The James Walsh Gypsy Band is kind of the outfit to go to if you're looking for some blue-eyed soul but, just like Ned Doheny and his sublime reissue on Numero, the band never fully came out of its shell and they were limited to just one album on RCA Victor, 1998's self-tiled LP…until now. I've Got The Feelin' was recorded a year later, in 1979, at the legendary Muscle Shoal Studios, but it never made it out onto the shelves apart from a seriously limited CDR run. Norway's Preservation has thankfully done the right thing by pressing it up on vinyl, and the opening title track is as just as wonderful as the first time we heard - a true soul masterpiece with a clear LA influence. "Looks Like You Got Down In Love" is a funkier, more soulful version of Credence at their deepest, while other highlights include the supremely majestic "It's Over Now", and the tear-jerking "Alabama Eyes". It's a road album, the sort you want to really take in properly. Recommended.
Tedeschi Trucks Band’s “I Am The Moon” is a four album rock ‘n’ roll event. Inspired by classical literature and driven by the isolation and mourning of the pandemic era, “I Am The Moon” features 24 original tracks and more than two hours of music. The four albums that comprise “I Am The Moon”— I. Crescent, II. Ascension, III. The Fall, and IV. Farewell — will be released in successive months beginning with “I Am The Moon” – I. Crescent, available digitally and on CD, Friday, June 3rd. (All vinyl configurations, including individual LPs and the 4-LP “I Am The Moon” Deluxe Box will be available on September 9th).
Tedeschi Trucks Band’s “I Am The Moon” is a four album rock ‘n’ roll event. Inspired by classical literature and driven by the isolation and mourning of the pandemic era, “I Am The Moon” features 24 original tracks and more than two hours of music. The four albums that comprise “I Am The Moon”— I. Crescent, II. Ascension, III. The Fall, and IV. Farewell — will be released in successive months beginning with “I Am The Moon” – I. Crescent, available digitally and on CD, Friday, June 3rd. (All vinyl configurations, including individual LPs and the 4-LP “I Am The Moon” Deluxe Box will be available on September 9th).
Digitally remastered two CD set containing a trio of albums from the country rock pioneer. Former Buffalo Springfield, Poco and Souther-Hillman-Furay Band member's three solo albums dating from 1976, 1978 and 1979. In recent years he has performed as a solo artist and occasionally with ex-Poco members, as well as Buffalo Springfield reunions.
Of all Robert Cray albums, over a career that has now spanned 20 years, this is the one I keep coming back to time and time again. I Was Warned is not one of Robert Cray's more critically acclaimed or commercially successful albums, yet for me it's a handsome, undemanding record that is full of great songs and superb playing. As a practitioner of the blues, Cray has been instrumental in it's re-emergence as a popular art-form in the 80's and 90's, however he has never considered himself to be a 'bluesman' - preferring to call his sound a blues/soul/rock hybrid. I Was Warned tends towards soul and rock. There is a definite feel-good factor to 'Just A Loser' and 'I'm A Good Man', both carry an irresistable groove and Cray clearly revels in his everyman tales of love and life. 'The Price I Pay' is a meditation on fading love, it is one of Cray's finest ballads - a side of his music that seems to get overlooked. 'On The Road Down' is blisteringly good also and showcases some fine guitar-work.
I Dig Dancers was, as the title indicates, aimed at attracting dancers and securing an identity for the band as a dance organization. There is, therefore, a plenitude of tunes eminently suitable for tripping the light fantastic to a band with a full solid ensemble sound and relaxed, clever and swinging arrangements at tempos tailor-made for the ballroom. The band assembled here was an all-star aggregation that was put together to support a European tour of “Free and Easy”. When that show ended, Jones took this great band, that featured Benny Bailey, Clark Terry, Phil Woods and others, on a tour of Europe and also made many of these recordings. After returning to the states, Jones made some more recordings, this time with Freddie Hubbard and Oliver Nelson on board.