Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose: 8 (A-)

Camper Van Beethoven: placeholder

Several releases of theirs I would like to one day play, but they do not seem available in any form to stream, so I will keep any eye out for them:

Camper Van Beethoven - Camper Van Beethoven Is Dead [misc. articles]

Camper Van Beethoven - New Roman Times

Camper Van Chadbourne - Psychadelidoowop [w/Eugene Chadbourne]

Earth, Wind & Fire - Powerlight: 8 (A-)

Upped from neutral and purchased on mint vinyl after more than four listens. Never reissued on remastered CD.

PinkPantheress - Fancy That [EP]: liked

9 tracks; 20:34; $14.98

Etta James - The Sweetest Peaches: The Chess Years, Part One (1960-1966): notation

Apparently, all but two tracks from this are on The Essential Etta James (taking this 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. I will review that separately at some point.

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. I de-shelved his Chess Box in favor of this.

Various - The King's Record Collection, Volume 1: 7 (B+)

# [multi-artist comp; oldies]

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). There are many genre sets that are four discs -- Tougher Than Tough and The Funk Box and The Front Line spring immediately to mind - and rate that highly. #multi-artistcomp

Loretta Lynn - Writes 'Em and Sings 'Em: 8.5 (high A-)

What a beauty.

Loretta Lynn - Country Music Hall of Fame Series: 9 (A)

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.

Chuck Berry - The Definitive Collection: X (X)

I will not presume to grade this, but of course I have it and like 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. There's only so much classic-era Chuck Berry actually out there.

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]

Thomas Anderson - Hello, I'm From the Future: 8 (A-)

Jimi Hendrix - Rainbow Bridge [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]: 8 (A-)

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

Jimi Hendrix - First Rays of the New Rising Sun: 8 (A-)

Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child: The Jimi Hendrix Collection: 9 (A)

Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsies: 8.5 (high A-)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Live at Winterland: 8 (A-)

Jimi Hendrix - The Cry of Love: 8 (A-)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Smash Hits: 10 (A+)

Yes, it's my favorite Hendrix album.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland: 9 (A)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold as Love: 9.5 (high A)