Rolling Stones

Album: 12X5
Format: CD or LP
Label/Info: ABKCO Hybrid SACD Reissue, 2002. Original U.S. release in 1964 as London LL 3402 (mono) and PS 402 (reprocessed for stereo).

Picking just one Stones album to blog about is like choosing just one Kinks album. Too many indispensable records. But I've been listening to this 2002 remaster of 12X5, and it's better than I ever remembered. 12X5 was their second American release, some of which was recorded at Chess Studios in Chicago (note Side B's opener "2120 South Michigan Avenue") while on their first U.S. tour. This was their pilgrimage to Mecca. All the bluesmen and rock'n'rollers the lads idolized were regular fixtures there, and their influence is palpable. (The recording engineer, Ron Malo, had worked with Bo Diddley, Etta James, and Sonny Boy Williamson, among others.) The set kicks off with a classic Chess side by Chuck Berry, but ultimately it's Dale Hawkins' "Susie Q" that steals the show.

The Feelies / Joseph Spence

Format: LP
Update on two essential albums mentioned earlier. It's been a good month. First, The Feelies' Crazy Rhythms (Stiff Records, 1980) is reissued by Bar/None on vinyl and the sound is incredible. (Nice work, Andreas Meyer at Tangerine Mastering in Weehawken.) And then, if that weren't enough, devoted philanthropists Eric Isaacson, Warren Hill, and Tim Stollenwerk at Mississippi Records reissue Joseph Spence's otherworldly classic, Good Morning Mr. Walker (Arhoolie, 1972). This album also holds up (or will hold up) as an artifact: thick cardboard jacket with pasted-on cover in Folkways fashion.

Sam "Mr. Soul" Cooke

Album: Night Beat
Format: LP
Label/Info: RCA/Victor "Dynagroove" LPM-2709 (mono) or LSP-2709 (stereo), 1963.

This is one of those LPs made for those big sounding hi-fi consoles from the Mad Men era that put the singer smack-dab in your living room. A pleasant divergence for Cooke at the time, it's quiet, understated, and perhaps even a little risque in a couple of places ("Little Red Rooster," "Shake, Rattle and Roll"). There's a definite after-hours thing going on, with vocals so close you can practically hear each inhalation and just enough accompaniment -- piano, bass, brushes, guitar, and a little Hammond B3 -- to encourage the mood along. Good luck in finding an affordable copy in VG or better condition, and it's a shame it has not been reissued on vinyl.

V/A - Moroccan

Album: Gnawa Music of Marrakesh: Night Spirit Masters
Format: CD
Label/Info: AXIOM (Island Records) 314-510 147-2

I recently attended a talk with Nathan Salsburg of the Alan Lomax Archive and Twos & Fews Records who shared some incredible documentary footage of Gnawa musicians in Marrakesh made by filmmaker Caitlin McNally. (Salsburg and Twos & Fews plan to release a CD/DVD set of Gnawa performances later this year. More info here.) His presentation inspired me to track down this 1990 AXIOM disc produced by Bill Laswell, which was supposedly given 4 stars by Rolling Stone. It's all I listen to in the car right now, that is, until the Twos & Fews set comes out.

The Modern Lovers

Album: The Modern Lovers
Format: LP
Label/Info: 2004 red vinyl Get Back reissue (Get 90066). Originally released 1976 as Beserkley LP BZ-0050

Compiled from 1973 sessions with John Cale. This essential record should have been included earlier in this blog, especially since I already mentioned The Stooges' first record, its proto-protopunk sister also produced by Cale. In many ways this album holds up more. Certainly the mood is lighter and more playful. (If Iggy represented leather, drugs, and debauchery, then Jonathan Richman was more comfy sweaters, health food, and holding hands -- although "She Cracked" has a certain snarky snarl.) Subsequent CD reissues contain unnecessary bonus tracks that take away from the freshness and immediacy of the original 9-song playlist.

Julius Hemphill

Albums: 'Coon Bid'ness and Dogon A.D.
Format: LP
Label/Info: Arista Freedom AL 1012 (1975) and AL 1028 (1977)

Both albums contain material recorded February 1972 in St. Louis, Missouri, with 'Coon Bid'ness containing additional selections from January 1975 in NYC. 'Coon Bid'ness appears earlier on this blog as the Reflections CD, but since I just picked it up on vinyl along with Dogon (for five bucks each!) at Princeton Record Exchange during a recent record hunting trip, I had to revisit it. Mystical and challenging music you can get down with -- West African juju meets East Texas hambone. Check out the alto ping-pong match with fellow griot Black Arthur Blythe on "Hard Blues" ('Coon Bid'ness) And no, that's not a bass you hear, but the superbad Abdul Wadud on cello. (P.S. - Why can't anyone write liner notes like Robert Palmer anymore?)

Gabor Szabo

Album: The Sorcerer
Format: LP
Label/Info: Impulse AS-9146 (1967)

The hypnotist Hungarian. Szabo recorded some wild stuff in the '60s, bouncing from raga to psychedelia to cheeseball. This is his most satisfying set, although he still manages to throw in one pop movie song. Recorded live at the Jazz Workshop in Boston, April 14-15, 1967. Interesting interplay between Jimmy Stewart and Szabo, especially on Side 2.

Howlin' Wolf

Album: The Legendary Sun Performers
Format: LP
Label/Info: Oxford 3214 (Charly Records, London)

1951 and 1952 Memphis sessions recorded by Sam Phillips. Is this the blues, rock 'n' roll, R&B, or something new altogether? Well, whatever it is, it's some of the most raucous material to come out of the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue. [Wolf (Chester Burnett) would soon leave for Chicago and sign with Chess Records, while Phillips would go on to found Sun Records shortly thereafter.] Holy smokes, what a voice. Enough to melt a Shure 55. Also features some wild guitar work by Willie Johnson. If this LP is unavailable, the Bear Family CDs are ok substitutes. See Memphis Days: Definitive Edition, Vol. 1 (Bear Family 15460) and Vol. 2 (Bear Family 15500).

Big Star

Album: Radio City
Format LP

Label/Info: Ardent/Stax reissue (2009)

Power pop from Memphis. Like most people I know, I've had that #1 Record/Radio City twofer CD since the early 1990s. Great stuff, but the sound quality wasn't all there. This new vinyl reissue breathes new life into this music.

Blind Willie McTell

Album: The Classic Years 1927-1940

Format: CD

Label/Info: JSP7711A-D (4-disc set)

Indispensable American music. Surprisingly, the overall sound quality on this JSP collection is better than the more expensive Document set (DOCD-5677) covering much of the same material with the added bonus of the 1940 John Lomax recordings. Disc 3, with its bawdy hokum ("Let Me Play With Yo' Yo-Yo") and heartfelt spirituals ("Ain't It Grand to Be a Christian") contains some of my favorite sing-a-longs of all time, particularly the gospel duets with wife Kate McTell recorded in Chicago in 1935 for Decca. It so happens that I do a fairly decent Kate McTell impersonation which adds to the fun.

John Lee Hooker

Album: It Serve You Right To Suffer
Format: LP
Label/Info: Impulse AS-9103 (1966). There is also a 180 Gram Speakers Corner reissue available new for around 35 bucks. Too pricey for me, but I bet it sounds great. A perfectly recorded laid-back set with jazz musicians who know how to hold back and let the star of the session shine. John Lee Hooker (voc, g); Dickie Wells (tb); Milt Hinton (b); Barry Galbraith (g); Panama Francis (dr)

(Why did MCA feel the need to change "Serve" to "Serves" on the CD reissue? Leave Mr. Hooker's grammar alone. )

V/A from VA

Grammy-nominated Virginia Traditions series from the Blue Ridge Institute, Ferrum College

Format: LP or CD

While all the BRI releases are worth your while, I'm particularly partial to their blues and African American offerings:

Non-Blues Secular Black Music. BRI LP 001/Global Village CD 1001

Western Piedmont Blues. BRI LP 003/Global Village CD 1003

Tidewater Blues. BRI LP 006/Global Village CD 1006

Southwest Virginia Blues. BRI LP 008/Global Village CD 1008

Granted, this is a highly idiosyncratic blog -- jumping from Q-Tip to Virginia blues -- which I do primarily for my own benefit. I own a lot of blues comps, but these are some of the best regional music collections ever put together. Included are some rare and interesting 78s from the 1920s and '30s, but it is the later stuff -- like the 1970s sessions by Kip Lornell -- that really show off that raggy Piedmont/East Coast style. Contact the good folks at the Blue Ridge Institute & Museum about availability.

Q-Tip

Album: The Renaissance
Format: LP or CD
Label/Info: Universal/Motown

I rarely listen to much new music anymore. Seems like I start to lose interest around 1970. But I really dig this record, which has been in heavy rotation in my car. My kids really like it too. Perhaps I'm just reminiscing about a more naive time when Low End Theory provided my summer soundtrack the year I finished college. Fresh summer beats for an Obama nation on the mend.

The Spiritualaires of Hurtsboro, Alabama

Album: Singing Songs of Praise
Format: CD
Label/Info: CaseQuarter 103

Holy-roller soul from East Central Alabama. While the lineup has changed over six decades, The Spiritualaires of Hurtsboro remain one of the last working vocal groups originating during gospel's golden years of the late 1940s and 50s. Assembled from recent studio recordings and live radio broadcasts at WBIL in Tuskegee, the disc contains a good cross section of performances that borrow from the blues and soul as well as sacred influences. Check out other CaseQuarter releases for more of the real deal.

Mississippi Fred McDowell

Album: Live at the Gaslight
Format: CD
Label/Info: Grapeshot/Live Archive GRR 1001

Recorded live November 5, 1971, at The Gaslight Cafe, MacDougal Street, Greenwich Village, New York City; also featuring Tom Pomposello on 2nd guitar. The Mississippi Delta legend's last recording featuring his signature bottleneck style on electric guitar.

V/A

Album: Oh Graveyard, You Can't Hold Me Always
Format: LP
Label/Info: Mississippi Records MR-030/SM-01

Mono. Compilation of rare gospel recordings from the 1960s and early 1970s. Artists include Mosby Family Singers, Straight Street Holiness Group, Laura Rivers, Rev. Lonnie Farris, Radio Four, Joe Townsend, White Family, Silver Quintette, James Carter & The Mighty Stars, Farris & Williams, Brother Willie Eason, Traveling Echoes, and Sensational Happy Travelers.

Washington Phillips

Album: What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?
Format: LP
Label/Info: Mississippi Records MR-006

Album: The Key To The Kingdom
Format: CD
Label/Info: Yazoo 2073

Phillips was a pioneering gospel performer in the 1920s. Born in Texas in 1880, his entire musical catalogue consists of 18 or so unique performances. Recorded between 1927 and 1929, these tracks feature Phillips self-accompanied by an instrument that sounds like a fretless zither. This instrument, which has been variously identified as a Dolceola, a Celestophone, and a Phonoharp (and also is considered by some to be an instrument entirely home-made by Phillips) creates a unique sound that is immediately charming and intriguing. For Phillips' complete recordings consult the Yazoo CD.

Otis Redding

"The Posthumous Releases" - 1967 recordings completed just before his death.
Format: LP (Otis was made for vinyl.)















Album: The Dock of the Bay (1968) - Volt S-419; ATCO SD 33-288; Sundazed Reissue LP 5172 (2003)

Album: The Immortal Otis Redding (1968) - ATCO SD 33-252

Album: Love Man (1969) - ATCO SD 33-289

Album: Tell the Truth (1970) - ATCO SD 33-333