Current Mitch Murder

In one great double CD package comes a pair of albums that capture the spirit of one of America’s most revered R&B pioneers. The singer, who led the Detroit Wheels to fame in the Sixties, is heard ‘live’ in the studio and ‘live’ in concert. Both these albums were recorded in Germany in the early Eighties and present Mitch delivering his own witty and passionate lyrics together with ‘covers’ of some of his favourite rock anthems. ‘Live Talkies’ is a 14 track rave up recorded direct ‘live’ in the studio in Hamburg in 1981 and includes a raunchy version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ and the Bobby Womack classic ‘It’s All Over Now’. The previously unreleased ‘Easter In Berlin’ is a real ‘live’ concert from the Oper Halle, West Berlin, on Easter Sunday 1980, during which Ryder sings his own compositions, culled from his many solo albums such as ‘Naked But Not Dead’ and ‘How I Spent My Vacation’.

The debut album of Ryder and the Wheels, fresh from the teenage ballroom circuit in Detroit, where they held court in earlier days as Billy Lee & the Rivieras. One of the defining moments in the history of Motor City music, Take a Ride is the sound of poor White kids claiming the music as theirs, too, while infusing it with the manic energy of the color-blind dreams of anybody who ever wanted to be somebody. Built entirely around their stage act, this album captures a band in full cry at the peak of their powers. This is what they mean when they say the words "high-energy Motor City rock & roll."

In 2003 Collectables doubled up two mid-'50s Mitch Miller albums on one CD. It's So Peaceful in the Country was released in 1956 and features Miller teaming up with fellow smoothie Percy Faith on a selection of standards like "Darn That Dream" and "Moonlight Becomes You," as well as some that never quite reached standardhood, like "I'll Be Around" and "Love Among the Young." All the songs are bathed in strings and have pretty standard elevator-lite arrangements – very pretty and very boring. The second album collected here, 1956's European Holiday, is of more interest as it features vocals, less treacly arrangements, and a fun theme: a European holiday, believe it or not. The first side of the album has Jerry Vale, Jill Corey, and the Michael Stewart Chorus on vocals, and while none of them will give Ella or Carmen any pause, they still are fun and tuneful vocalists…