"Seven Bridges Road: The Complete Recordings" by STEVE YOUNG (May 2017 Ace Records CD Reissue - Duncan Cowell Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Stars In The Southern Sky..."

'Outlaw Country' - 'Country Rock' - these things were still being invented in 1972 when Reprise Records sneaked out MS 2018 in July of that year. Subsequently the misunderstood 'new' Country sound of "Seven Bridges Road" by Georgia's Steve Young received scant promotion or airplay and promptly whispered into the wind like a smoke trace from his Southern cigarette.

The tune itself wasn't new. Young had first recorded "Seven Bridges Road" as "7 Bridges Road" on his debut album "Rock Salt & Nails" released back in March 1969 on A&M Records SP 4177. Yet despite indifference shown by radio and public alike - other artists began to notice the warmth of the melody in the title song and soon a slew of covers followed. Joan Baez put it on her 1969 platter "One Day At A Time" - Rita Coolidge slotted "Seven Bridges Road" onto the flip-side of her "Ain't That Peculiar" single in 1971 - and then the big one nearly ten years later - the Eagles featured "Seven Bridges Road" as one of the exclusive tracks on their huge "Eagles Live" double-set in 1981 thereby allowing Steve Young to live off its royalties for decades after (other artists like Atlanta, Alan Jackson, Iain Matthews, Dolly Parton and more have also covered the plaintive tune).

His legendary second album "Seven Bridges Road" was in fact issued three times – and its complicated history needs some explanation. Released from his contract with an indifferent Reprise and picked up by a small enthusiastic independent - the second LP pressing came in July 1975 on Blue Canyon Records in the USA – that issue featuring two different songs on Side 1. But the rejiggered album again sold as little as its predecessor. Finally an almost complete overhaul arrived in August 1981 when Young re-recorded five of the songs for Rounder Records in the USA – but commercially – again no joy.

On top of that there was also a lone seven-inch single recorded before the album sessions with Ry Cooder co-producing. Promo-only – and rare as a conscience in Donald Trump's White House - it's also included here too. So bringing it all back to its Country home (so to speak) - that's where this excellent CD compilation from reissue champs Ace Records comes swaggering in. Here are the boozy, broody details...

UK released 26 May 2017 - "Seven Bridges Road: The Complete Recordings" by STEVE YOUNG on Ace Records CDCHD 1496 (Barcode 029667078825) is a 21-track CD compilation of Remasters that plays out as follows (68:01 minutes):

1. Seven Bridges Road [Side 1]

2. My Oklahoma

3. The White Trash Song

4. I Begin To See Design

5. One Car Funeral Procession

6. Long Way To Hollywood

7. Many Rivers [Side 2]

8. Lonesome Or'ry And Mean

9. Come Sit By Me

10. True Note

11. Ragtime Blue Guitar

12. Montgomery In The Rain

Tracks 1 to 12 are his second studio album "Seven Bridges Road" - released July 1972 in the USA on Reprise Records MS 2081 (no UK issue). Produced by PAUL TANNEN - it didn't chart.

BONUS TRACKS:

13. The White Trash Song (1975 Re-Recording)

14. I Can't Hold Myself In Line (1972 Session Outtake, cover of a Merle Haggard song)

Tracks 13 and 14 were issued on the July 1975 USA LP reissue of "Seven Bridges Road" on Blue Canyon Records BCS 505. That LP was also issued in the UK October 1976 on Sonet Records SNTF 705. Removing tracks 3 and 4 on Side 1 of the 1972 version and replacing them with Tracks 13 and 14 will allow you to sequence that 1975 version. CHARLIE DANIELS is also listed as one of the 'pickers' on this version of the LP. 

15. Seven Bridges Road [1981 Re-record]

16. Down In The Flood [Bob Dylan cover]

17. Ballad Of William Sycamore [Steve Young song]

18. Wild Goose [Terry Gilkyson cover]

19. Days Of '49 [Bob Dylan song]

Tracks 15 to 19 are featured on the third pressing of "Seven Bridges Road" - released August 1981 in the USA on Rounder Records 3058. That 10-track variant of the LP can be sequenced as follows:

Side 1: 15, 12, 11, 6 and 16

Side 2: 17, 2, 18, 19 and 8

20. Down In The Flood (released as "Crash On The Levee")

21. The White Trash Song (released as "Sea Rock City (There's A High Tide A Risin')"

Tracks 20 and 21 released as a Promo-Only US 7" single on Reprise 0946 in 1972 – both sides recorded before the album and co-produced by ANDREW WICKMAN and RY COODER (Cooder on Bottleneck Guitar). No known stock copies exist.

The 16-page booklet with new liner notes by GARTH CARTWRIGHT make a good fist of explaining the complicated release history of the 1972 album as well as showing the artwork for all three releases (there's even a signed copy of the original repro'd on Page 3). DUNCAN COWELL has done the mastering and while the album sounds great with lovely clarity on those acoustic strums - the remixed 1981 Rounder material has a weird feel - like it was dubbed off the record. Bizarrely the 7" single (tracks 20 and 21) actually come out better and I'd swear that's Cooder's trademark Bottleneck style on "The White Trash Song" changed by some Reprise Records executive to read "Crash On The Levee" without the artists permission let alone knowledge (first time Young knew of it was when he saw a promo copy of the single - a 45 that was never apparently taken to stock copy issue). To the music...

The problem with albums of legend is that there are times when they actually have to live up that mythical reputation. I think Cartwright's assertion that Steve Young should be bandied about in the same breath as Gram Parsons or even Bob Dylan and Nick Drake is frankly stretching belief to the limit. Is this a masterpiece - I don't think so. But there are moments and songs on here when you can 'so' hear why that rep has built up across the years - the 'thinking about the muddy roads' and 'broken down cars in my yard' racing honky-tonkin' guitars of "The White Trash Song" - the lonesome Harmonica wail of "I Begin To See Design" where he never misses the night life now that marriage has made him a different man - and a fave of mine - the hard-hitting one-horse town anti-redneck sentiment of the brilliant "Long Way To Hollywood" (there ain't no banjo on Steve's knee but there's a burning song on his back).

But it's the ballads that cloy at your heart - "Lonesome Or'ry And Mean" where he's going to Shreveport on a Greyhound Bus but despite the freedom of the road is weary at the constant rootlessness - and the gorgeous Gram Parsons magic that's dripping off the simple but affecting "True Note" - a song where there are dues to pay in the real world even as the piano player echoes your pain every night in some neon'd bar. Most fans will love the Merle Haggard outtake "I Can't Hold Myself In Line" (an artist Young adored) that turned up on the Blue Canyon pressing in 1975 - full speed down the wrong road of life. I have to say that the 1981 tracks just feel wrong sound-wise despite a wonderful deep timbre having entered his voice - polished but missing that first flush of magic. And you wish the Alamo Tale of "Ballad Of William Sycamore" had actually been on the 1972 original...

You have to say that Ace has done it again - keeping alive a flame that should not have gone out. Steve Young died March 2016 in Nashville aged 73 - and despite the drinking, the broken marriages and legendarily erratic behaviour remains a mystery still and a genuine spirited hero for some.

The original "Seven Bridges Road" LP will only have you reach for "Rock Salt & Nails" (1969) and his other platters on RCA in the mid Seventies - and isn't that the best compliment you can give any reissue...

"Safe As Milk" by CAPTAIN BEEFHEART and THE MAGIC BAND (1999 BMG/RCA/Buddah Expanded CD Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Came Upon A Tornado..."

Few artists can genuinely have the mantle of genius festooned around their mad foreheads in a garland of Californian daisies – but Captain Beefheart is one of them. His 1967 debut is still a bit of a beast to digest in 2015 – but my admiration for it and him only grow as the years pass. Nothing about this album is "safe" let alone a comforting and warm glass of milk come those night-time tremors - which is of course what makes it so good and groundbreaking. Here goes with the Abba Zaba and the Dropout Boogie...

US released June 1999 (September 1999 in the UK) – "Safe As Milk" by CAPTAIN BEEFHEART and THE MAGIC BAND on BMG/RCA/Buddha Records 74321 69175 2 (Barcode 743216917525) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster with Seven Bonus Tracks and breaks down as follows (71:13 minutes):

1. Sho 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do

2. Zig Zag Wanderer

3. Call On Me

4. Dropout Boogie

5. I'm Glad

6. Electricity

7. Yellow Brick Road [Side 2]

8. Abba Zaba

9. Plastic Factory

10. Where There's Woman

11. Grown So Ugly

12. Autumn's Child

Tracks 1 to 12 are his debut album "Safe As Milk" – released September 1967 in the USA on Buddah BDM 1001 (Mono) and Buddah BDS 5001 (Stereo) and February 1968 in the UK on Pye International NPL 28110 (initially in Mono only). A Stereo version finally showed in 1970 in the UK on Buddah 623 171 – this CD Remaster uses the STEREO mix.

BONUS TRACKS:

13. Safe As Milk (Take 5)

14. On Tomorrow

15. Big Black Baby Shoes

16. Flower Pot

17. Dirty Blue Gene

18. Trust Us (Take 9)

19. Korn Ring Finger

Tracks 13 to 19 are all Previously Unreleased, Recorded Oct to Nov 1967 with Alex St. Clair Snouffer and Jeff Cotton on Guitars instead of Ry Cooder. Captain Beefheart, Jeff Handley and John French as per the LP line-up.

The 12-page booklet (in a rather dull black and white) has a history of the album and the genre-bending talents of Don Van Vliet of Glendale, California (alias Captain Beefheart) written by JOHN PLATT with help from Mike Barnes and Gary Marker. There are reissue credits and a repro of the 'Baby Jesus' bumper sticker. On the rear of the booklet there’s a gorgeous colour photo of the band as a four-piece – Alex St. Clair Snouffer (Guitar), John French (Drums), Captain Beefheart (Vocals, Harmonica and Bass Marimba) and Jerry Handley (Bass). There are also long notes on the CD Bonus Tracks ("Mirror Sessions" outtakes etc).

The remasters are by ELLIOTT FEDERMAN and come with a warning that "sonic imperfections exist due to the condition of the master tapes". He’s unfortunately proven right about this. Some tracks are fantastic – others very hissy and even corrupted in the top end. There’s also a very definite audio chasm between the album and the bonus tracks – the LP has its rough moments but the Bonus tracks (later 1967 recordings for the second album done just a month after the release of "Safe As Milk") are fantastic sounding - and in truth would probably have sat better as "Trout Mask Replica" outakes. It’s a case of taking the rough with the smooth – but luckily because there isn't that much rough - I'd say they’ve done a superb job with what they had...

It opens with the Howlin’ Wolf/Johnny Winter guitar blues of "Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do" - a genius hybrid track with ex Rising Sons guitar wizard RY COODER providing lead guitar. We then get into real Beefheart songscapes with the decidedly rough recording of "Zig Zag Wanderer" – a jagged irksome little monster like the "adaptor...adaptor" distorted guitar chug of "Dropout Boogie" (both tracks benefitting from the percussive drums of Milt Holland). Unfortunately there are heavy hiss levels on "I'm Glad" where Don comes on like some Street Corner vocal group pleading "so sad baby". But as always with the Captain - he can blindside you with how pretty a song he can write when he stops pushing the musical boundaries with the rest of the album. The Byrds-ish "Call My Name" could have been a single too with its "free love" coda ideal for the time.

But if one track practically defines the jagged songwriting strangled-vocals genius of Captain Beefheart it would be the stunning "Electricity". Described as a variant of 'Blues' by some more scholarly than I – it comes at you like a sonic beast from another world and could only be a product of the hyper-inventive super-productive and mad-as-a-dingbat-on-acid 60ts counter-culture. Throughout its jerk-rhythms and weird-sounding guitars - Sam Hoffman plays a thing called a 'Theremin' - an early variant of an electronic Moog instrument that had been used to create those scary outer-space noises in films like "The Day The Earth Stood Still". Combined with Beefheart giving it his best strangling-a-cat voice – its astonishing stuff even now. Pye actually reissued "Electricity" in June 1978 as a British 7” single on Buddah BDS 466 - the audio bosom-buddy B-side to "Sho 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do". Not sure if either was entirely Thursday night 'Top Of The Pops' material but I’d pay good money to see Pans People do an interpretive dance routine for either (yum yum). 

Speaking of singles - Pye UK tried the jaunty Side 2 opener "Yellow Brick Road" b/w "Abba Zaba" on Pye International 7N 25443 in January 1968 but not surprisingly it tanked and is now a £50-plus rarity (Taj Mahal plays percussion on "Yellow Brick Road"). His fantastic Bluesy Harmonica gives the brilliant "Plastic Factory" a real Paul Butterfield edge. "Where There's Woman" and "Grown So Ugly" are suitably touching and poisonous at the same time but the album finishes on a total winner. Russ Titelman plays guitar while Sam Hoffman twiddles his Theremin on the brilliant Side 2 finisher "Autumn's Child" – a song where you actually feel like you're listening to a new kind of music being created as you listen.

The BONUS TRACKS are part of the "Mirror Sessions" which were essentially going to be a double-album follow-up for Buddah Records (their 2nd album). Parts of it turned up on the "Mirror Man" LP issued by Buddah in May 1971. "Trout Mask Replica" fans will love the near seven-minute guitar instrumental rampage that is "On Tomorrow". Even better is "Big Black Baby Shoes" – another five-minute sliding guitar instrumental which is discordantly musical in that way only Captain Beefheart can be. "Flower Pot" is brilliant too and my fave bonus amongst the seven – the band boogieing in that jagged "Trout" way through four minutes of Beefheart Funk.

The equally good/strange "Strictly Personal" would follow in 1968 and the epoch-making game-changing double "Trout Mask Replica" in late 1969 – but this is where all that discordant yet melodious jerky-motion started. 

An animal-sculpting child prodigy TV star at the age of 10 – Don Van Vliet was always a bit special and a just bit bonkers in the temporal lobe area. Captain Beefheart famously walked off stage once and collapsed into the grass face first – later claiming he stopped the band mid-song (fixed his tie first before he left stage) because he saw a woman in the audience turn into a 'goldfish'. Now that’s my kind of visionary...

"Taj Mahal" by TAJ MAHAL (September 2000 UK Columbia/Legacy CD Reissue with Bob Irwin and Vic Anesini Remasters – Part of the 'Columbia High Fidelity "360 Sound" Series' of CD Reissues) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Wake Up Mama...Turn Your Lamp Down Low..."

I've always had a soft spot for the Blues of Henry Fredericks from New York’s Harlem (Taj Mahal to you and I) - and his stunning 1968 self-titled "Taj Mahal" debut album still ranks in my books as one of the all-time-greats. Like "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac" (1968), John Mayall's "Blues From Lauren Canyon" (1968), Johnny Winter's "Second Winter" (1969) or Shuggie Otis' 1970 debut album "Here Comes Shuggie Otis" - "Taj Mahal" is the kind of good-time hair-shaking bum-waddling Blues-Rock that I adore. And to me it still sounds as fresh as a daisy - with maybe less hair and a wee bit of a middle-aged droop around the tum tum (not mine you understand). Here are the 'Leaving Trunk' and 'E Z Rider' details…

UK released September 2000 - "Taj Mahal" by TAJ MAHAL on Sony/Columbia/Legacy COL 498173 2 (Barcode 5099749817326) is a straightforward CD transfer of his debut LP from 1968 and plays out as follows (33:00 minutes):

1. Leaving Trunk [Side 1]

2. Statesboro Blues

3. Checkin' Up On My Baby

4. Everybody's Got To Change Sometime

5. E Z Rider [Side 2]

6. Dust My Broom

7. Diving Duck Blues

8. The Celebrated Walkin' Blues

Tracks 1 to 8 are his debut album "Taj Mahal" - released February 1968 in the USA on Columbia CL 2779 (Mono) and CS 9579 (Stereo) and in the UK on Direction 8-63279 (Mono) and S 8-63279 (Stereo). The Stereo mix is used in this 2000 remaster and there are no bonus tracks.

The 12-page booklet is a nicely substantial affair reproducing the album’s original rear artwork and liner notes by Tom Nolan on the inner pages. There is then a short essay on Taj Mahal by Stanley Crouch, album and reissue credits – all peppered with a bunch of outtake photos from the recording sessions.

Remastered for CD by the dynamic duo of BOB IRWIN and VIC ANESINI in 2000 and put out as part of the “Columbia High Fidelity “360 Sound” Series” - these are Audio Engineer names I actively seek out. Anesini alone has handled hugely prestigious catalogues like Elvis Presley, Simon and Garfunkel, Carole King, Janis Joplin, Hall & Oates, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Jayhawks, Mott The Hoople, Santana and many more. This CD reissue is part of Sony's "Columbia High Fidelity "360 Sound" Series" – a logo along the spine of the under inlay. When Columbia started issuing their 'Stereo' LPs in the USA in the 60ts they used the "360 Sound" logo on the album's artwork and label as a part of their selling point – best sound – all around - etc. I'm not sure anyone has noticed this CD logo down the spine inlay - but everyone knows that the 'Legacy' moniker on a CD is a mark of their remastering quality. Whatever way you look at it – this CD rocks like a mother and in the very best way.

Taj Mahal’s debut album is the stuff of Blues-Rock legend - an absolute gem. Recorded in August 1967 (released early 1968) and Produced by Dave Rubinson - the band consists of guitarists Ry Cooder (credited as Ryland P Cooder) and Jesse Edwin Davis with veterans James Thomas on Bass and Charles Blackwell on Drums. Taj sang all the tunes and mainly stuck to harp playing except on the brilliant 8-minutes of "The Celebrated Walkin' Blues" where he puts in some great slide-guitar work. Other guests included Bill Boatman on Rhythm Guitar and Sanford Konikoff on Drums.

It opens with a blaster – a cover of a Sleep John Estes classic called "Leaving Trunk" where our hero had better leave before his lady's husband gets home. Immediately you're in the presence of a huge warbling Harmonica and those chucky flicking guitars – it's a fantastic updating of old world Blues – sort of like what Paul Butterfield's band did on Elektra Records a few years earlier (see my review of his "Original Album Classics" 5CD Mini Box Set). Blind Willie McTell provides us with the Boogie of "Statesboro Blues" where Taj wants his woman to "...wake up mama...turn your lamp down low..." Continuing in that wicked rollicking vein – we get another shuffling winner in the shape of "Checkin' Up On My Baby" written by another great Harmonica warbler Taj deeply admired - Chess Records' Sonny Boy Williamson. The perfection of Side 1 ends with another nugget from the pen of Sleepy John Estes - "Everybody's Got To Change Sometime". Once again the audio is magnificent – loud and ballsy but not too trebled to ruin it. Direction Records tried it as a UK 45 on Direction 58-3547 with "Statesboro Blues" as the flipside – but despite the strength of both sides – no one seemed to notice in early 1968.

Side 2 opens with the only Taj Mahal original on the album "E Z Rider" which Direction tried as a 2nd UK 7" single with "You Don't Miss Your Water" as its flipside (Direction 58-4044) but again it failed to raise a ripple. The band counts in that slide-guitar barroom slasher from Elmore James "Dust My Broom" which oddly enough is good only – more workmanlike than great. Things pick up with "Diving Duck Blues" again from the fertile pen of Sleepy John Estes where an inebriated Estes tells us that "...if a river was whiskey...I'd dive to the bottom and never come up..." (thirsty and dangerous work). But it ends on a tour-de-force – the near nine-minute Slow Blues of "The Celebrated Walkin' Blues". It's a Traditional arranged by Taj and it captures everything that was great about his house band – that chugging Cooder Guitar – sweetly complimentary Mandolin plucking while he warbles on the Harp inbetween pleading lyrics. It's brilliant - and by the time the tune hits that Rhythm Section entry about 2:20 mnutes – you’re won over. Great stuff...

Niggles - the original album was also issued in MONO - and as you can see from the playing time provided above - it could easily have been fit on here as a first - but alas. There was a non-album single in 1967 on Columbia 4-44051 with "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" b/w "Let The Good Times Roll" – again both AWOL when there was loads of room. I would also love to one day see a LEGACY DOUBLE DELUXE of this fantastic debut - there must be some outakes in storage somewhere - and live sets with that stellar band...

Selling for less than four quid in most places – a Blues Rock barnstormer you need on your shelf and in your Stereo...all '360' degrees of it...

"1970 - 1987" by RY COODER (2013 Warner Brothers 11CD Mini Box Set) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Look At Granny Run...Granddaddy Close Behind…" 

I’m going to add to the chorus of approval given this dinky and brill little box set and add a few more details. Having had it a few weeks now and listened to all the discs - I estimate that most of the first 7 are REMASTERS with the remainder sounding like those CDs already issued - which sound great anyway. His huge hit album “Bop Til You Drop” from 1979 was the world’s first all-digital recording and has always sounded clean if not a little flat somehow. The CD here is definitely not the “UFO Has Landed” remaster (see separate review) - but - with a judicious amount of volume - it does sound lovely anyway. Here’s the breakdown of what’s on offer and what’s missing...

"Ry Cooder 1970 - 1987" by RY COODER was UK released Monday 11 November 2013 on Warner Brothers 8122796241 (Barcode 081227962418) and is an 11CD mini box set. 
Each album comes in a 5” mini LP repro card sleeve and it breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 (30:13 minutes):

1. Alimony [Tommy Tucker cover]

2. France Chance [Joe Callicott cover]

3. One Meat Ball [Louis Singer & Hy Zaret song - Josh White cover]

4. Do Re Mi [Woody Guthrie cover]

5. Old Kentucky Home [Randy Newman cover]

6. How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live? [Blind Alfred Reed cover]

7. Available Space [Ry Cooder song] [Side 2]

8. Pig Meat [Huddie Ledbetter/Leadbelly cover]

9. Police Dog Blues [Arthur Blake cover]

10. Goin’ To Brownsville [Sleepy John Estes cover]

11. Dark Is The Night [Blind Willie Johnson cover]

Tracks 1 to 11 are his debut solo LP “Ry Cooder” – released December 1970 in the USA on Reprise RS 6402 and January 1971 in the UK on Reprise K 44093. Van Dyke Parks plays Piano (tracks not named).

Disc 2 (37:46 minutes):

1. How Can You Keep Moving (Unless You Migrate Too) [Traditional Song cover]

2. Billy The Kid [Traditional Song cover]

3. Money Honey [Jesse Stone song – Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters cover]

4. F.D.R. In Trinidad [Fitz MacLean cover]

5. Teardrops Will Fall [Dickey Doo, Marion Smith song]

6. Denomination Blues [Washington Philips cover]

7. On A Monday [Huddie Ledbetter/Leadbelly cover] [Side 2]

8. Hey Porter [Johnny Cash cover]

9. Great Dreams From Heaven [Joseph Spence cover]

10. Taxes On The Farmer Feed Us All [Traditional Song cover]

11. Vigilante Man [Woody Guthrie cover]

Tracks 1 to 11 are his 2nd album “Into The Purple Valley” – released February 1972 in the USA on Reprise RS 2052 and in the UK on Reprise K 44142

Disc 3 (39:07 minutes):

1. Boomer’s Story [Carson Robinson, Traditional Song cover]

2. Cherry Ball Blues [Ski James cover]

3. Crow Black Chicken [Lawrence Wilson cover]

4. Ax Sweet Mama [Sleepy John Estes cover]

5. Maria Elena [Bob Russell and Lorenzo Barcelata cover]

6. Dark End Of The Street [Chips Moman and Pan Penn song – James Carr cover] [Side 2]

7. Rally ‘Round The Flag [Traditional Song cover]

8. Comin’ In On A Wing And A Prayer [Harold Adamson, Jimmie McHugh song]

9. President Kentucky [Sleepy John Estes cover]

10. Good Morning Mr. Railroad Man [Traditional Song cover]

Tracks 1 to 10 are his 3rd album “Boomer’ Story” – released November 1972 in the USA on Reprise MS 2117 and in the UK on Reprise K 44224; Randy Newman plays piano on “Rally ‘Round The Flag”

Disc 4 (37:22 minutes):

1. Tamp ‘Em Up Solid [Traditional Song cover]

2. Tattler [Russ Titelman, Ry Cooder and Washington Philips song]

3. Married Man’s A Fool [Blind Willie McTell cover]

4. Jesus On The Mainline [Traditional Song cover]

5. It’s All Over Now [Bobby Womack cover]

6. Medley: I’m A Fool For A Cigarette/Feelin’ Good [J.B. Lenoir cover] [Side 2]

7. If Walls Could Talk [Bobby Miller cover]

8. Mexican Divorce [Coasters cover]

9. Ditty Wa Ditty [Arthur Blake cover]

Tracks 1 to 9 are his 4th album “Paradise And Lunch” – release May 1974 in the USA on Reprise MS 2179 and in the UK on Reprise K 44260; Earl Hines plays Piano on “Ditty Wa Ditty”

Disc 5 (39:59 minutes):

1. The Bourgeois Blues [Huddie Ledbetter/Leadbelly cover]

2. I Got Mine [Traditional Song cover]

3. Always Lift Him Up [Blind Alfred Reed cover]

4. He’ll Have To Go [Jim Reeves cover]

5. Smack Dab In The Middle [Jesse Stone song – Charles Calhoun cover]

6. Stand By Me [Ben E. King cover]

7. Yellow Roses [Hank Snow cover]

8. Chloe [Traditional Song cover]

9. Goodnight Irene [Huddie Ledbetter/Leadbelly cover]

Tracks 1 to 9 are his 5th album “Chicken Skin Music” – released October 1976 in the USA on Reprise MS 2254 and in the UK on Reprise K 54083

Disc 6 (43:57 minutes):

1. School Is Out

2. Alimony

3. Jesus On The Mainline

4. The Dark End Of The Street

5. Viva Sequin/Do Re Mi [Side 2]

6. Volver, Volver

7. How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live

8. Smack Dab In The Middle

Tracks 1 to 8 are his 6th LP “Show Time” – released August 1977 in the USA on Warner Brothers BS 3059 and in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56386

Note: Track 1 “School Is Out” is a Studio song – the rest of the album is LIVE recorded 14 and 15 December 1976 at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and credited to RY COODER/CHICKEN SKIN REVUE

Disc 7 (38:28 minutes):

1. Big Bad Bill Is Sweet William Now

2. Face To Face That I Shall Meet Him [Traditional Song cover]

3. The Pearls/Tia Juana [Jelly Roll Morton cover]

4. The Dream

5. Happy Meeting In Glory [Traditional Song cover]

6. In A Mist [Bix Beiderbecke cover]

7. Flashes [Bix Beiderbecke cover]

8. Davenport Blues [Bix Beiderbecke cover]

9. Shine

10. Nobody [Bert Williams cover]

11. We Shall Be Happy [Traditional Song cover]

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album “Jazz” – released June 1978 in the USA on Warner Brothers BSK 3197 and in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56488

Disc 8 (40:12 minutes):

1. Little Sister [Elvis Presley cover]

2. Go Home, Girl [Arthur Alexander cover]

3. The Very Thing That Makes You Rich

4. I Think It’s Going To Work Out Fine [Ike & Tina Turner cover]

5. Down In Hollywood [Ry Cooder song] [Side 2]

6. Look At Granny Run Run [Howard Tate cover]

7. Trouble You Can’t Fool Me [Frederick Knight cover]

8. Don’t You Mess Up A Good Thing [Fontella Bass & Bobby McClure cover]

9. I Can’t Win [The Invincibles cover]

Tracks 1 to 9 are the album “Bop Till You Drop” – released August 1979 in the USA on Warner Brothers BSK 3358 and in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56691. Bobby King sings Backing Vocals on 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and Lead Vocals on 9. Chaka Khan sings Backing Vocals on 5 and 8.

Disc 9 (44:06 minutes):

1. 634-5789

2. Why Don’t You Try Me

3. Down In The Boondocks

4. Johnny Porter

5. The Way We Make A Broken Heart

6. Crazy ‘Bout An Automobile

7. The Girls from Texas

8. Borderline

9. Never Make Your Move Too Soon

Tracks 1 to 9 are the album “Borderline” – released October 1980 in the USA on Warner Brothers BSK 3489 and in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56846

Disc 10 (39:18 minutes):

1. UFO Has Landed In The Ghetto

2. I Need A Woman

3. Gypsy Woman

4. Blue Suede Shoes

5. Mama, Don’t Treat Your Daughter Mean

6. I’m Drinking Again

7. Which Came First

8. That’s The Way Love Turned Out For Me

Tracks 1 to 8 are the album “The Slide Area” – released April 1982 in the USA on Warner Brothers BSK 3651 and in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56976

Disc 11 (40:52 minutes):

1. Get Rhythm [Johnny Cash cover]

2. Low—Commotion

3. Going Back To Okinawa

4. 13 Question Method [Chuck Berry cover]

5. Women Will Rule The World

6. All Shook Up [Elvis Presley cover]

7. I Can Tell By The Way You Smell

8. Across The Border Line

9. Let’s Have A Ball

Tracks 1 to 9 are the album “Get Rhythm” – released December 1987 in the USA on Warner Brothers 25639-1 and in the UK on Warner Brothers WX 121

The CD labels reflect the original vinyl issues - 1 to 5 are the Riverboat Tan design, 6 is the Burbank Trees design and the rest the cream Warner Brothers issues (nice attention to detail). Of all the repro card sleeves only “Into The Purple Valley” is a gatefold (all the others were single sleeve issues anyway) but a few like “Boomer’s Story” are missing inserts. I say this because apart from the almost unreadable album covers - there’s little info to go on (no booklet) and on hearing this fantastic trawl through Americana, Blues, Jazz, Gospel, Texmex and old time Blues - you desperately want to know more about the song origins. Most of the info is available on the net of course, but it would have put this groovy box set into the stratosphere if had been given a little bit more effort on the presentation front.

You also notice the gaps - “The Long Riders” soundtrack from 1980 is missing, as is the fabulous “Paris, Texas” from 1985. But what is here is just so consistently good. Admittedly when you get to “Borderline” and “The Slide Area” the quality control had begun to taper off (as had sales) which is what made the rollicking “Get Rhythm” from 1987 such a huge hit and return to form. 

I’d like to point out that for fans the real gems in here are “Boomer’s Story”, “Paradise And Lunch” and “Chicken Skin Music” which are beautiful sounding now. The gorgeous Mexican-feel instrumental “Marie Elena” on “Boomer’s Story” has been a rave of mine for years - the wicked combo of “I’m A Fool For A Cigarette/Feelin’ Good” is fabulous fun too and his warbling accordion version of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” on “Chicken Skin Music” is so touching - a wonderfully moving reinterpretation. The old-timey Woody Guthrie feel to the instrumental “Great Dream From Heaven” on “In The Purple Valley” is the kind of gem that litters these albums - its so simple yet so effecting - his playing so sympathetic to the material throughout.

“Bop Till You Drop” is a near perfect album and is littered with cleverly chosen covers opening with his take on Presley’s “Little Sister” given that distinctive Cooder jerky rhythm makeover (with Bobby Kind’s backing vocals adding so much to the tune). Arthur Alexander’s “Go Home Girl” has a wonderful ache to it while “Down In Hollywood” (his only original on the album) has ballbreakingly funny lyrics about Gays in Tinseltown. This classic 1979 LP ends with Chaka Khan and Bobby Kind getting duet Gospel on “I Can’t Win” – a song brought to the world by Clifton Knight when he was with the US Soul Group The Invincibles (1966 on Loma Records). It’s beautifully done.

With its mixture of Traditionals and Bix Beiderbecke rhythms 1978’s “Jazz” goes all Old Timey (“Big Bad Bill Is Sweet William Now”) and is one of those records that got ignored on release but gets rediscovered as a masterpiece years later. It’s also beautifully produced – the remaster shining like a diamond here – slide guitars, trombones, big bass drums and banjos coming at you from every angle. “The Slide Area” and the fabulous “Get Rhythm” albums feature witty nuggets like “UFO Has Landed In The Ghetto” and “Women Will Rule The World” (go Hilary Clinton).

Great stuff - and at a little over two quid per album – “1970-1987” is a frankly bit of a steal in a sea of overpriced and stodgy Anniversary reissues.

On Ry Cooder’s blinding cover of Howard Tate’s “Look At Granny Run Run” (written by that genius duo of Jerry Ragovoy and Mort Shuman) our Ryland tells of Grandfather’s renewed libido because the Doctor has given him “a brand new pill...” Get this Americana Musical Tonic winging its way to someone you love as soon as possible...

This review is part of my SOUNDS GOOD Music Book Series. 
One of those titles is CLASSIC 1970s ROCK - an E-Book with over 260 entries and 2450 
e-Pages - purchase on Amazon and search any artist or song (click the link below). Huge amounts of info taken directly from the discs (no cut and paste crap).