John Mayall Collection

It's fantastic, underground progressive heavy rock classic with definitive 'British' feel - very similar to the 2nd Tamam Shud LP, Leaf Hound, early Uriah Heep and even Allman Brothers Band debut LP. The tracks are mostly very long, guitar parts are intensive and loud, vocals are fine and additional flute parts really charming! The sound was restored very carefully (with no tacky equalization and compression) and now is very bright and clear!

The phrase "very best of" in an album title usually indicates a highly selective collection of an artist's career highlights.

Texas Thunder was the first CD Benny recorded for Wolftrax.
Records and was recorded in the spring of 1993 at GEM/Lonestar studio in Austin, Texas. It is a collection of some of Benny's favorite blues songs plus three of his own originals. The CD was recorded with just the trio of Benny on guitar and vocals, Danny Valerio on bass and Steve Severson on drums. The CD was recorded classic old school style live in the studio over three days. This gives the CD that raw 50's blues sound which a lot of the fans seem to prefer…..

Grammy-nominated guitarist and performer Rick Vito announces his eleventh solo album, ‘Cadillac Man,’ a collection of eleven original tracks and an instrumental version of Sam Cooke’s “Just Another Day.” The album title reflects Vito’s lifelong passion for classic Cadillac cars. “Mr Lucky,” his 1969 Sedan De Ville, is pictured on the cover. Fans of slide and blues guitar will find songs on the album to suit every mood, from rhythmic to rocking, swinging to swampy, and all points in between. One standout is Vito’s original rocking arrangement of “It’s Two A.M.,” previously recorded by Shemekia Copeland and winner of the 2001 W.C. Handy Blues Award for “Song of the Year.”

Albums that combine live and studio tracks can, in some cases, be inconsistent. Some artists are so reliant on studio technology that they fall apart in a live setting; they sound stiff and awkward the minute they take the stage. And on the other hand, some artists are so fond of playing live that they become inhibited in the studio. But there is nothing inconsistent or uneven about Walter Trout's debut album, Life in the Jungle, a collection of live and studio recordings from 1989; on this release, the blues-rocker is as focused and inspired on-stage as he is in the studio. All of the tracks were recorded in Scandinavian countries; the live performances are from an appearance at the Midtfyn Festival in Denmark on July 2, 1989, while the studio material is from a session in Stockholm, Sweden, on June 21 and July 9 of that year.

This fine collection supplants Parchman Farm as the definitive set spotlighting Bukka White's Vocalion country blues recordings.–by Ron Wynn