Roy+buchanan

Roy Buchanan has long been considered one of the finest, yet criminally overlooked guitarists of the blues rock genre whose lyrical leads and use of harmonics would later influence such guitar greats as Jeff Beck, his one-time student Robbie Robertson, and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons…

There have been numerous Roy Buchanan collections to hit the streets since the guitarist committed suicide in 1988. There have been no less than four issued by Universal, with just enough of the same material to be irritating. Definitive Collection is no exception. There isn't anything here that's unreleased…

There is so little professionally shot video footage of Roy Buchanan officially available, that this frustratingly short half-hour set is a major find for the late guitarist's devoted fan base. Recorded November 15, 1976 when he was 37, the Austin City Limits DVD doesn't add extra footage to what was originally telecast, and is one of the few ACL videos not to do so…

The 16-tracks on this compilation are from Roy Buchanan's trio of mid-1970s titles: A Street Called Straight (1976), Loading Zone (1977), and You're Not Alone (1978). After a less than personally (or professionally) satisfying stint earlier in the decade with Polydor Records, Buchanan teamed up with Atlantic, who helped him get out of his pending contract with the former…

This home-made and self-produced platter was issued by Roy Buchanan (guitar/vocals) after being rejected by Polydor. The artist decided to privately distribute the album on his own BIOYA label, whose initials stood for the message that Buchanan had for Polydor – B(low) I(t) O(ut) Y(our) A(ss). For obvious contractual reasons, his name wasn't even intimated on the burlap bag (no joke) that housed first pressings of the 12" platter – which was sold only at "underground" stores, head shops, and Buchanan's gigs. The music within the grooves proved to be equally as rustic and authentic as the packaging would suggest…

Buchanan was a terrific guitarist, but My Babe is not the place to hear him in his glory. Too often, the album is dragged down by slick production and Paul Jacobs' overbearing vocals. Buchanan's playing is fairly good, but he sounds a little uninspired, which is understandable, considering his surroundings…

While not exactly a 180-degree rotation from the thoroughly enjoyable funk-fest on A Street Called Straight (1976), Roy Buchanan's subsequent album, You're Not Alone (1978), is an exceedingly more polished affair with a completely new cast of studio musicians. The instrumental space-themed effort may have worked well in the midst of the undue hype that Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind were glutting the media with…

In 1969 – some three years before his self-titled debut solidified his stature as a pre-eminent string bender – Roy Buchanan (guitar/vocals) signed with Polydor Records and began work on his first full-length platter. In 2004, three-and-a-half decades later, the audio archivists at Hip-O Select finally issued The Prophet: The Unreleased First Polydor Album (2004)…

The recording and production on this, Roy Buchanan's first record for Polydor, is delightfully bare, sparse in ornamentation, and full of bum notes and aborted ideas that would be deleted on most commercial releases. It is a loose, highly improvised affair that amply demonstrates why the leader is one of the underappreciated giants of rootsy guitar…