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Lu Watters Jazz Band - Blues Over Bodega (1963) {Good Time Jazz GTCD 12066-2 rel 2000}
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© 1963, 2000 Good Time Jazz Records / Fantasy | GTCD 12066-2
Jazz / Dixieland / Trumpet

Nearly 14 years after he retired from music, trumpeter Lu Watters came out of retirement to musically protest the proposed building of a nuclear power plant on the San Andreas Fault. In addition to a few concerts with his former trombonist Turk Murphy, Watters recorded this lone Fantasy LP. After the nuclear project was shelved, Watters went back into permanent retirement. Surprisingly he is heard in prime form throughout this excellent set, leading a septet that also includes trombonist Bob Mielke, clarinetist Bob Helm, and pianist Wally Rose through such numbers as "Some of These Days," "Emperor Norton's Hunch," and his new pieces "San Andreas Fault" and "Blues Over Bodega." Blues singer Barbara Dane helps out a couple of songs.

Joan Jett's first album in seven years, 2013's Unvarnished, starts off with a big bang. "Any Weather," her rocked-out collaboration with Dave Grohl, sounds like a classic Blackhearts track with loud, tight guitars, a killer chorus, and Jett's growling voice front and center. It's a bracing call to arms that lets the listener know right away that Jett hasn't forgotten how to rock, not even a little…

Unless you go strictly by the lyrics and/or the circumstances, the third and fourth Scritti Politti comeback albums are not very dissimilar. They're principally bright-colored guitar pop albums, though 2006's White Bread Black Beer features neither the guest MCs nor the deeply hip-hop-rooted arrangements that speckled 1999's Anomie & Bonhomie. Beneath that, everything on White Bread Black Beer was written and played by Green Gartside at his house, and the sleeve design of the album is credited in part to an Alys Gartside.

Without question, this follow-up to Quicksilver Messenger Service's self-titled debut release is the most accurate in portraying the band on vinyl in the same light as the group's critically and enthusiastically acclaimed live performances. The album is essentially centered around the extended reworkings of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love?" and "Mona," as well as the lesser lauded - yet no less intense - contribution of Gary Duncan's (guitar/vocals) "Calvary." This album is the last to feature the original quartet incarnation of QMS. The collective efforts of John Cipollina (guitar/vocals), Greg Elmore (percussion), David Freiberg (bass/vocals), and the aforementioned Duncan retain the uncanny ability to perform with a psychedelic looseness of spirit, without becoming boring or in the least bit pretentious…

Most supergroups don't last long, and GTR was no exception to the rule. Steve Hackett and Steve Howe - lead guitarists for the prime periods of Genesis and Yes, respectively - formed the band in 1986, not with the intention of reviving classic prog rock, but with the idea of making a stadium-shaking hard rock band. It was two veterans with very clear musical identities of their own, teamed with a trio of supporting musicians eager for a big break. Not the ideal formula for a perfect rock album, since the scales were already tipped toward one side as the recording began. And, GTR's lone eponymous album didn't deliver the fireworks that Howe and Hackett fans desired. Part of the problem is that the two guitarists crowd each other out; it rarely sounds like they're trading licks, but rather like they're stepping forward for solos at their pre-scheduled times…

From A Live FM Radio Broadcast Recorded At The Capital Centre, Landover, MD, 11th October 1982.

The Church - Magician Among the Spirits and Some (1996) {Cooking Vinyl - COOK CD 168 rel 1998}
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© 1996, 1998 Cooking Vinyl / The Church | COOK CD 168
Rock / Neo-Psychedelia / Alternative / Indie

Arista dropped them but the Church soldiered on – Tim Powles fully joined in the songwriting process a number of times, while Peter Koppes guested on various cuts after his absence from Sometime Anywhere. Violinist Linda Neil also appeared along with other guests from that record, with Magician Among the Spirits being the attractive end result. If the band was still a touch fragmented, Magician shows them well on the road to becoming a fully tight unit once again, with a number of interesting diversions along the way. Sonically, things followed in the vein of Sometime to a large extent, trying out different approaches and backing, often exploring more spacious, sometimes very late-night, relaxed arrangements.