This is a fabulous package which has been authorised by all the original band members. The studio albums, and the live albums have been re-mixed and re-mastered. This was some task. There are also eight live shows that have not been released previously although some have appeared in bootleg form over the years. Some 30 discs in total. The lavish hardback book is very informative and has statements, comments and anecdotes from all of those concerned. There are some lovely pictures of the lads and several that include promo material, posters, flyers, newspaper and magazine articles.
The poster book has some interesting and rare posters on show. Each box set contains individually signed photos of the band along with some other posters and period promotional material. Well worth having if you're a Wishbone Ash "Nut"

11 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

One of the best albums of the nineties... and getting better with age!

Some albums seem to make a fair old noise at the time of release, being definitive of their time, while others are not so firmly rooted in their era.

...These last, such as this one, don't date, or age as badly, and tend to improve with each listen.

Listening closely, the odd thing about how this album achieves this, in that there are relatively few working parts in it's construction...

...And it is most definitely a "constructed" record.

What strikes the ear more than anything, is that over and above the basic drums, and bass, and vocals, it's mostly a collection of short (very short) passages, phrases, stabs, and hooks, all tied together in the production, with a bit over here on the left channel, some over there on the right, a little in the middle distance, and a few bits in the middle to hold it all together.

Not so much guitar pyrotechnics, as acrobatics.... pieces of guitar in different effects peddles and so on, cast about, strewn, and popping up all over.

All of which creates an effect of having more in there than is actually the case, and a very dynamic listen.

The same is true of the drumming too, which doesn't settle too much on one constant pattern, but is full of energetic fills and punctuation.

And all of this goes on over around some exceptionally well written, classic (almost standard) feeling songs, with bags of hooks, melodies, and tunes.

Not a track to skip, and you find yourself, not only humming vocals that have gotten stuck in your head, but guitar parts too.

Extraordinary album, and one the ten best of the nineties for me.

There is, however, one fatal flaw, in that those of us who would exchange a nut for a vinyl copy of this (OK, a bit of extreme... but then, I didn't say it would be my nut! :D ) would have to accept the whole two disc affair - one single album across two discs - which I really do not like!
- One disc please!!!...

So, until such a single disc vinyl is issued (never going to happen, I know), then the CD is all you need... it would be your best purchase of the year!

9 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I have five Graham Nash solo albums, and this is his best in my opinion. There are some very well crafted songs on this album. In fact they are all good songs with 'Prison Song' the stand out track for me. And so it goes and grave concern run it a close second. I still give this a spin every now and then. I've made some compilation CDs and MP3s for the car and most of the songs here appear somewhere on them.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

A tall glass of milk never tasted sweeter, nor more healing. All the hits are here exept for "Silver Threads and Golden Needles", as well as several non-hits you've probably never heard before, but should have. This CD edition adds two more tracks, "Poor Baby" and "Hair", both essential and exemplary. That said, with the two bonus tracks, we're looking at a mere 42 minutes. There's at least six more A-sides from the MGM period that could have been included with free space to spare. So if you can find this at a good price, it's a perfect listening experience, but you're better off with a more comprehensive collection which will be very much worth the extra cash.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Mixed bag all round. Some incredible tracks like Tilt - Libel from their excellent debut album with Cinder Block's booming vocals sounding amazing against heavy guitars. NOFX's cover of Don McLean's Vincent which should be awful, but it's solid. Fat Mike has never been the best vocalist, but he sounds good on this over dreamy guitars. Germany's Wizo's raum der zeit has Husker Du style vocals albeit in German and jittery guitars and is catchy. Frenzal Rhomb's run is a fun intro to the band with a cheeky riff stolen from The Banana Splits theme song. Underrated band Diesel Boy put out a nice track with funny teen angst vocals that's good fun. Two good slices of Lagwagon who were a great signing for the label. The album finishes with Country Roads while not a patch on the original with Spike's vocals nowhere near as good as Jon Denver's (but whose are?) the hammer off guitar riffs make it a smile inducing bookmark.

For me the two Snuff tracks are on the mediocre side. Don't get me wrong I love Snuff, but for me these aren't their best. An OK track by Hi-Standard covering California Dreamin' - I get it, it starts with a cover and ends with a cover and while not horrible, it's just OK for me. Wait For The Sun by them I also find a bit meh. Mother Superior by Good Riddance also not their best work by a mile. Nation States by Propagandhi I love Chris's quickfire vocals, but it does nothing for me beyond that. They later went onto perfect their sound along with Strung Out (Rotten Apple's not their best) with incredibly difficult to play riffs and more emotional impactful lyrics.

The album is an early one, but it's not recorded that well. Sounds like it's been recorded through cotton wool. I've got similar albums from this era on other labels including Therapy's Infernal Love and they all suffer from quiet recording levels so it's no reflection on Fat Wreck, and to be fair this album does sound a lot better than their first compilation.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

My worst suspicions confirmed...

... It's taken me twenty some odd years to get around to listening to this, but found it in a charity shop last year, and it has only confirmed the reason I gave it a miss on it's original release:

It's too 'manufactured' and 'plastic' sounding Garbage, trying to be hip and with it and all techno pop confection, rather than the original concept of the band, as found in their excellent debut, which was centred around an image, and a sound and attitude of being slightly sleazy and disreputable, slack and grimy.... you know.... Garbage.

Of course, it's commendable that the band tried not to simply make the same album twice (they're not Coldplay, after all! :), but this seems the polar aopposite of what they set the band to be... they lost their selling point.

I think there may be some good tunes in here somewhere, but I can't hear them for the most part through all the directionless, frenetic, and relentless synth drums and techno-squiqgly bits which drown out the songs, and make the whole thing quite flat and tedious...

(contrary, ironaically, to what they put all that nonsense in there to achieve)

...Or it could simply be they layered all that crap on there to hide the fact that the songs underneath were not altogether great, and maybe a little rushed, or just ran out of ideas.

There's a couple of tracks worthy of their former selves which do manage to make themselves known, and punch through the fog, those being the opening two tracks: Temptation Waits, and the well known: I think I'm Paranoid, as well as the last track, which is a good one, but overall, it does kind of explain why I, like many after their debut, just said... "Meh"

...Being as this isn't what we signed up for, or bought into in the original Garbage concept. I know the original was essentially, a contrivance anyway, but it was true to the idea, and did it well, but this is pretty dull.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I've always liked this band - very poppy but hey, that's not necessarily a bad thing. They have good harmonies and I think they do their parents proud. Having said that, they all have decent voices that blend together well, on record. Live, they're not quite as good but then again, this is a studio album, and has been well produced.

It's good to hear fresh takes on some old songs, their rendition of California Dreamin' and Monday Monday are very good but for me, God Only Knows is the outstanding track on the album with Good Vibrations being a brave choice as not only is it a cover of The Beach Boys' best known (and probably best loved) track, but it's also an A Capella cover to boot.

Well done, I'm glad I bought this and will give it many a listen.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I've got a single disc *eco-pak of this I'll have to dig out...

(*eco-pak: reformed / recycled card sleeve, about the same quality as an egg box)

You really see that although only seemingly slightly regarded as an artist compared with other contemporaries, Donna Summer was actually quite innovative, as well as diverse in what she did, and should probably be taken more seriously... Certainly, when you pull all of her most well known tunes together like this, you realise just what her contribution was.

Great songs... a pleasure, but I sure ain't guilty about it!

Just take a look online for who she managed to get together as the backing choir on this cover of a Jon & Vangelis tune!:

[YouTube Video]

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

For me this had to be the worst album McCartney ever committed to tape. I couldn't find any redeeming factors about it at all bar the title song Press which is at best mediocre. I know McCartney went through a phase of bringing in other established stars to work alongside and I truly thought the partnership with Eric Stewart would've been a good one based on his work with 10cc but this album just left me cold and wondering where McCartney's head was at when he recorded it. To this day it has remained on the shelf unplayed and unloved for 33 years. For me there is only one thing good about it and that was the cover picture for the sleeve. The album covers photograph was taken by George Hurrell, using the same box camera that he used in Hollywood in the 1930's and the 1940's. Hurrell was renowned for his photographs of movie stars of the 1930's and 1940's like Clark Gable and Greta Garbo, to which the album's cover was meant to pay homage and for me it was only thing that worked. Other than that it's definitely one you're not missing if you don't have it and I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to buy it.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Real Gone Music scores again with the first-ever CD issue of the mono versions of Laura Nyro's first two albums. More Than a New Discovery appears in the dedicated mono mix and original running order. Eli and the Thirteenth Confession appears in the fold-down mix only released in the US as a promo. As bonus tracks, we get the "alternate" single version of "Stoney End" (actually recorded before the LP version), the single edit of "Eli's Comin'," and the uptempo Bones Howe-produced single version of "Save the Country." Very good sound. Highly recommended.

[YouTube Video]

[YouTube Video]

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8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

This one was kind of a victim of it's own success at the time, I remember...

...With a lot of people - who initially appreciated, and acknowledged how good it was - growing rapidly tired of it, and eventually dismissing it, and to a large extent, Travis themselves.

Another case, perhaps, of being oversold, and getting too much airplay, until people found it annoying... Rather like Alanis Morrisette's: Jagged Little Pill album, or Moby's: Play.

Which is a shame, because this has a lot more going on it than simply being a great collection of consistently strong pop tunes. These fantastic tunes you can 'um, actually only serve to deliver a rather melancholic tone, and subject matter, which is a contrast that actually works really well when writers of pop song do it.

Indeed... music for me at least, is best when recognising that actually, everything ain't awesome (something that seems to have escaped most writers of late), and as well as the big, anthemic: Turn (perhaps a little overdone), the brilliant: Driftwood, and the marvellous, miserable-ist pub sing-along: Why Does It Always Rain On Me?, the opening track: Writing To Reach You, and the Glacial: The Fear, make a brilliant album for those of a natural melancholic disposition to spend an hour or so with.

This, for me, is what indie pop music ought to be.

...Time to dig it out again and give it another listen.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

This album has shot to No. 1 in the UK (11/12/16) and is widely being heralded as the best thing the Stones have done since God knows when, but is it? Well, in some ways it is. It's certainly the most consistently good album they've made for a very long time but that can be put down to the fact the none of the songs were written by Jagger/Richard(s). The Stones' songwriting team have been off form for many years. So on Blue and Lonesome there are no original songs but the blues covers selected are all classics and excellent choices.
That said the songs chosen also reflect artists that had a big influence on the Stones sound particularly in their early years. Many reviews are making a link from this album their eponymous debut The Rolling Stones and touting it as a return to their roots as a band. So how does it compare to their debut which incidentally currently has an average rating of between 5 and 6 on this site. Well on Blue And Lonesome the playing is tighter and the production is better but is it a better album? I'd say no for several reasons.
My main beef is that the album contains a highly predictable set of covers that are pretty much faithful reproductions of the original songs. The band still sound good but not much has been done to put their own mark on these old blues classics. John Lee Hooker's "The Healer" and "Mr. Lucky" are much better examples of how to update or tweak the blues for a modern audience.
Now, don't get me wrong, I like the Stones and listened to them a lot in my childhood because my Dad was a huge fan. The first live band I saw was the Stones in 1973 and I still have 15 or so of their albums in my collection so I do like the band. Songs the Stones covered on earlier albums are probably the main reason I started collecting and hunting down blues music in general. So I have the Stones to thank for this but I also have the original versions of every song on this album and quite frankly I prefer them to versions offered up here on Blue and Lonesome.
The album is a good introduction to Chicago blues and is well played by seasoned musicians but if you want the real thing search out The Chess Box or the original albums.
All in all Blue and Lonesome is a good Stones album of classic blues tracks but it lacks any real spark or identity of its own. A great album if you love the Stones so much hearing them run through some blues standards is enough to get you off. Average otherwise 5/10.


8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

When this excellent Capitol Collectors Series CD was issued in 1992, there was reportedly a dispute between the members of the group, and most copies of the CD's were released without the original 16 page booklet. I bought my copy on the day of release, and I got a rare copy with the booklet. I was not aware of this when I added this CD to 45 Worlds, and I omitted most of the booklet artwork at that time. I have now added all 16 pages of the booklet to this item.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I purchased this CD for only one reason. To get "Second Avenue", perhaps my all-time favorite Garfunkel track on CD. You see, this tune had only been available as a 45 since 1974 and I needed to hear it again desperately. Okay, so here we get an abbreviated version which is extremely annoying. Even on this collection there is a certain amount of wallpaper like "When A Man Loves A Woman". Yes it is a fine song but, my gawd, why has everybody and his brother recorded it? Truthfully I am sick of it. The best tracks are stunning, "All I Know", "Bright Eyes", "99 Miles From L.A." and "A Heart In New York" to go along with the previous mentioned "Second Avenue". Other tracks I didn't really need or want are the syrupy "So Much In Love" and the redundant "What A Wonderful World". One of Garfunkel's problems is that he doesn't write his own music so in that regard he is at the mercy of others. In the past, though he nearly always had impeccable taste in choosing his material like Stephen Bishop's "Looking For The Right One" or Van Morrison's "I Shall Sing", neither of which is included here unfortunately. In short, this might be a good starting place for you to enjoy Art Garfunkel and his glorious voice but after you digest this, and it won't take long, you need to dig deeper.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

The Crest of the Britpop wave...

... And as such, should probably be a staple in any 90s collection.

However, for me, I only ever tuned into the singles from this album at the time (Impossible to get away from them back then!), and only recently have found the album in a charity shop and thought I should the whole thing a long overdue listen...

...And it's good. Very good in fact...

-In those aforementioned singles which are: Sale Of The Century, What Do I Do Now?, Statuesque, and Nice Guy Eddie (more remembered the names than the tunes of these last two)-

...But not great.

On it's own terms the rest of the album has couple of indie (sounding) Britpop guitary highs like Good Luck Mr Gorsky, but largely, although containing a lot of the swagger of the age, it's very affected, stylised, and "posed" - an artifice.

Louise wener has since gone on to a literary career...

(although a recent reunion happened I believe)

... but early signs of that are here throughout, in very dense, unconventional "story" songs, which do satisfy on that level, but I'm not sure they work great as hummable tunes exactly.

So at the time of the "Ladette", I think Louise Wener was more of an "Anti-Ladette", smart, self assured, and taking herself way too seriously...

(Really, try and find photos of her smiling from this time!)

...which all comes through in the music, in a way that seems a little too "constructed", deliberately oblique and "better than thou".

A more honest expression of feeling is found in the two headline singles here: Sale Of The Century, and What Do I Do Now?, which, if the whole album was this way would have made for a brilliant album, but it isn't, and while the rest is OK, I don't think I've missed too much in the meantime.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Almost half a truly great Tori Amos album...

...Trapped inside too much of a mediocre one.

To borrow the old expression: "Too many notes!", which here is better rendered as: "Too many songs!"

Of course, it's very inventive device to use the "posse" idea to justify cramming the total fruits of an obviously very prolific period all onto one album...

(And justify the sporadic "All over the map" themes and styles)

... But this could seriously have benefitted from the judicious application of the editor's scissors, and the leaving thereby, half (maybe more) of these songs for other projects, B-sides, or further development. As these tend to swamp, and dilute the impact of the truly brilliant top Tori tunes on this album.

Cut down to an album of perhaps eight of the best, this would be considered one of Tori Amos' best albums....

... It's still great, but take away the need for the "skip" button, and it's greater still.

Less is more.

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7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I bought this recently after I'd seen James singing Witchita Lineman as a tribute to Glen Campbell after his death.

James' guitar playing has maintained a high standard even into his (now) old age but like so many, his voice isn't what it used to be, which is a shame.

This however, is a review of the record, not the live performance which was probably a decade after releasing this album. James' voice is still good here, although his selection of tracks may be considered doubtful by some. I bought it primarily for the above named track as I wanted to hear him do it justice, which he does.

Not quite as good as the original, but then again few seldom are, James does add his own touch and makes the song his own. You can hear that he loves each and every track and he does the vast majority proud.

Overall a good addition to my collection and well worth the very low cost from Music Magpie.

One last comment though is that like so many other artists, his output in latter years has not been a patch on the early recordings, like Sweet Baby James or Mud Slide Slim.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

This is a very clever concept, UB40 re-recorded their own songs with some of their musical heroes. It really works, and is easily UB40's best album since the 1980's

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Mostly well-known national hits, and some latter-day cash-in stuff, but there are several standouts from the regional scene included that aren't easily found elsewhere, including two by The Catalinas, two by The Showmen, some by The Embers and by The Tams, The Monzas, also the full version of Don Gardner And Dee Dee Ford's hit "I Need Your Lovin' " the first half of which was clipped off by Fire records when it was released. All in all, a good introduction to the Southern Frat-based 'Beach Music' scene.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

What an odd and interesting celebration of 'New York Doo Wop'! This is only to be expected, given that it was collated by long-time record dealer and Philly area based collector Val Shively. What is odd about the collection is that it is more a celebration of New York-based record labels than actually a collection of New York groups or even popular New York Doo Wop records. For example, the very first song on the collection is by one of the most famous Philadelphia groups, the Blue Notes. So much for being 'New York, Where It All Began'. The label is a famous New York label, Josie. Along with many of the best-known Doo Wop songs, there are numerous examples of extremely rare and unknown singles, along with the b-sides of several well-known singles.

Some of the rarities included: The Five Sharps singing 'Stormy Weather', Bill "Bass" Gordon And His Colonials (shown as by 'The Colonials') singing "Two Loves Have I", and the Coins doing "Blue, Can't Get No Place With You". The latter two are very early Gee singles and are extremely rare on 45. The Five Sharps is extremely rare even on 78, and no authentic 45 of it has ever turned up, although Jubilee was pressing all of their records in both formats at the time.

Most of the tunes included were originally on one of the following labels: Gee, Rama, Roulette, End, Gone, Port and Josie, but not all of them.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

A very warm and friendly album.

I found this in a huge plastic bucket of clearance CDs in a charity shop...

(they also had a chair to sit in while you rumaged! - Hallelujah! - Needless to say I spent a good hour or so sat there like some kind of audio-gnome)

... and it turns out to have been one of my best buys in recent years in terms of the music.

Never really got into the Super Furry's that much, as they seemed (on the strength of Guerrilla) to be a bit too sporadic in terms of quality.

But this is magnificent.

They've seemingly jettisoned a lot of the too kooky stuff, in favour of a more fundamental approach of very strong tuneful and melodic songs, rendered in a more "honest" well played, and well crafted way.

And it is consistently excellent all the way through... not a duff track.

In style, it has a very warm, almost 1960s country-lite, gently psychedelic feel with nice harmonies (very slightly Beach Boys-esque), with the odd electronic tones and flavouring... but the real genius of it is that they have used all these (and other) elements with a very light touch, but in so doing, have allowed the cumulative effect of all of them together to make a very strongly cohesive whole.

Bags of great, memorable tunes, melodies, and a very soothing listen... a nice place to spend an hour or so, and which has made me listen to it quite a lot.

I think it will grow in people's affections over time too, because of this.

[YouTube Video]

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

The tracks are all popular hymn tunes set as instrumentals in a suitably soporific style by Steve Wingfield using keyboards for piano, xylophone and other instrumental parts, with plenty of tinkling cascades of bells.

Close on two hours in total. Very soothing for adults too.

Are they on YouTube? Yes and no, there are several Fisher Price lullaby videos, none with hymns but otherwise in exactly this style, with the same instrumentation, presumably also by Wingfield. This one is a single non-tune which repeats for two hours.

[YouTube Video]

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

This was a 10/10 album in it's day but the running order on this particular CD re-issue undermine that fact. How so?
Well, the less than necessary bonus tracks, four in the middle and four at the end destroy this CD as a straight through listen. This jars with me as I have the original album and the track order imprinted in my brain so when the likes of "Strange Thing" pop up in the middle of the CD it really gets on my wick something shocking.
Of the first four bonus tracks only "You Say You Don't Love Me" matches the quality of what was the first side of the record and of the second set of four at the end only "Raison D'Être" cuts the mustard. The other six just interrupt the flow or detract from what was originally a solid album from start to finish. If they had put the bonus tracks on a separate CD it would be a much better proposition but as it is it's just a bit annoying to fast forward through three tracks in the middle of a CD.
A case of less is more unfortunately which has inadvertently reduced a great album to an average listen in the process. So only 8/10 for this version I'm afraid.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

There isn't one song on this disc that is even moderately bad. The obvious classics like "I Fall To Pieces", "Crazy" and "Sweet Dreams" merge with "Walkin' After Midnight" (re-recorded here unfortunately), "Faded Love" and “She’s Got You”. Two really great tracks that are not quite as well known, but should be, are “Back In Baby’s Arms” and “Leavin’ On Your Mind”. I know some people who, due to a certain musical discrimination, won’t listen to anything even remotely bordering country music. They lose out here because, as I see it, one of the biggest myths about Patsy Cline is that she is some kind of hard core "country singer". Forget that she’s wearing a cowboy shirt on the cover, it’s just a wafer thin veneer. Some reports would suggest that Patsy longed to do a more country and less pop sound but producer Owen Bradley wouldn’t hear of it. On many selections on "12 Greatest Hits" she is no more country than her label mate Brenda Lee. Recorded in the early 1960’s, these songs were aimed directly at that invisible gap between pop and country with the hopes of picking up sales from both camps. If you want to hear a harder country sound, you need to check out her earlier recordings. No one with even a passing interest in American popular music should be without this CD.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I won't go into a detailed description of the history of the making of this LP but Columbia Records rushed it out so that they could get another S & G LP on the shelves to support their first huge hit "The Sounds Of Silence". And it shows. Two tracks, "We've Got A Groovy Thing Goin' " and "Somewhere They Can't Find Me" were recorded much earlier in May 1965, and have poppy arrangements unlike the rest of the tunes which are much more folk oriented. The title track was recorded back in 1964 and was buried on their first LP which quickly hit the delete bins until its resurrection. The rest of this record, including overdubs of drums and electric guitar to “The Sounds Of Silence”, was hastily recorded in December 1965. Because of a lack of new material, a lot of these tunes were re-recorded from Paul Simon’s first solo LP recorded in Britain in (I think) mid 1965. This record has some fine moments and could have been a lot better had more time been taken to produce it. It deals with many human emotions and activities including insecurity on "I Am A Rock" and "Leaves That Are Green" and suicide on "A Most Peculiar Man" and "Richard Cory". "I Am A Rock" is a different recording (the vocal at least) than the later mono 45 version. They must have re-recorded it for the single which I think was superior to the version here. Simon & Garfunkel scaled much higher ground with their subsequent releases but despite its flaws this album shows them in the learning process and without the polish of their later material.

(This re-mastered copy is far better than my original CD in that it has informative liner notes and four bonus tracks, only one of which actually was from the December 1965 sessions.)

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

This is a brilliant compilation. You get some great and important songs from the sixties and seventies. 'I'm not your Steppin' Stone' is a crackin' track. Even more 'Psychotic Reaction' which is my favourite track on this CD of course along with the 18 minutes plus version of 'Hallelujah' from Can.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Renaissance was a difficult album for the Association to record. Coming in the wake of a serious hit album (And Then...Along Comes the Association) and two huge hit singles ("Along Comes Mary," "Cherish") and at a time when the group was experiencing more bookings than its members had ever dreamed possible, Renaissance was rushed out under pressure from the band's label. Alas, Renaissance bore little resemblance to its predecessor. For starters, the Association had lost the services of producer Curt Boettcher, who was the architect of the earlier album's extraordinary sound. Additionally, Renaissance was comprised entirely of original material, much of which had been written while the group was touring. These songs were competent and showed some flashes of inspiration but, apart from "Come to Me," nothing here offered anything even remotely as catchy as either of the band's two previous singles. With Association rhythm guitarist Jim Yester's brother Jerry Yester producing, Renaissance has a more stripped-down, conventional folk-rock feel. Apart from lead guitarist Gary Alexander and wind player Terry Kirkman, none of the other members played on this album, but Alexander is a delight, mixing melodic folk-rock picking and strumming, throwing in a few high-energy licks on one or two numbers, and even using a koto for the album's single, "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies." The latter, despite having a grotesque title when following up a single like "Cherish," is a prize piece of pop psychedelia, all gorgeous harmonies and spaced-out sensibilities backed by a bracing beat. Renaissance wasn't a bad album, but was a more routine, predictable recording than its predecessor and, without a hit single to help push sales, it never reached audiences in remotely the same numbers.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

The six-man band The Association were at their creative and commercial peak (and averaging 250 shows a year) when they recorded 1968’s Birthday with producer Bones Howe and members of the Wrecking Crew. The opener, “Come on In” (written by San Francisco folkie Joe Mapes), power pops alongside a pair of Top 40 carefree groove-fests: “Time for Livin’” and “Everything That Touches You” (the band’s last Top 10 hit). From there, the beautifully arranged musical detours are many (and no doubt influenced by Sgt. Pepper). Guitarist Jim Yester, for example, contributes two gentle psych ditties that sound like David Crosby fronting The Mamas & The Papas: "Birthday Morning” and “Barefoot Gentlemen.” (The latter features a lovely, elaborate mix of French horns, flugelhorns, and tubas.) Singer/guitarist Russ Giguere’s self-serious dreamer “The Time It Is Today” sounds like an intellectual folkster taking on Gene Clark. The baroque and reaching “Bus Song” is told in three musical chapters, complete with an imagined audience, a barbershop quartet, and a plethora of experimental studio ideas worthy of Brian Wilson.

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This is a rather confusing collection of Junior Walker's 1970s LP releases that might have been more precisely called "A Reissue Of The Six LPs By Junior Walker That Were Released In The '70s In The UK credited to "Junior Walker & The All Stars".

I shall elaborate ….. around 1975/6 Motown dropped the "All Stars" part of "Junior Walker & The All Stars" so what doesn't get included in here are Junior Walker's last three US released '70s Motown LPs "Sax Appeal", "Whopper, Bopper, Show Stopper" and "Smooth", which used only his name, but what does get included is his withdrawn US LP "Jr. Walker & The All Stars" that did get a UK release in 1974 and which contained some tracks that turned up eventually on the aforementioned omitted "Junior Walker" LPs.

To add to the confusion, the eagle-eyed may notice that the label scans of the final LP, "Hot Shot" show that the tracks were credited simply to Jr. Walker (at least in The USA) even though the cover showed the full name.

So what we have here isn't (from a USA point of view) exactly what the collection's title would suggest but (from a UK point of view) probably is!!

Anyway, having explained that (I hope) it's on to the music, which covers Junior Walker's output from 1970 to 1975, lots of hits in here such as "Do You See My Love For You Growing", "Walk In The Night", "Take Me Girl I'm Ready", "Way Back Home", his "Northern Soul" biggie "I Ain't Going Nowhere", lots of instrumental versions of hits from other artists (his 1974 UK only LP is remarkably similar to what a lot of "Smooth Jazz" artists were producing in the early 2000s), lots of gruff vocals, some infectious funk workouts, plus guest appearances from Stevie Wonder and Thelma Houston. A large proportion of what is in here I've never previously owned so I for one am happy.

There are a couple of curiosities (typos?) in here … "Killing Me Softly With His Song" has become "Killing Me Softy With This Song" and "Until You Come Back Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" has become "Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I Gonna Do)", unlike on the original UK LP. Interestingly the artwork used for the "Peace & Understanding" LP combines The US labels with The UK cover.

There is also a very thorough and extremely interesting essay by Sharon Davis in the booklet that covers the early life of Autry DeWalt (aka Junior Walker), explains how he became known as Junior Walker, and chronicles his career throughout his years at Motown and up to his death in 1995.

Great Stuff!!

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This is a nifty collection from James Purify and his cousin Robert Lee Dickey (aka "Bobby Purify) that brings together all of their Bell Recordings in one place.

The duo shot to fame at the end of 1966 with their US smash "I'm Your Puppet" (number 6 on Billboard's Hot 100) and had an impressive run of US hits over the next three years. A remake of "I'm Your Puppet", that was so close to the original that it can be difficult to tell them apart, was eventually to get to Number 12 in The UK in 1976.

Although none of their '60s singles made it into the UK National Charts they did pick up quite a following in Britain and their three follow-ups to "I'm Your Puppet" got heavy airplay on offshore "Pirate Station" Radio London (check my list on 45Cat of records that made The Big L Top 10 without making the national charts for more details) and their version of The 5 Dutones "Shake A Tail Feather" is a perennial "Northern Soul" and "Party" spin.

The 20 page booklet that comes with the CD chronicles the story of the duo and how they fitted in with other popular Soul duos of the day such as Mel & Tim, Eddie & Ernie etc. etc. etc. and also addresses the thorny issue of suggestions that they sounded too similar to Sam & Dave for comfort (seven of the thirty-eight tracks on this collection are Stax songs and that isn't including two Sam Cooke compositions that were also recorded by Stax artists!!).

Although it would be easy to dismiss the duo as merely being a more "polished" version of Sam & Dave they were really much more than that; some tracks have a snappy (almost Motown) feel, others veer into "Country/Soul" and "Section C" (Disc 2, Track 13) comments on overcrowded ghettos.

Incidentally, in the booklet we learn that "Bobby Purify" on "Section C" wasn't Robert Lee Dickey at all … it was a stand-in who went by the name of "Buddy Grubbs"!!

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