Album Reviews

Review Text

Sundazed has just released the first five Byrds albums cut from the original mono master tapes, which didn't see that much action when new and haven't seen much since. Thus the sound on this first one has a chance of being positively stupendous and it is.

Always the teacher, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley commences this live set from 1959 with a backgrounder on the difference between church music and soul church music, before launching into Bobby Timmons’s “This Hear,” with the composer on piano, Adderley on alto sax, brother Nat on cornet and the rhythm section of Louis Hayes on drums and Sam Jones on bass setting up a crowd-pleasing soulful groove.

Donovan may claim to not be a Dylan wannabe, but when you listen to "Catch the Wind," this compilation's opener, his claim rings hollow. It's so Dylan, so "Chimes of Freedom," and so derivative, there's no escaping the Dylan in him.

Apparently, the inclusion of the nostalgic Goffin/King song “Goin’ Back,” and the rejection of Crosby’s icky threesome song “Triad,” (which found its way onto The Jefferson Airplane’s superb Crown of Creation) caused him to split. The story goes that the horse on the cover represents Crosby, but if it's really a parting shot, why show the head instead of the tail?

Whether covering Robert Johnson, Joni Mitchell, Hank Williams or The Monkees (Boyce and Hart), Cassandra Wilson’s sultry, commanding voice has always worked effectively set against spare, moody backdrops.

This five song 45rpm EP compiled for Mobile Fidelity by Thompson from his archive of live recordings includes “From Galway to Graceland” and “1952 Vincent Black Lightning,” recorded in 1994, “Oops! I Did It Again” and “It Won’t Be Long” from 2003, and a 1985 edition of “Shoot Out The Lights.”