Afro-Mandinka Soul

Secjou Keita Quartet

ARC Records EUCD2028

www.arcmusik.co.uk

Another brilliant sharing of world music from ARC. The recording is a gem, capturing the high, thin stringwork and damp, rubbery drums in an airy atmosphere. Sunday morning New York Times stuff. Sensitive, light and evocative of a magical, African Genesis far removed from the apocalyptic headlines and narratives of tremendous misery that daily reach us from the Dark Continent. The overall sound, in a word, is hopeful.

Milk and Cookies

Alvin Jett and the Blues Band

Phat NoiZ Entertainment LLC

PhatnoiZ.com

Tricky, modern, driving electric blues, with guitar, horn and vocal work crackling on the edge of distortion above funky, bottom feeder rhythms. Good for parties or car drives to exciting events. A reminder for jaded blues musicians that there's plenty of life left in the old forms

Fake As The Blue

M. Scott Horn

www.mscotthorn.com

From his own website: "He made haste in the direction of his teachers’ influences: Robert Johnson, Robert Pete Williams, Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller and others. Learning their technique undeniably deepened the ability to draw out the best in other influences: Townes Van Zandt, Nick Drake, Guy Clark, Bob Dylan, John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, Dirty Linen and others."

That's about the size of it. Listening-wise, this should be appealing ... equally appealing ... to fans of Bob Dylan, Robert Johnson and Wes Montgomery. Good songs, love for the instrument, a hugely expressive voice and a consistent strategy for getting the best out of the combination make this a keeper, a CD you'll pull out and put on year after year

For the Living Of These Days

Kate Campbell w/Spooner Oldham

Large River Music LR-1759

www.largerivermusic.com

Nothing new here, but a lot of people would say, "Hey, there's not supposed to be anything new about God." These are traditional spirituals, samey, with that wheezy organ and fervent insistence on faith and humility. It's big on that most important feature of spiritual records -- Sincerity. It hits the other points on the genre's checklist with just a hint of Southern Baptist Grandma's country twang. It's pretty. Ms. Campbell's voice is nice and her timing is impeccable. A well-rounded CD collection includes this kind of music, and here it is

Mighty Crazy

The Fremonts w/Mighty Joe Milsap

Wooden Monkey Music

thefremonts@hotmail.com

Very Sam Phillips recording. Everything lively bubbles up out of slap bass and fuzz tone guitar. Very nice chromatic harmonica work, a la Little Walter. Hints of swing jazz. Vocal duties shared between a rockabilly-esque white guy and a more elderly African-American guy. Fun and listenable, with no mistakes. Lyrics largely simple commentary on love and women. Love to see them live

Halfway Between Somewhere And Nowhere

The Hellhounds

Deltabilly Records DELT7240

www.hellhoundslive.com

The rock side of blues rock. Three chord frenzies and the secret of loud amps, distortion and reverb revealed yet again. A cut above most records in building dynamics into arrangements ... loud is louder after quiet passages. Another one that sounds designed as a bar band demo recording, because a band that can drive like this all night = a good night for the bar and everyone in it. Their original songs probably get a lot of live requests. In a regional blues talent contest, everyone in the audience would recognize The Hellhounds as strong contenders for the prize

Tales From Foundry Town

Miller Brothers Band

Foundry Town Music FTM1001

www.millerbrothersband.com

The instrumentation and internal band dynamic is obviously different, but this band came out of the blues as The Rolling Stones did. The guitarists are cleaner and less imaginative than in the Stones' early work, bandstand and studio equipment have improved and savvy players know the world's tired of covers as straight out of Chicago blues as those of young Mick and the boys, but the resultant feeling's quite similar. It leads to respect for Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and T-Bone Walker and some feeling that The Miller Brothers are their heirs

The Following

Last Ditch Remedy

Cake Records CAKE71112

www.cakerecords.com

A two-guitar rock quartet, somewhat like Boston, power chording their way through adrenalin storms and testosterone rapids. Ten well constructed songs. Should rank best with 20-something males

You've Got the Problem

Dr. Duke Tumatoe

Blind Pig Records BPCD5108

www.blindpigrecords.com

You run into this neighborhood character on the street and ask, "How's it going," and he always has a story. Hip, slick and entertaining, he's a big part of the neighborhood's personality. It's no wonder Dr. Duke Tumatoe is a beloved radio personality in the Wheat Belt. The band ... wowsa ... they prove they can play blues, jazz, swing and rock with the best, they prove it in brief, perfect passages and then get back to the story, which is that neighborhood character's story of the moment. Really cool stuff.

Real Time

Deanna Bogart

Blind Pig Records BPCD 5107

www.blindpigrecords.com

She's so good, but not firmly attached to a direction as powerful as is her talent. Female blues vocalist in the driver's seat in every romance ... yeah, she could do that. Alto sax proponent taking listeners the scenic route back to Bashville ... no question. Expert on what's best on bar bandstands ... that's her. It's all good, but it's not focused, and none of her unquestionably prodigious masteries are big league unique on their own.

I want her to make it. I like her records. I think she's spectacular. I don't think her albums are spectacular.

30th Anniversary Collection

Anthology

Blind Pig Records BPCD2003

www.blindpigrecords.com

Blind Pig has done so much for blues enthusiasm over the years and been so far ahead of so many curves in the road America's music has followed that any collection of statements marking the label's 3oth anniversary would be too general and insufficiently lauding to them. Listing the artists they've included on this two-CD + one DVD collection may say what they deserve to have said about them best:

Tommy Castro / Smokin' Joe Kubek and B'Nois King / Arthur Adams and B.B. King / Big Bill Morganfield / Renee Austin and Delbert McClinton / Popa Chubby / Buddy Guy and Junior Wells / Walter Horton / Debbie Davies / Omar and the Howlers / Otis Rush / James Cotton / Elvin Bshop / Reverend Billy C. Wirtz / Savoy Brown / Jeremy Spencer / Magic Slim and the Teardrops / John Mooney / Harper / Mighty Joe Young / Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and Kim Wilson / Nick Curran and the Nitelifes / Hamilton Loomis / Albert Cummings / Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers / E.C. Scott / Norton Buffalo and Roy Rogers / Deanna Bogart / George "Harmonica" Smith / Bill Perry / Pinetop Perkins / Otis Clay / Dr. Duke Tumatoe

Most Imperfect Skies

Don't Die Cindy

Cake Records CAKE1212

www.cakerecords.com

Billed online as "different genre of music; creative, original, atmospheric rock, with sincere, honest, intriguing lyrics," this quartet is as sensitive as rock allows. Their ambience is cynical, without much hope for the world, but they do have a knack for describing it. They are different, original and atmospheric. They are extremely aware of all the tools available and acceptable within their general genre, and they use them well to create something fresh. Yes, this is a good record

Trick Fiction

Paul Mark & the Van Dorens

Radiation Records RDTN5899

www.PaulMark.com

The lyrics are the strong suit, followed by the piano, then the vocal delivery, then the music, and it's all very good.

Critics often feel guilty these days, not being able to work up enthusiasm for good records because, in mainstream genres spinning off from blues into rock, the good albums were done a long time ago. This is a good record, flirting with Chuck Berry, Tom Waits, Savoy Brown and Howlin' Wolf. It has some shining moments. I can't tell you why you should buy this instead of just putting on Chuck Berry, Tom Waits, Savoy Brown and Howlin' Wolf. I wish I could, because it really is a good record

Prodigal Son

Michael Powers

Baryon Records 005

www.baryonrecords.com

Refreshing and a relief, Michael Powers does put the old clay to new uses. His originals are just that, ORIGINAL, leaning on anthem ambience. His covers don't sound like the originals, so there's a reason to listen to them. He sounds as happy to play acoustic guitar as electric, and he's receptive to all sorts of accompaniment, which is a good match for listeners' ears. He's as funky as Stax and as much fun as a rerun of the Blues Brothers movie.

It is apparent that, while absorbing the foundational songs of the blues, he formed images of the characters who'd created those songs as well. It is a wonderful thing and a sign of deserved musical stature when an artist is thorough in that way. This is a thoroughly enjoyable, must have release

Spunk

Sex Pistols

Castle Music CAS36269-2

www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.com

That's right, The Sex Pistols. The original bootleg, and it's amazing how tame it sounds today. These guys are much more respectful of song form than they seemed in the day. They sound angry, but not really self destructive. Interesting. Sound quality ... a little muddy, but one can hear the separate notes, effects and harmonies. The cymbals are not clear in the mix.

Well, it's supposed to be punk; to set it up for good speakers would just set the speakers up for icepicking, wouldn't it? Well, it really does sound tame now. It's a good novelty museum piece and something to refer to when wanting to brush up on rock landmarks

Two Sides of the Moon

Keith Moon

Castle Music CAS36259-2

www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.com

Facetious, self indulgent and virtually impossible to listen to. As the liner notes point out, it was a time of solo albums. That trapped the great sideman, Keith Moon, in a frontman's body, and it wasn't a good fit. Some engineers and marketing people took his money. Ringo Starr came along to jam and groove along. There are up to five versions of some songs on this 50-song, two-CD set, and there's no good reason for that.

If you think Keith Moon could do no wrong, then you'll find nothing wrong with this record. If you have the patience to identify your favorite versions of the included songs and produce your own disc with just those versions and none of the extraneous studio banter, you'll have a more or less decent product. If neither of those scenarios describes you, then buy an anthology of The Who and remember how great a player Keith Moon was with that most powerful and precise of British rock bands.