Cult Electric

Guitarist Rory Gallagher never wanted to be a star. He only wanted to make music on his own terms and have the opportunity to play that music for an audience who would genuinely appreciate it. Watching the double DVD set Ghost Blues and The Beat Sessions illustrates the Irish-born blues-rocker's success on those terms he set for himself so emphatically, and to which he remained loyal throughout his career.

After leaving Ukiah, CA, and moving south to San Francisco to form the Charles Ford Band (named for their father) in the late '60s with harmonica player Gary Smith, brothers Pat (drums) and Robben (guitar) were enlisted by Charlie Musselwhite and were pivotal members of one of the best aggregations the harpist ever led. Leaving Musselwhite after recording Arhoolie's Takin' My Time, they recruited bassist Stan Poplin and younger brother Mark, then age 17, on harmonica and played under the name the Real Charles Ford Band. Heavily influenced by the original Butterfield Blues Band and the Chess catalog, the quartet was famous for their live jazz explorations – often jamming for 30 minutes or more on a John Coltrane and George Benson tune – and hear-a pin-drop dynamics (with Mark abandoning mike and amp to play acoustically into the room or Robben turning the volume all the way off on his fat-body Gibson L-5).

Morgan Davis is an award-winning Canadian blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He was born and spent his childhood in Detroit, Michigan, before relocating to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1968. He moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 2001. His song "Why'd You Lie" was a hit for Colin James and featured on James' 1988 debut album. "Reefer Smokin' Man" was described as a "blues cult classic". Davis' principal major label release, Morgan Davis, on Stony Plain Records, was produced by Colin Linden. Davis was the recipient of multiple awards, including a Juno Award, for his 2003 release, Painkiller, on Electro-Fi Records.

From the director of Life According to Agfa comes this sequel of sorts, focusing on 3 minor characters from the previous film and chronicling their surreal odyssey through 24 hellish hours. This is IMO one of the best Israeli films ever made. It's a cult film alright, and as such it has its flaws, but it's filled with brilliant dialogues (I hope it won't get too lost in translation) and macabre humor. Dayan is one of the only Israeli directors I could really call an auteur, and his signature style is most evident in this film.

After leaving Ukiah, CA, and moving south to San Francisco to form the Charles Ford Band (named for their father) in the late '60s with harmonica player Gary Smith, brothers Pat (drums) and Robben (guitar) were enlisted by Charlie Musselwhite and were pivotal members of one of the best aggregations the harpist ever led. Leaving Musselwhite after recording Arhoolie's Takin' My Time, they recruited bassist Stan Poplin and younger brother Mark, then age 17, on harmonica and played under the name the Real Charles Ford Band. Heavily influenced by the original Butterfield Blues Band and the Chess catalog, the quartet was famous for their live jazz explorations – often jamming for 30 minutes or more on a John Coltrane and George Benson tune – and hear-a pin-drop dynamics (with Mark abandoning mike and amp to play acoustically into the room or Robben turning the volume all the way off on his fat-body Gibson L-5).

Billy Hawks played the organ and sang the blues – a combination that in the late '60s, when Hawks recorded and released The New Genius of the Blues and More Heavy Soul! for Prestige, meant that he was most certainly a practitioner of soul-jazz. Working in a similar vein to Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, and other funky professors of the Hammond organ, Hawks didn't play straight-up jazz on either of his Prestige LPs, here captured on a single-disc 2014 reissue by Ace. For one thing, he sang, a choice that positions his recordings much closer to R&B than jazz. Clearly, Ray Charles made an impression on Hawks – "I Got a Woman" shows up on New Genius, "Drown in My Own Tears" on More Heavy Soul! – but with his intimate trio (on New Genius, he's supported by guitarist Joseph Jones and drummer Henry Terrell; on More Heavy Soul! by, Maynard Parker sits in for Jones, and Buddy Terry is added on tenor sax), he was grittier and funkier than Charles was in the '60s, walking the line between mod-jazz and soul.

Best known among the key producers to emerge from the American underground's jangle pop movement of the early '80s, Don Dixon also enjoyed a cult following as a solo performer. A native of North Carolina, he dwelled in relative obscurity for well over a decade as a member of the little-known Arrogance before attracting his first significant notice around 1983 after co-producing with Mitch Easter R.E.M.'s landmark debut LP, Murmur. Subsequent work on Chris Stamey's It's a Wonderful Life, the Windbreakers' Terminal, and Tommy Keene's Run Now solidified his reputation among jangle pop aficionados, and in 1985 Dixon recorded his solo debut, Most of the Girls Like to Dance But Only Some of the Boys Do, a further affirmation of his love of classic pop melodies and spiky, Nick Lowe-inspired wordplay.