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RAVEN
MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD with Nick Gravenites and friends/Live at Bill Graham’s Fillmore West 1969: Back in real time, this concert was hacked up into several records when finally presented for mass consumption. Ah, the joys of old time record contracts! Now, finally presented as the unified concert as a whole, the way it played out that evening, these Electric Flag runaways show why Bloomfield would have been one of the greats if he wasn’t so insistent on being his own worst enemy. Still young and fiery enough to overcome what ever he was putting into his system, he lit the fuse that others would ultimately profit from as they warmed their hands around his fire. A real hot shot of an evening that finds Bloomfield writing the book on electric blues in a way that you wouldn’t expect from a Jewish kid form the suburbs, this is some serious, real deal, white boy blues turned up to 11. Everyone is in fine form and the action is no fluke. A date still incendiary 40 years later that will get your motor running.
293

ROY HAMILTON/Operatic Soul-Dark of End of the Street 1963-69: With competition like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding and a set card heavy on covers, it’s no wonder that Hamilton is kind of a cult figure today, but he certainly ain’t chopped liver. A generously stacked set of Northern soul and deep soul that will draw attention to this gifted vocalist once again, all of it deserved, this is the kind of stuff that lights the fuse of revivals. Well stacked and a great gateway drug to the rest of his works, this multi label anthology has all the beginner needs to get on the ball with one of the great voices of the era. A hard to beat collection.
294

MOTT THE HOOPLE-IAN HUNTER/The Golden Age 1969-97: From their upstart days to their Bowie days and beyond, in solo and in tandem, this crew never got their full due being hard working journeymen that delivered the hard rock goods but were often eclipsed by prevailing fashion even if their impact was longer lasting once the tides subsided. Pulled from their various label stays and stocked to the gills with essential cuts that give you their essence and heartbeat, this is a period hard rock delight that has more on the ball that a host of Johnny comes lately. A hard rock horn of plenty for kids of all ages, this might just be more of a quality time item for dad and lad than you might think.
295

MUDDY WATERS/Johnny Winter Sessions 1976-71: It was fun to go by Waters house in the western suburbs when he was making these sides. The little white boy had straightened out his publishing and the white, white boy was making records with the master by turning on the tape recorder and getting out of the way letting Waters do his thing. This collection wisely packs re-records of his classics with later, late period hot stuff that shows he was still a main while collecting social security. They might be lion in winter sessions, but Waters was still in fine form throughout delivering what he was getting paid for and more. Hot stuff and nice addition to his recorded legacy.
296

JERRY REED/When You’re Hot…Very Best of 1967-83: Culling from 15 years worth of RCA sides, it seems like Reed never got his real appreciation since his introduction to the masses was through two novelty songs and later work as a Burt Reynolds sidekick. In between, he was an esteemed picker that could hold his own with Chet Atkins, a proven writer and pretty much the kind of performer that could hit them to all fields and some what dilute his impact as a result. This set focuses on the music and he was pretty much the Alabama wild man throughout, riding that energy to the top of the charts more times than most people realize. Fun stuff, crazy stuff, stuff that doesn’t fit the format but somehow comes across the plate. Check it out, it’s a wonderfully fatly tracked set that’s all goldmine and no shaft.
297

RAIDERS/Indian Reservation-Collage: In the middle of the British Invasion, they knew where the action was and were one of the top selling American groups of the time with engaging, disposable pop crafted by some of the smartest of the hipper, tin pan alley cats as the age of the Brill Building was coming to an end. A little edgier than sunshine pop, this twofer collection of two later period works that still had them flying high and would assure them as many summer, mall parking lot gigs as they would want. A solidly fun journey through the past.
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Volume 32/Number 245
July 3, 2009
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
©2009 Midwest Record

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