Johnny Winter

Collins is never far in spirit from the 1940s and 1950s gin mills of his youth, where he soaked up blues, R&B, country and western, jazz, and all their various amalgams. On this 1983 date he impressively revitalizes his old Texas hit "Don't Lose Your Cool," turns the heat up on Guitar Slim's "Quicksand," and adds newfangled vocal and guitar insinuations to Big Walter Price's "Get to Gettin'."

To commemorate 30 years since the release of Dylan's first Columbia album, a marathon tribute concert was held at New York's Madison Square Garden, with a galaxy of stars and voices from the past taking part. The cumulative effect of this tribute was staggering, revealing just how much truly great Dylan material there is to choose from all of his periods. A firm nucleus of the three surviving members of Booker T. & the MG's, plus G.E. Smith on guitar and Jim Keltner and Anton Fig on drums, anchors the bands, and most of the stars…

Boomerang is the third offering from Eric Sardinas & Big Motor. It marks the trio's recording debut with drummer Bryan Keeling, a session and touring ace who spent six years with Shooter Jennings & the .357s. Founding bassist Levell Price is back of course, and the band enlists a small and select list of guests on various tracks. Inside the recording's cover sleeve are the words "….dedicated to my friend Johnny Winter. Thank you for the memories…." Winter's influence on Sardinas' playing is incalculable and acknowledged. But on Boomerang, recorded after Winter's death, the music is a direct reflection of his unruly good-time spirit. Check the title track where Sardinas' phrasing combines both early Texas and Delta blues in the intro in the same fashion Winter did. Both acoustic and electrified resonators are placed on stun, wrangling over Price's fuzzed-out choogling bass boogie.

This is a specially priced, two-CDs-for-the-price-of-one photo-cube set, loaded with great stuff from Charlie Musselwhite, Koko Taylor, Lonnie Brooks, Johnny Winter, Billy Boy Arnold, Lonnie Mack, and a host of others who have trotted their wares on the label over the years. Besides giving the novice one great introduction to the label (as the music runs from traditional to modern), the big bonus here is a treasure trove of previously unissued tracks from Roy Buchanan (a chaotic version of Link Wray's "Jack the Ripper"); Floyd Dixon (a recut of his Blues Brothers-approved hit "Hey Bartender"); Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland in a marvelous outtake from the Showdown! album ("Something to Remember You By"); and the band that started it all, Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers, with a crazed version of Elmore James' "Look on Yonder's Wall," as sloppy as it is cool.