Tendres Cousines (1980)

This exciting live session is pretty definitive of the Great Guitars. With fine support offered by bassist Joe Byrd and drummer Jimmie Smith, guitarists Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis romp on such swinging numbers as "Broadway," "Air Mail Special" and "Straighten Up and Fly Right." As usual, Byrd, with his grounding in classical guitar, is the most distinctive, while Kessel and Ellis constantly pay tribute to Charlie Christian. This combination worked quite well, and each of the Great Guitars' five recordings are easily recommended to fans of bop guitar.

This exciting live session is pretty definitive of the Great Guitars. With fine support offered by bassist Joe Byrd and drummer Jimmie Smith, guitarists Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis romp on such swinging numbers as "Broadway," "Air Mail Special" and "Straighten Up and Fly Right." As usual, Byrd, with his grounding in classical guitar, is the most distinctive, while Kessel and Ellis constantly pay tribute to Charlie Christian. This combination worked quite well, and each of the Great Guitars' five recordings are easily recommended to fans of bop guitar.

Despite being renowned in certain parts of the world (especially in Italy and their hometown of Paris), the space-age outfit Rockets remains largely obscure - even though they arrived on the scene at almost he same exact time as Kraftwerk and prefaced Devo by several years. The multi-membered outfit originally formed in 1972, under the name Crystal, performing on-stage in their regular street clothes. But by 1974, Crystal had evolved into Rocket Men, issuing a debut self-titled single, while its members began to assume the identities of aliens; complete with silver makeup covering their skin, grey contact lenses, space suits, and bald heads. It was also around this time that the group hooked up with producer Claude Lemoine, who would remain behind the studio boards until the early '80s…

This is a later recording from the legendary pianist made for the German L & R label and now re-released on Evidence. The first nine songs are from a studio set feature Slim with a terrific band including Carey Bell on harmonica, Hubert Sumlin on guitar and Odie Payne on drums. These songs are the best on the CD as Slim and the band run through a set mixing slow blues with up-tempo songs, including several instrumentals. The last six songs are pulled from a series of live recordings that are decent but not spectacular.