Albums That Hold Up

Sunday, May 18, 2008

The Zombies

Album: Odessey and Oracle
Format: LP
Label/Info: Big Beat WIKD 181 - "30th Anniversary Edition" vinyl reissue

While I can only handle so much psychedelic pop, this is beautifully-crafted music and quite simply one of the finest albums ever made. The CD sounds tinny, so avoid it, and contains a lot of unnecessary bonus tracks.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

James Brown

Album: Live at the Apollo (Volume II - 1967)
Format: CD
Label/Info: Universal/Polydor Deluxe Edition. Originally released in 1968 as King LP 1022.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Junior Kimbrough and the Soul Blues Boys

Album: Sad Days, Lonely Nights
Format: LP
Label/Info: Fat Possum (also available on CD).

Talk about some hypnotic hill-country groove. Recorded live at Kimbrough's juke joint in Chulahoma, MS, in 1993. Produced by writer/music critic Robert Palmer.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Wilson Pickett

Album: The Exciting Wilson Pickett
Format: LP
Label/Info: 4 Men With Beards - 180 Gram Reissue; originally released in 1966 as Atlantic 8129 (SD 8129, stereo).

The Stooges

Album: The Stooges
Format: LP
Label/Info: Sundazed Vinyl Reissue (5149). This is their first album for Elektra - produced by John Cale. Released in 1969.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Alice Coltrane

Album: Ptah, the El Daoud
Format: CD
Label/Info: 1996 Impulse Remaster
(20 Bit). Vinyl copies are out there, but can be quite expensive.

Muddy Waters

Album: The Best of Muddy Waters
Format: LP
Label/Info: MCA/Chess Vinyl Reissue; also 180 Gram Speakers Corner Reissue. (I don't normally recommend "Best of"s, but this is an essential collection of early singles.) Recorded between 1948-1954.

Chuck Berry

Album: After School Session
Format: CD
Label/Info: 2004 Geffen Remaster; originally released in 1957 as Chess LP 1426.

Favorite cut: "Drifting Heart"

Sun Ra and the Arkestra

Album: Super-Sonic Jazz
Format: LP or CD
Label/Info: 180 Gram Saturn Vinyl Reissue (left) and Evidence CD 22015 (bottom left). Also released in 1973 as Super-Sonic Sounds, Impulse AS-9271 (bottom right). Originally recorded in 1956.
Favorite cut: "Kingdom of Not"

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Mahalia Jackson

Album: The World's Greatest Gospel Singer
Format: LP
Label/Info: 1955 Columbia CL 644 ("6-eye" LP, her first for the label. Inexpensive copies can be found at GEMM.)

Ms. Jackson says in the liner notes that she doesn't do blues records. Somebody should have told the session's guitarist.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Pete La Roca

Album: Basra
Format: LP
Label/Info: Blue Note Vinyl Reissue

Favorite cut: "Basra" - A one-chord ride up the Tigris and back down the Euphrates.

Andrew Hill

Album: Grass Roots
Format: CD
Label/Info: Blue Note Connoisseur Series

There are more critically-acclaimed Hill records, but I come back to these 1968 sessions again and again.

Otis Redding

Album: The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads
Format: LP
Label/Info: 4 Men With Beards - 180 Gram Reissue

Favorite cut: "Nothing Can Change This Love"

John Cale

Album: Paris 1919
Format: LP
Label/Info: 4 Men With Beards - 180 Gram Reissue

Favorite cut: "Paris 1919" - In the aftermath of the war to end all wars, a pop song about chasing illusions.

George Jones

Album: Trouble in Mind
Format: LP
Label/Info: 1965 United Artists
UA-3408/UAS-6408 (stereo)
Never released on CD, but turns up in thift stores and flea markets from time to time.

The Feelies

Album: Crazy Rhythms
This album holds up in memory only, since I no longer own this record and haven't heard it in 20 years. It's currently unavailable (a shame), and used copies can be expensive.