Dog Man Dave Pilkey

The first eight tracks of this 79-minute compilation of late-'60s material originally appeared on Arhoolie's Hooker'n'Steve LP; a couple of others showed up on Arhoolie's His First & Last Recordings, while the four remaining cuts were previously unreleased. Hooker didn't have long to live when these were laid down in 1968 and (for the most part) 1969, but he's in real good form on guitar, although he only takes an occasional vocal (other band members help out on other tracks, and some are instrumental). Indications are from the liner notes that the sessions were run on a no-frills budget, but it's very respectable '60s Chicago electric blues with a shade of funky soul and a hot live feel, and Hooker's guitar has an upfront bite and presence. Actually, the instrumentals are highlights, particularly "Hooker N' Steve" with its smoking guitar-organ duets. - Richie Unterberger

“Bluesbound Train” became an excellent blues rock album that comes without any lapse. Each of the twelve songs is worth to be on this record, an album that belongs to the positive surprises. In case Joe Bonamassa is looking for a good opening act, here it is.

The other night I rented the movie Zodiac and watched it for the first time. Having missed it during its theatrical run, I had looked forward to watching it for some time. So anyway, one of the first things I picked up on about the movie was its very inventive use of the music from the same time period the gruesome serial murders occured in Northern California — stuff like Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" for example.