Love Sick

How does an artist who rose to prominence “yesterday” stay relevant “today” or for that matter “tomorrow”? It’s been said that creativity keeps long-term relationships fresh, interesting and exciting. Recording artist Will Downing obviously believes in applying that same principle to the relationship he’s enjoyed over the years with his many loyal fans. Ever evolving and unafraid to push the sonic envelope closer to the edge, Downing follows up his 2010 release Lust, Love and Lies “audio novel” concept with an innovative “musical trilogy” entitled Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

Bill Frisell - Beautiful Dreamers (2010) {Savoy Jazz}
XLD rip | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 380 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 156 Mb | Artwork -> 5 Mb
© 2010 SLG / Savoy Jazz | SVY17799
Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Creative / Guitar

Beautiful Dreamers is Bill Frisell's debut for Savoy Jazz. He left longstanding label Nonesuch in 2009, claiming he needed to release more than one record per year in order to to document his various bands, film score commitments, and commissions. This set features the guitarist in the company of violist Eyvind Kang and drummer Rudy Royston on a program of ten originals and six covers. While this trio is well known for using various effects in concert to expand its sonic palette, and jamming on various tunes for long periods of time, here the musicians are virtually a mirror image of that incarnation, playing with restraint, brevity, and melodic sensitivity.

George McCrae and his wife, Gwen McCrae, were just past the peak of their popularity when they recorded the 1976 LP Together as a duo. George was still riding his 1974 chart-topper "Rock Your Baby," while Gwen had scored a Top Ten hit of her own shortly afterward with "Rockin' Chair." Although they'd been pursuing solo careers, in fact they'd recorded as a duo in the early '70s, so Together was not so much a new pairing as a reunion.

Smokey Smothers - Sings The Backporch Blues (1962) {Ace Records CDCHD858, Reissued & Expanded rel 2002)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 239 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 153 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 22 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1962, 2002 King / Federal / Ace Records | CDCHD 858
Blues / Electric Chicago Blues / Regional Blues

Otis "Smokey" Smothers's 1962 LP Sings the Backporch Blues is a rare and coveted blues album. This CD puts it into wide circulation and then some, not only presenting all 12 of the songs from the original album (as the first dozen tunes on the disc), but adding nine alternate takes and four tracks from 1962-1963 singles. The album is perhaps overestimated due to its rarity, but it's solid Chicago blues, owing much to the sort of mid-tempo shuffle that Jimmy Reed had made so much in vogue by the early '60s.