Shakin' Street - S/T [Columbia promo LP '80] With Ross The Boss (Dictators) on lead guitar and produced by Sandy Pearlman (who may have helped Blue Oyster Cult, though not The Clash), and named after an MC5 classic, how wrong can you go? Fortunately not all that very much, at least for rockin' purposes, with Tunisian-born leader/singer Fabienne Shine (also a French ex-model and Johnny Thunders gal pal) kickin' out the jams as good as she looked (even if the cliched lyrics and generally disposable tunes are no great threat to any of the songwriters in the aforementioned bands).
Johnny Winter - "First Winter" [Buddah LP '69] Doesn't collect all his pre-fame single sides, just those produced by Huey P. Meaux (in addition to being a reknowned Houston hit producer and studio owner, also a convicted child pornographer, who died earlier this year), but such non-blues Winter originals as the psych/folk-rock "Birds Can't Row Boats" and the fuzzed-up Texas garage raver "Coming Up Fast" sound much better here than on the usual-suspect genre comps. Incredibly, Winter managed in just one year, 1969, to have four different albums come out on four different labels!
The Pentangle - "Basket Of Light" [Reprise LP '69] Unplugged before there was an unplugged. (Brief aside: During the whole dubious "Unplugged" fad of the mid-90's, I always wondered why some contrarian-leaning band didn't release an all-electric live album entitled "Plugged".)
Sparks - "A Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing" [Bearsville LP '72] Pros: It's new-wave music, in 1972(!). Cons: It's largely unlistenable, in any year.
Rose Maddox - "The One Rose" [Capitol mono LP '60] Very hot honky-tonk-verging-on-rockabilly re-recordings of her earlier singles, including three Hank Williams numbers, with the scorching plank-spanking supplied by Maddox brothers Cal and Henry - twangalicious!
Shirley Scott Trio - "Scottie" [Prestige mono LP '58] Feminine master of the more subtle, calliope-toned Hammond jazz organ, as opposed to her more hyper and growly (and famous) male peers
Shirley Scott Trio - "For Members Only" [Impulse! mono LP '63] With large band accompaniment on side 1 arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson - who I dig the most, but it's the haunting Trio-only closer on side 2 (and Scott original) "We're Goin' Home" that I can't get out of my head
Phil Woods - "Greek Cooking" [Impulse! mono LP '67]
Monty Alexander - "Taste Of Freedom" [MGM LP '71]
Oliver Nelson - "Images" [Prestige 2LP comp. '76, rec. '60-'61] Repackage of two albums originally released on New Jazz featuring Eric Dolphy in quintet and sextet settings, with characteristically explosive playing from both reed men
