Big Al

Yes you do.

Unfortunately, you may be right. If Washington wins tonight, the Rangers are officially the worst team in the MLB.

Whatever happened to Doug Rauch? All I can gather from the notes to Caravanserai and Welcome is that he died all too soon, and that it was a tragic loss. What happened? I've done the Google search, Wikipedia, allmusic.... nothing.

In total agreement. That "In Concert" album is killer as well. Which one? Seems like there are a lot of CTI "In Concert" albums on which Freddie appears.

My favorite Stanley Clarke is on Joe Farrell's MOON GERMS. His playing is unreal on that one.

No, not the Deluxe edition. Dang it! Trade in whatever version you have and get the Deluxe Edition. It is worth every extra penny!

Do you have Santana Live at the Fillmore 1968? Great version of Fried Neckbones. Get it cheap, though; used or something. This is probably the highlight of the album, which is an otherwise bore to me. Nothing against Bob Livingston, but man he had to go. The guy has a five-minute drum solo on "Freeway," which consists of nothing more than him playing straight 4/4 time. ZZZZZZZZZZ. If you ever need to know why Mike Shrieve is the catalyst for this band, listen to the outtakes of the first album before Shrieve joined. If Livingston had stayed in the band, we wouldn't have this thread going right now because they would never have gotten this far. Really, if you want the definitive "Neckbones," get the DE of the first album, which has the entire Woodstock concert.

On days like today, when I can really listen to this album, I am convinced that this is Santana's best album. I'm not one of those who screams for 5.1 surround-sound mixes of albums, but I cannot help but wonder at how this album would sound in a movie-theater-type setting, with the sound literally surrounding you. This music really is the sound of a literal caravan. Even more astounding, to me anyway, is how this stuff sounds so completely spontaneous. How could this stuff have been written down? It sounds like it's coming from someplace deep within, not off of some score sheet.

I liked it a lot when it first came out. In fact, it's what led me to discover Santana in the first place (well, that and Woodstock). I just hate what it's spawned since then.

Works for me, except that I enjoy your commentary. A LOT!!!

Uh oh... I have failed. Time to fall upon my Mosaic CD opener! I try not to repeat tracks on the show, but sometimes I will if they seem especially worthy... and I felt that that was the case for "Air Raid." And yeah, something from EASTERLY WINDS would've been good, although I was trying to stick to dates led by either Jackie or Lee for the most part (even "Air Raid," led by Moncur, is still in my mind an early-1960s Jackie group date). I usually tear my hair out over running order, track selection, etc., and did so even more than usual for this particular program... waaaaayyyyy too much good material to choose from. A sequel is a definite possibility, esp. since I barely touched on any of the three-horn dates with Mobley, etc.... That will be a great show no matter what you play. You could just grab six or seven tracks at random, say "Welcome to Night Lights. Just listen!" and walk away and it would be a great show! Even if you happen to slip "Air Raid" in there, it'll still be a great show!

Needle-dropping more LPs for my mother-in-law, right now I'm in the middle of Brazil by Les Paul & Mary Ford. Man, this is some strange-sounding stuff!

Nothing simple about that, my friend. He just made it look and sound so damn easy!

Well, it's because of your show that I'm ordering this set. For that matter, I'm also ordering the Tony Williams Select as a result of THAT show. Mosaic should give you some kind of commission or something!

Y'ever get the feeling that's what he was going for when he made Love, Devotion, and Surrender with McLaughlin? I don't know about y'all, but LDS is a huge letdown for me; just a lot of aimless meandering solos. Put into the above context, I guess LDS could be seen as a noble failure, IMHO, one from which he learned and rebounded with the lovely Welcome.

If he were born 20 years earlier, he'd have been born in 1929. I know; the point being that he might've hooked up with some of the bebop bands of the late 40's/early 50's and made his name there. Or had he been born in '39, he might be in the same vein as Tony Williams or Billy Higgins. That's how high esteem I hold him. And yeah, that solo he did at Woodstock never gets old to these ears (and eyes)!

Yes! That and Consequence. Pity he & McLean didn't record together more often. Another session of his that I really dug was the Jazztet's Here and Now. A big beautiful sound indeed! RIP indeed.

Another thing: Mike Shrieve's contribution to this album (as well as other Santana albums) cannot be overstated enough. The guy was/is an incredible drummer, versatile in ways that still sound fresh and new after all these years. I think if he'd been born 20 years sooner, we might be talking about him in the same light as Blakey, Elvin, Max, A.T., and all the other drumming greats. A lot of times, I'll listen to a Santana album--especially CARAVANSERAI--just to listen to Shrieve's work. And Felser's right on the money about the remaster: in-frickin-credible!!!

Great choice! Amazing album! I need to listen to this again as well. I really dig the cover of "Stone Flower."

INteresting article in today's FW Star Telegram

Listening to this archive right now. Another great show, but for the first time, I have a couple of (extremely) minor gripes: 1) You already played "Air Raid" on the Destination Out show. I know you probably figured no one would remember that (did you? ), but since I've listened to that show approximately 420,978 times now, I noticed! 2) I wish you could've included a track from Jack Wilson's Easterly Winds, just to show how powerful Jackie & Lee were as sidemen on someone else's session. That, and EW is one of my favorite albums in the world anyway! Minor gripes about an otherwise fantastic show. Keep up the great work!

I stumbled upon this program while looking to listen to "Destination Out" for the umpteenth time (BTW, I finally ordered that Moncur Mosaic Select. Sure took me long enough!) This music is fascinating, beautiful, and completely enjoyable! If MartyJazz is correct (and I usually assume he is), then this band must have been outta-this-world live! Yet another great show, David. Sorry I missed it the first time around!

Adding the aborted Stitt session might make it possible. THINK. Sure, but would that still make it long enough to justify a single-CD release? And wasn't there only the one track usable from that session? Just thinking out loud here...

Too short to be issued by itself. That's a shame; now that everything else has been RVG'd, I guess it seems unlikely that it will see the light of day. Too bad Blue Note couldn't attach it to one of the other RVGs, like Dexter Calling, which has the actual "Landslide" on it as a bonus track. Ah well, back to looking for the box again.

You're correct. I just did some snoopin around the BN RVG site, allmusic, and jazzdisco, and that is the one session that has not yet been issued as an RVG (maybe a future Conn?).