Bound.1996.

Lil Ed Williams and Dave Weld have complementary styles. The pair of blues singer-guitarists learned slide guitar from J.B. Hutto (Williams' uncle) and they are equally skilled playing acoustic and electric blues. In fact, with the exception of the pop ballad "Too Late Baby" which is from 1944 and utilizes different personnel than the rest of the CD, this set mostly alternates acoustic and electric numbers by the Imperial Flames, a quintet. The co-leaders split the vocals and the guitar solos equally and are not only strong soloists but adept at backing each other. Due to impressive variety and high musicianship, the often-exuberant set is highly recommended to blues fans.

Lil Ed Williams and Dave Weld have complementary styles. The pair of blues singer-guitarists learned slide guitar from J.B. Hutto (Williams' uncle) and they are equally skilled playing acoustic and electric blues. In fact, with the exception of the pop ballad "Too Late Baby" which is from 1944 and utilizes different personnel than the rest of the CD, this set mostly alternates acoustic and electric numbers by the Imperial Flames, a quintet. The co-leaders split the vocals and the guitar solos equally and are not only strong soloists but adept at backing each other. Due to impressive variety and high musicianship, the often-exuberant set is highly recommended to blues fans.

Lil Ed Williams and Dave Weld have complementary styles. The pair of blues singer-guitarists learned slide guitar from J.B. Hutto (Williams' uncle) and they are equally skilled playing acoustic and electric blues. In fact, with the exception of the pop ballad "Too Late Baby" which is from 1944 and utilizes different personnel than the rest of the CD, this set mostly alternates acoustic and electric numbers by the Imperial Flames, a quintet. The co-leaders split the vocals and the guitar solos equally and are not only strong soloists but adept at backing each other. Due to impressive variety and high musicianship, the often-exuberant set is highly recommended to blues fans.

"The Blues is good News" is the title track on this CD. The first from three CD's from Eddie Shaw & his band The Wolf Gang. He was Wolf's bandleader in his last years and one of the best saxophone players from the Westside! He also plays harp on this session and his son Vaan and John Primer are on guitars.

After almost 30 years, there's finally a definitive document of one of the first San Francisco psychedelic groups - or, at least, as definitive a document as surviving tapes allow. This compilation assembles 23 tracks from their demos for the Kama Sutra and Autumn labels, as well as a couple of later sessions recorded at San Francisco area studios. Much of this material has been bootlegged previously, on both vinyl and tape, but here it appears in its best fidelity to date by far. Those expecting psychedelic fireworks will be surprised. There's some acid-soaked folk-rock here (most notably "We're Not on the Same Trip" and "I Saw Her," the two best cuts), but on the whole, it's much more of a travelog of roots music, with white blues, jug band, folk, country, and music hall influences much more to the fore…

If you owned a blues club and insisted that you would only book hardcore blues purists, you would miss out on a lot of talented people. That's because so many of the artists playing the blues circuit in the 21st century have other influences – perhaps rock, perhaps soul, perhaps jazz. All of those things have influenced James Solberg, who is essentially a bluesman but is far from a purist. Those who expect everything a bluesman records to have 12 bars are bound to find One of These Days disappointing, but more eclectic and broad-minded listeners will find a lot to admire about this German release, which finds the charming singer embracing everything from moody, Bobby "Blue" Bland-ish soul-blues (&"One of These Days," "Everyday") to exuberant blues-rock ("One False Move," "Too Damn Much Lovin'").

The Allman Brothers Band compilation album, released on the Japanese label Buena Suerte, is part of the Super Stars Best Collection series. Partially unofficial release.

Not strictly a "greatest-hits" collection, Love Songs contains Elton John's most famous ballads, from "Your Song" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" to "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." Featuring two new songs, including the single "You Can Make History (Young Again)," Love Songs is designed for the casual John fan who is familiar with his songs through adult contemporary radio…

Discs of this type featuring star soloists, more often than not a tenor, are not in short supply. This one, recorded a decade ago as a vehicle for Roberto Alagna and first issued by EMI, scores over many alternatives because of two factors: the programming and the quality of execution. Any programme focusing on French chants sacrés of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is almost bound to include Gounod’s often performed Ave Maria, written after Bach’s famous prelude in the ‘Well-tempered clavier’. To place it at the beginning – as here – is apt and allows the musical content to diversify from that point. Gounod’s representation is extended with three further contributions that pay testament to the importance not only of his compositional voice but also his deeply felt beliefs, which he sought to convey through his music.

Here's a very reasonable compromise between the pricey Mosaic box and EMI's incomplete single-disc treatment of Milburn's Aladdin legacy: a three-disc, 66-song package that's heavy on boogies and blues and slightly deficient in the ballad department (to that end, his smash "Bewildered" was left off). Everything that is aboard is top-drawer, though - the booze odes, many a party rocker, and a plethora of the double-entendre blues that Milburn reveled in during his early years.