The Olson Band

2 CD Set / 5 Previously Unreleased Tracks: Pair all-time great blues-rock guitarist Mick Taylor with roots-rock chanteuse Carla Olson, throw in band members like Ian McLagan (ex-Faces), Barry Goldberg (ex-Electric Flag) and harmonica whiz John Luke Logan, and you had one explosive combo. This deluxe reissue expands their 1990 live at the Roxy album with a number of tracks from Carla's various studio albums, all of 'em featuring Mick and all of 'em long out-of-print. We even unearthed an unreleased cut, an alternate version of 'Winter' that's over twice as long as the Rolling Stones' version on 'Goat s Head Soup' with much Mick guitar solo magic, and the rare, Japan-only track 'You Gotta Move' to up the temperature. And Stones fans wait 'til you hear the 7- minute version of 'Sway' (the original on Sticky Fingers faded out at 3:50 just when Mick was taking off)!

2 CD Set / 5 Previously Unreleased Tracks: Pair all-time great blues-rock guitarist Mick Taylor with roots-rock chanteuse Carla Olson, throw in band members like Ian McLagan (ex-Faces), Barry Goldberg (ex-Electric Flag) and harmonica whiz John Luke Logan, and you had one explosive combo. This deluxe reissue expands their 1990 live at the Roxy album with a number of tracks from Carla's various studio albums, all of 'em featuring Mick and all of 'em long out-of-print. We even unearthed an unreleased cut, an alternate version of 'Winter' that's over twice as long as the Rolling Stones' version on 'Goat s Head Soup' with much Mick guitar solo magic, and the rare, Japan-only track 'You Gotta Move' to up the temperature. And Stones fans wait 'til you hear the 7- minute version of 'Sway' (the original on Sticky Fingers faded out at 3:50 just when Mick was taking off)!

The difference with this album and Rare Earth's previous release in 1978 is that the Grand Slam LP featured a Barry Gibb and Albhy Galuten tune with no input from those two individuals. The addition of Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, and Robin Gibb on "Warm Ride" off this quick follow-up features the Bee Gees singing, and it's that extra attention which made this the last of Rare Earth's half-a-dozen 1970s hits. What was really needed, though, was production from Barry, Robin, Maurice, and their partners in crime, Karl Richardson and Albhy Galuten, skills which might've brought the single "Warm Ride" further up the charts…

There are some really nice tunes on this soundtrack to the excellent film "Grumpier Old Men". The highlights for me are the songs by Louis Armstrong, Dean Martin, Harry Belafonte, Doris Day, Nat King Cole and the couple of instrumentals by composer Alan Silvestri. These are the recordings that will remind you of the fun that GOM provided to those fortunate to see legends Lemmon, Matthau, Meredith, Ann-Margaret and Sophia Loren (holy moly) in their last great film together. The only pity is that because the first films soundtrack is not available to buy, that the song from that film "We're Having A Heatwave" is not here. Sound quality is excellent and joyous.

It seems odd that Salvation Blues is Mark Olson's first true solo recording. After his tenure with the Jayhawks, Olson left the band to spend more time in Joshua Tree with his then-wife, fellow singer/songwriter Victoria Williams. Olson released a quartet of recordings with the Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers (aka the Creekdippers), always with Williams either sharing the billing or in the band. Olson and Williams divorced in February of 2006, and he lost the home he built in Joshua Tree as a result. He took off on a solo tour of Europe where the sketches for a number of the songs on Salvation Blues were written.

Gene Clark was one of the most gifted singers and songwriters of his generation, but bad luck and self-destructive habits followed him like a shadow, and it seemed sadly appropriate that he died in the spring of 1991 as he was working on a follow-up to the biggest success of his solo career, So Rebellious a Lover, his 1987 collaboration with Carla Olson of the Textones. Clark's poor health (aggravated by drinking) and fear of flying prevented a full-scale tour in support of So Rebellious a Lover, but he played scattered live dates after its release, and In Concert gathers recordings from shows Clark gave in late 1988 and early 1990.

Austin-to-L.A. transplants the Textones were one of the few post-new wave "roots rock" bands of the mid-'80s to deserve the appellation. (Unfortunately, they're mostly remembered, if at all, only as the band Kathy Valentine left to join the Go-Go's.) Unlike the terribly overrated Lone Justice or the beer salesmen in the Long Ryders or the Del Fuegos, Carla Olson and company came off like a punkier version of the Gram Parsons-era Byrds, with a poppy edge on unexpected covers like the Searchers' "Silver" and Neil Sedaka's "Keep a Walkin'."