"The Best Of The Cutting Edge: 1965-1966 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 12" by BOB DYLAN - 'Highway 61 Revisited' and 'Blonde On Blonde' Album Outtakes and Sessions - Musicians Included Charlie McCoy, Wayne Moss and Kenneth Buttrey of Area Code 615 and Barefoot Jerry, Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat & Tears, Mike Bloomfield of The Electric Flag, Hargus Robbins, Jerry Kennedy, Joe South, Bill Aikins, Paul Griffin, Will Lee, Bobby Gregg of The Devil’s Anvil, Wayne Butler of Charlie McCoy & The Escorts, Henry Strzelecki of The Teenagers, Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Levon Helm of The Band (November 2015 UK Columbia/Sony/Legacy 26-Track 2CD Compilation - Volume 12 in The Bootleg Series - Truncated Version of the Super Deluxe Edition Box Set - Mark Wilder Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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This Review and Over 384 More Like It

Are Available In My E-Book 

 

GIMME SHELTER!

CLASSIC 1960s ROCK ON CD 

And Other Genres Thereabouts 

 

Your All-Genres Guide To 

Exceptional Reissues and Remasters 

All Reviews From The Discs 

No Need To be Nervous!

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

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"...My Love Laughs Like The Flowers..." 

 

Beating Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention's "Freak Out!" by only one week - Rock's first double-album "Blonde On Blonde" was a zenith for the Bobster (and it's been an artistic touchstone ever since). 

 

Released as a 2LP set 20 June 1966 in the USA on Columbia C2L 41 (Mono) and Columbia C2S 841 (Stereo) and 13 August 1966 in the UK on CBS Records DDP 66012 (Mono) and CBS Records SDDP 66012 (Stereo) - "Blonde On Blonde" was produced by BOB JOHNSTON and peaked at No. 9 and No. 3 in each country respectively. "Highway 61 Revisited" from 1965 was the same - an influence beast. Between them, these two long-players were the culmination of an extraordinary talent run amok, peak 60ts period songs made all the more amazing by a sympatico band that delivered Bob Dylan's new electrified vision. 

 

And that where this sensational Volume 12 in the ongoing 'Bootleg Series' for all things Dylan comes a ramblin' in - shaking its Tambourine man and gettin' positive with Johanna, 4th Street and Tombstone Blues. Let's get to Dylan's 115 dreams...

 

UK released 6 November 2015 - "The Best of The Cutting Edge: 1965-1966 - The Bootleg Series Vol.12" by BOB DYLAN on Columbia/Sony/Legacy 88875124422 (Barcode 888751244221) is a 36-Track 2CD Compilation of outtakes from the "Blonde On Blonde" sessions that plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (70:21 minutes):

1. Love Minus Zero No Limit (Take 2 Acoustic)

2. I'll Keep It With Mine (Take 1 Piano Demo)

3. Bob Dylan's 115th Dream (Take 2 Solo Acoustic)

4. She Belongs To Me (Take 1 Solo Acoustic)

5. Subterranean Homesick Blues (Take 1 Alternate Take)

6. Outlaw Blues (Take 2 Alternate Take)

7. On The Road Again (Take 4 Alternate Take)

8. Farewell, Angelina (Take 1 Solo Acoustic)

9. If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Take 2 Alternate Take)

10. You Don't Have To Do That (Take 1 Solo Acoustic)

11. California (Take 1 Solo Acoustic)

12. Mr. Tambourine Man (Take 3 with Band, Incomplete)

13. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (Take 8 Alternate Take)

14. Like A Rolling Stone (Take 5 Rehearsal)

15. Like A Rolling Stone (Take 11 Alternate Take)

16. Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence (Take 2 Unreleased Take)

17. Medicine Sunday (Take 1, Early Version of 'Temporary Like Achilles')

18. Desolation Row (Take 2 Piano Demo)

19. Desolation Row (Take 1 Alternate Take)

All tracks Produced by TOM WILSON except 13 and 16 to 19 by BOB JOHNSTON

 

CD2 (75:00 minutes): 

1. Tombstone Blues (Take 1 Alternate Take)

2. Positively 4th Street (Take 5 Alternate Take)

3. Can you Please Crawl Out Your Window? (Take 1 Alternate Take)

4. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (Take 3 Rehearsal)

5. Highway 61 Revisited (Take 3 Alternate Take)

6. Queen Jane Approximately (Take 5 Alternate Take)

7. Visions of Johanna (Take 5 Rehearsal)

8. She's Your Lover Now (Take 6 Rehearsal)

9. Lunatic Princess (Take 1)

10. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (Take 8 Alternate Take)

11. One Of Must Know (Sooner Or Later) (Take 19 Alternate Take)

12. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again (Take 13 Alternate Take)

13. Absolutely Sweet Marie (Take 1 Alternate Take)

14. Just Like A Woman (Take 4 Alternate Take)

15. Pledging My Time (Take 1 Alternate Take)

16. I Want You (Take 4 Alternate Take)

17. Highway 61 Revisited (Take 7 False Start) 

All Tracks Produced by BOB JOHNSTON

 

The hard-card slipcase and 62-page colour booklet are among the best I've seen in this entire Bob Dylan series - wads of period photos - rare picture sleeves - press adverts - track-by-track info - notes from a pre-Blood, Sweat & Tears Al Kooper, the album artwork photographer and even backing vocalist Angeline Butler - it's really fantastic stuff. And MARK WILDER has once again done the Audio business with Remasters that thrill every time. These recordings jump and feel alive and yet are intimate in those quieter acoustic moments when you want them too. Exceptional.

 

There are genuinely hair-raising moments on this twofer that I suspect even die-hard Dylanites shudder at - the gorgeous unadorned acoustic Takes of "She Belongs To Me" and "Farewell, Angelina", while ace guitarist Mike Bloomfield plays an absolute blinder on Take 8 of "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry" and his soloing on Take 2 of "Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence". And even if the take of "Medicine Sunday" is incomplete and stops too criminally soon, you can hear the magic of The Band on it (Robertson, Hudson, Danko and Helm are all there). And if you needed confirmation of his tale-telling genius, Disc 1 ends with a spellbinding Take 1 of "Desolation Row" with only Dylan on Acoustic and Russ Savakus on a Double Bass - a staggering eleven-minutes and fifteen-seconds of brilliant rhyming lyrics and melody. These are just some of the gems on CD1 - there's oodles more.

CD2 throws up a starter on the Paul Revere's horse song (no need to be nervous) "Tombstone Blues", but even though it's good, the genius of the finished article isn't quite there yet. Take 5 of "Positively 4th Street" is so good too - but for me the first moment of must-have comes with a Take 1 of "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window" - Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper keeping time the piano tinkering of Paul Griffin. The same band attempts Take 3 of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" in early August 1965 - such a lovely languid feel - stunning stuff in its easy-going shuffle. Paul Griffin gets to 'organ' shine for a tasty alternate of "Queen Jane Approximately" but The Band (Robertson, Manuel, Danko and Hudson) can't really save a too-fast hammy take on "Visions Of Johanna". Better is their contribution to "She's Your Lover Now". Joe South and much of a future Area Code 615 (Charle McCoy, Wayne Moss etc) vamp up a weird sound-effects cut of "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat". Far better are Robbie Robertson (Guitar) and Paul Griffin (Organ) on a lovely version of "One Of Must Know (Sooner Or Later)". And on it goes...

This twofer is an embarrassment of riches and along with "Tell Tale Signs: Rare And Unreleased 1989-2006 - The Bootleg Series Vol.8" marks high-points in this truly extraordinary series. 

Bob Dylan is a legend, but "Cutting Edge" actually shows why. Toppermost of the poppermost - and there's nothing approximate about it...

"Anyway The Wind Blows: The Anthology" by J.J. CALE - Fifty Album Tracks from 1971 to 1994 on Shelter, Island, Silvertone and Virgin Records featuring Members of Area Code 615, The Muscle Shoals Swampers, Charlie McCoy, Christine Lakeland, Tommy Tedesco, Reggie Young, Buddy Emmons, James Burton, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell and more (June 1997 UK Mercury Records 50-Track 2CD Compilation [Six Previously Unreleased] with Denny Purcell and Gary Mayo Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...No Changes In The Weather...Ain't No Changes In Me..."

 

This is a fantastic little twofer - Remasters of album tracks from November 1971's groundbreaking debut "Naturally" all the way through to 1994's consolidation of his rep for cool with "Closer To You". There are even six Previously Unreleased cuts from his halcyon days at Shelter Records in the Seventies - at least four of which are properly great finds. Fifty tracks, the whole kit and caboodle sweetly remastered too. Tasty like a Tequila, fried chicken and waitresses with a twinkle in one eye and the other on the highway out of town. To the smoothest songwriter who ever lived...

 

UK released June 1997 - "Anyway The Wind Blows: The Anthology" on Mercury 532 901-2 (Barcode 731453290129) is a 50-Track 2CD Compilation of Remasters that plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (76:20 minutes):

1. Call Me The Breeze

2. Crazy Mama

3. Magnolia

4. After Midnight

5. Lies

6. Changes

7. If You're Ever In Oklahoma

8. Midnight In Memphis

9. Cajun Moon

10. Rock And Roll Records

11. Anyway The Wind Blows

12. Crying

13. Everlovin' Woman

14. I Got The Same Old Blues

15. Woke Up This Morning

16. Cocaine

17. The Woman That Got Away

18. Ride Me High

19. Hey Baby

20. Durango

21. I'll Make Love To You Anytime

22. Don't Cry Sister

23. Thirteen Days

24. Things Ain't Simple

25. Sensitive Kind

NOTES:

Tracks 1 to 4 from the album "Naturally" - released November 1971 in the USA on Shelter SW-8908 and January 1972 in the UK on A&M Records AMLS 68105

Tracks 5 to 7 from the album "Really" - released December 1972 in the USA on Shelter SW-8912 and January 1973 in the UK on A&M Records AMLS 68157

Track 8 is PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (an Instrumental from the "Really" sessions)

Tracks 9 to 14 from the album "Okie" - released April 1974 on Shelter SR-2107 in the USA and June 1974 on A&M Records AMLS 68261 in the UK

Track 15 is PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (a song outtake from the "Okie" sessions)

Tracks 16 to 19 from the album  "Troubadour" - released September 1976 on Shelter/Island ISA 5011 in the UK and Shelter SRL-52002 in the USA

Track 20 is PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (an instrumental outtake from the "Troubadour" sessions)

Tracks 21 to 23 and 25 from the album "5" - released August 1979 on Shelter/Island ISA 5018 in the UK and Shelter 3163 in the USA

Track 24 is PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (an outtake from the "5" sessions)

 

CD2 (76:39 minutes):

1. Carry On

2. Runaround

3. Mama Don't

4. City Girls

5. Devil In Disguise

6. You Keep Me Hangin' On

7. Downtown L.A.

8. A Thing Going On

9. Don't Wait

10. Wish I Had Me A Dollar (Live)

11. Money Talks

12. Hard Times

13. People Lie

14. Unemployment

15. Trouble In The City

16. Santa Cruz

17. Shanghaid

18. Change Your Mind

19. New Orleans

20. Humdinger

21. Lonesome Train

22. Jailer

23. Artificial Paradise

24. Long Way Home

25. Closer To You

NOTES:

Tracks 1 to 3 are from the album "Shades" - released February 1981 in the USA on Shelter Records SR-3453 and in the UK on Shelter ISA 5021

Tracks 4 to 9 from the album "Grasshopper" - released March 1982 in the USA on Mercury SRM-1-4038 and in the UK on Shelter ISA 5022

Track 10 is PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED - recorded live at the Belly Up Club, Solana, California in 1981

Tracks 11 to 15 from the album "♯8" - released September 1983 in the USA on Mercury 811 152-1 and Mercury MERL 22 in the UK

Tracks 16 is PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED - recorded during "♯8" sessions

Tracks 17 to 20 from the album "Travel-Log" - released October 1989 in the USA on Silvertone Records 1306-J-1 and in the UK on Silvertone Records ORE LP 507

Tracks 21 to 23 from the album "Number 10" - released August 1992 on CD in the USA on Silvertone 01241-41506-2

Tracks 24 and 25 from the album "Closer To You" - released June 1994 on CD in the USA on Delabel/Virgin Records 7243 8 39610 2 3

 

For an artist we are so used to reading so little about on 'any' of his albums (Call Me Mister Laid Back) - the 24-page booklet comes as a pleasant chunky surprise. Famed music chronicler COLIN ESCOTT gets stuck into his convoluted history interjecting the facts with quotes from the great and cool John Cale along the easy-going way. DENNY PURCELL and GARY MAYO of Universal have handled the Archive Remasters and outside of the slightly DIY nature of the early Seventies – they are a joy to hear in great quality.

 

Of the six unreleased, only a crowd shouting live "Wish I Had Me A Dollar" lets the side down. The instrumental "Durango" is swirling fantastic (Soul Boys looking for an unusual Rock tip will love it) - while both the outtakes "Woke Up This Morning" and "Things Ain't Simple" could easily have been sought-after Non-LP 45-single B-sides back in the Seventies day. Lynyrd Skynyrd would brilliantly brass up "Call Me The Breeze" as the Side 2 closer for their best album "Second Helping" in 1974 (the one with "Sweet Home Alabama" on it). After Cream and Derek & The Dominoes, Eric Clapton sort of found his sound with "After Midnight" from the tune-laden debut album by Cale. If you think about, Mark Knopfler did the same on the first "Dire Straits" in 1978.

 

The groove is everywhere too – a sort Funky Cajun Rock that J.J. effortlessly got in say "Hey Babe", "Don't Wait", "Hard Times" and "Runaround" – they are why fans kept coming back for more of the same year after year. "City Girls" is so damn catchy, as is the sneaky "Thirteen Days" from the magnificent "5" album and of course "Cocaine" from "Troubadour" that caught Eric Clapton's ear who then subsequently upped his "Slowhand" album with its guitar presence and cool (they would hook up in later years, a perfect pairing).

 

But spare a thought and a heartbeat for his often gorgeous-ballads – from "Magnolia" on his amazing debut through to "Cajun Moon" and "Sensitive Kind" (a highlight on "5"). Then there are the band romps like the old Ella Mae Morse 50ts Capitol Records hit "Mama Don't" and the original guitar riffage of "Cocaine" - "Unemployment" in the 80ts. Apart from the notorious lo-fi feel to the first album and that beat-box shuffle he used at times on "Really" and "Okie", the production values are fantastic. The PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED "Santa Cruz" sounds awesome and is frankly a whole heap better than much of the slightly drab material on the "♯8" album (a point where I recall many fans and the public alike just stooped listening to him).

 

The 1990 production values for "Change Your Mind" over on CD2 (Track 18) are properly gorgeous – another so hooky Cale groove with his trademark guitar licks punctuating from the left and right at just the right moment. He uses that old beat box for the very Ry Cooder Slide Guitar feel to "Humdinger" – echoed vocals – such a sweet hip shake. By which time we romp home to lonesome trains, a few artificial paradises and moonlight through the steel bars of jails and their accommodating jailers...nice.

 

I have loved J.J Cale and his smooth Cajun ways for 50 years and huge YouTube video clip numbers to his recorded work and gigs with people like Eric Clapton and John Mayer shows that his staggering influence has not waned a jot. An amazing little compilation that you should not get the least bit sensitive about buying...

"Heartbreaker: Deluxe Edition" by RYAN ADAMS – September 2000 Debut Solo Album (after Whiskeytown) featuring David Rawlings, Ethan Johns and Gillian Welch with guests Emmylou Harris, Pat Sansone, Kim Richey and Alison Pierce (April 2016 UK Pax-Am Records 2CD and 1DVD Deluxe Edition Reissue with Previously Unreleased Audio and Visual Material - Ethan Johns and Gavin Lurssen Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Learning To Swim..."

 

When "Heartbreaker" was released in September 2000 as his debut solo album after three albums with the fab alt country rockers Whiskeytown - Ryan Adams was special with a capital 'shall'. I've been a huge fan ever since (had a chat with once when he visited Reckless in Berwick Street where he was buying Punk singles before his gig that night in the near Palladium in Argyll Street).

 

So I had been looking forward to this 2016 'Deluxe Edition' upgrade with a sense of knee-trembling excitement. But while it's brilliant in places and delivers on the promise that has always surrounded Ryan's output that there's ten more studio albums in them dar unreleased hills - some of the un-issued stuff should have stayed that way and the DVD is little more than a fan bootleg (does at least have exclusive renders of the Oasis hit "Wonderwall" and the fantastic "Gimme Sunshine" - a huge hole in that it's missing from CD2).

 

But, as always with Adams, some of these songs and takes are fabulous and equal to the released stuff. Let's get bartering and derailed...

 

UK released 1 April 2016 - "Heartbreaker: Deluxe Edition" by RYAN ADAMS on Pax-Am Records PAX-AM 056 (Barcode 600753642917) is a 2CD + 1DVD Reissue and Remaster with Previously Unreleased Audio and Video that plays out as follows:

 

CD1 - Original Album (51:53 minutes):

1. (Argument with David Rawlings concerning Morrissey) - Side 1

2. To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)

3. My Winding Wheel

4. AMY

5. Oh My Sweet Carolina

6. Bartering Lines

7. Call Me On Your Way Back Home

8. Damn, Sam (I Love A Woman That Rains) - Side 2

9. Come Pick Me Up

10. To Be The One

11. Why Do They Leave?

12. Shakedown On 9th Street

13. Don't Ask For Water

14. In My Time Of Need

15. Sweet Lil Gal (23rd/1st)

 

CD2 - Bonus Tracks (77:02 minutes):

Heartbreaker Sessions

1. Hairdresser On Fire Jam

2. To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)

3. Petal In A Rainstorm

4. War Horse

5. Oh My Sweet Carolina

6. Come Pick Me Up

7. Punk Jam

8. When The Rope Gets Tight (Alternate, 0:44 minutes)

9. When The Rope Gets Tight (1:44 minutes)

10. Goodbye Honey

11. In My Time Of Need

 

Pre-Album Demos

12. Bartering Lines

13. Come Pick Me Up

14. To Be The One

15. Don't Ask For The Water

16. In My Time Of Need

17. Goodbye Honey

18. Petal In A Rainstorm

19. War Horse

20. Locked Away

 

DVD

1. Oh My Sweet Carolina

2. Gimme Sunshine

3. To Be Young (is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)

4. AMY

5. Call Me On Your Way Back Home

6. Just Like A Whore

7. Wonderwall

8. Damn, Sam (I Love A Woman That Rains)

9. Sweet Lil Gal (23^rd/1^st)

10. Come Pick Me Up

11. My Winning Wheel

 

RYAN ADAMS – Guitars, Banjo, Piano, Harmonica, all Lead Vocals

ETHAN JOHNS – Drums, Bass, Chamberlin, Glockenspiel, B-3, Vibes

DAVID RAWLINGS – Guitars, Banjo, Tambourine, Backing Vocals

GILLIAN WELCH – Acoustic Guitar, Electric Bass, Banjo, Vocals

 

Guests:

PAT SANSONE – Piano on "Oh My Sweet Carolina", "Come Pick Me Up" and "Why Do They Leave" – Chamberlin on "Bartering Lines" – Backing Vocals with Ethan Johns on "My Winding Wheel"

EMMYLOU HARRIS – Duet Vocals on "Oh My Sweet Carolina"

KIM RICHEY – Vocals on "Come Pick Me Up" and "When The Rope Gets Tight"

ALLISON PIERCE – Vocals on "Why Do They Leave"

 

The Hardback Book looks the absolute part – three pouches for the CDs and DVD and new liner notes from Ethan Johns who explains about the pressure on a young RA to produce the Solo goods. There was no guarantee of success, but between "Heartbreaker" and the stunning "Gold" that followed – I and everyone else was hooked.

 

The new ETHAN JOHNS and GAVIN LURSSEN Remaster of the original album is truly beautiful. Let's get this straight - the original UK CD I had was issued in September 2000 (Cooking Records COOKCD 205) and this kind of album sounded glorious on that original digital. But what appears to be here in 2015 is a lift in clarity that is subtle but beautifully effective, a little like what Paul Buchanan and Calum Malcolm did to the Blue Nile 2CD Deluxe Editions of "A Walk Across The Rooftops" and "Hats" on Virgin/Linn (see separate reviews). The drum shuffles in "My Winding Wheel" - that lonesome organ - or when the band kicks in for that f-me-up chorus in "Come Pick Me Up" - it's thrilling stuff. And is there a more astonishing moment than when Emmylou Harris comes sailing out of the speakers in "Oh My Sweet Carolina" (what compels me to go) - the doubled-vocals on "AMY" too - the shimmering tambourine shakes and banjo plucks back-grounding "Bartering Lines" - the intimacy of his voice and acoustic on "Call Me On Your Way Back Home" - all gorgeous.

 

CD2 is split into two parts - eleven 'Heartbreaker Sessions' and nine of his own 'Pre-Album Demos'. I guess for many the biggest disappointment is going to be the alternate take of "Come Pick Me Up" - a song that has filled films with heartache at opportune moments. For a while, the alternate take feels like an equivalent to the magisterial LP version, but then he goes into a trashing Rock race to the end and ruins the vibe. "Punk Jam" is just rubbish - far better is his chat with Emmylou about Martin guitars before they launch into a magical "Oh My Sweet Carolina".  But surely the great prize is "Petal In A Rainstorm" - how was this gem left off 'any' LP. It gets a false start, but after that, the band smashes it. It's the tune I most return too.

 

CD2 opens with a vocal piss-take of Morrissey's "Hairdresser On Fire" where the band are having a hoot - it's also the full version of the opening track on Side 1 - the argument with David Rawlings about their fave English singer - Morrissey of The Smiths. That's followed by a lively run-through of "To Be Young..." that feels like the band is on fire even when trying out a tune. Giving it a 'real gas' - "Petals In A Rainstorm" starts but needs another go where they get it right and what a fantastic find it is. I love this - surely worth the price of admission alone (Adams clearly thought it was a go for the album as it has a Demo of it over on CD2). Another gem comes in the Acoustic "War Horse" - could easily have made a superb B-side - and again with gorgeous sound quality. There is vocal fun goofing off between Adams and Caitlin Cary on "When The Rope Gets Tight (Alternate)" - itself followed by a quieter and more subdued seven-minute version sounding like it should be used in some future episode of 'Yellowstone'. And again towards the end of the outtakes, another nugget crops up – the plaintive and lovely "Goodbye Honey" – a hopeful break-up song.

 

I was not expecting the Demos to include multiple instruments, but they do. The piano and acoustic Demo of "To Be The One" – all done up like Cinderella – feels epic even in this form – and lovely production – another that will show in some TV show coming your way real soon (out here wandering about without you – the empty bottle talking). The near six minutes of "Don't Ask For The Water" is live-in-your-living-room and hissy, but again there’s a fantastic feel to it – like eavesdropping on the cusp of greatness (lyrics from it title this review). Back to clean audio with the acoustic guitar and lonesome vocal of "In My Time Of Need" – as powerful a version as the album cut (if not better). Dead interesting to me is a band rendition of "Goodbye Honey" which might just pip it for me over the solo ache of the Track 10 version. I also like the stripped down acoustic only "Petal In A Rainstorm" and the very Beatles/Beach Boys make up of "War Horse" with a weird vocal floating across both speakers. CD2 ends on a lovely "Locked Away" – a very Big Star or Jayhawks moment of musicality.

 

The DVD filmed in 20 October 2000 in The Mercury Lounge in London is bootleg quality, but the listen if fabulous and makes you wish there had been a better document of show. You get goodies not on the album like "Just Like A Whore", the Oasis cover version that blew everyone away "Wonderwall" and especially "Gimme Sunshine" – damn shame there was not an audio of this to replace the wasteful Punk Jam on CD2 – but alas.

 

OK the DVD does let the DE side down somewhat, but the Ethan Johns and Gavin Lurssen Remaster of the album combined with genuine finds on CD2 makes the present nine-pound price tag (2023) seem like a serious deal. Sing a song – give it up – I have always thought that Ryan Adams half-cocked is better than most trying too hard to hit a Bullseye. There is fantastic stuff here – fans and the curious need to derail for this one...

"Music By Ry Cooder" by RY COODER - Soundtrack Music from 1980 to 1993 featuring Guest Musicians Van Dyke Parks, Jon Hiatt, Jim Dickinson, David Lindley, Jorge Calderon, Milt Holland, Freddie Fender, Jon Hassell and more (August 1995 UK Warner Brothers 2CD Anthology with Allen Sides Remixes and Bernie Grundman Mastering) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Bound For Canaan..."

 

In his own quiet and unassuming way, Ry Cooder has always been a bit of a revolutionary. After a Bluesy stint with The Rising Suns in 1968, from 1970's "Ry Cooder" to 1979's hugely successful and popular "Bop Till You Drop" - Cooder had brought all manner of genres to the wider attention of the music buying public - old timey tunes, Americana, Tex Mex, Zydeco - and all of it wrapped up his trademark slide guitar that hogged the classy ropes of the boxing ring but rarely got showy with his pyrotechnical upper cuts. And long before Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel broke open other nationalities and themes in music - Ry Cooder had been doing it like a goodun for an entire decade on Reprise Records.

 

But come the Eighties, Ry seemed done with it - played out on that schtik. So he migrated towards Soundtracks - instrumentals where he could 'mood' the music instead of all the time having to find words to support the tune. And that's where this very cool (and still very cheap) twofer from 1995 comes a romping-in. 

 

Covering O.S.T.'s from 1980 to 1993 - Cooder handpicked the tracks - three of which are from the unreleased "Southern Comfort" film soundtrack (they debut on CD here). The 10-leaf double-sided foldout inlay provides credits for each song showing us a tasty line-up of guests -  Van Dyke Parks (Piano), John Hiatt (Guitar and Vocals), Sam Samudio, Harry Dean Stanton and Freddie Fender (Vocals), Jim Dickinson (Keyboards), Flaco Jimenez (Accordion), David Lindley (Guitars, Mandolin and Fiddle), Jorge Calderon (Bass), Jim Keltner and Milt Holland (Drums and Percussion), Jon Hassell, Steve Douglas (Saxophone) and even George Clinton of Parliament and Funkadelic fame co-writing and doing arrangements ("Bound For Canaan..."). Lots to take about...to the shimmering details...

 

UK August 1995 - "Music By Ry Cooder" by RY COODER on Warner Brothers 9362-45987-2 (Barcode 093624598725) is a 34-Track 2CD Compilation of Soundtrack Music from 1980 to 1993 that plays out as follows: 

CD1 (54:17 minutes):

1. Paris, Texas 

2. Theme From Southern Comfort 

3. Theme From Alamo Bay

4. Across The Borderline

5. Highway 23

6. Bomber Bash 

7. Greenhouse 

8. Nice Bike 

9. I Like Your Eyes 

10. Main Theme

11. See You In Hell, Blind Boy

12. Feelin' Bad Blues  

13. Swamp Walk 

14. Angola

15. Viola Lee Blues

16. The Long Riders 

17. Archie's Funeral (Hold To God's Unchanging Hand)

18. Jesse James

Track 1 from "Paris, Texas O.S.T." (August 1985) 

Tracks 2 and 13 from "Southern Comfort O.S.T." (September 1981) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED on CD until this compilation

Track 3 from "Alamo Bay O.S.T" (April 1985) 

Tracks 4 and 5 from "Across The Borderline O.S.T." (November 1987, with John Hiatt)

Track 6 from "Streets Of Fire O.S.T." - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED on CD

Tracks 7 and 8 is from "Blue City O.S.T" (1986)

Tracks 9, 10 and 14 from "Johnny Handsome O.S.T." (October 1989)

Tracks 11, 12 and 15 from "Crossroads O.S.T." (July 1986)

Tracks 16, 17 and 18 from "The Long Riders O.S.T." (April 1980)

CD2 (48:08 minutes):

1. King Of The Street  

2. Sunny's Tune 

3. No Quiero 

4. Cruising With Rafe 

5. Klan Meeting 

6. I Can't Walk This Time/The Prestige 

7. East St. Louis

8. Goose And Lucky 

9. Goyakla Is Coming 

10. Candes Upstream

11. Canción Mixteca

12. Maria 

13. Bound For Canaan (Sieber Davis)

14. Bound For Canaan (The 6th Calvary)

15. Train To Florida 

16. Houston In Two Seconds

Tracks 1, 7 and 8 from "Trespass O.S.T." (1992)

Tracks 2, 4 and 6 from "Johnny Handsome O.S.T." (October 1989)

Track 3 from "The Border O.S.T." (1982)

Track 5 from "Alamo Bay O.S.T." (August 1985)

Tracks 8, 9, 13, 14 and 15 from "Geronimo: An American Legend O.S.T." (1993)

Track 10 from "Southern Comfort O.S.T." (September 1981) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED on CD until this compilation  - see also CD1

Tracks 12 and 14 is from "Paris, Texas O.S.T" (February 1985)

Remixed by ALLEN SIDES and Mastered by the legendary BERNIE GRUNDMAN - the Audio is fabulous - clear - powerful - clean - each track imbibed with the muscle they have always lacked on vinyl. The fold-out inlay is functional, has a new note from Cooder about the music, but just about does its job and not a whole lot more - which is a tad disappointing. But it's all about the great audio and the lesser heard dead interesting soundscapes Cooder made for movies. 

 

Across 16-years of work, highlights are many - the menace of the swamps in "Southern Comfort" - Sam (The Sham) Samudio on Vocals and Organ for the foreign language take in "No Quiero" and that huge lingering guitar note that hovers in "Paris, Texas" - a CD we regularly put on shuffle play in Reckless in Soho. Harry Dean Stanton does his talking actor thing on "Canción Mixteca", Van Dyke Parks plays piano on "Theme From Alamo Bay" and arranges Horns on "I Can't Walk This Time/The Prestige", John Hiatt shows on "Across The Borderline", "Highway 23" and "No Quiero" while Freddie Fender handles the vocals on "Across The Borderline" where his larynx sounds like its shredded and then some. Jo Hassell plays trumpet on "King Of The Street" whilst the lovely "I Like Your Eyes" has RC just by himself - guitar and piano. 

 

Filmmaker WALTER HILL fills his 1995 liner note with thanks for what Cooder did to add textures to his movies - but mostly Hill is thankful for Cooder's bemused detachment because somehow his music was/is perfect for such endeavors. Buy and dip into it when you need something different, moody, but uplifting too...Great.