"Session Guitar Star" by REGGIE YOUNG [Various Artists] (January 2019 Ace Records CD Compilation - Duncan Cowell Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Meet Me In Church..."

Despite there being about 3 or 4 clunkers on this CD compilation (in my not-so-humble opinion) - the others are all so damn good, I'm going to resist dropping that final star and keep it a full five. Why? Because this nimble-fingered US contributor (Reggie Young) deserves his hour in the sun and your dosh/attention. Some background first as to why I think this is a properly great Ace Records release (aren't they all you might say)...

In December 2018, Missouri's Reggie Young was a sprightly 82 and yet its odds on that you've never heard of the guy or his sweet guitar picking style and contributions. Or have you? Ace Records UK put out his first official solo album called (not surprisingly) "Forever Young" in May 2017 on Ace CDCHD 1500 (Barcode 029667079822) - a 7-Track CD album of Soul-Rock instrumentals in the vein of J.J. Cale meets Dan Penn meets George Benson - a combo many would gladly scorch their unmentionables to acquire. Actually, the album’s good rather than being great, but it still exudes class.

Anyway, in my review of that late beginning for Reggie Young, I listed a 20-song resume of his work - seriously famous tunes by people like Elvis Presley and Dusty Springfield – all showcasing his knack of playing the right part at just the right time. And lo and behold, from that Hall of Fame potpourri of Soul, Rock and Beat (covering a six-decade career) - some of those name-checks have turned up here. Nice! Let's pick up that Fender and get to church people...

UK released 25 January 2019 - "Session Guitar Star" by REGGIE YOUNG [featuring Various Artists] on Ace Records CDCHD 1537 (Barcode 029667093323) is a CD compilation offering 24-Tracks from 1956 through to 2010 (79:55 minutes):

1. Slip, Slip, Slippin' In - EDDIE BOND & HIS STOMPERS

2. Carol - BILL BLACK'S COMBO

3. A Touch Of The Blues - BOBBY BLAND

4. Dream Baby - JERRY and REGGIE

5. I'm Movin' On - THE BOX TOPS

6. The Champion Pt. 1 - WILLIE MITCHELL

7. Meet Me in Church - SOLOMON BURKE

8. Chicken Crazy - JOE TEX

9. In The Pocket - KING CURTIS & THE KINGPINS (some copies simply credit The Kingpins)

10. More Love - JAMES CARR

11. Don't Forget About Me - DUSTY SPRINGFIELD

12. Stranger in My Own Home Town - ELIVIS PRESLEY

13. I Wanna Roo You - JACKIE De SHANNON

14. Drift Away - DOBIE GRAY

15. Rock 'N' Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life) - SONNY CURTIS

16. Victim of Life's Circumstances - DELBERT McCLINTON

17. Lover Please - BILLY SWAN

18. Morning Glory - JAMES & BOBBY PURIFY

19. Cocaine - J.J. CALE

20. I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink - MERLE HAGGARD

21. The Highwayman - THE HIGHWAYMEN [Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson]

22. Griselda - NATALIE MERCHANT

23. Whenever You Come Around - LITTLE MILTON

24. Where Do We Go from Here - WAYLON JENNINGS

From the 1956 pure Rockabilly of "Slip, Slip, Slippin' In" by Eddie Bond & His Stompers through to late soul from Little Milton's "Whenever You Come Around" (2002 on Malaco Records) - you're hit with class over and over again. Interesting Beat instrumentals turn up in the form of a Chuck Berry cover of "Carol" at the hands of Bill Black's Combo and Roy Orbison's "Dream Baby" by our hero and his mate Jerry 'Satch' Arnold trading as Jerry and Reggie (1964 on M.O. Records). Written by Curtis Ousley and Bobby Womack, King Curtis and The Kingpins give us a stunning Funky B-side in the shape of "In The Pocket" - the flip to "Ode To Billy Joe" in September 1967 on Atco 6516.  This is the kind of head-jerking brass-punching guitar-groove that sends my saggy ass into raptures. Throw in James Carr and the gorgeous righteous Southern Soul of "More Love" and even James & Bobby Purify proving they still had a way with a tune in 1975's "Morning Glory" and Soul Music is never far from your ears.

Only when it gets to the truly cheesy rot that is "Rock 'n Roll (I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life)" by Sonny Curtis (Track 15) and a weedy Delbert McClinton effort from 1975 alongside the vastly overrated "Highwayman" LP project with Nelson, Jennings and Cash - does the track run go off the boil. The Natalie Merchant contribution "Griselda" comes from her lesser-seen "Leave Your Sleep" 2010 CD on Nonesuch – a compilation that concentrates on children’s poetry (Reg coughs up a sweet solo). It all ends on a Waylon Jennings Country boogie from 1987 - "Where Do We Go From Here" – Reggie’s guitar (accompanied by Jim Horn's brass, Jim Horn of Rolling Stones fame) giving the bopper real bottom end. I’ll even forgive the overly hissy Solomon Burke song "Meet Me In Church" because what it lacks in fidelity – it tramples all-comers in sheer Soulfulness and feel.

Throw in great mastering from DUNCAN COWELL, a fabulous jam-packed 36-page booklet that out-details this detailed review (courtesy of BOB DUNHAM - includes loads of affectionate recollections from Reggie) and you're on a winner. The only Audio dull moment for me was the wimpy volume to the 1968 Stereo Box Tops cut of Hank Snow's "I'm Movin' On" from their "No Stop" LP on Bell Records - for some reason it has no oomph at all. But any CD compilation that sports Dobie Gray's masterful take on Mentor Williams "Drift Away", J.J. Cale's "Cocaine", the King's yeah baby "Stranger In My Own Home Town" (Elvis getting funky) and Jackie DeShannon's lovely cover of Van Morrison's "I Wanna Roo You" gets my vote. And there's nearly 80 minutes of it too.

"...You know a melody can move me...and when I'm feeling blue...the guitar is coming through to sooth me..." – Dobie Gray sang on 1973's fantastic Soul-Rock single "Drift Away" - a tune Rodders would cover so well on his "Atlantic Crossing" album in 1975. Reggie Young is one of the reasons why we felt that way. Gimme the beat boys and free my soul indeed...

"Morning Brings The Light/John James/Sky In My Pie/Head In The Clouds" by JOHN JAMES (June 2017 Beat Goes On Reissue - 4LPs Remastered onto 2CDs) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Through The Lanes..."

Now here's an obscuro. And once again England's Beat Goes On Label (BGO) has done our unsung hero a Welsh Guitar Picker solid (if that's not too rude).

Stretching from 1970 to 1975 – you get full four albums originally on Transatlantic Records in the UK remastered in 2017 by long-standing Audio Engineer Andrew Thompson onto 2CDs – the first two containing some vocals but the last two strictly instrumental with genres crossing between straight-up Acoustic Folk to Bluegrass, Dixieland Jazz and Ragtime (all on Acoustic Guitar). Here are the skies in the pie...

UK released 16 June 2017 (23 June 2017 in the USA) - "Morning Brings The Light/John James/Sky In My Pie/Head In The Clouds" by JOHN JAMES on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1301 (Barcode 5017261213013) offers 4 full LPs originally on Transatlantic Records (UK) in 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1975 newly remastered in 2017 onto 2CDs and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (75:05 minutes, 22 Tracks):

1. If Only I [Side 1]

2. One Long Happy Night

3. Pickles And Peppers

4. Liverpool Lullaby

5. Hogan's Alley (Black Eyed Blues)

6. Once I Lived By The Sea

7. Picture Rag [Side 2]

8. A Little Blues

9. So Long Since I Was Home

10. Ostrich Walk

11. Lampeter

12. Morning Brings The Light

Tracks 1 to 12 are his Debut album "Morning Brings The Light" – released August 1970 in the UK on Transatlantic Records TRA 219 (produced by Chris Golby).

13. To Meet You I Hurry Down [Side 1]

14. Original Rags

15. Jazzbo's Holiday

16. Evening Comes Quickly

17. Three Through The Lanes

18. Tim E Whay

19. Song Around A Square [Side 2]

20. Rolling On Down

21. Stoptime

22. Daughter Of The Wind

Tracks 13 to 22 on Disc 1 and Track 1 on Disc 2 are his second album "John James" - released November 1971 in the UK on Transatlantic Records TRA 241 (produced by John Whitehead).

Disc 2 (79:56 minutes, 27 Tracks):

1. Listening To That Old Rag/Ragtime Dance

Tracks 13 to 22 on Disc 1 and Track 1 on Disc 2 are his second album "John James" - released November 1971 in the UK on Transatlantic Records TRA 241 (produced by John Whitehead).

2. And Sam Came Too [Side 1]

3. Sailor's Farewell

4. Mammy O'Mine

5. Easy Street

6. Out On The Rolling Sea

7. Sky In My Pie

8. Conquistador

9. Bach Goes To Town [Side 2]

10. Kicking Up The Dust

11. Nola

12. Quiet Days

13. Weeping Willow

14. Blap Bam Boom

15. Be Mine Or Run

16. Turn Your Face

Tracks 2 to 16 are his third album "Sky In My Pie" (credited to JOHN JAMES and DAVE BERRYMAN) – released 1972 in the UK on Transatlantic Records TRA 250 (produced by Stephan Grossman).

17. Georgemas Junction [Side 1]

18. Black And White Rag

19. Head In The Clouds

20. Slow Drag

21. Wormwood Tangle

22. Stranger In The World

23. Rags To Riches [Side 2]

24. Blues For Felix

25. Heliotrope Bouquet

26. Secrets In The Sky

27. Stretching Of A Young Girl’s Heart

Tracks 17 to 27 are his fourth album "Head In The Clouds" – released November 1975 in the UK on Transatlantic Records TRA 305 (produced by Ritchie Gold).

The outer card slipcase lends these BGO reissues a classy feel whilst long-time associate to the label JOHN TOBLER has penned the new 12-page liner notes and interviewed John James especially for the project. Anyone who knows the original vinyl platters – their rear sleeves had a few words but little by way of any meaty info (the 1970 and 1971 Jeremy Gilbert and Robin Denselow original liner notes are here nonetheless). I say this because James now enlightens of many of the tunes and their genesis and his collaborations with Berryman on the 3rd LP and John Renbourn on the fourth. The ANDREW THOMPSON Remasters are quietly lovely – strings pinging - sweetly done – the original tapes clearly in very good shape. To the music...

Songs like on "Once I Loved By The Sea" and "A Little Blues" are like pretty John Renbourn or Bert Jansch vignettes - plaintive, lovely and peaceful on the ear and head. Scott Joplin is never far from James' thoughts either - his own "Picture Rag" a beautifully gut-string-picked nod to the great Ragtime man - whilst "Ostrich Walk" is another instrumental but this time more in the Dixieland style. On the second self-titled album his then wife Jo James joins him on two tunes in duet vocals - the awful hippy claptrap of "Rolling On Down" which is rescued by "Daughter Of The Wind" - a James original Ralph McTell might have looked at with envy. Pete Berryman who would share a credit on the third album "Sky In My Pie" turns up on album two having written the playful travelling song "Jazzbo’s Holiday".

The third LP "Sky In My Pie" is a co-credit with another guitarist – PETE BERRYMAN (don’t you just love that gorgeous John Ashcroft artwork). JOHN RENBOURN of Pentangle guests as Second Guitarist on three songs (all instrumentals) – two by James called "Georgemas Junction" and "Stranger In The World" and a Renbourn original called "Wormwood Tangle". Parts of the melody in the fab "Stranger In The World" almost come across as Acoustic Prog while the Charlie Byrd cover of "Blues For Felix" feels very Leon Redbone without the voice. Scott Joplin turns up once again in the lazy afternoon mint-juleps-on-the-lawn feel to "Hellotrope Bouquet" – the very accomplished fourth album then ending in four and half minutes of "Stretching Of A Young Girl’s Heart" where some of the playing actually mimics such young hurt.

So hard to find on original vinyl now and unlikely to see reissue on the format (even in these vinyl is cool days of 2019) – this BGO 2CD twofer is a superb reissue and welcome too. John James will probably never be a household name – but this is a sweetly stacked reminder of what we all missed first time around...

"Second Album" by CURVED AIR from September 1971 UK on Warner Brothers (August 2018 UK Esoteric Recordings CD+DVD 'Expanded Edition' Reissue - Francis Monkman Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Back Street Luv..."

There's nothing like a big fat hit single and Pans People on Top of the Pops doing a sexy lingerie routine to its groove to put an otherwise difficult band on the map. And June 1971's tan label Warner Brothers UK 7" single "Back Street Luv" was that doozy. When the album followed in September of that amazing year (see my e-book "There's Something About 1971...") the single had caused a flurry of interest and pushed its elaborate 'multiple flaps' sleeve presentation up to No. 11 in the UK LP charts – impressive stuff for a band that came on like a precursor to Roxy Music with a hot girl singer out front instead of a man sporting glitter and a squinty face. Warners even gave the American gatefold sleeve different artwork when they finally put the album out there in November 1971 - but Curved Air never made any real waves Stateside and it didn't chart.

Which brings us to 2018 and Esoteric Recordings of the UK (part of Cherry Red) who have clearly developed a passion for the band because like their exemplary Greenslade and Colosseum reissues – they've gone the full Prog Hog on England's CURVED AIR with dusted off archive recordings from the BBC and even Promotional/Euro Pop Programme footage on DVDs – much of it Previously Unreleased. They are even declaring that the fourth album "Air Cut" from 1973 is only now being released with the use of real master tapes (all other variants have been dubbed from vinyl apparently). Let's get the ever dance...

UK released 24 August 2018 (September 2018 in the USA) - "Second Album" by CURVED AIR on Esoteric Recordings PECLEC 22637 (Barcode 5013929473744) is a CD + DVD 'Expanded Edition' Reissue/Remaster that plays out as follows:

DISC ONE - CD (71:26 minutes):

1. Young Mother [Side 1]

2. Back Street Luv

3. Jumbo

4. You Know

5. Puppets

6. Everdance [Side 2]

7. Bright Summer's Day '68

8. Piece Of Mind

Tracks 1 to 8 are their second studio album "Second Album" – released September 1971 in the UK on Warner Brothers K 46090 and November 1971 in the USA on Warner Brothers WS 1951 (in different artwork). Produced by Colin Caldwell and Curved Air – it peaked on the UK LP charts at No. 11 (didn't chart USA).

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Young Mother In Style

BBC Radio One JOHN PEEL 'Top Gear' Session – Recorded 5 Jan 1971

10. It Happened Today

11. Blind Man

12. Propositions (including What Happens When You Blow Yourself Up)

13. Vivaldi

Tracks 10 to 13 are BBC Radio One 'John Peel Sunday Concert' Recordings from 4 March 1971, recorded at the BBC Paris Theatre, Regent Street, London – PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

DISC TWO - DVD (75 minutes, NTSC, All Regions):

Curved Air On The Air – Television Recordings 1971

1. It Happened Today

2. Vivaldi

3. Screw

Tracks 1 to 3 are a 'Warner Brothers Present Curved Air' – A 1971 Promotional Film – PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

4. Back Street Luv

5. Propositions

6. Interview

7. Vivaldi

Tracks 4 to 7 are 'Pop Deux' – Recorded at Taverne de l'Olympia, Paris on 6 July 1971. First Broadcast 4 September 1971 – PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

8. It Happened Today

9. Propositions

10. Vivaldi

Tracks 8 to 10 are 'Beat Club' Radio Bremen TV Sessions 1971 recorded March 1971

11. Back Street Luv (Version 1)

12. Piece Of Mind

13. Back Street Luv (Version 2)

Tracks 11 to 13 are 'Beat Club' Radio Bremen TV Sessions 1971 recorded September 1971

CURVED AIR was:

SONJA KRISTINA (Linwood): All Lead Vocals

DARRYL WAY: Vocals, Electric Violin and Piano on "Puppets"

FRANCIS MONKMAN: Guitar, Keyboards and VCS3 Synthesizer

IAN EYRE: Bass Guitar

FLORIAN PILKINGTON-MIKSA: Drums

The three-way foldout digipak and booklet reproduce all aspects of the John Kosh original album artwork – a many-flaps sleeve with the rainbow design that mirrored the concept of Terry Riley's "A Rainbow In Curved Air" US album from 1969 on Columbia Masterworks from whence the band took their name. Although they had no input into the design, it certainly made the LP feel substantial and combined with that lightning-in-a-bottle single – propelled the 12" record out of the racks into onto Garrard SP25s everywhere. There are also lots of great black and white photos of the band from the period – most of which I've not seen before and the May 2018 liner notes by MALCOLM DOME are typically excellent and informative. The only thing I would say is that the US gatefold card sleeve had different artwork and it seems a tad remiss not to have reproduced it here.

The Remaster has been done by band member FRANCIS MONKMAN and compared to my 2008 Rhino Encore version is a big improvement. The opener "Young Mother" explodes on so many levels – those violin and keyboard passages and the power in "Back Street Luv" with that right speaker keyboard separation is almost disconcerting.

Speaking of which - in the 24-page booklet that features new interviews – Sonja recalls how the "Back Street Luv" seven-inch single changed everything for the band – coverage, acceptance and even screaming from the front rows of subsequent tours. Originally released 18 June 1971 (ahead of the LP) as Warners WB 8029 with the album track "Everdance" on the B-side – when distribution of the Warner Brothers 'Kinney Music' catalogue started 1 July 1971 (previously done by Pye) – somewhere in there the single for the British "Back Street Luv" 45 was re-pressed as Warner Brothers K 16092. Using this catalogue number, it entered the charts for the week ending 7 August 1971 at No. 34, dropped out for a week and returned 21 August 1971 at No. 30 and thereafter quickly rose to a peak of No. 4 for the chart week ending 18 September 1971. Sitting comfortably alongside The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again", Family's "In My Own Time", T. Rex's number 1 "Get It On" and Atomic Rooster's "Devil's Answer" (similar sounds around those same weeks) – the Funky Prog Rock groove of "Back Street Luv" grabbed the listener by the short and curlies and didn't let go (the sultry looks of lead vocalist Sonja Kristina helped matters too). The album of course benefitted from this hugely as did the size of gigs they were now playing.

Despite the obvious killer sexiness of the single - for me one of the LP's best melodies is "Jumbo" – a ballad by Darryl Way and Sonja Kristina that feels like a string quartet is accompanying all those keyboard moments – it's almost Tom Waits in its gorgeousness (stay in your room after dark, don't venture outside, Sonja warns her young listener). We're back to rocking with the guitar-driven "You Know" – a deadringer for a second 45 from the album but Warners never went with it (Monkman plays a blinder here and a huge Remaster too). Side 1 ends with another Way/Kristina composition – five and half minutes of "Puppets". It opens with giggles, then keyboard phasing and I must admit I found the Remaster has somehow made that rhythm section seem even discombobulating and not necessarily in a good way. Monkman provides all three on Side 2 beginning with the manic "Everdance" – sort of like The Flock let loose at the local school hall. I've always had an aversion to the three-minute manic-jaunt that is "Bright Summer's Day '68" – a relationship disintegrating in a disconcertingly happy-go-lucky sunshine-shining-down kind of a way. It ends on the album's undoubted monster – the near thirteen minutes of "Piece Of Mind" - an opus sounding not unlike ELP meets Blood, Sweat and Tears via Linda Hoyle's Affinity (over on Vertigo Records). The Remaster has made that pounding piano and violin duo feel even more eerie and powerful and when that keyboard solo comes in and the pace kicks up a notch – the effect is spectacular – Sonja talking the lyrics (wish they'd reproduced them in the booklet).

The opener BBC track "Young Mother In Style" features a typically excited BBC intro at a new song from the ‘sensational’ band. The following Peel Session (recorded in March 1971 and Previously Unreleased) features four songs from their "Airconditioning" debut alum released in November of the previous year – one of which "Propositions" incorporates the non-album B-side "What Happened When You Blow Yourself Up" (the flipside to their first British 45 "It Happened Today"). The audio is a wee bit distorted for the beginning of "Blind Man" as Sonja warbles her voice but thereafter it’s really rather shockingly good. The heavy guitar and bass "Propositions" stretches to six and half minutes as it incorporates the funky keyboard groove of "What Happened When You Blow Yourself Up" towards the end (the essence of creation baby). There’s hiss too on "Vivaldi" but the performance is all out at eight and half minutes. Which brings us to the visuals...

The DVD is pleasingly long at one hour and fifteen plus minutes - beginning with a decidedly ragged-looking lead in to a 1971 Warners Promotional film that gives us three tunes from their debut. Both Bassist and Guitarist sport plastic see-through body instruments (oh you're so cool boys) while Darryl Way dangles a scarf from the tuning screws of his violin – Sonja looking absolutely gorgeous in silver tassels. There doesn't appear to have been any restoration to the footage of newspaper clippings as the band plays "It Happened Today" nor as Way goes on a wild violin whig-out during "Vivaldi" (impressive playing by the way). Better is the French footage that begins at 16 minutes with a storming live cut of "Back Street Luv" – Curved Air singing "...ragged back streets...head on a wall..." and sounding/looking like a band that's arrived. There's a short between tunes interview with Sonja and Trevor that's translated into French on screen before we're back to the best footage of all – the three at the end that feature great image and sound combined – the Version 2 of "Back Street Luv" simply showing more visual effects than Version 1 because someone no doubt thought it looked cooler.

All in all – this is a great reissue of an album that’s been all but forgotten except by the faithful. Fans will adore it and Prog investigators will need to dive in and get air-conditioned. Well done to all...

2018 CURVED AIR Reissues on Esoteric Recordings

Francis Monkman Remasters

Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are 'Expanded Editions' - No. 4 is album-only

1. Airconditioning (November 1970 UK Debut LP)

2CD Remaster UK released 26 January 2018 on Esoteric Records PECLEC 22616 (Barcode 5013929471641)

2. Second Album (September 1971 UK LP)

CD + DVD Remaster released 24 August 2018 on Esoteric Recordings PECLEC 22637 (Barcode 5013929473744)

3. Phantasmagoria (April 1972 UK LP)

CD + DVD Remaster released 27 July 2018 on Esoteric Recordings PECLEC 22638 (Barcode 5013929473843)

4. Air Cut (April 1973 UK LP)

CD Remaster (no Bonus material) released 26 January 2018 on Esoteric Recordings PECLEC 2617 (Barcode 5013929471740) First Use of Original Tapes