"The 'Sound' Of The R&B Hits" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – May 1964 UK LP on Stateside Records in Mono Plus 14 More Bonus Tracks From The Period – Including Mary Wells, The Miracles, The Marvelettes, Barrett Strong, The Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, The Valadiers, Mike & The Modifiers and The Contours (September 2020 UK Ace Records Expanded Edition CD Reissue – Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B08F6MVFV7&asins=B08F6MVFV7&linkId=6affeffab2e1203a56a8c970a7a8a979&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

"... Everybody's Gotta Pay Some Dues..."

On Page 4 of the stunning 32-Page booklet that accompanies this gorgeous September 2020 CD reissue - there is an image I love to pieces.

Relayed to us by Motown's founder and leading light Berry Gordy when interviewed by British DJ Robbie Vincent in 1995, Gordy was more than moved when he had been told of countless on-the-money British working-class teenagers taking their transistor radios to bed at night, and hidden under their sheets (often by torchlight), excited and trembling, they tuned in to pirate Radio stations to wallow in the 'cool' music of the day - especially R&B and Soul from America's 'Tamla'. 

As a reviewer of some 4000+ releases and someone who has worked/paid their musical penance in record shops much of my adult life - it's become something of a cliché to praise England's Ace Records and their rather beautiful championing of Soul Music. But this wee peach reissuing an influential British album from May 1964 on Stateside Records that did a huge amount of notice-work in bringing the mighty Motown to UK ears and turntables is surely why Ace is worshiped. 

The booklet in this sucker alone is a work of art and must surely be heading towards gong-acknowledgement come awards season. There are six pages of Discography info alone between Pages 24 and 30 that list both US and UK releases for everything - I can't imagine the amount of fact-checking that this must have taken. But before all that, there is also some preliminary explanation needed to explain what this actually is...

Tamla or Motown or Gordy (as the labels were called in the USA) did not become the UK's 'Tamla Motown' imprint until the release 19 March 1965 of TMG 501 - Diana Ross & The Supremes doing "Stop In The Name Of Love". As the first British 45 on 'Tamla Motown', it was quite late in the game when you think about it now. In fact on that Friday in March 1965 - six singles, six EPs and six LPs were issued to a baying English youth – 18 in one day. 

Prior to that Berry Gordy's American releases that actually dated back to early 1959 had been handled in Britain by London American, Fontana and Oriole - all with zero chart results despite real efforts by the independent Oriole who had managed actual long-playing albums in those pioneering early years (The Contours LP "Do You Love Me" is on Page 7 whilst the "Bye Bye Baby" LP by Mary Wells is pictured on Page 15). But all that changed when the EMI-imprint Stateside took over proceedings in October 1963 – giving the Tamla roster access to the power and reach of a major label. 

Hip and happening types like Georgie Fame, Dusty Springfield, Brian Poole & The Tremeloes (whose cover version of "Do You Love Me" by The Contours topped the British charts in October 1963 for three weeks and gave Motown their first UK number 1 albeit in a round about way) and of course the new darlings of 1964 The Rolling Stones had been educating listeners in Blighty to the Soul and R&B wonders on offer across the pond- but none more so than the Fab Four and the entourage that surrounded them. The Beatles championed the label on their first two British LPs in particular "Please Please Me" and "With The Beatles" (March and November 1963) and included with both affection and pride Mary Wells of Motown as a support act on a 1964 UK Tour (the programme is reproduced for it on Page 8). With "A Hard Day's Night" due for release in July 1964 and Beatlemania screamfests already dominating the globe - Stateside astutely assembled SL 10077 in Mono for release May 1964. And that's what you get here. A reminder of that event, 54 years on and still trembling...

The original 14-track LP was made up of American LP cuts and 45s dating from August 1961 to September 1963. Ace have simply doubled it in size by adding on 14 more period relevant songs including the ludicrously rare Mike & The Modifiers 45 for "I Found Myself A Brand New Baby" on Oriole CBA 1775 from October 1962 (released in the same month as The Beatles "Love Me Do") - yours for south of a couple of grand if you can find one. Can I get a witness indeed – let’s shop around for details...

UK released Friday, 25 September 2020 - "The 'Sound' Of The R&B Hits" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace records CDTOP 1578 (Barcode 029667099523) is an Expanded Edition CD Reissue of a 1964 UK Compilation LP in Mono with 14 Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (74:34 minutes, all tracks Mono):

Side 1:

1. Shop Around - MARY WELLS (from the US LP "Bye Bye Baby" on Motown M 600, August 1961)

2. Way Over There - THE MARVELETTES (from the US LP "Please Mr. Postman" on Tamla T 228, November 1961)

3. Everybody's Gotta Pay Some Dues - THE MIRACLES (from the US LP "Cookin' With The Miracles" on Tamla T 223, November 1961)

4. Mockingbird - MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS (from the US LP "Heat Wave" on Gordy G 907, September 1963)

5. Bye Bye Baby - MARY WELLS (from the US LP "Bye Bye Baby" on Motown M 600, August 1961)

6. I'll Try Something New - THE MIRACLES (from the US LP "I'll Try Something New" on Tamla T 230, July 1962)

7. Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream) - THE MARVELETTES (from the US LP "Sing / Smash Hits Of '62" on Tamla T 229, June 1962)

Side 2:

8. Money - BARRETT STRONG (from the US LP "Tamla Special No. 1" on Tamla T 224, June 1961)

9. What's So Good About Goodbye - THE MIRACLES (from the US LP "I'll Try Something New" on Tamla T 230, July 1962)

10. Let Me Go The Right Way - THE SUPREMES (from the US LP "Meet The Supremes" on Motown M 606, December 1962)

11. I Don't Want To Take A Chance - MARY WELLS (from the US LP "Bye Bye Baby" on Motown M 600, August 1961)

12. Broken Hearted - THE MIRACLES (from the US LP "Cookin' With The Miracles" on Tamla T 223, November 1961)

13. The One Who Really Loves You - THE MARVELETTES (from the US LP "Sing / Smash Hits Of '62" on Tamla T 229, June 1962)

14. Do You Love Me - THE MIRACLES (from the US LP "Doin' Mickey's Monkey" on Tamla T 245, November 1963)

Tracks 1 to 14 are the Various Artists Compilation LP "The 'Sound' Of The R&B Hits" - released May 1964 in the UK on Stateside Records SL 10077 in Mono only. 

BONUS TRACKS 

(All tracks are the A-sides of UK 45s except four where noted - 20, 22, 23 and 24): 

15. Can I Get A Witness - MARVIN GAYE (UK 45-single on Stateside SS 243, November 1963)

16. Please Mr. Postman - THE MARVELETTES (UK 45-single on Fontana H 335, December 1961)

17. You Really Got A Hold On Me - THE MIRACLES (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1795, January 1963) 

18. You Beat Me To The Punch - MARY WELLS (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1762, August 1962)

19. Pride And Joy - MARVIN GAYE (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1846, August 1963)

20. Oh I Apologize - BARRETT STRONG (UK 45-single on London HLU 9088, B-side to "Money", April 1960)

21. I Found A Girl - THE VALADIERS (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1809, March 1963)

22. I Want A Guy - THE MARVELETTES (UK 45-single on Fontana H 386, B-side of "Twistin' Postman", March 1962)

23. Hitch Hike - MARVIN GAYE (Track 1, Side 2 of the 4-Track EP "R&B Chartmakers" on Stateside SS 1009, January 1964) 

24. I've Been Good To You - THE MIRACLES (UK 45-single on Fontana H 384, B-side of "What's So Good About Goodbye", March 1962)

25. Two Lovers - MARY WELLS (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1796, January 1963)

26. I Found Myself A Brand New Baby - MIKE & THE MODIFIERS (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1775, October 1962)

27. Shake Sherry - THE CONTOURS (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1799, February 1963)

28. Heat Wave - MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS (UK 45-single on Stateside SS 228, October 1963) 

The card digipak folds out into three with black and whites of The Beatles with Mary Wells in 1964 on one side of a flap and the Motown Review (Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas, The temptations and The Miracles) on a London visit in October 1964 looking suitably fur-wrapped for the capitol's cold weather. The booklet (as already mentioned) is a feast for the eyes and mind with fantastic KEVIN HOWLETT liner notes followed by song-by-song appraisals and histories. In between the copious amount of text detail are photos of British and American 45s in their sexy label bags, beautiful and super rare EPs, publicity photos and charts and even a Record Mirror R&B Poll Results that from April 1964 that show readers giving Mary Wells top Female Singers, The Miracles at number one (The Stones just starting out at an impressive no. 3) and so on. The AUDIO entirely in Mono is care of Ace's longstanding Audio Engineer NICK ROBBINS and it punches and shimmies and sways out of your speakers like silk from a yesteryear. 

The listen is very much 'old' Motown especially those lesser-heard tunes like Martha's "Mockingbird" and (not surprisingly) five from The Miracles including their cover of "Do You Love Me". But for me it’s those "Way Over There" moments and Marvin's fabulous "Can I Get A Witness" and perky "Hitch Hike" that still tingle. You can just the Beatles giving it some head-jerk to Barrett Strong's plea for "Money" whilst Mary Wells checks out the emotional malls in her version of "Shop Around". Smart choices include those three B-side rarities in the bonus cuts - The Marvelettes pining in "I Want A Guy" for instance. And I love those uber-rarities like The Valadiers and Mike & The Modifiers - not tunes that will be making it onto Radio 1 any day soon. And its still unbelievable to think that even though it defined the sound of the American summer and hit R&B number 1 there – the glorious "Heat Wave" by Martha & The Vandellas was not a hit in savvy olde England (what were we all thinking).

For sure, you could say that 56-years after the event, this Mono-fest LP and its doubled-up bonuses is another Motown CD compilation most hard-core collectors could do without, especially if like me, they have collected all those tasty Motown Singles book sets on Hip-O Select which will have variants of all these tunes. But how many of us are there?

For everyone else/genre-curious newbees - I say, celebrate and enjoy, love the molten flow of Holland-Dozier-Holland and Smokey Robinson songwriting brilliance that comes roaring of this pretty reissue. And check out that retina-blazingly gorgeous LP sleeve to "Cookin' With The Miracles" (Tamla TM-223) that adorns Page 1 of the booklet (I’ve supplied a photo). All that hope, all that love of the music and all that pride - amen baby! 

I'm off now to hide under the sheets with my Roberts Radio and twiddle those knobs (if that's still legal in late 2020)...

"Showdown: The Complete 1966 RCA Recordings" by KENNY CARTER (September 2020 UK Ace/Kent Soul CD Compilation - Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B08F6YD37P&asins=B08F6YD37P&linkId=6e07f07acbe66013ccaa88c7da728cc2&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>
 

"...Land Of Heartache..."

One of the biggest disappointments of my 62-year musical journey - twenty of those years spent in a busy West End Record Shop listening to music all day every day where Soul was a mainstay 50% of the time - was playing Sam Cooke LPs on RCA Victor – and there are at least seven or eight of them.

Most people know his greatest hits that cherry pick his better singles, but not the albums that were often full of truly cheesy material picked for him and not at all in keeping with his Soul Man image ("Night Beat" was an exception where he got to control the content). They were aiming for a wide market. 

Like Kenny Carter, Cooke was on RCA Victor who in my mind had no real idea of what Soul Music was. They simply picked old crooner tunes and standards (Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra) - larruped on the strings and background girly vocals - amped up the melodrama to over-the-top Phil Spector levels - and hoped for the chart-best. Instead of actually feeling Soulful or even moving, they almost always felt old and overwrought - old white men trying to be hip – forcing their clichéd choices on superlative black artists (Aretha Franklin at Columbia felt the same until she went to Atlantic Records and the sparks really started to fly). And unfortunately (at least for me) that's what you mostly get here.

Kenny Carter had a fabulous and expressive deep voice - very similar to say Roy Hamilton or Tommy Hunt or Jerry Butler - and the nine Stereo cuts on here (the other 13 are Mono) professionally recorded in RCA's studios sound sonically stunning. 

UK released 25 September 2020 - "Showdown: The Complete 1966 RCA Recordings" by KENNY CARTER on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 491 (Barcode 029667099622, 67:00 minutes) absolutely rocks soundwise. This is a gorgeous-sounding CD compilation. Unfortunately the syrupy material that is being peddled as 'sophisticated' comes over time-and-time again like strangulated Little Anthony & The Imperials, but without the tunes.

All cuts are from 1965 and 1966 sessions. Six of the 22 cuts have been issued on various Kent/Soul CD compilations between 2007 and 2020 (Tracks 2, 11, 12, 17, 19 and 21), whilst Tracks 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 18, 20 and 22 are PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED. The remaining six are A&B-sides of three RCA Victor US 45s (Tracks 3, 7, 8, 14, 15 and 16). 

ADY CROASDELL has done the beautifully laid out and hugely affectionate liner notes in the jam-packed 28-page booklet - tape boxes - musician charts - Billboard and Cashbox adverts for his debut 45 "Body And Soul" b/w "I've Got To Find Her" on RCA Victor 47-8791 from April 1966 - demo labels for "Showdown" b/w "I've Got To Get Myself Together" on RCA Victor 47-8841 from May 1966 and so on. NICK ROBBINS has done the Remasters and they are stupendous.

But for me, despite the talk of legendary this and never released that - I can all too often hear why the LP never came together. Any single on real Soul labels like Stax, Motown, Atlantic or even Chess and Checker would knock spots of this well produced but ultimately overwrought mid 60ts angst. My wife told me to turn this off as it was giving her a headache – oh dear.

Those who love this sort of polished string-laden heartbreak and misery on a Soulful tip should not hesitate, but I'd suggest to all others - best grab a listen first before purchase...

"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...

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B08BDPG5WN&asins=B08BDPG5WN&linkId=95e85f178979882112b98758dc40c55c&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

"...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...

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B085HLCN96&asins=B085HLCN96&linkId=b09d5612cb68ac3f7d0d235f90b29843&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

"...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...

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B083XVGTJL&asins=B083XVGTJL&linkId=3ec39717b29ca35f32b1b6431a35c9a6&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

"...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...

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00002MPKS&asins=B00002MPKS&linkId=a329c2eead48b4e439fbbfc67c4b42e2&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

"...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.