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

“...Gimme Some Of Yours...”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Me And The First Lady/We're Gonna Hold On/Golden Ring" by GEORGE JONES and TAMMY WYNETTE (2015 Beat Goes On - 3LPs on 2CD Reissue - Andrew Thompson Remasters)

“...A Lovely Place To Cry...” 

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

UK released May 2015 – Beat Goes On BGOCD 1183 is a 2CD set (Barcode 5017261211835) which has the first two albums on Disc 1 (56:36 minutes, 22 tracks) and the 3^rd album on Disc 2 (26:49 minutes, 10 tracks).

This 2LPs on 1CD comes in BGO’s now standard outer card wrap that lends these releases such a classy feel, the 12-page booklet features basic recording credits and new liner notes from noted music writer JOHN O’REGAN with some photos in between. ANDREW THOMPSON has done the remasters – beautifully transferred – the Audio is superb - as you would expect with recordings made with the best Columbia had to offer.

Married in a hurry in 1969 for real, Bob Sherrell Produced all three records for what he knew was a market hungry for the image of The First Couple of Country. He gave the public what they wanted – crooning songs espousing martial domestic bliss with only the occasional hint of Hell, Guns and divorce on the horizon. The songs on “Me And The First Lady” mostly warble on about how much they love each other (“we found a life together and it’s gonna last forever...you took away my sadness...walking every day with gladness...”). Real life between them was apparently anything but and when they reached for honesty within a tune like the powerful “A Lovely Place To Cry” (co-written by Wynette with Earl Montgomery) – the heartache is there – naked like a wound and all the more affecting because of it. Stuff like “You And Me Together” has the longing of housewives while the uber-cheesy spoken-and-sung marriage-vows crowd-pleaser “The Ceremony” was performed with mock nuptials on stage much to the delight of infatuated crowds in love with their fame, garish cars, flash clothes and gated mansions.

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

Not all genius for sure – but there’s hurting nuggets in between the happy-faced front and public show – and the Audio Remaster is gorgeous...

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

"…Set Her Free…." 

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Freedom [Side 1]

2. Drifting

3. Ezy Ryder

4. Night Bird Flying

5. My Friend

6. Straight Ahead [Side 2]

7. Astro Man

8. Angel

9. In From The Storm

10. Belly Button Window

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

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

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

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

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

“…Pretty Maids All In A Row…” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"…Our Part Of The Country…" 

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

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

Disc 1 (75:05 minutes):

1. Old Joseph

2. Somebody Touched Me

3. Polly Vaughn

4. Banjo In The Hollow

5. Dooley

6. Lonesome Indian

7. Ground Hog

8. Old Home Place

9. Hickory Hollow

10. Old Man At The Mill

11. Doug's Tune

12. Rainin' Here This Morning

13. Cold Trailin'

14. Reuben's Train

15. Duelin' Banjo

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

16. Black-Eyed Susie

17. Never See My Home Again

18. There Is A Time

19. Old Blue

20. Sinkin' Creek

21. The Whole World Round

22. Liberty!

23. Dixie Breakdown

24. Walkin' Down The Line

25. Jody's Tune

26. Pretty Polly

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

28. Buckin' Mule

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

Disc 2 (33:44 minutes):

1. Hamilton County

2. Fisher's Hornpipe

3. Paddy On The Turnpike

4. Jazz Bow Rag

5. Apple Blossom

6. Tom and Jerry

7. Cotton Patch

8. Durang's Hornpipe

9. Wagoner

10. Sally Johnson

11. Crazy Creek

12. Drunken Billy Goat

13. Black Mountain Rag

14. Twinkle, Twinkle

15. Wild John

16. Soppin' The Gravy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brilliant...