Album Reviews

Note: since this review was originally posted February of 2009, we have learned of the existence of a flat transfer made from the now missing master tape. The version reviewed here was almost certainly mastered from a digital transfer done using some analog "work parts" and some digital sources not clearly identified in Capitol's original CD reissue series.

Version #1:

The first Blood, Sweat and Tears group led by Al Kooper and including his former Blues Project bandmate Steve Katz, was the sophisticated assemblage that produced but one album. This one.

Jim O’Rourke’s latest solo release, his first in nearly a decade, is a bold act in today’s dumbed down, sonically parched musical environment.

Far from the sad, wobbly finale you might be expecting, these last to be released Johnny Cash recordings are uplifting, inspirational and resolutely purposeful thanks to both Cash’s searing artistry and the sensitivity of the A&R work.

Analogue Productions'  The Nat King Cole Story box set, originally scheduled to be released Spring of 2010 is finally here. We reviewed the box's sound quality last March based on test pressings but the actual box didn't arrive under early 2011. What's below is that review with additional information about the box and overall presentation quality—Ed.

The first two sides of this double record set spotlight Hooker, his incendiary, coiled-snake stinging guitar, his foot stomping, mutable time-keeping and his chant-like, mournful singing all recorded intimately. Canned Heat co-founder Al Wilson contributes harmonica and piano on some of the tunes that are otherwise all Hooker.