danasgoodstuff

I think you'll find what you're looking for in the disccography in the back of Muddy Waters: Mojo Man by Sandra B Tooze (ECW Press, Toronto, 1997). For example: May 1965 Muddy, James Cotton, Otis Spann, Pee Wee Madison, Sam Lawhorn, Calvin Jones, Willie Smith My Dog Won't Bark - Chess 1937 Roll Me Over Baby - not issued til later Come Back Baby - not issued til later Rich Man's Woman - Chess 1937 The first three above are on the domestic dbl CD set One More mile but the last (the b-side of the single) has never been on a legit US album.

I think I have the BB you're asking about on a reissue dbl LP Great Moments on Impulse and the material you're asking about is good but not as good as Blues is King which is stellar in my book...I actually think that BB peaked as a recording artis shortly after he got to ABC/Bluesway. They recorded him live which RPM had never done (the "Live" album on Kent is a fake meant to steal Live at the Regal's thunder). The box set from a few years back picks up some choice non-album singles from this period and while I've never cared for the Lucille album much I think Live & Well and Completely Well are really fine. People take BB for granted I think 'cause he's donme so much, and while there is certainly better and worse I've heard v. little that was really poor... Not sure if this helps but I'd say go for it!

Pee Wee may well be the hippest MD james ever had, but for me the peak of the band as a well-oiled machine is the breif period in late 69 after Pee Wee left and vefore the Collins bros. come in in early 70. This period that produced "Funky Drummer", "It's a New Day", "Brother Rap", and "Ain't It Funky Now". Maceo and Kush were co-MDs but the impression I have is that they were functioning in a more or less co-op mode. Then they all bailed on the godfather to form Maceo and All the Kings Men and the Collins bros. and friends from Cincinati got the call, walked onstage in front of an audience who'd been waiting for hours for the band to show up and James yells out "Cold Sweat, hit it!".

Great story. The only time I saw them was in 74 with Dylan. Bob's singing is quite mannered on that tour to say the least, but the show I saw in Seattle I thought the Band played v. well with an intense rawness largely missing when the're on their own. Before the Flood smoothed the edges off, unfortunately and missed a lot of interesting material (set lists varied considerably on this tour, the one way you could say it was 'better' than 66). a remixed with bonus tracks reissue would certainly be welcome and probably is inevitable unless someone's nephew puts the kibotch on it...

While I could agree that James was operating on a pretty high level up through Papa Don't Take No Mess, it's only recently that I'd go as late as 69 for the peak playing period. It could be argued that the last really visionary inovation was Cold Sweat and everything thereafter was just funky recapitulation. In some ways I like the first Live at the Apollo (Oct '62) as well as anything he ever did and that's years before he introduced the brand new bag, although the seeds are there...

Clem, No offence taken...I don't think it will come as a surprise to anyone here that I have a more forgiving nature than you, but that being said and taken into account, I don't think we disagree all that much here... I'll get back to you when I get the chance to listen to the Drive By Truckers, Dana

Sony should just ignore Wilburn, if he's really behind all this shit.

Artistic decline can indeed be a fascinatingly complex, if frustrating, thing (see my postings on the Band). Personally I feel that James and the band peaked in late '69, with much greatness both before and after, what say you?

Y'all practise for hours, every day?! No wonder my playing sux, I'm lucky if I get in 20-30 minutes 5/6 times a week...

Just a couple more things I forgot to add last time: 1) Moondog Matinee is not really, as others have pointed out, a recreation of the Hawks. Very little of it is from their old repetoire, some couldn't have been 'cause it's too recently written. It's an idealition, not of who they were but who they might've been if they hadn't become the Band (?). The newly remastered version with bonuses has some v. nice outtakes, even if some of them are a long way from finished. 2) Musical History does do a v. good job making clear one aspect of their work, no mater how rustic in effect, it was v. much a conscious, carefully constructed studio creation. They did not, as Robbie is quoted as saying of Dylan, "record the Same Way that Blind Lemon Jefferson did". 3) The blues side of their influences is over emphasised at the expense of country and other things; this is perversely wrongheaded, they are far more complex and interesting than any one-dimensally hard rockin' blues-based bar band, even if they had been there and done that in real road houses from Arkansas to Ontario before Clapton, the Stones, et al had even played their first gigs... As always, your input is appreciated.

Glad to see all the response, sorrry for not getting back to this sooner. Yes I did see the reveiw in the Guardian (it's linked from the fansite www.theband.hiof.no). Kind of a cheap shot if you ask me and not particularly helpful to anyone considering purchasing this box and wondering if the compilers did a good job. Have to wonder what flavour of the month he does like. Apparently he does need to hear The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down again 'cause he just doesn't get it... I agree with Jazzbo that Moondog Matinee has a certain fascination, even moreso in the remastered/bonus cuts added edition - I have a theory that all great originals are also great interpretors. At over 1/3 previously unissued, I think the proportions are about right there and I don't think there's much more studio stuff of release quality; live is a different matter, maybe we will see some more of that someday... Some of their previously unissued is just technically so, different live version or different studio mix, but then some of the previously issued singles are quite obscure. I don't know if I would've had more Dylan overall but I think I would've made some different choices... Overall I think it's about a B level job, when they deserved an A. Unfortunately it won't do as an only Band purchase, the omission of the master of "Lonesome Suzie" and any version of "Jawbone" make purchasing MFBP and The Band necessary. Too bad, a little more care in the selections and intelligence/honesty in the notes would have taken it from good to truly excellent. I forget who asked but if you can get Across the Great Divide for less than $20 go for it! I could blow by blow this to death (I've been scribbling on my legal pad for weeks) but won't do that here/now. Thanks muchly to everyone for your considered responses.

I usually take 20+ bags off my lawn every fall, a little at a time, and consider the trees one of the best things about living here...

Great disc, need to pull it out and give it a spin...thanks for reminding me!

Thanks for the lovely clip Jim, but I still prefer the version of Looking For a Love that he did with his brothers in the Valentinos (sp?). but then I feel that way about most early v. later R&B/soul/whatever enyways, but that's the subject for anther post or ten. on the other hand, Bobby W's versions of CA Dreamin' and Fly Me to the Moon are pretty trippindicular, if you like that whole juxtaposition of material and style thang. Bobby is friends with Ron Wood, so if Woody went back to play bass, or they all took turns, Booby could join the Stones and improve the band no end, or at least do a killer It's All Over Now...

Glad, in a perverse sort of way, to here JSngry dis this since otherwise I'd be tempted just to hear Frisell play Nefertitti...

For what it's worth, I first heard the "paper bag" and "rainbow" series nicknames from collectors in the twinn cities when I lived there in the late '80s/early '90s. They schooled me in many ways and to them great thanks...

Thanx muchly for making this AOTW, I'm listening to it right now and digging pretty much all of it. But then I dig pretty much all of the delightfull Lee...when Perry Robinson complemented me by comparing my playing to Desmond's I was very flattered and thanked him but made sure to say that I listened to Konitz more (have I mentioned this before, too bad - it's a big deal to me). Has Konitz's Motion been AOTW? I like Marsh too, esp'ly with Lee but I think I dig Konitz more...not sure why, maybe Warne is just a little tooo abstract for me. If Lee has ever made a truly bad LP I haven't heard it.

I know some of y'all are fans and some are not, but I was surprised to see no comment on this recent doorstopper/potential Xmas present. I am a big fan, as I think I've said here before, and have been listening a lot to this since getting it for myself as a birthday gift. i could, and have, written pages and pages, but I'll just start by saying while I think it's good enuff to be worth getting if you realy have much interest at all..it's a long way from perfect, both in terms of not making the best posible choices re selection and sequencing and in terms of (non)analysis in the notes...anyone interested in getting into this in more depth?

I think I was working in a record store when this came out and my memory is that it didn't work for me at all...Joe and the Rhythm Section on dif. wavelenghts basically...willing to reconsider but not willing to buy a copy to do so.

Ah yes, he says knowingly, "the 'paper bag' series..."

sheffb: I think you'll find a lot of love for Sonny R here, esp'ly from me and Mr. Sngry (whose opinion carries a little more weight than mine both because he's a more prolific poster and because he's a pro sax player and I'm an amateur). However, I don't think you'll find many who think that he's just got better and better, even his most ardent supporters generally find the last 30+ years somewhat probloematic if not without their own particular rewards. There are others, here and elsewhere who, unfairly I think, just reject the whole period out of hand...as suggested, using the search function should get you up to speed on where everybody here stands on this issue...oh, and welcome to the board!

Not to be disagreeable, but I think both the Evans and 2nd Quintet boxes have material that appears nowhere else, and not just alt takes...someone here must have this info close to hand, it's in the other part of the house and I'm lokking after my 3 yr old...

Quincy: Thank you for your prompt & polite reply. I didn't mean to to sound like a troll but there's something about deadhead-ism as a social phenomina that keeps me away from the music, unfortunately. Dana

I'm not a deadhead by any stretch, like the band, barely tolerate the fans,,,but I have been tempted by this 2CD thing from 69 I've seen that has, I think, some of the source materials for Live?Dead which is by far my favorite album of theirs. Any one know what I'm talking 'bout and care to comment?

Sad to say, Ms. Parks passing ellicited some v. ugly postings on Portland's Cragslist Rants & Raves section, but it's not like the general level of discussion is exactly high-minded there... but it was also the first place I saw the mug shot photo and several others with her in or next to buses.