Gone

Mike Zito’s ‘Gone To Texas’ is both a literal and metaphorical title, reflecting the fact he’s overcome his previous drug and alcohol problems and has moved to Texas from the mid- west in search of sobriety and a fresh start. In fact the album is an autobiographical step in the career of the Royal Southern Brotherhood founder member whose song writing ability was never better showcased than here. If the award winning ‘Greyhound’ was all about his troubles and running away from his demons, then ‘Gone To Texas’ is more about finding contentment and a celebration of his current life in a musical form: ‘My Eyes have seen the glory, one step at the time, I’ve found hope in redemption and a sky as big as God.’

This compilation has all of the music formerly on singer June Christy's two 1957 Capitol LPs, Fair and Warmer! and Gone for the Day, both of which have Pete Rugolo arrangements. The former set (which is actually programmed second) finds Christy joined by a 12-piece group of mostly West Coast all-stars. The backup players include trumpeter Don Fagerquist, trombonist Frank Rosolino, altoist Bud Shank, and Bob Cooper on tenor, but they are mostly restricted to short statements. Christy is in excellent form on such numbers as a definitive (but very brief) "I Want to Be Happy," "When Sunny Gets Blue," and "It's Always You." Three different groups are used on the Gone for the Day set, two of which have string sections, while the other uses five trombones.

If Good as I Been to You was a strong traditionalist folk record, World Gone Wrong was an exceptional one, boasting an exceptional set of songs given performances so fully realized that they seemed like modern protest songs…

Before he was under the wing of Neil Young and before he made a series of underappreciated solo albums, guitarist Nils Lofgren formed Grin, a trio that was devoted to simple, basic rock & roll, in 1969…

Gone Troppo is an album by George Harrison recorded and released in 1982. It would prove to be Harrison's last studio album for five years, wherein he would largely take an extended leave of absence from his recording career, with only the occasional soundtrack recording surfacing. By 1980, Harrison had been finding the current musical climate alienating. His commercial appeal had dwindled, with 1981's Somewhere in England failing to go gold (despite featuring the John Lennon tribute hit, "All Those Years Ago"). With one album left on his current recording contract, Harrison decided to get it over with and recorded Gone Troppo (an Australian slang expression meaning "gone mad/crazy") and released it without participating in any promotion, disenchanted as he was with the state of the music industry.