Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Classic Tracks: 7 (B+)

#mbube/bestof

Flamin Groovies - Groovies Greatest Grooves: 7 (B+)

Outstanding track: “Shake Some Action” (obviously). #garage/bestof

Sir Douglas Quintet - Border Wave: 7 (B+)

#texmex

George Harrison - Living in the Material World: liked

:-)

Tav Falco & Panther Burns - Life Sentence: liked

:-)

Tav Falco's Panther Burns - Behind the Magnolia Curtain: 7 (B+)

#junkrock

Mad Professor - Dub Me Crazy: liked

:-)

Mad Professor - Beyond the Realms of Dub: liked

:-)

Rod Stewart - The Best of Rod Stewart: 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: notation

I usually love these, but there’s no way to justify this one. Four tracks from Every Picture Tells a Story, five from Never a Dull Moment, two from Gasoline Alley, and one from the debut. These are all strong albums worth having in their own right. The debut is probably the least strong, but it’s still good, and there’s only one song here from that. It’s obviously good enough that I played it four times. Musically, I’d give it a 9 (A), which I guess means I dock it three whole notches for complete inutility.

Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Mr. Love Pants: liked

:-)

The Modern Lovers - Live [Beserkley, 1977]: neutral

Starring Jonathan Richman

The Alpha Band - A Spark in the Dark: liked

Outstanding track: “East of East”

Tapper Zukie - From the Archives: notation

This contains all the songs on MPLA, except “Stop the Gun Shooting” and “Don't Deal with Babylon.” This also contains “Tapper [Tappa] Roots” and “Oh Lord” from Tapper Roots. See separate post on that album. Finally, this has “Peace and Love” and “The Bum,” which are good songs, but not good enough to make this necessary, in my opinion.

Various - Kickin Mental Detergent [Kickin, 1992]: 7.5 (high B+)

#electronic/dance

Sweet Thursday - Sweet Thursday [Tetragrammaton, 1969]: liked

With the great Nicky Hopkins

Bebe Buell - Covers Girl [EP]: liked

:-)

Johnny Paycheck - Greatest Hits, Vol. 2: 7.5 (high B+)

#country/bestof

The Dickies - Great Dictations: The Definitive Dickies Collection [A&M, 1989]: liked

Not the cover though.

Bootsy Collins - Back in the Day: The Best of Bootsy: 9 (A)

Bettie Serveert - Palomine [CD single] - notation

The US and UK issues of this contain a demo of the Lamprey track "Silent Spring" and the two versions of the song "Palomine" that appear on the album Palomine. AllMusic lists this as an EP, which appears to be inaccurate. I listened to the unremarkable demo once. The Dutch version of this has this cover:

This contains the title track, plus the songs "Get the Bird" and "Watch That Pleasure." The latter, which is a live track, I couldn't find anywhere to stream. I did play the former once. It also appears on the deluxe version of Palomine. (That deluxe version also contains The Palomine Demos and two other songs, "Smile" and "Maggot," both of which also appear on the "Tom Boy" CD single released in the US in 1992. See separate post on that release.)

As a final note, I think there was also a promo CD single with the "Palomine" title, which apparently contains a different version of the title track which I have not heard, and then the two other tracks on the US CD single. Not sure why I ended up going down this particular rabbit hole, but I do think Palomine is a great album, underrated by some important critics.

Living Colour - Stain: 7.5 (high B+)

Living Colour - Time's Up: 8 (A-)

The Alpha Band - The Alpha Band: 7 (B+)

#ccm/roots

The "Chirping" Crickets [Buddy Holly] - The "Chirping" Crickets: X (X)

Not qualified to grade, but this first album is a great listen and more like an EP (12 tracks; 25m 59s). Never re-issued on remastered CD without bonus tracks, and original vinyl is too expensive, so I don't have a copy. I never realized Ronald Reagan was a Cricket until I examined this album cover closely.

Buddy Holly & The Crickets - 20 Golden Greats: X (X)

Not qualified to grade, but obviously an essential classic. Never released domestically on CD.