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MICHAEL BLOOM MEDIA RELATIONS
MILES DAVIS ALL STARS/Broadcast Sessions 1958-9: In the shadows of Sony’s tribute to “Kind of Blue”, Acrobat takes it up a notch by digging up live works by the “Blue” band, Coltrane included, doing live gigs to promote the “Milestones” album. Some of the tracks are incomplete, some are repeated more than once, but if you are a Miles whore, you’ve never heard this before and the label is pricing things to be collector friendly. Culled from 4 different performances, they endeavor to use every byte on the disc, filling it with the blowing you come for. A sweet find throughout.
4 (Acrobat)
RAVEN
BOBBIE GENTRY/Ode to Billie Hoe-Touch ‘em With Love: Notice how Capitol could do double albums that had the complete label career retrospective of Linda Ronstadt or Gordon Lightfoot but all they could do with la Gentry is license her stuff out in a sometimes haphazard fashion (Shout excluded)? Leave it to the gang at Raven to do it right. Coming in with the last of the twofers of her catalog, they saved the (commercial) best for last by pairing her best (commercial) song with her best album cover for a dandy one-two punch of Gentry. How Capitol never understood how they had a Southern Baptist Carly Simon on their hands and let her do more AOR albums of her own writing after, uh, her debut worked so well, that’s just going to be a major label mystery for today’s emo kids to ponder. The thing you don’t have to ponder is the cool power of “Ode to Billie Joe” over 40 years later and how Gentry could later do what ever they sent her way. Literature may rise and fall but this album will keep southern gothic going long after Tennessee Williams goes for 50 cents a crack on Kindle. Time for all real musos to move to Oz to hang out with the Raven gang.
287
SHOUT! FACTORY/HIGHTONE
DAVE ALVIN/Best of the Hightone Years: One of the first and best of the neo-rockabilly rebels went Americana slightly before anyone knew what it was, kept things revved up and found a worthy home under the Hightone banner. Culling 18 tracks of Blast, mixing in 4 previously unmissed songs, Alvin and his various pals raise the roof in fine style. Anyone that knows what this is about knows this is the real deal loaded with hot stuff.
11004
BUDDY MILLER/Best of the Hightone Years: One of the real backbones of the contemporary Americana movement, Miller had had his hands in almost everything the genre has to offer even if he’s never had that front of the bus action under his own name. A top songsmith and producer, this handpicked collection of Miller’s back pages is a fine starting point for anyone that wants to know what him and Julie have been up to all these years. The boy might be super serious at times, but he’s certainly not the Leonard Cohen of the genre.
10973
TOM RUSSELL/Anthology-Veteran’s Day: This guy has made more albums over the years than Heinz has varieties. Basically the man who wanted to grow up and be Ian Tyson has done well enough for himself that he no longer has to drive a cab in Brooklyn and can live the cowboy singer life in a TexMex border town. With all the classics on board as well as key collaborations and duets, this twofer paints a first class contem porary look at life on the back 40. This is a well stocked look at the ultimate singer/songwriter for the genre and the times.
10998
TELARC
ERICH KUNZEL-Cincinnati Pops Orchestra/Vintage Cinema: A sweet classical/crossover set that finds Kunzel looking back at great movie scores from 1933 to 1962 in chronological order. Yeah, the timing thing is a gimmick to call this set an historical overview, and really who cares—this doesn’t need that kind of hype. What you have on deck is a smart conductor and orchestra taking a trip down a powerful, Hollywood memory lane. If you are any kind of serious, classic film fan, this set will make you glad someone with the power to write a check was thinking nice thoughts about you and your ears.
80708
Volume 31/Number 345
October 10, 2008
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
©2008 Midwest Record
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