KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD BAND
LIVE! IN CHICAGO
2010 – ROADRUNNER
Produced By KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD & JERRY HARRISON
1. Somehow, Somewhere, Someway
2. King’s Highway
3. True Lies
4. Deja Voodoo
5. Sell My Monkey
6. Dance For Me Girl
7. Baby Don’t Say That No More
8. Eye To Eye
9. How Many More Years
10. Sick And Tired
11. Feed Me
12. Rocking Daddy
13. Blue On Black
14. I’m A King Bee
Kenny Wayne Shepherd was just 18 when he released his debut album, Ledbetter Heights, in 1995. Fifteen years later, Shepherd, now a grizzled blues veteran at the ripe old age of 33, put out this, his first live album. And if you’re a blues fan, it’s a dream come true of a jam. All but one of his nine albums have peaked at number one on the American blues charts, and this is no exception. And there are plenty of positives here. Because it’s live, you get most of his band’s raw energy (although you can’t actually see them). Singer Noah Hunt is in great form (Shepherd sings backup only), and the selections are well chosen. And the band plays the crap out if them. Of course, Shepherd’s signature song, “Blue On Black”, is here, along with several other classics that are mostly unknown outside of that small blues circle. But that’s okay.
What truly saves this from being nothing more than a typical borefest blues jam night are the guests. Eight of the fourteen tracks feature some pretty legendary (yet little known) monsters of Chicago blues. Guest stars Buddy Flett, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Bryan Lee and Hubert Sumlin take the stage and infuse the Shepherd band (and Shepherd, especially) with some real fire. The playing on the guest tracks (5 through 12) are noticeably more inspired. Even more important…in the year following this show, both Sumlin and Smith passed away, so these are some of their last recordings. Bottom line is this: if you’re a blues fanatic, this will be a nice little slice of guitar heaven…Shepherd’s only live album until ten years later. Otherwise, you might find yourself drifting away after a few songs. Overall, a pretty good show. Nothing earth shattering here, but more than respectable.
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URGE OVERKILL
EXIT THE DRAGON
1995 – GEFFEN
Produced By BUTCHER BROS
1. Jaywalkin’
2. The Break
3. Need Some Air
4. Somebody Else’s Body
5. Honesty Files
6. This Is No Place
7. The Mistake
8. Take Me
9. View Of The Rain
10. Last Night / Tomorrow
11. Tin Foil
12. Monopoly
13. And You’ll Say
14. Digital Black Epilogue
So, yeah. Urge Overkill is known for two things. First and foremost, they have this reputation as being so much cooler than they are for their cover of Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” that was used in an awesome scene in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. And their album Saturation was pretty good. But the truth is, outside of these two things, Urge Overkill was never more than average and ordinary. Exit The Dragon, the follow up album to Saturation, is absolute proof of this. This was a band coming off of two pretty substantial victories, and this album was the one that could have made them bona fide superstars. It did not. In fact, after they released this, it would be sixteen years before their next album…and that went completely unnoticed. So, what happened to Urge Overkill? How did they squander this golden opportunity to become the next cool thing?
The answer is easy, and I’ve said it a million times before. Songs. This trio had the cool sound. They had two solid lead singers. They had chops. What they did not have was the material to take themselves to the next level. Exit The Dragon has a great sound, but outside of “Somebody Else’s Body”, (which is hardly the stuff that massive hits are made of), it lacks hooks. It lacks great songs, and it lacks the energy that would have taken this band to superstardom. It’s not a bad album at all…but for where they were at the time, it’s pretty disappointing. Urge Overkill was on the cusp of greatness, and they simply failed to deliver by putting out a very average album. And it cost them. Their best moments remain a cover song in a movie and a promising fourth album. Exit The Dragon is okay. But not enough to lift this band to beyond average.
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THE BEACH BOYS
THE SMILE SESSIONS
2011 – CAPITOL
Produced By BRIAN WILSON
1. Our Prayer
2. Gee
3. Heroes And Villains
4. Do You Like Worms (Roll Plymouth Rock)
5. I’m In Great Shape
6. Barnyard
7. My Only Sunshine (The Old Master Painter / You Are My Sunshine)
8. Cabin Essence
9. Wonderful
10. Look (Song For Children)
11. Child Is Father Of The Man
12. Surf’s Up
13. I Wanna Be Around / Workshop
14. Vega-Tables
15. Holidays
16. Wind Chimes
17. The Elements: Fire (Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow)
18. Love To Say Dada
19. Good Vibrations
20. You’re Welcome
21. Heroes And Villains (Stereo Mix)
22. Heroes And Villains Sections (Stereo Mix)
23. Vega-Tables (Demo)
24. He Gives Speeches
25. Smile Backing Vocals Montage
26. Surf’s Up 1967 (Solo Version)
27. Psycodelic Sounds: Brian Falls Into A Piano
28. Capitol Smile Promo
1. Our Prayer “Dialog”
2. Heroes And Villains: Part One
3. Heroes And Villains: Part Two
4. Heroes And Villains: Children Were Raised
5. Heroes And Villains: Prelude To Fade
6. My Only Sunshine
7. Cabin Essence
8. Surf’s Up: 1st Movement
9. Surf’s Up: Piano Demo
10. Vega-Tables: Fade
11. The Elements: Fire Session
12. Cool, Cool Water (Version 2)
13. Good Vibrations Session Highlights
14. Psycodelic Sounds: Brian Falls Into A Microphone
Maybe the most important album never made, Smile was to have been the follow up to the Beach Boys classic Pet Sounds. The single “Good Vibrations”, a stunning recording, was to have been the centerpiece, along with “Heroes And Villains”. But the recording process proved too strenuous for Brian Wilson, and despite several attempts, Smile was never finished. Some of the music from Smile popped up on later Beach Boys releases, and Wilson even made an attempt at re-recording it in 2004, but the original album remained a mystery. The Smile Sessions shines as much light as there could possibly be on the project, and it’s a pretty amazing set. Much of it is just fragments, and much sounds as unfinished as it is, but you can easily tell that had this been finished, it would have been maybe the greatest pop album ever made.
The first 19 tracks are as close to the finished album as we will ever get. And even unfinished, it’s stunning. “Good Vibrations”, “Vega-Tables”, the lovely “Surf’s Up”, and the song that Wilson apparently obsessed the most over, “Heroes And Villains”, are amazing. The rest is studio scraps…most of which contain amazing moments. Wilson had perfected the Beach Boys sound. Problem was, he couldn’t maintain control over what he was doing. The bonus material here is of huge interest, and everything, as incomplete as it is, somehow manages to work into a beautiful album. That Smile was never finished is tragic, and that it cost Wilson so much is sad. But man…listen to this thing. Had he been able to pull it together, he might have just made the most amazing album ever recorded. We’ll never know…but you should hear this at least once. It really is breathtaking.
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THE WAILIN’ JENNYS
FIRECRACKER
2006 – FESTIVAL
Produced By DAVID TRAVERS-SMITH
1. The Devil’s Paintbrush Road
2. Glory Bound
3. Begin
4. Things That You Know
5. Swallow
6. Starlight
7. Apocalypse Lullaby
8. This Heart Of Mine
9. Long Time Traveller
10. Avila
11. Some Good Thing
12. Prairie Town
13. Firecracker
If I walked into a bar and this band was playing, I would never leave. The Wailin’ Jennys are a folk and bluegrass trio from Winnipeg, and this is some of the sweetest music you will ever hear. The Jennys are a trio, with mainstays Ruth Moody and Nicky Mehta having been there from the beginning. Original member Cara Luft was replaced after one album by Annabelle Chvostek, who would leave after 2006’s Firecracker. Each member contributed four songs (plus one traditional cover). The album starts off with a bang (heh), with Chvostek’s excellent “The Devil’s Paintbrush Road” (the #1 played song in Canada in 2006), and Moody’s gorgeous “Glory Bound” setting the mood. The best tracks here are the ones that stray closer to their bluegrass roots over the less twangy numbers, which tend to stray a little bit too close to adult contemporary territory that more resembles fellow Canadian Jann Arden that anything country or folk.
Fortunately, the Jennys don’t stray too often. The mandolins and fiddles sound beautiful, and their biggest asset is in abundance: a beautiful three part harmony that can melt your heart at a moments notice. Firecracker was a big success, becoming a number one album in Canada and reaching #2 on the US Bluegrass charts. Chvostek left after this one album, replaced by still current member Heather Masse. They have since released three very good albums, including 2011’s Bright Morning Stars, 2017’s Fifteen, and an excellent live album in 2009. The Jennys were still in transition and finding themselves on Firecracker, but it’s still a wonderful album. This is a group that you really can’t go wrong with. They have a nice acoustic sound, very good songwriting, and of course, those vocals. Their namesake, Waylon Jennings, would be most proud.
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DAVID BOWIE
SCARY MONSTERS (AND SUPER CREEPS)
1980 – RCA
Produced By DAVID BOWIE & TONY VISCONTI
1. It’s No Game (No. 1)
2. Up The Hill Backwards
3. Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
4. Ashes To Ashes
5. Fashion
6. Teenage Wildlife
7. Scream Like A Baby
8. Kingdom Come
9. Because You’re Wrong
10. It’s No Game (No. 2)
David Bowie owned the decade of the 1970’s. From The Man Who Sold The World in 1970 through Lodger in 1979, he rarely made a misstep, was building an empire of influence on future generations of musicians, and made some of the greatest albums in rock history. So, what would Bowie do as the 80’s became a new decade? He released yet another very fine album in Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), making it very clear that the Thin White Duke still had it. And that, after his trilogy of excellent but less commercially successful experimental albums Low, Heroes and Lodger, he could still bring a more conventional sound to the table and have great success with it. Scary Monsters is a big victory for Bowie, but it was also the end of an era. Although no one could have known at the time, this is the last great Bowie album.
The two major tracks from this album are his update of “Space Oddity”, the creepy “Ashes To Ashes”, and the dance hit “Fashion”, a better version of the lesser music that was to come later on. He also updates “Young Americans” with “Teenage Wildlife”. Robert Fripp provides some excellent guitar work (as always), and Bowie is smart and in touch here, for the last time. Scary Monsters is a sometimes overlooked gem in Bowie’s discography, but it’s very good and should be definitely heard. It’s not Ziggy Stardust or Aladdin Sane or Heroes…but it’s not far from it. His next album, Let’s Dance, had a ton of hits, but also marked the end of the great era of Bowie. He never recovered from that. But you should definitely hear the great albums he did make during his early career. Scary Monsters is the last, but should definitely be included in that group.
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GRATEFUL DEAD
SKELETONS FROM THE CLOSET: THE BEST OF GRATEFUL DEAD
1974 – WARNER BROS.
Produced By STEPHEN BARNCARD, BETTY CANTOR, DAVID HASSINGER, GRATEFUL DEAD& BOB MATTHEWS
1. The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
2. Truckin’
3. Rosemary
4. Sugar Magnolia
5. St. Stephen
6. Uncle John’s Band
7. Casey Jones
8. Mexicali Blues
9. Turn On Your Love Light (Live)
10. One More Saturday Night (Live)
11. Friend Of The Devil
Post contractual obligation greatest hits package blues. The Dead left Warner Bros. to pursue their own label, and Warner’s promptly tried to cash in with this compilation. And it’s a strange one. On the one hand, it’s very good, being as it contains material from the Dead’s best studio album period. On the second hand, it also contains two live tracks…although one of them (“Turn On Your Love Light”) is a severely edited version. However, only four of the band’s studio albums to date were included. There is nothing here from Anthem Of The Sun, and one track (“Mexicali Blues”) is actually from a Bob Weir solo album from 1972. So, yes. It’s a strange compilation, for sure. And there would be much more complete albums collecting the best of this band later on. But this has a certain charm that has lasted for decades.
Consider this the best way to introduce someone to the SONGS of the Dead. Of course, nothing beats a live show (there’s a touch of that here…later, you can get into the hundreds of live documents that are out there). But people forget that for a brief time, the Dead recorded some great studio tracks. The “hits” “Truckin’” (from American Beauty) and “Casey Jones” (from Workingman’s Dead”) are here, alongside classics like “St. Stephen” and “Sugar Magnolia”. “Friend Of The Devil” is the closer, so all of the staples are covered. So, yeah…you might find a better compilation, and you might find one that’s more complete. But I believe that the reason why this album has endured over the years is because this is maybe the best initiation for a new Deadhead as there is. And as strange as it is, there’s a lot of great stuff on it.
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DOUG SAHM
THE LAST REAL TEXAS BLUES BAND
1994 – ANTONES
Produced By DOUG SAHM & DEREK O’BRIEN
1. Reconsider Baby
2. My Dearest Darling
3. Bad Boy
4. My Girl Josephine
5. I’m A Fool To Care
6. Something To Remember You By
7. Home At Last
8. Do Something For Me
9. Intro By Clifford Antone
10. Blessed Are These Tears
11. Loan A Helping Hand
12. When I Fall In Love
13. Honky Tonk
14. Tell Me The Truth
15. Round Of Drinks
16. T-Bone Shuffle
17. Crazy, Crazy Baby
Doug Sahm was born a country music prodigy, but he discovered rock and roll and a love for Texas roots music at an early age. He’s considered a pioneer of Tex-Mex music, and he was at the root of important bands like The Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados. His solo career featured several fine albums, but none more impressive than this one. Half of this was recorded live on stage at Antone’s in Austin with an impressive big band, showcasing all of the things that are great about Texas blues, rock and R&B in one package. The horn section here is simply magnificent, blending with the rhythm section and the selection of great songs, one right after another, perfectly. Sahm played this set like the veteran he was…this is about as perfect as an album like this can be. It’s seamless. It’s flawless, and it’s a lot of fun.
Sahm’s rock and roll soul shines through brightly on the Fats Domino song “My Girl Josephine”, Guitar Slim’s bluesy “Something To Remember You By”, and “Blessed Are These Tears” (all those big fat tears!). Sahm played what some call border rock, but it’s all blues, rock, and soul with a Texas twist. And it’s not to be missed. Sahm died of a heart attack in 1999, a huge loss for the Texas music scene. He was the torchbearer for this kind of music, and his influence, from his 1964 hit with the Quintet “She’s About A Mover” through his under the radar but excellent solo career, has been sorely missed. If you can find this album pick it up. You might find it as a twofer with his 1988 album, Juke Box Music…even better. You can never have enough Texas blues rock, and you can never have too much Doug Sahm.
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JOHNNY CASH
AT FOLSOM PRISON
1968 – COLUMBIA
Produced By BOB JOHNSTON
1. Folsom Prison Blues
2. Busted
3. Dark As A Dungeon
4. I Still Miss Someone
5. Cocaine Blues
6. 25 MinutesTo Go
7. Orange Blossom Special
8. The Long Black Veil
9. Send A Picture Of Mother
10. The Wall
11. Dirty Old Egg-Suckin’ Dog
12. Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart
13. Joe Bean
14. Jackson
15. Give My Love To Rose
16. I Got Stripes
17. The Legend Of John Henry’s Hammer
18. Green, Green Grass Of Home
19. Greystone Chapel
After having recorded 26 albums, Johnny Cash had to beg Columbia Records to record At Folsom Prison. His career had become stagnant over the previous four years, due to substance abuse and not quite stellar material. Cash finally got the okay to do the Folsom album after he was paired with Bob Dylan’s longtime producer, Bob Johnston. So Cash took his band (the Tennessee Three), June Carter and Carl Perkins to the California prison and recorded two shows for the inmates. The best of the shows became At Folsom Prison, the album that completely rejuvenated Cash’s career. It stands today as one of the best live albums ever made, and remains one of the strongest images of Cash. The show is lively, and Cash is in great spirits and great voice. Cash released 96 albums, and this may be the most memorable of them all.
Cash romps through many of his hits, including excellent renditions of “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Orange Blossom Special”. The Folsom version of his duet with Carter, “Jackson”, is legendary. He fills the set with prison related songs like “Cocaine Blues”, “25 Minutes To Go”, and “I Got Stripes”. He pokes just enough fun at the guards to make everyone happy, and he ends up with one hell of a perfect album. This is the 1999 reissue, so there are 4 extra tracks (“Busted”, “I Got Stripes”, and “The Legend Of John Henry’s Hammer”). He even threw in “Greystone Chapel”, a song written by Folsom inmate Glen Sherley (who would have a turbulent career in music after his release from Folsom). At Folsom Prison has some of everything, and it’s maybe the best album in the long and amazing career of Cash. An absolute must have.
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THE SPECIALS
THE SINGLES COLLECTION
1991 – CHRYSALIS
No Production Credit
1. Gangsters
2. Rudy, A Message To You
3. Nite Club
4. Too Much Too Young
5. Guns Of Navarone
6. Rat Race
7. Rude Boys Outta Jail
8. Maggie’s Farm
9. Do Nothing
10. Stereotype
11. Ghost Town
12. Why?
13. Friday Night, Saturday Morning
14. Racist Friend
15. Free Nelson Mandela
One of the by products of punk in the late seventies was the revival of ska, a movement that was led in Great Britain by The Specials. This band played dance music, but they were also very political in keeping with their punk roots. They dressed like 60’s mods, and they were musically exceptional. The Specials didn’t last long…after tearing up the charts between 1979 and 1981, three members left to form the band Fun Boy Three, and even though Jerry Dammers kept the group going until 1984, they were never the same. The Specials released only two albums while together (and one after they had split up), but they had also released a wealth of singles. Which is why 1991’s The Singles Collection is THE Specials album to have. Not only is it the band’s best work, but it is also the very best of the ska revival period.
Their biggest hit was “Ghost Town”, an eerie commentary on inner city problems. But everything here is first rate. “Gangsters”. Too Much Too Young”, and the later single “Free Nelson Mandela” are perfect. There’s also a Dylan cover (“Maggie’s Farm”), and a pair of great live tracks. This is an instance where a compilation is definitely the best way to go with a band…this far outshines their studio albums. The Specials have since reformed several times, although Dammers has never been a part of any of the band’s reunions. And while they are quite good, they have never approached the level of this material. The Specials, for those initial three years, were special indeed. This is what the big deal was about ska, all on one glorious best of by a band that was, for a minute, on the verge of real greatness.
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THE STILLS-YOUNG BAND
LONG MAY YOU RUN
1976 – REPRISE
Produced By TOM DOWD, DON GEHMAN, STEPHEN STILLS & NEIL YOUNG
1. Long May You Run
2. Make Love To You
3. Midnight On The Bay
4. Black Coral
5. Ocean Girl
6. Let It Shine
7. 12/8 Blues (All The Same)
8. Fontainebleau
9. Guardian Angel
Let’s see if we can sort this out. After touring in 1974, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young split up. David Crosby and Graham Nash resumed their partnership, while Stephen Stills and Neil Young decided to go back to their roots by doing a Buffalo Springfield style album. Crosby & Nash joined the recording, and the reunion was back on. But when the pair left to finish the album they had been working on, Stills and Young removed all of their vocals, and the Stills-Young Band was born. Crosby & Nash vowed never to work with the pair ever again (a promise which lasted about a year). Long May You Run was released with the title track being the lead single, and a hit. But Young quit via telegram in mid tour, and the Stills-Young Band was no more. Hope that makes sense…I don’t think I could explain it any better than that.
As for the album itself, outside of Young’s pretty title track, there’s not much worthwhile here. The remaining eight tracks, four each by Young and Stills, show that the pair were hardly bringing their best material to this table. “Let It Shine” (Young) is pretty good, but Stills sounds completely uninspired, especially on the shallow song about ocean’s depth, “Black Coral”. Even on the more rocking “12/8 Blues”, he sounds like he’d rather be elsewhere. The album is full of spots where you can imagine Crosby & Nash adding their harmonious talents, and their absence is highly noticeable. Young at least sounds like he’s trying here, but the surprisingly lesser quality of the material may have had something to do with why he chose to jump ship. This project had great promise, but unfortunately, most of that went unfulfilled.
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