Big Youth – Natty Universal Dread 1973 1979

"No Mercy," with special effects recorded at Madison Square Garden, has the sentiment of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer." The double entendre being the rock musician oftentimes works on the same stage as the fighter, of course, punching away in the ring of life. Nils Lofgren is a veteran who has performed with Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and so many others, working here with producer Bob Ezrin who helped create Pink Floyd's The Wall. As with any great artist, Ezrin brings in his various contacts which color the recordings he makes, insuring a product that is as much the producer's as it is Nils Lofgren's. Dick Wagner co-wrote the hits "Only Women Bleed" and "You And Me" with Alice Cooper…

This choice chapter in the Memphis Slim story delivers an exciting taste of what a modern electric blues band sounded like in live performance during the early '70s. This reissue includes a bonus track featuring Hammond B-3 organist Deacon Jones and formidable electric guitar wizard Freddie King. The year 1973 was particularly exciting as blues, soul, funk, and rock & roll began to blend in ways that had only been hinted at during the 1960s. This cultural explosion was inevitable as music festivals were expanded to include a wide range of styles and genres. The 1973 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, for example, featured One String Sam, Victoria Spivey, Roosevelt Sykes, John Lee Hooker, and Ray Charles on the same weekend as Yusef Lateef, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, and the Sun Ra Arkestra…

Preservation Act 1 (1973). Preservation is Ray Davies' most ambitious project - a musical that used the quaint, small-town nostalgia of Village Green as a template to draw the entirety of society and how it works. Or, at least that's what the concept seems to be, since the storyline was so convoluted, it necessitated three separate LPs, spread over two albums, and it still didn't really make sense because the first album, Preservation, Act 1, acted more like an introduction to the characters, and all the story was condensed into the second album. Davies intended all of Preservation to stand as one double-album set, but he scrapped the first sessions for the album, which led to record company pressure to deliver an album before the end of 1973 - hence, the appearance of Preservation, Act 1 in mid-November…

Vol. 1. One of the nice things about jazz is the cross-pollination of different players in multiple settings. No one would've thought of pairing swing violinist Stéphane Grappelli and bop pianist Oscar Peterson, for instance, but the match works very well. The pair have expanded into a quartet on this reissue with the aid of double bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and drummer Kenny Clarke. The set, recorded in 1973 in Paris, includes a handful of standards, from Pinkard/Tracey/Tauber's "Them There Eyes" to Rodgers & Hart's "Thou Swell." As one might guess, Grappelli is in his own element on upbeat, swinging pieces like "Makin' Whoopee" and "Walkin' My Baby Back Home." Peterson likewise joins in the spirit of these pieces, making them the most interesting interpretations on the album. Other material, like the lingering "Flamingo" and "My One and Only Love," are also enjoyable, but seem rather tepid in comparison…

Though best known for their membership in The Strawbs, the rhythm section of John Ford (bass) and Richard Husdon (drums) worked together both before and after their '70-'73 stint with the folk-prog band. The debut album "Nickolodeon" was bolstered by by the presence of Rick Wakeman and other studio sharpshooters, and the band scored a hit in the U.K. with the single "Pick Up the Pieces." The album has a bright, sparkling pop-rock sound but still retains some folk and blues roots; the rest of the songs are good and varied and contribute to an enjoyable and yet unusual type of album in the annals of British 70's rock.