Woke XG

The mid-to-late Sixties was a strange and difficult time for many Blues men - most were without contracts, forgotten and under-appreciated. Then the Blues boom happened (particularly in the UK) and many had their careers kick-started all over again. Freddie King was no exception. His last album had been for Federal in 1964, but with a new lease of life on the mighty Atlantic label, he produced two much revered LPs in rapid succession. The first was "Freddie King Is A Blues Master" released in 1969 on SD 9004 - and then this peach - "My Feeling For The Blues" on Cotillion SD 9016 released in early 1970.

It is a studio production with all the benefits of excellent acoustics, perfect balance, no disturbing noises from stage movements or audience reactions and the option to re-record momentary lapses. And there is another advantage: these studio sessions were based on a staged production at the Thesaloniki Concert Hall in March 2008! I suppose this is a misprint. If it is, this is the only error in this wholly delightful production.

The Scottish hard rock quartet Nazareth had a handful of hard rock hits in the late '70s, including the proto-power ballad "Love Hurts." Formed in 1968, the band featured vocalist Dan McCafferty, guitarist Manny Charlton, bassist Pete Agnew, and drummer Darrell Sweet. The band had relocated to London by 1970, and they released their self-titled debut album in 1971…

Franz Schmidt is currently on his way to be recognized as one of the most important representatives of the post-Mahlerian, post-romantic symphonic tradition. Indeed, there is something about Schmidt's symphonies - the fourth in particular - that suggests a certain post-apocalyptic feeling, not in terms of any feeling of tragedy in particular but because it feels as if Schmidt are writing the somewhat sobering afterwords to the works of Bruckner and Mahler at the very end of the romantic era (the symphony dates from 1933).