VA - Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (Garage/ Psychedelic, 1965-1968)

Compiled by rock critic and future Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye, 1972's Nuggets was the anthology responsible for reviving interest in mid-'60s American garage rock. After the proliferation of specialized volumes with the Nuggets title by reissue label Rhino, this four-CD box set is intended as the ideal summation/expansion of the Nuggets concept. This here is the first album, which  reproduces, track-by-track, the original 27-song Nuggets, while the other three CDs add what may be considered 91 bonus tracks, from the biggest-selling garage hits ("Louie Louie," "Wooly Bully") to some cuts that only devout '60s specialists will know. All important permutations of the mid-'60s garage style are present: primitive fuzz, folk-rock, horn rock, psychedelic dementia, protest rock, etc. Major heroes the Music Machine, the Seeds, the Shadows of Knight, the Electric Prunes, the Standells, the Sonics, the Chocolate Watch Band, and many others are all represented, often by more than one song. If it's possible to give a five-star rating with reservations, it's tempting to do so here. No one could have possibly satisfied all rabid garage collectors with a mere 118 songs, but that's not really the point here; the object was to provide a wide-ranging box set of '60s garage rock that would entertain, represent the considerable span of garage styles, and be massive for the committed rock fan who nonetheless doesn't want everything. Rhino has succeeded, while also presenting the songs in the best possible quality (in mono), whether from the master tapes or best existing copies. Essential stuff.

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Madness - One Step Beyond... (Ska, 1979)

"It was really strange that The Specials were doing a similar thing to us but they were more punk - they were more influenced by that. I used to really like it but it didn’t really influence us. The thing about the Specials was that none of them had really been skinheads, whereas we had..."

It's the sheer exuberance of it all that first smacks listeners straight across the head, that and the pure mayhem that careens wildly from the opening shout to the closing note. A musical roller coaster, a tear through a musical house of mirrors, along the way Madness grab streamers of ska and rocksteady and stuff them gleefully into their baggy trousers. Actually the trousers were yet to come, but One Step Beyond dragged listeners kicking and screaming into a wacky world of their own creation, where Prince Buster slams into swan-clad ballerinas and boats on the Nile, where "Chipmunks are Go!" and the sun never set on the "Land of Hope and Glory." The Nutty Boys was an apt alternate moniker for the band, as they rocket madly through this set, all wicked grins and giggles, smug with their own cleverness and winking slyly at their own goofy musical jokes. Who could be so po-faced as to not join in? The set has lost none of its freshness, appeal or ability to surprise over the years. It still sounds like nothing else on the planet, even though it's influences were waved pennant like from the band's hands -- Buster, of course, and the sheer freneticism of early Jamaican ska and punk's raging fire. And, just as evident, English music hall, Augustus Pablo's Far Eastern sound, Brit Beat pop, the slinkier side of swing and the funnier side of classical ballet, military marches and Dad's Army, funfairs and keyboard riffs on an Oktoberfest tour of the German beerhalls, all this and more were poured straight into the mix and decanted into the Madness brew. There's nary a pause for breath, the wilding never stops, even when they slow the tempos and darken the moods. Amidst this kaleidoscope everyone has their personal faves, be it the trio of Buster tributes of "One Step Beyond," "The Prince" and "Madness," the poppier Sixties Brit flavored hat trick of "In the Middle of the Night," "Bed and Breakfast" and "Mummy's Boy," the heavy on the atmospheres of "My Girl," "Nightboat to Cairo" and "Razorblade Alley" or the wacky batch of "Tarzan's Nuts," "Swan Lake" and "Chipmunks."No matter what your cup of tea, Madness were playing mother and more than happy to pour it out with lashings of cream and sugar. One Step Beyond? More like a giant leap into a brave new world.

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The Stooges - Fun House (Punk/ Garage, 1970)

"I always loved it when people came up to me and told me about how we were the inspiration for their band, It was flattering"

Detroit’s short-lived wonder on full effect. Along with The Velvet Underground and MC5, The Stooges were the pioneers of - art-conscious- sleazy rock. Never before them, had rock n roll been brought up from the underground in such a bombastic, dirty way. Everything censorship stood for in America had been wrung out from the airwaves, and rebellion was sought after. Vulgarity, explicit sexuality, and the dark world of drug addiction were making their marks slowly on the music industry. And with the help of The Stooges with their incendiary frontman, Iggy Pop, the philosophy of what would today be the foundation of punk music. It's amazing how much they accomplished with such few chords.


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MC5 - Back in the USA (Hard Rock, 1970)

"The more energy you raise, the more energy you get back!"

After presenting themselves to the world with the raw, revolution-tinted sonic orgy that was Kick Out The Jams, the group found themselves moving up in life, eventually signing with Atlantic, after being dropped by Elektra due to the proficient cursing on their debut album. Under the wing of debuting producer Jon Landau, the group didn’t take long to release their second album, 1970’s Back In The USA. And the least that could be said was that it constituted a surprise. In fact, this sophomore effort is far from the unrestrained wildness of Kick Out The Jams, instead shoehorning the group into a tamer, more restrained studio format. However, even in this more sterile environment, Tyner, Kramer and Co still made sure that their revolutionary ideals and lifestyle shone through, even if they had to convey it through less explicit means.The chosen path was to make this an album about the wilderness of youth, replacing the profanity-laden political tirades with peppy celebrations of what it means to be young. Where Kick Out The Jams showed the MC5 as a free-thinking revolutionary force, Back In The USA shows them as young men, doing what all young men are wont to do – have fun, party, and celebrate the best years of their lives. An excellent record!

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Joe Tex - 25 All Time Greatest Hits (R&B, 2000)

"It’s been nice here, man. A lot of ups and downs, the way life is, but I’ve enjoyed this life. I was glad that I was able to come up out of creation and look all around and see a little bit, grass and trees and cars, fish and steaks, potatoes…And I thank God for that."

1967's "Skinny Legs and All" is evidence of Joe's style of speaking over music, which he called "rap", making him a predecessor of the modern style of music.

No soul singer took on the mantle of philosopher, or preacher, with quite the same depth of feeling, strength of conviction or racy humour as too-long forgotten Joe Tex. With a stage act that matched James Brown’s for energy, showmanship and musicianship, Texan Joe recorded several unsuccessful singles before he wrote Baby You’re Right, a US Number 2 Rhythm and Blues hit for Brown. Nashville country music publisher Buddy Killen believed in Tex’s potential so much he started Dial Records, distributed by Atlantic, and the homespun wisdom of 1965’s Hold On To What You’ve Got launched a brilliant career. Voice? The bonhomie of Rufus Thomas meets the grits of Bobby Womack.
If you don't have a Joe Tex anthology yet, you're in luck, as this definitely supersedes others as the greatest-hits collection of choice. All but one of these songs (the 1965 B-side "Don't Let Your Left Hand Know") was a chart single, and aside from the 1977 hit "Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)," all are from his prime 1965-1972 period. Enjoy!

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Bettye Lavette-I've Got My Own Hell To Raise (R&B, 2005)

"What they're calling RandB today is not RandB. It's like they're taking anyone who's black and does not rap and calling them an RandB singer. Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, those are real rhythm and blues singers, as I am!"

Bettye Lavette's superlative a cappella rendition of Sinead O'Connor's "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" is a fitting opener to this raw collection of covers by women songwriters like Lucinda Williams, Joan Armatrading, and Dolly Parton. The job done by Lavette and her exemplary backing band on this superb deep soul set is so thoroughly transformational as to make these pop, rock, and country songs entirely their own. Her voice is rough and heartfelt, palpably carrying a weight of heartbreak, the musicians' performances are intimate and spontaneous, and the songs, from Parton's "Little Sparrow" to Bobbie Cryner's undiscovered masterpiece, "Just Say So," are impeccably well-chosen.

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Dexter Gordon - Our Man in Paris (Jazz, 1963)

"Jazz is such a living music that is able to learn to survive and has a capability to accumulate e and incorporate the best things in all other kind of music..."

A Night in Tunisia is yet another song in the Jazz catalogue often sampled in Hip-Hop music.

"Our Man in Paris" is a famous jazz recording from the 1960s, and one of the all-time classics - not only for Dexter Gordon's imperious sound (an inspiration to Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane) but for a rhythm section featuring first-generation bebop legends Bud Powell on piano and drummer Kenny Clarke, both of them Paris residents on this date in 1963.
The Rollins connection is clearly audible in Gordon's mix of gruff sound and melodic agility in his long solo on Charlie Parker's "Scrapple From the Apple", whereas the saxophonist's expansively weighty ballad sound on "Willow Weep for Me" suggests a less vaporous and disconsolate Lester Young.Clarke's tickling cymbal sound and offbeat accents set up an exhilarating lope through "A Night in Tunisia", with Gordon at his most leisurely, ambling behind the beat.Though the troubled genius Bud Powell sounds withdrawn, his ideas are concise and telling, and the whole set is a tenor-sax tour de force from a key figure bridging bebop and its swing predecessor. Gordon's at his peak here, this is an absolute must-have.

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