Date: October 7, 1997
Release: MCA #11684
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Following the release of First Rays Of The New Rising Sun, the Hendrix estate knew that they had to do something different on the follow up. First Rays was the completion of Jimi’s music up until the time of his death, the final songs that would have been on his next album. Janie, Eddie, John McDermott knew that now was the time to bring forward a new offering for long time Hendrix fans–unreleased music. Thus was born South Saturn Delta. Made up of tracks originally found on the long deleted War Heroes, Loose Ends, Rainbow Bridge, as well as some that had appeared on Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning (original tracks were used though, not the Alan Douglas tampered ones). Plus some unreleased songs, studio ideas, etc. Some really good music, “Pali Gap” from Rainbow Bridge is a great late night tune; “Drifter’s Escape,” the Bob Dylan song is a great rocker.

South Saturn Delta hints at a jazz direction for Jimi. “Little Wing,” is actually an early version of “Angel.” As far as “Look Over Yonder” goes, I still prefer the version on the Live & Unreleased CD. “Midnight Lightning,” the closing track, is just Jimi and his guitar, playing the blues, just the way you know it should be. A fitting conclusion to this CD.

Folks, the Hendrix family is listening to us, the fans. It’s been a long time since anybody has. God bless them.

Date: October 21, 1970
Release: COLUMBIA CK 30290
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A finely crafted album of diverse and heartfelt songs. With New Morning, Dylan discards obscure and impenetrable lyrics for emotionally accessible songs about love and life. The title track sounds like a blueprint of what would become Van Morrison’s trademark semi-acoustic soul sound of the early 70s. In “Sign on the Window,” Dylan sings about the virtues of settling down and starting a family, which is exactly what he tried to do around this time with the birth of his now famous son, Jakob. “The Man In Me” reveals an openly self-critical side to Dylan, who admits that “it takes a woman like you/to get through to the man in me.” Backed by a soulful chorus of female singers, this song is an absolute classic, and was used to great effect in the Coen brother’s “The Big Lebowski.” Other highlights include the spare “Three Angels,” with its atmospheric organ and gospel-tinged chorus, the comic jazz-blues of “If Dogs Run Free,” and the classic Dylan cynicism of “Went to See the Gypsy.”

Backed by a formidable roster of talents including Al Kooper and Charlie Daniels, this album runs the gamut from laid-back folk-rock to country-blues. None of the album’s cohesiveness is sacrificed in the name of variety, as it flows flawlessly from beginning to end like a true album should. A remarkable first offering in a decade which would see some significant changes in the man and his music.

Date: November, 1968
Release: Warner Brothers WS-1768
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When Astral Weeks was released in 1969, very few people got it. When I bought the record from a friend 13 years ago, I didn’t really get it either. In fact I wanted my money back. My friend promised that the album would grow on me if I’d just give it a few more spins. By the third listen, Astral Weeks had completely overwhelmed me with its raw emotional beauty. It has since ingrained itself deeply into my musical identity.

There really isn’t anything else quite like Astral Weeks — it was unprecedented when it came out and nothing has compared to it since. Even Van Morrison, for all his creative powers, never topped this early peak (although 1974′s Veedon Fleece comes close). Nothing written on Astral Weeks can ever truly capture its essence — the music speaks for itself. That said, writing about the album feels like one of the hardest things I could possibly do. Rather than try to rally my best adjectives and sing the album’s praises, I will avoid the standard drivel and, as Van sings, “venture in the slipstream.”

Astral Weeks was recorded in a marathon New York session in less than 48 hours. It was reported in Rolling Stone that one man saw God while listening to the record on nitrous oxide. Bassist Richard Davis and drummer Connie Kay, two of the tallest giants of jazz rhythm, walked away from the Astral Weeks sessions scratching their heads in bewildered wonder at the strange music they had just recorded. Jimi Hendrix sat transfixed night after night as Van and flautist John Payne performed songs from the album to row after row of empty seats in a London theater.

The album has since become a cultish oracle of obsession for many: “Sweet Thing” was revived by the Waterboys on Fisherman’s Blues; “The Way That Young Lovers Do” is sung passionately by the late Jeff Buckley on his now-out-of-print Live At The Sin-E. Explaination: Lush flutes, vibes, bass and violins swirl around the gospel-soul of Van’s gut-wrenching poetry songs. Astral Weeks points in four directions — Dylan Thomas, Charles Mingus, Igor Stravinsky, and Ray Charles — with Van’s voice a pulling, powerful, constant magnetic North.

Here it is… astral music to set your inner compass by.

Date: 1956-1958
Release: Varese Sarabande #061077
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Stevie Ray Vaughan named his band after one of his songs. Michael Bloomfield was so moved by his music that he produced him. Eric Clapton imitated his vocal style. Led Zeppelin covered his music. For what he managed to achieve throughout his long illustrious career, Otis Rush is perhaps the most underrated bluesman in the history of the genre. For decades he was one of the great movers and shakers of the blues. It was he, along with fellow singer/guitarists Buddy Guy and Magic Sam, who in the 1950s invented what was coined the “West Side” blues sound. Each musician had his own distinct style that set him apart from his peers and recorded music that influenced a generation of bluesmen. But song for song it is arguably Otis Rush who has made the biggest impact of the three.

In the mid to late 1950s Otis cut a series of classic singles for the fledgeling Cobra label. Willie Dixon had recently jumped from the Chess label over to Cobra and he immediately took to nurturing Rush’s recording career. All of the classics that they waxed are on this CD. It starts with Rush’s first hit single “I Can’t Quit You Baby”, which was later covered by Led Zeppelin. It’s a veritable showcase for the young guitarists vocal prowess, which would later be aped by everyone from Eric Clapton to Peter Green (his vocal impact on both gentlemen can be heard even more clearly on the cd Chicago/The Blues Today!).

“All Your Love (I Miss Loving)”, a tune later covered by Clapton during his Bluesbreakers days, shows Rush’s range and originality as the song goes from a straight blues to what could best be described as a calypso beat to end the song. “My Love Will Never Die” features an almost funereal horn section and Rush’s vocals bore right through as he wails and pleads with all the tortured longing of an abandoned lover. It honestly sounds as if he’s had his insides kicked out and is as intense a song as the blues has to offer, ranking alongside the greatest tormented offerings of Son House and Howlin’ Wolf,.

“Double Trouble” is another ode to loneliness and desperation that greatly impacted musicians such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, who borrowed the title to name his band. It is lyrically one of his most impressive efforts and his minor phrasings would later vastly influence the style of Peter Green, who covered the tune while with John Mayall’s bluesbreakers. “Groaning the Blues”, “Three Times a Fool”, “Checking on My Baby”….all first rate blues songs.

There are a few clunkers here but the classic cuts more than make up for it. This album is essential for any blues collection.

Date: 1972
Release: POLYGRAM #810314
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Laid-back, Southern-tinged, white-boy groove music from the early 70s. Cale is best known for having penned a string of hits covered by Eric Clapton, including “Cocaine” and “After Midnight.” His own recordings have largely been overlooked and forgotten. This album captures Cale in his most creative period, and reveals why his obscure sound is so often imitated by those in the know.

Really flows like an album should, with its own distinctly mellow vibe. This is music perfect for creaky old porches, rocking chairs, and hound dogs. The band shuffles along with a grooving country-blues edge that defines Cale’s unmistakable sound. His nimble guitar playing and mumbled singing style blend soulfully together on such songs as “I’ll Kiss the World Goodbye” and “Right Down Here.”

An understated guitarist of formidable talents, Cale steps out on Muddy Water‘s “Mo Jo” and his own tasteful “Changes.” The standout track is “Soulin’,” whose name really says it all. His songwriting skills shine on “Lies,” a gritty lament about a no-good, two-timing woman. All in all, Really is a totally relaxed and loosely jamming session by one of the lesser known greats of the 70s.

Date: September 1963 – April 1964 (recording)
Release: MCA #112940
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It’s no secret, the music of Muddy Waters attacks the senses like a vibrator that runs on a Caterpillar engine.

In 1940, Allan Lomax recorded a small time farm hand McKinley Morganfield; later that decade McKinley moved to Chicago, changed his name to Muddy and ‘plugged’ in; everything changed. Elvis might have stolen his hip shake, but no-one could steal Muddy’s ‘mojo’.

So what happened in 1963? Muddy went back to his roots, unplugged, and recorded a stinging ‘voodoo romp’ through the dark Delta entitled Folk Singer. Timeless, nothing plays ‘cooler’ on a hot night or ‘hotter’ on a cold night; you can’t help but transport back in time and feel that the Devil’s just one step behind you.

The whole folk movement was in swing in the early 1960s, if you were ‘hip’ you knew who ‘Mississippi’ John Hurt, ‘Bukka’ White, or Charlie Patton were. Where did Muddy fit in? He recorded this genre bending disc just like he would five years later with his psychedelic church music Electric Mud. Sure it helps when you have Willie Dixon adding that fat back, boogie fuck bass lines to every track, but these tracks resound with an atmospheric touch that’s never been repeated. Each song is quiet and somber with the gut wrenching heart break that’s Technicolor for the black and white folk scene of the 1960s. Muddy’s rendition of Willie Dixon‘s “My Captain” is like Walt Whitman with balls, the only thing missing is the crickets in the background. Adding to the ‘puberic’ testicle drop are Buddy Guy who eloquently fills any voids Muddy leaves and Clifton James, who’s expressionistic drumming counters the crushing notes of Dixon with splashes of color. Buddy Guy’s opening riffs on “Good Morning Little School Girl” cry out with that “I’m legally too old for you, but I can’t stop myself” mentality; guitar strings weren’t made to bend that far. Counter that with the gorgeously subtle reading of “Feel Like Going Home” and your back with Muddy on a porch on a hot summer night in the Delta.

Something of note is the transfer from the master tapes. The quality of the disc comes from out of nowhere. Few ‘blues‘ discs, infact few ‘modern recordings’ capture the moment like this. Every ‘blues‘ release needs to take note from this recording, ‘stereophonic’, tonal, and deep, this release is a powerhouse.

If your looking for a quintessential blues disc this is it. If you get off hearing musicians stripped down and seeing what they’re made off look no further.

Ravi Shankar Like.

Date: 1958
Release: Columbia #53629
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The 1958 Newport Jazz Festival has taken on mythic status. Over those four days in July Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Chuck Berry, Dinah Washington, Gerry Mulligan, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Anita O’Day, George Shearing, Sonny Stitt, Chico Hamilton, and others played. That’s quite extraordinary, as is the fact that the event was so well documented. There were hundreds of feet of film shot, and filmmaker Bert Stern edited all of that down to 84 minutes of performances punctuated by the America’s Cup yacht race, which took place off the coast of Rhode Island at that same time. Plus, we have great CDs from the festival, especially Miles Davis‘s Live at Newport 1958.

On Sunday, the last day of the festival, Mahalia Jackson, the greatest gospel singer ever, took the stage, and luckily her performance, too, was recorded and released later that year as Live at Newport 1958. The original performance was just over 45 minutes long, but the LP release was much shorter. With the CD release we get more, nine other songs (including a marvelous "Keep Your Hand on the Plow" with the Duke Ellington Orchestra), restoring the entire set. And thank the Lord, as Mahalia might say. From the moment Willis Condover introduces her, she sings as a woman convinced of her place in heaven, if not of her place in history.

It was a career come from heaven. Until 1948, she was singing in churches, but then she recorded a huge hit, "Movin’ on Up," for the Apollo label, and she was suddenly a star. She started appearing on Studs Terkel’s TV show in 1950, went on a European tour, and in 1954 started hosting her own CBS radio show. Then she caught the attention of legendary Columbia producer John Hammond, who signed her up and got her on Ed Sullivan.

Moving past 1958, she sang at the Kennedy inaugural, for the civil rights March on Washington, for Indira Gandhi, and at her friend Martin Luther King’s funeral. She died a few years later at the age of 61.

The best moment in this set, besides raucous renditions of "He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands," "When the Saints Go Marching In," and "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho," is when Jackson speaks to the audience just after her regular set ends and she is ready to launch into her encores. She leaves it up to the audience. "Now I don’t know if you want to hear me and want to stay in the rain," she says, "I’m just getting warmed up." The crowd (we now know a wet crowd) screams for more. "All right, you make me feel like a star."

This woman wasn’t just simply singing, as she proclaims in "I"m Goin’ to Live the Life I Sing About in My Song," one of the previously unissued tracks. She was truly humble, even as the most famous gospel singers of all time. This CD is one you’ll pull out of your collection as a surprise every time. Mahalia Jackson‘s talent is one that you can’t resist, no matter how many times you’ve heard her preach the gospel.