hodgkinson on Bass and Jack Brooks on Drums

18. Love Is Gonna Go - ALEXIS KORNER (Alexis Korner, Duffy Power song) 
AK on Lead Vocals and Acoustic with Chris Hodgkinson on Bass

19. Sunrise - CCS (Alexis Korner song)
AK and Peter Thorup on Lead Vocals and Guitars with all of CCS

20. Hellhound On My Trail - DUO (Robert Johnson cover)
AK on Tiple Guitar with Peter Thorup of CCS and Snape on Lead Vocals and Acoustic Guitar

Although the KIT AIKEN liner notes gives us a very informative overall view in the six-leaf foldout inlay - it's hardly the densely worded gatefold and four-page insert that came with original LPs where it even reproduced a Rolling Stones article on AK verbatim (there is more info in this review). You get some period photos and a silver sticker on the jewel case informing us that release gives you 'Britain's Blues Legend Remastered Repackaged with New Liner Notes' without ever telling us who remastered what and when. And in October 2020, this 1999 Castle Music CD appears to be still the only real way of getting this release on decent sounding digital that won't cost you a limb. Some of the live tracks aren't audiophile for sure and the C.C.S. cut is a tad hissy, but the rest has real meat - clean and clear too. There is nice naturalty to the audio. 

If you skip to the Muddy Waters cover "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" and clock the line-up - is it any wonder that the thing is a harmonica-driven R&B swinger - Cyril Davies doing a great job on Lead Vocals. The two instrumentals of "Yellow Dog Blues" and "Dee" are slow Blues for a starter and surprisingly Acoustic and Double Bass prettiness for desert. I will confess that I don't much like the Mingus cover "Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me" - but "Rockin" is a fab little shuffler where the brass shimmy and shake (shame it isn't the best audio perhaps). The first LP ends with a track that will surely end up on an Ace Records 'New Breed' dancer CD compilation - Herbie Goins fronting a skirt-shaking version of the Ray Charles classic "I Got A Woman". 

The second LP opens with worries about the USA in AK's sexy Funk-Soul-Rock cover of Curtis Mayfield's "Mighty Mighty Spade & Whitey" - the lyrics warning all colours that they will pay a crumbling-tower price if they "...stand divided, sort of undecided...".  In September 1968, Alexis Korner literally captured lightning-in-a-bottle when he brought in Robert Plant to record two numbers in London - "Operator" and "Steal Away". Yardbirds guitarist Jimmy Page got wind of his vocal prowess and the rest is Led Zeppelin history. Plant would in fact acknowledge Korner's session and patronage by singing snatches of steal away on Zep's "How Many More Times" on the 1969 debut album. Plant plays Harmonica and literally shreds the microphone in a fantastic Blues rendition. In fact given that Zeppelin had just had a fourth Number One album in November 1971 with their "Stairway To Heaven" beast of an album - it seems like both Warner Bros and RAK Records missed something of a selling-trick on this one by not advertising how good this RP inclusion on "Bootleg Him!" was/is. And on "Bootleg Him!" goes to the left-for-dead Blues of "The Love You Save" and the acoustic shuffle of "Evil Hearted Woman" and so much more. 

What I love about double-albums is the sheer splurge of them - and this little British beauty is for me one of the great forgotten wonders of the age (even if it is harking back to a decade prior). I can't help thinking that someone like Esoteric Recordings who did such a great job with the CCS catalogue (see my review for "Tap Turns The Water: The CCS Story") should do an AK Box Set covering the RAK Records years. 

In the meantime, if you gotta keep movin' baby, well, get this "Hellhound On Your Trail"...

PS: if you want more (all) of Alexis Korner from the 60ts, see also my review of "Every Day I Have The Blues: The Sixties Anthology" released 16 November 2018 on Grapefruit Records. Nine of the 20 tracks listed above from "Bootleg Him!" are featured in that 3CD Clamshell Box Set (Tracks 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12 and 13).

And Castle Music reissued the "Alexis" album from July 1971 on RAK Records SRAK 501 on CD in 2007 as part of their huge reissue program for Korner dubbed "The Alexis Korner Collection – The Godfather Of British Blues Remastered". Castle Music CMRCD 1470 (Barcode 5050749414700) is deleted now in 2020 (like all of these titles) but can be easily be found on Amazon or Auction sites like eBay.  

"New Blood/No Sweat/More Than Ever" by BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS – October 1972, August 1973 and July 1976 Fifth, Sixth and Ninth Studio Albums on Columbia Records USA and CBS Records UK – featuring Jerry Fisher, David Clayton-Thomas, Steve Katz, Larry Willis, Jim Fielder, Bobby Colomby and guests Bob James, Richard Tee, Eric Gale, Hugh McCracken, Eris Weissberg, Patti Austin, Gwen Guthrie, Paul Buckmaster and more (November 2012 UK Beat Goes On Reissue – 3LPs onto 2CDs – Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Heavy Blue..."

What you get here is studio album's five, six and nine from the once mighty Blood, Sweat & Tears - 1972, 1973 and 1976 on Columbia records USA and CBS Records in the UK. 

Fresh-faced and thrown in at the very deep end, replacement Lead Vocalist Jerry Fisher had big shoes to fill on the appropriately titled "New Blood" record. Preceding lungs-man and sometimes songwriter David Clayton-Thomas had left for a solo career after the "B, S & T 4" album in the autumn of 1971. 

The big-throated and charismatic Spinning Wheel Canadian Clayton-Thomas had steered the American band through two Number 1 LPs - "Blood, Sweat & Tears" in 1969 and "Blood, Sweat & Tears 3" in 1970. Their next "B, S & T 4" achieved a very healthy Number 10 peak on the US LP charts after release in July 1971. Along with the Al Kooper based debut "Child Is Father To The Man" in 1968 (peaked at a more modest No. 47, but still hugely influential) - these were all groundbreaking genre-hopping Rock-Soul and Jazz-Rock albums (with Prog elements thrown in) and were hugely popular just about everywhere. 

But common knowledge was showing that the band's heyday/winning streak might already have been over by the time Clayton-Thomas left in 1971. His solo career encompassing 1972 and 1973 on Columbia and RCA Victor Records is dealt with by Beat Goes On/BGO in another 3LPs onto 2CDs set of Remasters from August 2020 (see Barcode 501726121424 for my separate review). But his bid for solo stardom floundered and the big man found himself back with the band that made him for 1976's "More Than Ever" – their ninth studio album for Columbia/CBS and their last to chart Stateside (albeit in the lower reaches of the US Top 200). And that's where this dinky little twofer comes roaring in. Here is the heavy blue... 

UK released 16 November 2012 (20 September 2012 in the USA) - "New Blood/No Sweat/More Than Ever" by BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1074 (Barcode 5017261210746) offers 3 Albums Remastered onto 2CDs and plays out as follows:

CD1 (62: 40 minutes):
1. Down In The Flood [Side 1]
2. Touch Me 
3. Alone 
4. Velvet 
5. I Can't Move No Mountains [Side 2]
6. Over The Hill   
7. So Long Dixie 
8. Snow Queen / Maiden Voyage
Tracks 1 to 8 are their fifth studio album "New Blood" - released October 1972 in the USA on Columbia KC 31780 and October 1972 in the UK on CBS Records S 65252. Produced by BOBBY COLOMBY (with Bill Schnee and Joel Sill on Tracks 2 and 4) - it peaked at No. 32 in the USA (didn't chart UK)

9. Roller Coaster [Side 1]
10. Save Our Ship 
11. Django (An Excerpt) 
12. Rosemary 
13. Song For John 
14. Almost Sorry
Tracks 9 to 14 are Side 1 of their sixth studio album "No Sweat" - released August 1973 in the USA on Columbia KC 32180 and August 1973 in the UK on CBS Records S 65275. Produced by STEVE TYRELL - it peaked at No. 72 in the USA (didn't chart UK) 

CD2 (58:48 minutes):
1. Back Up Against The Wall [Side 2]
2. Hip Pickles 
3. My Old Lady 
4. Empty Pages 
5. Mary Miles 
6. Inner Crisis 
Tracks 1 to 6 are Side 2 of their sixth studio album "No Sweat" - released August 1973 in the USA on Columbia KC 32180 and August 1973 in the UK on CBS Records S 65275. Produced by STEVE TYRELL - it peaked at No. 72 in the USA (didn't chart UK) 

7. They [Side 1]
8. I Love You More Than Ever 
9. Katy Bell 
10. Sweet Sadie the Savior 
11. Hollywood [Side 2]
12. You're The One 
13. Heavy Blue 
14. Saved By The Grace Of Your Love 
Tracks 7 to 14 are their ninth studio album "More Than Ever" - released July 1976 in the USA on Columbia PC 34233 and August 1976 in the UK on CBS Records S 81465. Produced by BOB JAMES - it peaked at No. 165 in the USA (didn't chart UK)

The outer card slipcase is always a classy touch with these BGO reissues and with loads of inner sleeves, lyric inserts, band photos and huge amounts of session details - it's hardly surprising that repro'ing all that original artwork has made the booklet a chunky 24-page affair. The new liner notes from Mojo and Record Collector contributor CHARLES WARING does a typically in-depth job on all three records - while the ANDREW THOMPSON Remasters (licensed from Sony) sound amazing - clean, clear and full of musicianship detail. The problems however start when you begin the listen. 

Fisher was a good vocalist; but he was definitely no David Clayton-Thomas and song after song suffers from dull workmanlike delivery. But worse is the lack of actual tunes to like. As "New Blood" opens with an immaculate Brass-arranged-intro to their cover of Dylan's "Down In The Flood" - Steve Katz just about livens proceedings up with his Harmonica playing. But when you get to the Tony Randazzo and Victoria Pile song "Touch Me" or the dreadful "Velvet" sung by Jeff Kent (who hasn't got a voice) and the LP's faults start to become obvious. Despite the gorgeous Production values, despite the impressive playing of Georg Wadenius on Guitar or Dave Bargeron on Trombones or Lon Marini, Jr. on his fleet of Saxophones – few songs genuinely move you or even have hit-single potential. 

Blood, Sweat and Tears go Funk with a capitol Unk for "Alone" – but they chuck away that upbeat moment with dreck like the Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill ballad "So Long Dixie" - a boring mope steeped in cheesy bourbon images. They try to go ever so slightly Prog on the eleven-minute double cover version that ends the album - Carole King with The City and her "Snow Queen" segueing into Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage". But it just bores and if you know the Goffin/King original of "Snow Queen" from The City's lone album "Now That Everything's Been Said" (1969 on Ode Records, 2015 Light In The Attic Records CD reissue - see my review) - then you will realise just how badly they hammed up a gorgeous tune.

LP number two employs String arranger supreme Paul Buckmaster and some big names in Backing Vocalists (Valerie Simpson, Maeretha Stewart) – but again my ears go to the instrumentals like "Django (An Excerpt)" with Larry Willis or "Song For John" with Lou Marini, Jr. and his beautiful sax solo to (a) get away from the lifeless vocals and hammy lyrics and (b) to be genuinely excited. "Almost Sorry" starts out as a ballad before ripping into a defiantly funky groove where the band we once loved actually sound like they are on to something – unlike the rest of the album. 

Probably sensing the huge changes not just in Soul but Rock brought on by crossover music like Jazz Funk - not only did ace vocalist David Clayton-Thomas return for "More Than Ever" - but the band employed a virtual who's who of sessionmen to Funk-up proceedings. Bob James (played and produced), Eric Gale, Richard Tee, Patti Austin and Gwen Guthrie lent their talents - and bringing up the traditionalist rear were Hugh McCracken on Guitars, Eric Weissberg on Banjo and many more besides. 

In 1976, every band was reacting to Funk, Soul and the emerging Disco scene. DC-T came to the party with three in the shape of "They", a co-write with Warren 'Smithy' Smith who heated and Soulified up DC-T's second album on Columbia Records "Tequila Sunrise", a co-write with The Meters and Smithy on "Hollywood" and finally the mellow-nice vibe behind "You're The One" - said by some to have had the input of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. 

"Katy Bell" is a not entirely successful jazzed-up reinterpretation of an old Stephen Foster song while Patti Austin's "Sweet Sadie The Savior" talks of her heroine making grown men cry and preachers reassessing the meaning of saving souls. But my poison is the instrumental "Heavy Blue" by Larry Willis - a fabulous slice of mid Seventies Boz Scaggs-like Funk without the vocals. I've put this forgotten 'funky funky' nugget on many CD-R compilations highlighting mostly unknown Rock on a Soulful tip. For me, album three, "More Than Ever" (despite that strange label artwork) - saves the day. 

What you have here are three-star albums pumped up to a BGO four-star reissue by classy presentation and fab audio. Blood, Sweat & Tears fans will have to own BGOCD1074, while those who like their Rock instrumentals on the Soul/Funky side, might want to check out those hidden nuggets between the shiny new digital grooves...

"Some Time In New York City" by JOHN LENNON and YOKO ONO - Credited as JOHN & YOKO / PLASTIC ONO BAND with ELEPHANT’S MEMORY and INVISIBLE STRINGS – June 1972 US and September 1972 UK 2LP Set on Apple Records – includes all of the band Elephant's Memory on the studio LP with many featured guests on the live LP including Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett, Keith Moon, Nicky Hopkins, Klaus Voorman, Aynsley Dunbar, Bobby Keyes and Jim Price and more (October 2010 UK Apple Reissue – John Lennon Signature Collection Series (2LPs onto 2CDs in Card Repro Artwork) – Paul Hicks, Sean Magee and Simon Gibson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Political Prisoners..." 

I'm 62 and can vividly remember the tirade of 1972 bile that accompanied the release of the Lennon/Ono double-album "Some Time In New York City" - especially after the LP crowd pleaser of "Imagine" from the year prior. 

By the end of 1971, most of the world was in love with John Lennon's songs of social-change vs. personal highs and lows. But all that good will and affection went right out the window with the truly terrible crud that appeared on this pretentious dog. Well meaning no doubt in his political convictions, Lennon seemed to not understand either the sheer ire that Yoko Ono's dreadful songs and voice elicited amongst listeners. Not even elaborate gatefold packaging with inners and inserts galore saved it (more in the USA than in the UK) – while the lyrics on the front sleeve to the notorious "Woman Is The Nigger Of The World" song only made it more unpalatable and cringing. 

The album might have been appraised better too had it stood alone as a single LP. But the inclusion of a truly dire Live Jam album as a supposed Free Extra where only famous names and a gritty version of "Cold Turkey" saved the day - the rest of it firmly nailed him as confrontational for the sake of it – and worse – a pretentious out-of-touch git. Yoko's scream-fest on "Don't Worry Kyoko" probably did more damage than any ripe-for-ridicule hippie bed-in while the world watched – near seventeen minutes of absolute tosh - with The Mothers of Invention noise stuff on Side 4 even more unlistenable and downright antagonistic. 

Maybe if he’d included the non-album December 1971 US 45 for "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" in its picture sleeve with the "Listen, The Snow Is Falling" flipside as an extra instead of the Live Jam LP, reactions might have been more sedate or even positive. Both would have fitted in with the humanitarianism themes on the studio album and the War Is Over If You Want It wording scribbled (along with every other credit) on the Live LP inner sleeve. 

But I think despite its rep as a terrible instalment in a patchy solo career – there are tunes here to be reassessed. Let's get to the details...

UK released October 2010 - "Some Time In New York City" by JOHN & YOKO / PLASTIC ONO BAND with ELEPHANT'S MEMORY and INVISIBLE STRINGS on Apple 5099990650727 (Barcode 5099990650727) is part of the John Lennon Signature Collection Series - a straightforward reissue/remaster of the 1972 2LP set onto 2CDs that plays out as follows: 

CD1 "Some Time In New York City" STUDIO Album (42:23 minutes):

1. Woman Is The Nigger Of The World [Side 1]

2. Sisters, O Sisters 

3. Attica State 

4. Born In A Prison 

5. New York City 

6. Sunday Bloody Sunday [Side 2]

7. The Luck Of The Irish 

8. John Sinclair 

9. Angela 

10. We're All Water 

CD2 "Live Jam" LIVE Album (43:24 minutes):

1. Cold Turkey (Live) [Side 3]

2. Don't Worry Kyoko (Live) 

3. Well (Baby Please Don't Go) (Live) [Side 4]

4. Jamrag (Live)

5. Scumbag

6. Au (Live) 

CD1 and CD2 are the double-album "Some Time In New York City" - released 12 June 1972 in the USA on Apple SVBB 3392 and 15 September 1972 in the UK on Apple PCSP 716. Produced by JOHN LENNON, YOKO ONO and PHIL SPECTOR - it peaked at No. 48 in the USA and No. 11 in the UK. 

The glossy gatefold card sleeve with its 12-page booklet feels strangely flimsy and unworthy - but the Remaster handled by a trio of Audio Engineers associated with The Beatles reissues - SEAN MAGEE, PAUL HICKS and SIMON GIBSON – feels like a real improvement. The slide guitar of "John Sinclair" is great while the lush strings of "Angela" finally feel powerful. I can't say I notice anything about the rubbish live set other than the two vaguely listenable tunes "Cold Turkey" and "Well (Baby Please Don't Go)" (an old cavern R&B fave) have great power even if Lennon's vocals on the second disappear into the ether (how it was recorded). 

I don't care how brave the opening "Woman Is..." song may appear to some or the Yoko sung "Sisters, O Sisters" - the first is a painful and patronising Lennon listen while the second has her lead vocal ruining everything. The first tune for me of any real interest is "Attica State" (Track 3) which along with the Yoko sung "Born In A Prison" and John's riffing "New York City" rescue Side 1 for what is already becoming a very testing album. 

As an Irishman, I loathed both "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "The Luck Of The Irish" on Side 2. Both felt pointed in all the wrong directions even if Lennon was legitimately trying to make the British government accountable for actions that caused the loss of life and arguably another three decades of six-county tit-for-tat misery. The album's other two great cuts are the bluesy and beautifully remastered "John Sinclair" (about unjust internment) and the lovely string-swell of "Angela" where Yoko Ono finally sounds like she's nailed both the lyrics and an actually decent song to go with them. 

The 'live jam' set has always made my blood boil - all that "Scumbag" and "Jamrag" noise crescendo feeling like an aural insult to the audience rather than a gig meant to stimulate. Second LP guests included Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett, Keith Moon, Nicky Hopkins, Klaus Voorman, Aynsley Dunbar, Bobby Keyes and Jim Price of Rolling Stones fame and more – not that you can actually identify any of them through their playing.

Lennon would return with "Mind Games" in 1973 that was again another only-ok LP (the dullard artwork didn’t help much either) and it wouldn't be until the re-energised "Walls And Bridges" in 1974 that I'd start listening again with any real heart. 

Even after nearly 50 years of trying to actually like this release, I cringe whenever I look at this double-bubble vinyl splurge from 1972. But this 2010 Signature Collection 2CD Reissue has made me think it wasn't all lefty preaching while his wife wailed on like a banshee regardless of the cost. 

The better four or five cuts out of the principal ten make "Some Time In New York City" worth returning to. And you have to admire the star-crossed lovers and their sheer wear-it-on-your-sleeve belief that love and knowledge would cure the ills of the masses even when those masses riled against them. 

Apple of my eye or badly basted turkey – take your pick. In the end I just wish that all that emotional hutzpah had been backed up with better tunes which you have to say is probably what dismayed most listeners and fans more than anything...