Friday, July 11, 2025
Monday, July 7, 2025
Etta James - The Sweetest Peaches: The Chess Years, Part One (1960-1966): placeholder
Apparently, all but two tracks are on The Essential Etta James. I have not independently verified this but am taking it on faith from AllMusic. I did verify that all but one track from The Sweetest Peaches: The Chess Years, Part Two (1967-1975) are on The Essential Etta James. I was concerned about this because The New Rolling Stone Album Guide gives the latter 5 stars.
Bo Diddley - The Definitive Collection: X (X)
As with Howlin' Wolf, this appears to be identical to The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection release entitled His Best. (This does not appear to be the case with Etta James, however. I don't grade things like this, but obviously, this would be 9 (A) or higher for most critics/people. I don't appreciate it at that level, probably because I'm an immature, unsophisticated dirtbag. So I weasel out by just not grading.
Various - Can You Dig It? The ‘70s Soul Experience [Rhino, 2001]: 7 (B+)
6-CD set, for which Rhino has created an official playlist on Spotify. There are 12 songs missing from this playlist as of this writing, Eleven of these songs I found on Spotify and made into a supplemental playlist. The final missing song from this 136-track collection is “Cool Aid” by Paul Humphrey & His Cool Aid Chemists, which is findable on YouTube presently. I listened to all of this four times in its entirety, once a week for four weeks, which is a huge undertaking (over 30 hours of listening time in total). Docked a notch for bloat. They could have made this a quadruple, and it would have been an 8.5 (high A-) or even 9 (A).
Saturday, July 5, 2025
Friday, July 4, 2025
Louis Armstrong: The Best of Louis Armstrong: The Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings: 10 (A+)
How could anyone resist this single-disc distillation of the legendary 4CD box set, selling for $8 with stellar remastering? A no-brainer. I'm going to go ahead and rate this, even though I am not anywhere near qualified to do so. At the very, very least, one should have this in the collection.
New York Dolls - Live at the Matrix, San Francisco, September 1973
I normally don't post about videos, particularly concert videos, even more so apparent bootleg concert videos. Anyway, this appears to be Bob Gruen's footage? Well worth watching, just to understand and appreciate the Dolls for what they were. The two studio albums don't really capture it. Thunders is particularly mesmerizing in this one. What a loss.
Thursday, July 3, 2025
Chuck Berry - The Definitive Collection: X (X)
I will not presume to grade this, but of course I have it and treasure it. Also of course I realize it probably deserves a 10 (A+), but I can't give it that in good conscience, because it's not the kind of thing I put on over and over just to hear it. I probably don't even really enjoy it at the 9 (A) level. So I am ducking a grade, probably a cowardly move. I also had The Great Twenty-Eight for many years as my only Chuck Berry, but I de-shelved that in favor of this. First of all, Twenty-Eight was a first-generation CD transfer of what was essentially a vinyl-era comp. Second, every song on that is on this, except for "Bye Bye Johnny." I also had The Anthology (aka Gold), which I de-shelved, which means I played it through at least 4 times (probably much more). It's just too much Chuck Berry. Same with The Chess Box, which I have obviously given three listens. With Chuck Berry, less is more.
Monday, June 30, 2025
Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky: The Best of Norman Greenbaum: 8.5 (high A-)
Upped a notch for sheer audacity and outsider integrity. [Varese Sarabande, 1995]
Sunday, June 29, 2025
Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsies 2: 7.5 (high B+)
Very tempted to get this, just for its rarity and oddity in the Hendrix catalog, but the prices are too high even if I bumped it up a notch on some pretext or other. Anyway, the "Ezy Rider" included here, from the first show at Berkeley, is I believe the only track that is not available elsewhere. # [live]
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Jimi Hendrix - Johnny B. Goode [EP]: 8 (A-)
Weird little live hodgepodge release, which is actually the soundtrack to a 1986 video. It's an EP marketed, as is often the case, as a "mini-album" and contains music appearing on other releases: an edited version of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" later appearing in full on Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival, "All Along the Watchtower" and a short rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" from the same release/show, "Machine Gun" later appearing on Live at Berkeley, and the title track taken from the first show on the same date at Berkeley, which is not on the former release, but had already been released on Hendrix in the West.
Breaking this all down, who needs a short rendition of the national anthem, when the classic, longer version is on the Woodstock albums, and presumably one already had Hendrix in the West (as I do) at the time. The truncated "Voodoo Child" from Atlanta seems to be a kind of sacrilege, and so that leaves you with the 11-minute "Machine Gun" from Berkeley and the 4-minute "Watchtower" cover from Atlanta. Given that the latter is a cover that has been done to death (and in my view is not that good here), is this worth it for the "Machine Gun"? While that track is clearly the centerpiece of the EP, I don't think it justifies the purchase. I did listen to the whole thing three times, after stitching together a temporary Spotify playlist, to see how it flowed and to be able to grade it with integrity, although I had to use the full version of "Voodoo Child" (really not sure how they cut it down to 4:30, without taking out parts in the middle of the song). In my view, it does not flow stupendously, which it would have to in order to make this a compelling addition. Still, I do like the live EP concept for Hendrix. Live at Berkeley is on my listen list, and so I also might end up getting this version of "Machine Gun" as part of that release, especially if the rest of the show is near that level. I tend to like live Hendrix more when he stretches out and isn't trying so hard to be incendiary.
Thursday, June 26, 2025
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