Spare Harris

Various Artists - Poet: A Tribute To Townes Van Zandt (2001) (FreeFalls FFE-7019-2 U.S. Pressing}
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© 2001 FreeFalls Ent. | FFE-7019-2
Folk / Country / Contemporary Folk / Acoustic / Progressive Country

Tribute collections – especially those dedicated to a deceased artist by a various group of performers – are usually a mixed bag by their very nature. A dedicated various-artists set of songs by the towering songwriter Townes Van Zandt is even more daunting in concept. That said, Poet: A Tribute to Townes Van Zandt, originally issued in 2001, is the exception to the rule in every case. Containing 16 cuts by a stellar cast that includes everyone from Willie Nelson and Nanci Griffith to Lucinda Williams and John Prine with lots of folks in between.

Linda Thompson’s career begins in the much beloved late ’60s, early ’70s British folk-rock scene. At first, she was mostly a session singer and a part of a short-lived duo with Paul McNeill with whom she released two singles in 1968 and 1969. McNeill happened to be friends with Sandy Denny, and soon so was Linda. She became one of the “supergroup” of musician friends related to Fairport Convention for the 1972 The Bunch album, a side project of sorts, featuring rock hits of the ’50s. The album’s single featured Linda and Sandy Denny covering The Everly Brothers’ “When Will I Be Loved.” Also in 1972 Linda married Richard Thompson and Linda (with Sandy Denny) can be found in the credits for Richard’s 1972 solo debut, Henry The Human Fly. Beginning in 1974, albums started appearing by Richard & Linda Thompson winding up with the classic Shoot Out The Lights in 1982 which also signaled the end of their marriage.

Marc Bolan - Marc Bolan at the BBC - Radio Sessions And Broadcasts 1967 -1977 (2013) {6CD Box Set Universal 534 309-2}
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© 1967-77, 2013 BBC Worldwide / Universal Music | 534 309-2
Rock / Glam Rock / Proto-Punk / Folk Rock / Freakbeat / Psychedelic / British Invasion / Mod

This set is said to combine all of the surviving BBC recordings with previously unreleased sessions taken from BBC Transcription Discs, off air recordings made on reel-to-reel tape recorders and the occasional cassette tape. The box contains 16 previously unreleased Tyrannosaurus Rex tracks, and over 20 T.Rex tracks never before issued. There are also a dozen interviews many of which have never been commercially available. The 117 track box set kicks off with some June 1968 John’s Children recordings and the curtain closes at the end of disc six with a couple of T.Rex tracks broadcast on the David Hamilton show, less than a month before Bolan’s untimely death.

Byard Lancaster Quartet - Ancestral Link Hotel (2006) {CIMP CIMP340}
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© 2006 CIMP | #340
Jazz / Post Bop / Free Funk / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone / Afro Flute

The cover of every CIMP CD contains a “statement of purpose” describing the imprint’s m.o. and including the mandate, “Give [the disc] your undivided attention and it will reward you. CIMP records are not intended to be background music.” These words should be kept in mind, especially while listening to Ancestral Link Hotel’s 21-minute title track. Byard Lancaster begins with a chant and a wail, pulls out the Afro flute for some quick runs and eventually picks up his alto. Drummer Harold E. Smith starts on conch shell and didgeridoo. Two bassists, Bert Harris and Ed Crockett, provide spare but percussive drones that come and go as needed. Anyone expecting “something to happen” misses the point. Anyone listening closely will be swept up by the organic flow of the music.

Archie Shepp - Things Have Got To Change (1971) {Impulse! Japan MVCI-23081 rel 1992}
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© 1971, 1992 Impulse! / MCA Victor Japan | MVCI-23081
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Soul Jazz / Saxophone

Things Have Got To Change is wonderful post-Paris work from Archie Shepp – a record that has him bringing more focus back into his work after sessions overseas – and also making some great use of the legendary Joe Lee Wilson on vocals! There's a feeling here that's a real change for Shepp, but a great one too – a sound that's trying to reach new levels of expression in jazz – with a bit less of the sharp edges of the 60s, and more of the warmer, more righteous modes of the post-Coltrane generation.