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.