Poor Jerskin Fendrix

An overlooked gem is rediscovered. A 1985 LP that went largely unnoticed on its release, Willie and the Poor Boys was an exercise in nostalgia for Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman and a bunch of his musical pals. The LP was put together by Wyman as a means of raising funds to help out The Faces founder Ronnie Lane, then suffering greatly from Multiple Sclerosis. A major benefit – the A.R.M.S. Concert – had been mounted in September 1983, and Willie and the Poor Boys was an outgrowth of that effort, employing many of the musicians involved in the original concert.

Their ninth studio album shows Poor Genetic Material, considered by many as Germany's best art- and progrock band, at the peak of their creative powers. Absence - the experience and feeling of lacking something. People or ways of life that we have got used to, that gave us comfort and security, that have left their mark on us and shaped our character. Yet, many of them have turned to hardly more than faint memories. That may be so simply because we have changed. Or because whatever or whoever these feelings were attached to is now - for various reasons - beyond our reach. This experience is the central topic of Poor Genetic Material’s ninth studio album.

Poor Man Blues: Chicago Blues Session, Vol. 6 showcases the exceptional guitar skills of John Primer, who long served as a guitarist for Muddy Waters and Magic Slim. Primer falls somewhere between the two, turning out tough Chicago blues fueled by his biting slide guitar. His original songs aren't particularly interesting, but they function as good vehicles for exciting jams. In the end, Primer might not add anything new to Chicago blues, but he has a great time playing, and it sure is fun to listen to him play.

Make no mistake, Willy & the Poor Boys is a fun record, perhaps the breeziest album CCR ever made. Apart from the eerie minor-key closer "Effigy" (one of John Fogerty's most haunting numbers), there is little of the doom that colored Green River. Fogerty's rage remains, blazing to the forefront on "Fortunate Son," a working-class protest song that cuts harder than any of the explicit Vietnam protest songs of the era, which is one of the reasons that it hasn't aged where its peers have. Also, there's that unbridled vocal from Fogerty and the ferocious playing on CCR, which both sound fresh as they did upon release…