Exile The Second Rock Star

In Concert is the successor CD set to the individual releases of Absolutely Live (which remains in print as a single CD), Alive, She Cried, and Live at the Hollywood Bowl – as none of them presented more than a single angle or two of the group's sound and each confined itself to only a portion of the group's repertoire, the three-in-one release makes perfect sense and is a decent bargain…

This 1975 release on Mercury has Randy California and Ed Cassidy's names imprinted boldly on the cover as Spirit, and the 26 songs - starting with "America the Beautiful/The Times They Are a Changin'" and concluding with "The Star Spangled Banner" - are more than just a sly tribute to the bicentennial. They are the most fluid and satisfying statement by the California/Cassidy version of the band, who would be together for another 20 years before California's untimely passing. As ethereal and icy as Feedback, the album Cassidy recorded with the Stahely brothers, there are all sorts of hidden meanings projected throughout this LP. Randy California gives more than a few nods to his work with Jimi Hendrix - covers of "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Hey Joe" are two of Hendrix's more notable and triumphant revisions…

The series was revived as "AM Gold" in 1995, with a different cover design (early volumes had an artist's drawing of a pocket transistor radio, with later volumes bearing a "gold record" with the year or era spotlighted emblazoned over the top). The first 20 volumes were re-titled issues of volumes from the former "Super Hits" series with identical track lineups, while new volumes covering the mid- and late-1970s (including individual volumes for each of the years 1974-1979) were included.

The series was revived as "AM Gold" in 1995, with a different cover design (early volumes had an artist's drawing of a pocket transistor radio, with later volumes bearing a "gold record" with the year or era spotlighted emblazoned over the top). The first 20 volumes were re-titled issues of volumes from the former "Super Hits" series with identical track lineups, while new volumes covering the mid- and late-1970s (including individual volumes for each of the years 1974-1979) were included.

Jesse Winchester - Jesse Winchester (1970) & Third Down, 110 To Go (1972) {Edsel Records EDSS 1073 rel 2012}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 363 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 154 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 90 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1970, 1972, 2012 Bearsville Records / Demon Music / Edsel Records | EDSS 1073
Rock / Folk Rock / Modern Electric Blues / Singer/Songwriter / Roots Rock

One of the best songwriters of the 1960s and early '70s, with an unassuming style that managed to sound like Fred Neil, J.J. Cale, Jim Croce, Randy Newman, Leonard Cohen, and early Tom Waits by turns (and sometimes all at once), Jesse Winchester would have been as well known and regarded as any of these had history not swept him from Louisiana, where he was born, to Montreal, Canada, where he took up residence in exile (like thousands of other young men at the time) to avoid the Vietnam War. Winchester was working gigs as a lounge pianist when his draft notice came, and while he joined a couple of local bands after his flight to Canada, his life as a musician had been torn apart.