Band [2007] The Best Of A Musical History

[01] Who Do You Love
[02] He Don't Love You (And He'll Break Your Heart)
[03] Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window (Single Version)
[04] Ain't No More Cain In The Brazos
[05] The Weight
[06] Orange Juice Blues (Blues For Breakfast)
[07] King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
[08] All LA Glory (Single Version)
[09] Stage Fright
[10] I Shall Be Released
[11] 4% Pantomime
[12] Don't Do It
[13] Life Is A Carnival
[14] Slippin' & Slidin' (Live)
[15] Endless Highway
[16] Share Your Love With Me
[17] Forever Young
[18] Twilight (Song Sketch)
[19] Home Cookin'

With [17] Bob Dylan


amg: A Musical History was one of the best box sets of the last ten years: a thorough and revelatory biography of the Band, telling their story from their beginnings as a backing band for Ronnie Hawkins to their disbandment after The Last Waltz. Released in the spring of 2007, about two years after the appearance of the original box, the single-disc excerpt The Best of a Musical History isn't nearly as good as its mammoth five-disc parent, largely because it tries to serve to audiences equally: it tries to please casual fans who just want the hits, while trying to win over serious fans curious about the rarities on the box yet unwilling to acquire the whole set. As such, this 19-track set sprawls all over the place, containing a smattering of Band standards ("The Weight," "Life Is a Carnival," "King Harvest [Has Surely Come]," "Stage Fright," "I Shall Be Released"), fan favorites that aren't quite rare ("Orange Juice Blues," "Don't Do It"), genuine rarities ("He Don't Love You [And He'll Break Your Heart]," by Levon & the Hawks; Bob Dylan's "Can You Please Crawl out Your Window?"), and five unreleased tracks, highlighted by a roaring live version of "Slippin' and Slidin'" and Rick Danko's "Home Cookin'." All of this music is good and the set does indicate the rich breadth of the Band's music. Many of the band's classics are here, but this doesn't contain enough great rarities from the box set to be a true "best-of the box." It merely is what it says it is: a sampler of the box, nothing more.
(amg 6/10)

Bush [2004] Best Of 94-99

[01] Everything Zen
[02] Little Things
[03] Comedown
[04] Glycerine
[05] Machinehead
[06] Swallowed
[07] Greedy Fly
[08] Warm Machine
[09] The Chemicals Between Us
[10] Letting The Cables Sleep
[11] Everything Zen (The Lhasa Fever Mix)
[12] Mouth (The Stingray Mix)
[13] Swallowed (Goldietoasted Bothsides Please Mix)



amg: Bush's gravelly sound was a staple of alternative rock radio in the space directly after Nirvana's popular breakthrough. And in a way, the U.K. combo became even more popular — Gavin Rossdale's songs were arena-sized versions of Kurt Cobain's angst, mixed to FM perfection and matched to his good-looking mug on MTV. The critics weren't having it, but Bush still became grunge rock stars. "Little Things," "Everything Zen," and "Machine Head" were appropriately raw, but they were also full of bludgeoning hooks and weedling guitar solos. Like all of Rossdale's songs, they also spun off foggy non sequiturs seemingly cynical enough for the cutoff fatigues set, but that in retrospect are rather stilted. ("Minnie Mouse has grown up a cow/Dave's on sale again...We're so bored you're to blame," from "Zen.") Trauma's The Best of '94 - '99 captures these moments for posterity. The hugely successful ballad "Glycerine" is here with its brittle cellos and strained chorus shrieking, as are the less memorable singles from 1996's Razorblade Suitcase, "Swallowed" and the creepy widescreen version of the Pixies' "Greedy Fly." The set closes with the first three tracks from Bush's flawed remix album Deconstructed. "Everything Zen"'s samey big beat pulse can be dated directly to 1997-1998 and records from Crystal Method and Prodigy — it's easy to hear how Deconstructed pleased neither rock fans nor electronic heads when it was released. Goldie does a better job with "Swallowed," splicing in a gloomy jungle bassline and skittering rhythmic patterns and isolating the lead guitar peels. Like hearing the studio versions of Sixteen Stone's singles ten years on, these late-'90s remixes are their own time warp. [The collection's second disc featured the audio of Bush's performance at Woodstock '99.]
(amg 6/10)

Boston [2002] Corporate America

[01] I Had A Good Time
[02] Stare Out Your Window
[03] Corporate America
[04] With You
[05] Someone
[06] Turn It Off
[07] Cryin'
[08] Didn't Mean To Fall In Love
[09] You Gave Up On Love
[10] Livin' For You



amg: For all the bad press heaped these days on vintage stadium rock, Boston's Artemis debut resonates with a crisp, fresh energy that's hard to find in the downscale aesthetic of post-punk. As Tom Scholz fans might expect, a metallic sheen gleams across the surface of each track, adding luster to resonant anthems like the politically correct title track as well as more intimate acoustic moments on "With You" and elsewhere. (The same sleek textures coat the album's one live track, a cover of "Livin' for You" that's marred only by the electronic snare drum, which sounds distressingly like the zap of a toy space gun.) Acoustic guitars glisten in fields of dewy reverb, while Scholz's electric leads and fills project a streamlined muscularity. The vocals, delivered by a rotating cast of guests, range from arena stratospherics to whispery folkisms; in the fashion of Phil Spector, Scholz is more concerned with blending them into his timbral landscape than with encouraging interpretive profundities. But that's fine, for Boston has always centered on one man's sonic fantasies, and for better or worse these are undimmed and as assertive as ever, even in the era of Corporate America.
(amg 6/10)

Ben Harper [2001] Live From Mars

[01] Glory & Consequence
[02] Excuse Me Mr.
[03] Alone
[04] Sexual Healing
[05] Woman In You
[06] Ground On Down
[07] Steal My Kisses
[08] Burn One Down
[09] Mama's Got A Girlfriend
[10] Welcome To The Cruel World
[11] Forgiven
[12] Faded - Whole Lotta Love
[13] Waiting On An Angel
[14] Roses From My Friends
[15] Power Of The Gospel
[16] Pleasure And Pain
[17] Please Bleed
[18] The Drugs Don't Work
[19] In The Lord's Arms
[20] Not Fire, Not Ice
[21] Beloved One
[22] #3
[23] Walk Away
[24] Another Lonely Day
[25] Like A King - I'll Rise



amg: Ben Harper is a road dog. He and his band, the Innocent Criminals, travel around the world playing nearly 200 shows a year; therefore, it was only a matter of time before this guitar virtuoso made a live album. Live From Mars, an enigmatic two-disc set of 25 songs, celebrates the rise of Harper, his incredible live presence between 1998 and 2000, and the appreciation between him and his audience. His fragile acoustics have been thrown into a massive guitar storm on disc one, a thunderous combination of his signature folky blues-funk rock & roll. He's soulful and approachable on "Excuse Me Mr." and "Burn One Down," but he reaches for something tangible on Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing." The vibe is calm and cool while Harper's vocals scale between a sweet falsetto and a rugged twang. "Faded" exudes Harper's electric twitching, and its perfection swaggers into a riveting cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" for a near ten-minute car crash of pure rollicking. He switches from his electric to an acoustic for disc two, making his informality even more enticing. "Waiting on an Angel" is delicate, similar to the likes of Jeff Buckley, but it's the beauty of the Verve's "The Drugs Don't Work" that truly captures the standard of excellence that Harper depicts as a performer. Acoustically, he's honored and such praise is deserved. He's practically flawless. He's a modest artist, and such humility is found among his songs. He's achieved respectability with his fans that only so many artists are able to attain. Live From Mars is a proper release and certainly an inviting look into Harper and the showmanship he projects while spending time on the road.
(amg 6/10)

Bush [2001] Golden State

[01] Solutions
[02] Headful Of Ghosts
[03] The People That We Love
[04] Superman
[05] Fugitive
[06] Hurricane
[07] Inflatable
[08] Reasons
[09] Land Of The Living
[10] My Engine Is With You
[11] Out Of This World
[12] Float



amg: Like many bands of their era, Bush was sucked into the idea that rock bands are only relevant if they incorporate electronica ideas — a move that sank their third album, The Science of Things, and effectively derailed their career at a crucial time when post-grunge bands were falling by the wayside in an alarming fashion. This caused Bush to stumble, not just artistically but commercially, and they faded from the mainstream spotlight for a few years before mounting a comeback in the fall of 2001 with Golden State. The simple cover art, looking for all the world like advance art, signals that this a return to basics, which it is — this is a return to the sound of Sixteen Stone, complete with big, grandiose production propelled by ballsy grunge riffs and real hooks in the guitars and vocals. They never sound as somber or as self-conscious as they did on the Steve Albini-produced Razorblade Suitcase, nor do they sound as out of their element as they did on Science — they sound comfortable and powerful, rocking hard, turning out songs that are not only catchy, but that hold together and cohere over the course of an album. Though there aren't singles as grabbing as the songs that propelled Sixteen Stone to multi-platinum status, this is as consistent an album as any Bush has ever made, keeping a steady pace throughout its 12 songs and delivering on almost every track. It doesn't sound hip or current in 2001 by any means — it sounds charmingly retro, as a matter of fact, sorta stuck in 1994 — but it's better than most records in its vein, and that counts for something even if it doesn't burn up the charts like its predecessors.
(amg 6/10)

Bush [1999] The Science Of Things

[01] Warm Machine
[02] Jesus Online
[03] The Chemicals Between Us
[04] English Fire
[05] Spacetravel
[06] 40 Miles From The Sun
[07] Prizefighter
[08] The Disease Of The Dancing Cats
[09] Altered States
[10] Dead Meat
[11] Letting The Cables Sleep
[12] Mindchanger



amg: For their third album, The Science of Things, Bush returned to Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, the Madness producers who helmed Sixteen Stone, but along the way, they fell out with the duo. Rossdale claimed the two were only credited on the album for legal reasons, and that the real work was done by the band with engineer Tom Elmhirst, which is probably true, since it's slicker than Razorblade Suitcase but doesn't glisten like Stone. Science is carefully crafted and sequenced, flowing nicely from hard rockers to power ballads, but little of it catches hold. It plays better than the disjointed Razorblade Suitcase due to studiocraft, since the measured, detailed production fleshes out songs held together by a bare minimum of hooks and melodies. Without hooks, Bush's earnestness is unavoidable. Rossdale's emotive, gut-wrenching vocals and the band's hard, heavy delivery are all this record has to offer and the mystery is why the music has such little impact, either as emotional catharsis (which it was intended to be, if the tenor of the performances and Rossdale's interviews are to be believed) or as catchy commercial hard rock (which is what the best moments of their first two records were). In an effort to develop their own voice and to be taken seriously, Bush have left behind their natural strengths — a knack for melodic hooks and riffs. They're undoubtedly sincere and have delivered a professional record, but once The Science of Things is finished it fades away, since it has neither the emotional nor musical substance to make a lasting impact.
(amg 6/10)

Blackmore's Night [1998] Shadow Of The Moon

[01] Shadow Of The Moon
[02] The Clock Ticks On
[03] Be Mine Tonight
[04] Play Minstrel Play
[05] Ocean Gypsy
[06] Minstrel Hall
[07] Magical World
[08] Writing On The Wall
[09] Renaissance Faire
[10] Memmingen
[11] No Second Chance
[12] Mond Tanz
[13] Spirit Of The Sea
[14] Greensleeves
[15] Wish You Were Here



amg: Shadow of the Moon is the first album by Ritchie Blackmore's beloved Blackmore's Night project. The former Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist and his fiancée, vocalist Candice Night, created a Renaissance-inspired work with elements of folk, new age, and occasional bits of electric guitar. Blackmore even plays bass, mandolin, drum (yes, singular), and tambourine. Night's voice isn't powerful, but it's bright and sweet, making it perfect for this style of music. Other musicians include co-producer Pat Regan on keyboards and the Minstrel Hall Consort; Gerald Flashman on recorder, trumpet, and French horn; Tom Brown on cello; and Lady Green on violin and viola. Most songs are original compositions but some are based on traditional melodies. "Shadow of the Moon" is a marvelous opener; it's catchy, haunting, and propulsive. Blackmore shreds on acoustic guitar and lets the electric guitar slip into the background for faint power chords. Regal, majestic horns lend an elegance to "The Clock Ticks On," which addresses the passage of time and a yearning to live in the past. "Play Minstrel Play" features Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, one of Blackmore's favorite musicians. The song moves along pleasantly until about halfway through when it explodes into a frantic, handclaps-led pace with Anderson's wild flute solo. The warmth of "Ocean Gypsy" makes it the song most easily classified as new age here; Blackmore plays a gentle but swift acoustic guitar melody under Night's softly yearning vocals. "Writing on the Wall" is quite fast and has a danceable beat, and there's even a blowout jam at the end. Blackmore's electric guitar work is the most prominent on "No Second Chance" and "Wish You Were Here." The instrumental "Possum's Last Dance" is a U.S.-only bonus track.
(amg 6/10)

Brian May [1994] Live At Brixton Academy

[01] Back To The Light
[02] Driven By You
[03] Tie Your Mother Down
[04] Love Token
[05] Headlong
[06] Love Of My Life
[07] 39 - Let Your Heart Rule Your Head
[08] Too Much Love Will Kill You
[09] Since You've Been Gone
[10] Now I'm Here
[11] Guitar Extravagance



amg: Live at the Brixton Academy finds former Queen guitarist Brian May playing almost the entirety of his previous solo album, Back to the Light, and an assortment of material from various eras of Queen. The material culled from Back to the Light sounds much more alive in concert than on record, freed up as it is from the album's heavy production. Even "Last Horizon," which sounded quite sappy on the album version, works well here, especially coming after the intense "Resurrection." However, even a live setting can't help the clunker "Too Much Love Will Kill You." The Queen tracks are a mixed bag. May just doesn't have the voice to tackle the harder-edged "Headlong" and "Tie Your Mother Down." These tracks and a quite lifeless "We Will Rock You" sorely miss Freddie Mercury's commanding vocals. However, the medley of the old Queen track "'39" with May's "Let Your Heart Rule Your Head" works quite well, in part because May sung the original version. For old Queen fans, it's also hard not to get emotional on the old sing-along "Love of My Life," played here as a tribute to Mercury While the cover of Hank Ballard's "Since You've Been Gone" doesn't come off as impressive with May's weak voice, the rousing version of Queen's "Hammer to Fall" ends the album on a fine note.
(amg 6/10)

Ben Harper [1994] Welcome To The Cruel World

[01] The Three Of Us
[02] Whipping Boy
[03] Breakin' Down
[04] Don't Take That Attitude To Your Grave
[05] Waiting On An Angel
[06] Mama's Got A Girlfriend Now
[07] Forever
[08] Like A King
[09] Pleasure And Pain
[10] Walk Away
[11] How Many Miles Must We March
[12] Welcome To The Cruel World
[13] I'll Rise



amg: The full range of Ben Harper's influences would not come to bear until later albums, but his debut, Welcome to the Cruel World, lays a strong foundation. "Like a King" and "Take That Attitude to Your Grave" burn with a political conviction rarely heard during the 1990s. "Forever" has a tenderness which demonstrates Harper's emotional range. Lackluster hippie jams that cultivated his early following may have served a purpose but feel fluffy by comparison when compared to the meatier tracks. Ben closes the album with a song that frequently closes his concerts, "I'll Rise." This song, built around Maya Angelou's 1979 poem "And Still I Rise," reminds one of art's ability to pierce through society, self, and the soul.
(amg 6/10)

Brian May [1993] Back To The Light

[01] The Dark
[02] Back To The Light
[03] Love Token
[04] Resurrection
[05] Too Much Love Will Kill You
[06] Driven By You
[07] Nothin' But Blue
[08] I'm Scared
[09] Last Horizon
[10] Let Your Heart Rule Your Head
[11] Just One Life
[12] Rollin' Over

With [04] Cozy Powell



amg: Queen guitarist Brian May's first complete attempt at a solo album, Back to the Light, focuses on the hard rock sound that Queen often abandoned in the 1980s. While obviously sounding similar to some of the work by his former band, May's path is far more hard-edged and emotionally punched than the majority of Queen's work. His vocals are sometimes weak for a singer, but they also add a certain tenderness that most hard rock frontmen seem to lack. The album succeeds best on its heaviest tracks such as the cover of "Rollin' Over" or "Resurrection," which features pounding drums courtesy of Cozy Powell and thundering guitar riffs with Queen-like multi-tracked vocals. References to Queen can also be heard in the eccentric humor of such numbers as "Love Token," which includes a back-and-forth dialogue in the middle of the song. Likewise, the low-key country song, "Let Your Heart Rule Your Head," is reminiscent of "'39" off Queen's A Night at the Opera. The ballads are not as strong or as interesting and are not helped by well-meaning but overly sentimental lyrics and light rock arrangements. Unfortunately, the instrumental, "Last Horizon," ends up sounding like Muzak. "Driven By You," the album's biggest hit, was originally written for a Ford commercial, and it shows. That said, it is great to hear May finally get a chance to rock out and while the over-the-top and eccentric stylings of the album might put off some, it is those same traits that will also attract many to this work. [Note: The CD version of the album contains a remix of "Driven By You."]
(amg 6/10)

Birthday Party [1988] Hee-Haw

[01] Mr. Clarinet
[02] Happy Birthday
[03] Hats On Wrong
[04] Guilt Parade
[05] The Friend Catcher
[06] Waving My Arms
[07] Cat Man
[08] Riddle House
[09] A Catholic Skin
[10] The Red Clock
[11] Faint Heart
[12] Death By Drowning
[13] The Hair Shirt



amg: The initial tracks on Hee-Haw come from two of their earliest proper Birthday Party singles, "Mr. Clarinet" and "The Friend Catcher." Three other tracks included on the 1980 self-titled American-only compilation, the squealing sax and raunch of "Hats on Wrong," the slightly more straightforward punch and thrash of "Guilt Parade," and "Riddle House," surface as well. All showcase the violent, thrashing energy of the Party of legend perfectly; even the organ on "Mr. Clarinet" sounds like it's being strangled as much as being played. Cave may be in utterly hyperdramatic mode throughout, spitting out barks on "Happy Birthday" and braying out the title call on the slow, brilliant burn of "The Friend Catcher," but the band aren't holding back either; Howard's spindly, aggro guitar work complements Calvert's drum punch nicely, balancing nerves and body slam, while Pew and Harvey flesh out everything else in the same spirit. Things aren't quite on the level of sheer sonic pain of later releases, but with the help of engineer Tony Cohen, who brings out the overall performances well, the fivesome is already well on its curious way. The last five songs come from the original Hee-Haw EP, which was also the final Boys Next Door release. While not quite as frazzled as what the group would soon fully mutate into, the tracks do have a more pushing, discordant air than the earlier Boys tracks, Cave still hesitant at points but starting to let go a bit elsewhere. "Faint Heart" has a great breakdown into random vocal mumblings and instrumental nuttiness, especially on piano, while "The Hair Shirt" especially is already the Birthday Party in anything but name.
(amg 6/10)

Boston [1986] Third Stage

[01] Amanda
[02] We're Ready
[03] The Launch
[04] Cool The Engines
[05] My Destination
[06] A New World
[07] To Be a Man
[08] I Think I Like It
[09] Can'tcha Say - Still In Love
[10] Hollyann



amg: After rushing their second album Don't Look Back, Boston took eight years to complete the album Third Stage. The long delay is even more surprising considering that their sound didn't change at all; even though only songwriter/guitarist Tom Scholz and vocalist Brad Delp remained from the original lineup, they were the ones responsible for Boston's sound. As such, it is difficult to avoid comparisons with their landmark debut. Third Stage has some strong moments, especially the number one hit "Amanda" where the band blends acoustic and electric guitars to complement the layered vocals. However, the songs are not as strong as those on their debut, and the album is marred by the presence of instrumental fillers and an attempt to cling to a theme of "journey through life's third stage." Thus, rather than focusing on universal topics such as the exuberance and uncertainties associated with youth, the mature lyrics are lost on most of their young rock audience. Given the time between albums and the changes in the pop landscape, it was a little disappointing to find Boston stuck in the same sound. The album still sounds great when it works on all cylinders ("We're Ready," "Cool the Engines"), but the album is not filled with enough satisfying moments. This may be nostalgic pop rock of the '80s, but casual listeners should start with their debut.
(amg 6/10)

Bob Geldof [1986] Deep In The Heart Of Nowhere

[01] This Is The World Calling
[02] In The Pouring Rain
[03] August Was A Heavy Month
[04] Love Like A Rocket
[05] I Cry Too
[06] When I Was Young
[07] This Heartless Heart
[08] The Beat Of The Night
[09] Truly, True Blue
[10] Pulled Apart By Horses
[11] Words From Heaven
[12] Good Boys In The Wrong
[13] Night Turns To Day
[14] Deep In The Heart Of Nowhere



amg: A year removed from his work organizing the Live Aid concerts to raise money and awareness concerning famine in Africa, ex-Boomtown Rat lead singer Bob Geldof released his solo debut. Deep in the Heart of Nowhere features a host of name performers ranging from Midge Ure (Ultravox) to Brian Setzer (Stray Cats) to Eric Clapton lending a hand. The lyrics are a bit self-conscious and overreaching at moments, but, with all of the talent on board, the album does have some winning tracks. The single, This Is the World Calling, barely scraped into the charts, but is an anthemic plea to the cosmos with a heavenly background vocal trio of Maria Mckee, Annie Lennox, and Alison Moyet. "August Was a Heavy Month" and "Love Like a Rocket" both contain fluid, melodic guitar work from Clapton, with the latter being an infectiously catchy lyrical take-off on the Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset." Unfortunately, the second half begins to waver and the album, overall, is unfocused and less than the sum of some pretty spectacular parts.
(amg 6/10)

Birthday Party [1982] Junkyard

[01] Blast Off
[02] She's Hit
[03] Dead Joe
[04] The Dim Locator
[05] Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)
[06] Several Sins
[07] Big-Jesus-Trash-Can
[08] Kiss Me Black
[09] 6 Inch Gold Blade
[10] Kewpie Doll
[11] Junkyard
[12] Dead Joe (2nd Version)
[13] Release The Bats



amg: The Party's second and final full studio album, also the final release with the five-person lineup, was perhaps its scuzzy masterpiece, its art/psych/blues/punk fusion taken to at times outrageous heights. Right from its start, nobody held back on anything, Cave's now-demonic vocals in full roar while the rest of the players revamped rhythm & blues and funk into a blood-soaked cabaret exorcism. Nearly every tune is a Party classic one way or another, from the opening slow, sexy grind of "She's Hit," Cave's freaked tale of death and destruction matched by clattering percussion and a perversely crisp guitar from Howard, to the ending title track's crawl toward a last gruesome ending. Tips of the hat to literary influences surface at points, notably "Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)," though the protagonist isn't so much the indecisive tragic figure of Shakespeare as a Romeo-quoting criminal on the loose. The ultimate Party song sits smack dab at the center — "Big-Jesus-Trash-Can," a hilarious and blasphemous blues/jazz show tune with some great brass from Harvey to top it all off. Guest performers crop up at points; future Bad Seed Barry Adamson plays bass on "Kiss Me Black," while Anita Lane contributes two sets of lyrics if not her direct vocals. Later CD versions included three extra tracks. "Blast Off" and "Release the Bats" were originally issued as a single; both seethe with rage and fire in spades. The latter is at once powerful and a bit of a tongue-in-cheek goth goof, with Cave serving up lines like "Don't tell me that it doesn't hurt/A hundred fluttering in your skirt." The other bonus, a second version of the album's "Dead Joe" recorded in London, is if anything even more frenetically gone than the original, a car crash sample punctuating the lyrical reference to same all the more.
(amg 6/10)

Butterfield Blues Band [1970] Live

[01] Everything Going To Be Alright
[02] Love Disease
[03] The Boxer
[04] No Amount Of Loving
[05] Driftin' And Driftin'
[06] Intro To Musicians
[07] Number Nine
[08] I Want To Be With You
[09] Born Under A Bad Sign
[10] Get Together Again
[11] So Far, So Good


amg: For the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, this two-LP set proved that it all came down to Butterfield himself and his abilities as a leader in the end. For all of the adulation heaped on Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop, et al., the group was ultimately an extension of Butterfield's abilities as a leader and player, and this set proved that Butterfield and the bandmembers he had assembled in 1971 had more than two LPs' worth of live playing in them that was worth releasing and worth buying. And that wasn't the half of it — talk about ironies — at the time the Paul Butterfield Blues Band recorded this live album, they were at their peak as a concert act; they were getting all the bookings they wanted at the best clubs in the biggest cities in the country, and a lot of other places as well, in front of enthusiastic audiences who were devouring their blues-jazz-rock-R&B hybrid sound as fast as they could pump it out on-stage. They just weren't selling many records, which was why few people ever got to hear this album. The four-man horn section and the single guitar are a long way from the band that dazzled audiences six years earlier on East-West, or at Monterey in 1967; this is big-band Chicago blues with a jazz base and a killer sound, ranging all over the musical map without peer. In the midst of all of those seemingly louder instruments blowing away, however, one can still find a great showcase for Butterfield's blues harp on numbers like Big Walter Horton's "Everything's Gonne Be Alright." The sound, recorded on then state-of-the-art equipment at the L.A. Troubadour, is excellent and the performances are as tight as anything ever delivered by the band, in many ways fulfilling the promise of the longer numbers represented on their earlier studio albums. The original double LP is still worth finding for vinyl enthusiasts. [In 2004, an expanded edition of the album was released on CD by Rhino Handmade with an additional 70 minutes of music on it.]
(amg 6/10)