Blue #48

Blue Öyster Cult marks time with a second live album on which they turn out good, if redundant, concert versions of recent favorites like "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "Godzilla" and add to their repertoire of live covers such oldies as the MC5's "Kick out the Jams" and the Animals' "We Gotta Get out of This Place." A perfectly acceptable, completely unnecessary souvenir record from a hard-touring band of the '70s. (It should perhaps be noted that the mid- to late '70s was a period when more live albums than usual were being released, especially in the wake of Peter Frampton's massively successful 1976 album Frampton Comes Alive!.)

Blue Cheer's debut album, Vincebus Eruptum, was widely and accurately described as "the loudest record ever made" when it first appeared in early 1968, and the band seemingly had the good sense to realize that for sheer brutal impact, there was little chance they could top it. So for their second LP, Outsideinside (which appeared a mere seven months later), rather than aim for something bigger and more decibel intensive, Blue Cheer decided to see how much polish they could add to their formula without blunting the skull-crushing force of their live attack. While Vincebus Eruptum was cut in simple and straightforward form with minimal overdubs, Outsideinside found Blue Cheer embracing the possibilities of the recording studio…

Blue Floyd, an all-star jam band performing variations on the material of Pink Floyd, are a spin off from Gov’t Mule, featuring Allen Woody and Matt Abts from Gov’t Mule, Berry Oakley (son of Raymond Berry Oakley from The Allman Brothers) on bass, Mark Ford (The Black Crows) on lead guitarist, and Johnny Neil (Dickey Betts Band And The Allman Brothers) on keyboards. This 3 disc set was recorded on the bands 2000 tour in Alexandria, Vancouver. Gov’t Mule have recently toured Europe, promoting their new releases including Dark Side Of The Mule, following on from Blue Floyds reinterpretation of the Pink Floyd catalogue.

A New York-based ensemble led by keyboardist Phil Clendennin, Tarika Blue released two recordings in the late '70s that blended silky jazz fusion sensibilities and the mellow soul sound of the day that's now considered old-school. Vocalist Erykah Badu rekindled interest in the group by using, without permission, its laid-back tune 'Dreamflower' as the background for her platinum hit, 'Didn't Cha Know,' which went on to be nominated for R&B song of the year in 2001.