"a Walk in The Night"

Following the 1993 hit "Tukka Yoot's Riddim" by US3, which featured a sample from his 1971 track "Sookie Sookie", Grant Green has been enjoying a revival of popularity. Blue Note records released this compilation of the guitarist to catch the interest. So of course "Sookie Sookie" is here in it's original 11-minute three-second glory. As are other funk faves "Talkin' About JC" and "Windjammer", which amply show why Green is such an influence on acid jazz. Certainly on this Best of Blue Note have picked the more groove-based numbers from his 1964-72 work with the label. Street Funk is a fun package, ideal for summer evenings. It's perfect for those not familiar with his playing apart maybe from the odd sampled riff, or those who have heard the respect paid to him by contemporary jazz musicians…

Gerry & the Pacemakers are fated to eternal comparisons to the Beatles, their onetime Merseybeat rivals who rapidly eclipsed the quartet in popularity and accomplishment, leaving them as something of a pop culture punchline. In the wake of the Beatles, it was hard to look back at Gerry Marsden and his irrepressibly cheerful music and think it was in the same league as the Fab Four, or any of the British Invasion groups that followed. That may be true, but Gerry & the Pacemakers shouldn't be judged against such R&B-schooled rockers as the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Kinks but rather against the stiff, starched rock & roll of pre-Beatles Britain. Compared to this prim, proper pop, the skiffle beats and bouncy melodies of Gerry & the Pacemakers seem fresh, almost serving as a bridge between formative English rock and the bright blast of the Beatles…

In 1973, Neil Young played the inaugural show at the Los Angeles club, The Roxy. The reissued recording captures a night that turned his famously bracing album into something warmer and vibrant.