No comments about Live from Austin, TX.

5 comments about The Best of Luther Vandross.

1. i ordered two cd's which came in perfect condtion. luther van dross is the singer. i have always recieved a good product from amazon.



2. There are plenty LV compilations out there,but I've had this one since it was released.And it sounds pretty good to me.I could complain about this song or that song not being on here but instead I'll talk about what IS here.This collection was released in 1989 so it covers LV 1981-1989.A couple of Change tracks from 1980 make it 1980-1989.
   Can you honestly look at the song listing above and say something like "Yuck,that don't sound like it's right..." Yeah,right.
   
   In closing I'll say this:Of the 20 tracks,the weakest selection in my opinion is "Treat You Right".Next to the other 19 tracks,it's a litle lacking.
   
   LV:
   RIP



3. I bought this CD for my dad for Christmas and he loved it! It's such a good price for the amount of songs on it.



4. I purchased this used and it arrived in about 5 days - it was in very good condition. Would purchase again from this vendor.



5. The death of Marvin Gaye left a hole in the R&B community that has never been filled, and R&B has been in decline ever since. Babyface is frankly too effeminate to step up; Luther Vandross was our best hope. Vandross was irrefutably male, had a great voice, and possessed amazing sensitivity. Unfortunately he was the victim of inconsistent material and goopy overproduction. This 2-CD anthology demonstrates the syndrome, when it's good, it's frighteningly good, but it's frequently bad and sometimes awful.
   
   The cover of Marvin Gaye's If This World Were Mine sounds like it's on Quaaludes, simply soporific. The same could be said of Superstar, which is a dreadful song to begin with and here is stretched to the point where you're begging it to stop. A House Is Not A Home is equally slow, but the production is sparse and Vandross is free to nurse the genuine emotion from it. The jewel on Disk One is `Til My Baby Comes Home, good funk and purpose. Disk Two provides much more to be happy about. Stop To Love cooks, So Amazing is a three-hankie masterpiece, Give Me A Reason is one of those satisfying feeling-bitter kickers, and Any Love has a beautiful, anthemic quality. In short, this two-CD anthology embodies Luther's career perfectly. With better management and material Vandross really could have deserved a 2-CD Best Of anthology. As it is, what you have here is enough material to fill a superb single CD Best Of anthology. As far as I'm concerned, that still makes it a value, and well worth getting.

5 comments about Rewind: The Unreleased Recordings.

1. This is a pretty cool disc for the most part. It has that casual, laid back J.J. Cale vibe to it and he even does a couple of covers! It isn't in the realm of his best work, but this isn't "Hey, we never released that one. Let's put it with some other castoffs and make some easy money" type stuff either. Basically it's made up of songs that just didn't fit the ones on the record being made at the time. Sort of an amalgam of Album Mutts.
   
   "Rewind" is a good title. Be sure and sample the tunes here on Amazon to get a feel for the disc overall so you're not disappointed when you compare it to Mr. Cale's other work. Some of it is flat different... but that don't mean it ain't good.



2. Good stuff! Cale fans will love it and be grateful. Recorded between 1973 and 1983. "Bluebird" is a real gem, but at just eighty-three seconds left me in shock, gasping for more. Too skimpy on the music at thirty-seven minutes overall. Environmentally wasteful paper slipcase redundantly replicates jewel case inserts.



3. Some old Cale at his best,, J J has always put out the best music, and this is no different,, Smooth



4. JJ Cale is my all time favorite artist, so to find a treasure like this is almost unreal. What a great find! I do hope there is more of his music hidden elsewhere. Keep looking guys!
   
   On a side note: the DVD recorded in 1979 has a few bonus tracks on it indicating there should be enough material to be able to make a second DVD of these sessions as well. Keep it coming JJ - we love it!



5. This collection of JJ Cale spans over a period of twenty years, but as Cale's style and sounds have not changed very much over the years, the album comes out as a pretty consistent collection. Most tracks are easily as good as many of the songs that were originally released on his regular albums. On the other hand a lot of them do sound like alternate versions of well-known Cale songs.
   
   A good handful of them do stand out on their own. First track that really stirred my attension was Cale's version of Clapton's "Golden Ring". As I never was a big fan of Clapton's I did not know the song beforehand; but Cale's version is really very strong.
   
   Two songs were written by Cale's musical partner for many years, Christine Lakeland. They're both good, though the first "Seven Day Woman" does sound a little like it was abandoned at an unfinished stage.
   
   "Ooh La La" which co-written with Cale, has a great horn arrangement and is definitely one of the stand-outs.
   
   Other favourites are the melodic closing track "It's Good to Be in Austin" and the country waltz "My Baby and Me" - though quite reminiscent of "Rose in the Garden" from "Closer to You".
   
   The album is sure to please any fan of Cale, and though it probably would not be the logical album to start a Cale presention, I don't think it would scare any potential new fans away.

5 comments about Recapturing the Banjo.

1. Man.
   Between Mavis Staples's new Ry Cooder produced album and this new piece of awe-inspiring artistry from Otis Taylor and friends, I'm just not sure which album lands in my top spot for the past year. But it has been an amazing year for Roots Music.
   Buy this. You won't regret it. Even if you aren't a Banjo Fan (and didn't grow up in a little town that had yearly Banjo and Fiddler's contests, like I did,)...you'll love this album. Even if you aren't aware of THE OTIS TAYLOR and the fact that he left music for 20 years only to come back and make my idiot self cry with joy and sadness over his content on the first album back. Buy this disc.
   
   Even if you aren't sure you could enjoy a Blues album? Buy it.
   
   ***Mavis? If you or Mssr. Cooder are reading this, I'll buy This Amazing Disc for each of you. You guys decide. Otis? If you or Cassie are reading this, I'll buy The Mavis Album for you both. Then you guys decide. Until then, It's a tie. Buy both.***
   We'll Never Turn Back



2. otis taylor continues to reinvent the blues in his own personal way. with this album, he does it again, featuring the banjo. it's haunting and beautiful. otis is one of a few artists whose cd's i will buy before i even hear them.



3. The rest of this review really speaks to the musicians other than the Great Don Vappie. Vappie's music reflects the tradition of four and six-string banjo and guitar playing that remained among Creoles in New Orleans as well as on the musics shared between African American Creoles in New Orleans with Afro-Caribbean Creoles on islands like Haiti, Martinique, and Guadaloupe. Vappie who was once one of the leading Jazz and R & B recording session guitarists and Bassists returned to the four and six string banjos played by the great banjoist of Jazz. In doing so Vappie is playing very authentic roots music in fact rooted in the very neighborhood in New Orleans he grew up in, yet he has become a world-class music.
   
   Recapturing the Banjo is not chiefly about repeating or even elaborating on the traditional banjo styles created by Black traditional five-string banjoists or the great Jazz banjoists of the 20s and 1930s. Rather, it is about using the banjo for new styles and new music of African Americans today. Very few of the recordings here follow the traditional finger or frailing styles used by the last generations of Black banjoists who can be found on field recordings like Black Banjo Songsters or Black Appalachia. This terrain has been explored by traditionally oriented Black string bands like the Carolina Chocolate Drops or the Ebony Hillbillies or individual players like Sparkey Rucker,
   Sule Greg Wilson, Rex Ellis, or my humble self.
   
   Rather, the artists here use the banjo for the mostly blues related music that they have all been creating for years. All of these musicians are not new to the banjo. Otis has told me that the banjo was his first instrument and he plays his other instruments, the guitar and the mandolin, the way he plays the banjo, not the standard ways. There is a famous picture printed in the Denver Post in the early 1960s on his web site. A younger slimmer Otis Taylor is seen riding a unicycle and playing the banjo on his way to high school! You can find some great traditional banjo playing on older CDs by Corey Harris and Alvin Youngblood Hart.
   
   What we have hear is blues and trance music and ballads influenced by this. What we have here is the creative use of amplification both in recording the banjo and in use of electric banjo and banjos with electric pickups. We have new rhythms for new times.
   
   The importance of this is that in African American popular and folk culture, the arrival of Blues and the forms of pop and folk Ragtime and Jazz that were associated with the Blues was what led to the demise of the five-string banjo among Black folk. For reasons I will elaborate in a book forthcoming from Duke UP called _Lost in the Mix__ (I am just writing one chapter) the actual five string banjos available at the time the Blues rolled in at the turn of the century were not as suitable for Blues playing as the inexpesnive steel-stringed guitar that had become available to southern folk just as the blues spread at the turn of the 19th to the 20th Century.
   
   The contemporary experience of Blues as a kind of caberet or concert music obscures the fact that Blues was a dance music. Blues singers like Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, or Lightnin' Hopkins, may have played in the street at times, but they made their money playing for dancers in juke joints and at house parties. Rather than the two or three minute Blues performances we get from recordings and reproductions of recordings, these actual Blues performances were often fifteen, twenty, or even thirty minute dance numbers.
   
   The five-string banjo was not condusive to playing the rhythm that Black folks danced these blues to. So, it retreated to smaller enclaves where the older music persisted, especially in the Piedmont and Appalachians of the Upper South. Even there, Black five string banjoists played the Blues, but blues that moved to the rhythm of the old dance movements. Very much of the revival of traditional Black banjo playing has been playing these old dance tunes and rhythms.
   
   Yet, we live in a world whose musical culture has been transformed by the Blues and the musics it has spawned. In its Africanness, the five-string banjo provides a great platform for playing blues. The dance demands of a 1900 juke joint and the limitation of gut stringed banjos are gone. Steel stringed tone ringed banjos and modern amplication create different possibilities for the banjo. Blues rhythm has become more complex. These musicians expert in the Blues and in the Black banjo tradition, reverse history and bring back the Blues to the Banjo and the Banjo to the Blues.
   
   The result is powerful music that returns the banjo to the arsnel of comtemporary African American music. It lives, not as a recreation of a lost past, but as a living expression of the present



4. Otis Taylor's songwriting typically takes me to places I normally wouldn't venture. This cd is no exception. An excellent inside cover with history of the banjo and description of the musicians and their playing styles (in regards to the banjo). Thanks otis, Definition of a Circle and this follow-up are two of my favorite back to backs of any musician. p.s Cassie (his daughter) kicks it on bass.



5. This isn't a bluegrass CD. You obviously don't know bluegrass from a hole in the ground.

5 comments about Just One Night.

1. Eric Clapton's Just One Night is a classic live album. This is not one of those greatest hits live albums. This is just Clapton rocking out and kicking butt on the guitar. The whole album is great! I saw where a couple of people gripped about Wonderful Tonight being on the album, I think it's a great song. All the songs on Just One Night are great. This is a live album that other live albums should be compared too.



2. I have had this album for for 20 years. I continually come back to it and amazed. For the record, I am a huge Clapton fan. What I love about this album is that it is Clapton in his pure state. Guitar, Amp and occasionally a Wah-Wah pedal. It's a good mix of his blues and country tunes. For me, it is a must have, one I would take to the moon with me. The version of Double Trouble is phenomenal, and one of the best representations of Eric's blues virtuosity.



3. This is a great CD. This has Eric Clapton's last great guitar solo.
   After this concert he recorded several good songs but he has NEVER
   been this good again (so far).



4. I've got this album on my mp3 player, and everytime a track comes on I'm back in my vinyl days.
   A mixture of Blues and Rock with Clapton regular Chris Stainton on Keyboards and Albert Lee on Guitar/Keyboards/Vocals.
   From the first track Tulsa Time you know you're in for a good time. This is a proper live album, no overdubs, no backing tapes just 5 guys and great music.
   Recorded in 1979 in Japan, neccessarily the sound quality isn't as polished as some might expect these days. Personally I prefer some rough edges and this double album gives it to you raw.
   Great stuff.



5. well known, Ec, great perfomer. Why do I buy this old record? Like "24 nights", the value added is the mix. I'd like to emphazise on the unique best perfomance of "Cocaine" in addition with S.Ray cover. Obviously the rest is extremely enjoyable.

5 comments about Sound Stage: Steve Winwood: Live in Concert.

1. As much as I like Steve Winwood, I was not as satisfied with this
   live concert as I was with the Dave Mason Concert I bought at the same time.



2. I have always been a fan of Steve Winwood and it's great to see a musician experiment with different sounds. This is a very good set of new music and the quality is excellent. If you like Steve Winwood check this dvd out.



3. For me this title is a dud.
   
   Get Traffic - The Last Great Traffic Jam OR Crossroads 2007 for some great footage of Winwood. (5 star stuff).



4. I enjoyed this, but there is no bite. After I saw it I realized: no bass player. Big mistake. The group is missing that glue. Winwood is stellar on organ, but bass pedals don't equal a great bassist. While much better than his 80's output, this still has a "don't upset the yuppies drinking Chablis by actually rocking out" vibe. I much prefer The Last Traffic Jam, even with its inane editing. Maybe I need to see the unedited version of this DVD (which doesn't seem to exist). Dear Mr. Fantasy is way too clean and when he rocks the solo, there is no rhythm guitar or bass to back him up. There are 2 highlights: Can't Find My Way Home & the cover of 70's soul song, Why Can't We Live Together? The band seems to be grooving on this one. Rent this before buying. Wished I saw Clapton/Winwood recently(they should just do a real Blind Faith tour, with Traffic & Derek songs too). Winwood is OPENING for Petty this Summer, which is absurd with his talent(and I don't even hate Petty).



5. If you really listen to all the little things that make up great music, you will agree this concert is one of the best you'll ever hear. Expertly played, well recorded, seasoned musicians: all contribute to a musical experience you'll listen to again & again.
   Winwood sings, plays melody with his right hand, chords with his left and plays bass with his feet. Be amazed by this because very few musicians can accomplish what he does.
   
   Certainly one of my top 5 concerts on DVD. If only I could've seen him live.

5 comments about Into the Blues.

1. Last year Joan rolled into Poughkeepsie and reduced the crowd into a bunch of screaming savages. It was an amazing show. Thanks Joan!
   
   INTO THE BLUES - this is a great CD.. As usual Joan mixes it up, but a thread of the blues runs throughout. Joan broadens the definition of blues and takes us on a journey through various styles, voices and places......she plays everything but the drums! Very nice!
   
   A Woman in Love - A great blues/pop song with an uptempo beat, an understated blues guitar, rapid fire piano playing, and a synth solo for good measure. By the end of the song Joan is singing she "never thought this would happen to me". Maybe she is singing about having a number one blues album!
   
   Play the Blues - A nice bass driven tune with some fancy guitar.
   
   Into the Blues - Love this song! Great guitar solo! Joan manages to mention hip-hop and baroque and give props to the mighty Mud, all in the same song.
   
   Liza - "I see you looking at me!" This bluesy number struts over to the other side of town. One of the bluesier numbers on the CD.
   
   Secular Songs - Joan takes us to church. Beautiful pop/gospel hymn feel to this song and a wall of Joans make a great choir.
   
   My Baby's Gone - a fun upbeat bluesy number featuring Joan on the slide guitar.
   
   DNA - a nice electronica/dance/psychadelic/blues tune. Not sure about the BGs falsetto but the last 2 minutes of Joan and her guitar singing together are brilliant.
   
   Baby Blues Eyes - Joan packs her mandolin and harmonica and heads on down to the Everglades for a backyard dance. A nice folksy bluesy trip.
   
   Deep Down - This repititious song may take a few listens but it will grow on you.
   
   Aint a Girl Alive - Joan and the drummer man let loose on this number that could easily be about Paris Hilton The drummer crashes his way through while Joan scratches out some guitar solos reminiscent of "The Key" album.
   
   Empty Highway - Urban Cowgirl Joan is left downhearted and standing in the rain. Nice westerny blues vibe.
   
   Mama Papa - a funky finger snapper about Joan's life from St Kitts to Birmingham.
   
   Something's Gotta Blow - Joan echoes her way on a claustrophobic train ride. Some great guitar playing and she also tickles the ivories quite nicely.
   
   It would have been cool if the itunes only tune "Alright" was on the CD.
   Check it out!
   
   Congrats on running the NY marathon!



2. The hugely influential and pioneering British singer-songwriter, is back with a brand new studio CD.
   The reclusive legend tries her hand at the blues and proves quite a dab hand at it.
   She basically plays everything here bar the drums and manages to inject everything with a sense of drive and passion. As always, her silky-smooth voice is the real star.
   Joan's new album is the latest in a long line of fabulous releases dating back to her wonderfully successful breakthrough albums in the late 70s and early 80s such as Show Some Emotion, To the Limit and Me Myself I .
   She remains an utterly compelling writer and performer of unique warmth.
   She cites "Into The Blues" as her best work yet.
   "I've wanted to make an album that truly reflected me and I think this does. I love the blues and while each song is very different there's a cohesive thread that runs throughout".
   Her 19th album is a celebration the blues, which she describes as "the bedrock of modern music".
   Her rich, mellow vocal suits the blues, as does her accomplished guitar playing.
   She really enjoys playing all those well-oiled blues riffs on her trusty electric guitar to ornament her compositions.
   One of them, "Baby Blue Eyes", features some impressive acoustic strumming, which adds a more earthy texture.
   Always bold and unpredictable, Joan Armatrading has come to Muddy Waters relatively late, but better late than never.
   This is an eclectic mix of blues-inspired songs that should please her loyal fans.



3. I fell in love with Joan in the mid-70's after hearing her Back To the Night album (vinyl issued 1975; so sad it is currently unavailable on CD) and her 3rd album called simply Joan Armatrading (1976). I was extremely charmed by her vocal (smooth & husky & strong & natural, capable of unbelievable finesses, which were, however, very functional and devoid of any signs of exhibitionism). She had an outstanding technique of tone forming which varied with every syllable she sang. The other point was she was a fantastic song-write of beautiful melodies, performed with great feeling, only occassionally bluesy. Her lyrics has been also delightful, sensitively marking the intimate spaces between two people. I came back to JA in the early 80's (Me, Myself, I album, 1980) and then again, I somewhat forgot about her (being principally a rock fan). Then it took me another 15 years to get astonished for the third time, by means of her fantastic comeback with the album What's Inside (1995). I thought this was to be her last masterpiece ... and I did not expect she might ever level this.
   
   It is now her curent album that shook me again. It preserves all the above mentioned attributes of JA's art, but, in addition, it indeed extends them. (I cannot recall many in the showbiz world that would be artistically growing and maturing being aged 57 - the majority can at best level previous efforts, but never go beyond). Joan's vocal darkened a bit, maybe as a consequence of the repertoire she performs. Although more than one half of the new songs are principally bluesy things (as indicated by the title of the album), it is incredible how Joan's creativity made the whole album so variable in mood, tempo, instrumentations. From the gloomy balads (the bluesy Empty Highway) to solidly rocking pieces (Deep Down, held on one single chord; There Ain't a Girl Alive); from her inventive classical song-writing (A Woman In Love; Baby Blues Eyes) to the classical electric blues things (My Baby's Gone; Liza). You may notice traces of funky, reggae, boogie, also gospel (Secular Songs). Another point is the instrumentation - as always, first-class. We used to hear many well-known studio musicians with her in the past - now Joan performes everything on her own with the exception of drums. There are wondeful guitar solos (some even aggressively rocking - There Ain't a Girl Alive), if not to mention the numerous tiny blues miracles she produces on her guitar. On one of the tracks (Baby Blue Eyes), her guitar playing even reminds of old Velvet Underground. The bass lines are perfect as well. Even the mouth harp appears (simple, but powerful). No backing vocals - just perfect overdubbs of her own. And last but not least - the lyrics. Simply you trust her, the charming lady, so open without any pretending in love affairs (..when you sing the blues, I'll take off my clothes for you). Surprisigly, even autobiographic (Mama and Papa) and social themes from an immigrant milieu appear, a feature I was not used to with Joan. The closing, slowly gradating bluesy song (Something's Gotta Blow) with the socially oriented lyrics is really overwhelming. Amen. We've heard the trinity of words, singing and music of JA, a mature woman who has created an extremely mature piece of art.



4. Joan Armatrading's "Into the Blues" is a great set with many highlights. Of my four favorites is the rocking blues-inflected "My Baby's Gone (Come Back Baby)" with a great chorus and Joan's voice insistent, "Don't you know I can't live without you?" "Deep Down" is an amazing rock conflagration with Joan's band blowing out the repetitive lyric. She sets drummer Miles Bould free and mixes the drums up high that makes this track a cousin to some of the best of Cream. Joan follows this with another full-tilt boogie, "There Ain't A Girl Alive" that throbs passionately with Joan's blazing guitar as she spitefully wails, "Yea you like to go to the shopping mall; They got mirrors wall to wall; You like to be on the center stage; You can see adulation on a thousand faces." "Mama Papa" is a blues boogie with some tasty acoustic slide guitar on a track that sounds like a swamp cousin of Tony Joe White. Other songs like the title track, "Baby Blue Eyes" and "Secular Songs" also shine. This is an amazing CD. It will probably be on a few "Best of 2007" lists come year-end. Bravo!



5. I love Joan Armatrading and have all of her albums. This one, however, I'll be giving away. I was really looking forward to hearing Joan get into the blues and bought this album without hearing it. Mistaaaaake! There's one song in this selection that could be described as 'blues-ey" - the rest I don't quite know how to describe other than to say, this album ain't blues. I found most of the tracks agitating. My advice is to listen before you buy. It saddens me to have to give Joan a bad review, but hey, one dodgy album out of so many isn't bad!

5 comments about The Best Blues Album in the World...Ever!.

1. Product arrived on time as promised and in good condition. I would use this vendor again without hesitation.



2. Although the title is totally hyperbole, this is an excellent collection of blues tunes of various eras and styles.

   I am a relative newcomer to the blues, so a compilation like this is right up my alley. It lets me get a taste of different aspects of the blues, and to discover artists that I would not have otherwise been exposed to.

   Represented here are some of the early delta bluesmen (Lightnin' Hopkins "Abilene", mislabeled as "Shotgun Blues"), the early electric blues (Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy"), the '60's revival (B. B. King's "3 O'Clock Blues"), the great female blues singers (Koko Taylor's smokin' "Wang Dang Doodle"), the British blues bands (John Mayall's "Spinning Coin"), contemporary American blues rock (Johnny Winter's "Illustrated Man"), and lesser known contemporary artists (Colin James' infectious cover of "No More Doggin'").

   Throw in selections by Albert Collins, Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, Freddie King, Buddy Guy, J. J. Cale, and others, and you have a blues compilation CD that may not be "The Greatest in the World", but one that both novices and long time blues fans can enjoy. Highly recommended to anybody with ann interest in the blues.




3. Calling your album the "best ever" takes balls, but this CD stands the test. From classics like Muddy Waters' 'Mannish Boy' or Little Walter's 'My Babe' to hot female singers like Etta James and the dynamic Koko Taylor to oldies radio station's staples like 'Reeling and Rockin'' by Chuck Berry and classic rock blues like Gary Moore's 'Still Got The Blues', this CD covers a lot of ground.

   If you want an introduction to the blues and can only buy one CD, this should be it! If you already love the blues, you'll love hearing these songs again and remember them like your first kiss. Either way, this CD will put sadness in your heart or heat in your loins, sometimes in the same song!




4. Not even close to the best ever. The actual title should read: "The Best Blues Album For Which We Were Able To Get Rights To The Songs Quickly" or something like that. The fact is this double disc set is just a grab bag of songs with absolutely no thought put into it whatsoever. With a few exceptions, disc one is practically a throw away. Larry McCray, Kinsey Report, Gary Moore, and Terry Evans et. al. are all ok modern blues artists but hardly deserve to be on a blues album titled "The Best Ever" -especially one limited to only two discs.

   This is a Virgin release, so poor understanding of the genre is to be expected. However, to boldly exclaim that this is the best ever compilation is a rather ostentatious position -even for the Virgin people. The best ever blues compilation would certainly be a difficult undertaking. However, this set completly ignores the likes of giants like Big Maceo, Tommy Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson I & II, Robert Johnson, Tampa Red, Lowell Fulson, Big Bill Broonzy, Lonnie Johnson, Roosevelt Sykes, Robert Nighthawk, Jimmy Witherspoon, Floyd Dixon, and so many many more important and entertaining historical blues artists. The most shocking eversight is the absence of T-Bone Walker!

   Really, I think this is a waste of your money. Even on its own level the flow is odd especially on disc one. Disc two has a better grouping and flow of great blues artists and songs, but still not worth the price. There has yet to be a true "best of" compilation to be released, so for now I suggest you may want to explore the best attempt to date. It is a four disc box set released on MCA in 1996 called "Mean Old World."




5. I really enjoyed these CDs. it gives a good mix of old school and new school blues so to speak. From todays best to the acoustic sounds of yesteryear, this CD entertained me for a very long time with some great blues.

5 comments about Ry Cooder.

1. I love all the Ry Cooder cds, but this is my absolute favorite. It is the cd I get for people to introduce them to slide guitar and american roots music.



2. i first heard this album about 25 years ago, and it remains as fresh as it was then. one of Ry's best!



3. This Japanese mini-lp replica version of Ry Cooder debut is simply a work of art! Very beautifully designed with all the lyrics included and with a sound quality remastered to perfection.
   This 2007 Warner reissue is by far the best version of this album that is out there; great sound quality, great packaging, great songs! A must have in any CD collector's library. A real collectors item of these guitarist, top 10 of all times.



4. This album is worth the price for this song alone, and you all have bought at least one album for one song in your lifetime.I first heard it, being a Leo Kottke fan,when my ears perked up as it is played over the closing credits of ' Goin South ', a hilarious Jack Nicholson movie. This guy plays with calss and style, you will not be disappointed.



5. I'm not sure this is the best debut ever...I like "6 & 12 String Guitar" a lot more, and didn't Charlie Parker record "Koko" on his first studio date?

   But as for whether or not you should buy this album - yes, of course you should. I suggest that you buy as many Ry Cooder albums as you can. Ry Cooder has almost flawless musical taste, on par with Bill Evans and George Harrison. Anyone who has listened to those guys appreciates the integrity and ingenuity they bring to any musical situation; that's why Ry Cooder is as legitimate playing Cuban Son music in 1997 as he was way back then playing traditional American music.

5 comments about Back on Top.

1. Typical. The CD you least want to buy - turns out being the one you need the most!
   
   Here's why. Back in 1999 when "Back On Top" was issued, it was touted in the music press as something of a return to form (how many times have we heard that) and on tracks like "Reminds Me Of You" and "When The Leaves Come Falling Down" it actually was. It also boasted truly superlative production values - sound so warm, so clear, and at times so loud, that you had to rush over to the stereo to turn the volume down. So this January 2008 reissue in remastered form of an album that's only a few years old, an album that already boasts truly beautiful sound quality - is a bit superfluous to requirements to say the least. And worse - it's a reissue that forces fans to repurchase what they already own without any discernable bonus in the purchase. Until of course you hear the two previously unreleased bonus tracks they've added on here - and lo and behold - they're absolutely brilliant and must owns!
   
   First up is an Alternate Version of one of the album's strongest songs "Philosopher's Stone" which is done in a jaunty almost sauntering blues fashion with MIKE SANCHEZ providing fantastic Piano and Guitar work. The subtle and smooth Double Bass is played by IAN JENNINGS. It's not as good as the finished more soulful version for sure, but it is excellent - and genuinely deserves the moniker "bonus". But best is kept to last. "Valley Of Tears" is a new song and a truly lovely ballad. JOOLS HOLLAND plays subtle and beautiful piano work on it with a trio of superbly emotive brass fills from PEE WEE ELLIS, LEO GREEN and MATT HOLLAND on Trumpet, Tenor and Baritone Sax. Fans will absolutely have to own these.
   
   All 10 songs on "Back On Top" are written by Van (as are the two bonuses) and the backing musicians and their contributions are typically outstanding. MICK GREEN features on Electric and Acoustic Guitars, PEE WEE ELLIS on Soprano & Tenor Saxophone and GERAINT WATKINS fills in for Georgie Fame with really complimentary keyboard work on both Piano and Hammond Organ. If anything the album's mood is defined by Watkins' warm and slinky Hammond Organ sound, a mellow warm hum that imbibes almost every track with an `old' feel. BRIAN KENNEDY'S duet vocals on preceding albums had been criticized by some fans for almost drowning out the tunes and many just didn't like his high-pitched slightly whiny voice intruding on everything - his contributions on 9 of the albums 10 tracks have been downplayed to just backing vocals - and the songs are better for it. The album's finisher, "Golden Autumn Day", is a good example of ensemble contribution showing how the top quality musicians add so much to the finished song. FIACHRA TRENCH (who did the string arrangements for Fairytale of New York by The Pogues) provides both Piano and string accompaniment to really lovely effect, while PEE WEE ELLIS puts in a tasty Sax solo too. And not to be undone, Van himself blows up a deliciously hooky harmonica solo that's probably the best I've ever heard him do.
   
   The upgraded booklet contains all the lyrics in the same style as the original CD release and a detailed list of who sessions on what, but disappointingly there's no history of where the album fits in, no new liner notes, nor any photographs. The lyrics to the bonus tracks are newly reproduced at the end of the booklet. The original master tapes have been 96K/24 Bit digitally remastered by Tim Young at Metropolis Mastering in London for this 28 January 2008 release and the sound is GORGEOUS - really amazing (but then so was the original).
   
   To sum up - of the 7 discs I've bought in the initial part of this exemplary re-issue campaign, this CD boasts the best sound quality and the best previously unreleased bonus tracks. Newcomers should dig in with confidence; it's a good Van album with great extras. While fans will just have to grit their teeth and smile at their bank managers once again. Oh dear!
   
   PS:
   Like "Back On Top", 28 other Van Morrison albums are to be re-issued in remastered form throughout 2008 and into early 2009. Each will contain upgraded booklets, previously unreleased material and all will be at mid-price. They'll be released in 4 batches as follows (29 in total):
   
   January 2008 (7 titles)
   Tupelo Honey (1971), It's Too Late To Stop Now (2 CD Live Set) (1974),
   Wavelenght (1978), Into The Music (1979), A Sense Of Wonder (1985),
   Avalon Sunset (1989) and Back On Top (1999)
   
   June 2008 (8 titles)
   Veedon Fleece (1974), Common One (1980), Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart (1983), Live At The Grand Opera House, Belfast (1984), No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986), Enlightenment (1990), A Night In San Francisco (2CD Live Set) (1994) and The Healing Game (1997)
   
   November 2008 (7 titles)
   Saint Dominic's Preview (1972), A Period Of Transition (1977), Beautiful Vision (1982), Poetic Champions Compose (1987), Hymns To The Silence (2CD Studio Set) (1991), How Long Has This Been Going On (Live At Ronnie Scott's) (1995), Tell Me Something - The Songs Of Mose Allison (1996)
   
   January 2009 (8 titles)
   Hard Nose The Highway (1973), Irish Heartbeat (with The Chieftains) (1988),
   Too Long In Exile (1993), Days Like This (1995), The Story Of Them (2CD Set) (1999), The Skiffle Sessions - Live In Belfast (with Lonnie Donegan & Chris Barber) (2000), Down The Road (2002) and What's Wrong With This Picture? (2003)
   
   PPS:
   Those hoping to see desperately needed sonic upgrades of his 1st and 2nd album masterpieces on Warner Bothers "Astral Weeks" (1968) and "Moondance" (1970) or even "His Band & The Street Choir" (late 1970) will be disappointed to find that they're NOT in this re-issue campaign. Apparently there is still some dispute between the record label and Van that remains unresolved. A damn shame! "Astral Weeks" and "Moondance" in particular have both been languishing around on crappy-sounding non-remastered CDs for over 20 years now and they're glaringly obvious omissions in this otherwise extensive and superb re-issue campaign. These universally recognized masterpieces deserve 2CD DELUXE EDITION treatment and soon. (Some tracks in remastered form are available across the 3 volumes of "Best Of"). Let's hope they sort their differences and soon!
   
   Also, Van's new studio album "Keep It Simple" is due on 17 March 2008 in the UK and 1 April 2008 in the USA
   
   (For those interested in this re-issue series, I've also done separate reviews for almost all of the titles in Batch 1 and 2)



2. Okay, maybe not quite on top, but this is still a solid blues-based set. Since it's the only Van album I've heard between 1989's Avalon Sunset and 2005's Magic Time, I can't say if it's a return to form or not. But who cares about technicalities, anyway? Good music is good music, and that's what you get here. Lots of harmonica, horns, organ, and soulful vocals. I mean, it's not Astral Weeks or Veedon Fleece, but does that matter? Of course not. Entertaining music: the uptempo R&B tracks (title song; "Goin' Down Geneva"; "High Summer"; "Precious Time") display more enthusiasm and energy than anything since... god, I don't know, maybe even Tupelo Honey. And the ballads, while not desperate, are nicely melodic and mellow ("Reminds Me of You"; "In the Midnight"). Not all of it works out - for instance, "New Biography" is an annoying combination of pedal steel, organ, and acoustic guitars aplenty, and I don't know why Van thought he had enough ideas to make "Golden Autumn Day" six and a half minutes long, but he didn't. Plus it's irritatingly formulaic - every track falls either under "blues stomp" or "blues ballad", except for the jazzy fun of "Philosopher's Stone". On the other hand, it's a very enjoyable album, predictable as it is.



3. Did Van Morrison ever topple from the lofty perch of sensitive musican/Bard? No recording comes to mind, but all semantics aside, Morrison is in extra fine form for " Back on Top".
   
   " Goin'Down, Geneva" is somewhat slight, but it still swings. " In the Midnight" is one of the loveliest songs ever recorded. It evokes fall and spring at the same time. The same might be said of " When the Leaves Come Falling Down", although fall probably dominates most. This is an album that relies on seasons for it's song titles as well as the atmosphere a song creates. Seasons and cycles. In favor, out of favor. In relationship, out of relationship. Here today, gone tomorrow.
   
   Great music to think by.



4. I dont know what else to say in here on this cd that isnt already said, so I just wanted to say, I am picky, and I flunk allot of what I hear, of most bands. just so much junk released.
   
   This music is some of the best in the world



5. As one of the apparently rare listeners who actually prefers the lush, introspective, spiritual period of VM's better 80's albums (such as Common One, Sense of Wonder, and Avalon Sunset), I've grown a bit frustrated with the dark, bitter, superficial (and frequently lazy) blues sound of his last decade.
   
   The one exception is Back on Top. Yes, the lyrics do seem to fit with the Morrison-as-self-obsessed-artist meme. But there's something much deeper to this album. Unlike in other recent albums (like What's Wrong with This Picture), the bluesy sounds and darker lyrics aren't just attempts to pummel you with his complaints. Here they're entry ways into the rich and complex, if darker soul of Morrison's autumn years. No longer the 80s artist with his easy New Agey upbeat spirituality, VM probes his own loneliness and confusion, and makes beautiful, moving music out of it.
   
   If you like VM's sweeping philosophical anthems, then you'll love "Philosopher's Stone." With a haunting, slow melody with a bit of soul organ in the background, Morrison delivers a moving reverie on the position of the lonely traveling artist who, with aching head and cold hands, boards a train, still searching for the means of changing the lead of life into gold. In the Midnight and Reminds Me of You are gorgeous, lonely love songs that will have your heart breaking in two with the lyrics.
   
   In Back on Top, High Summer and New Biography, you get three different takes on the perils of the music biz, and VM's feelings about fame and success. This may sound off putting, but each of these is delivered with style and energy that will leave you humming them for hours. They also have some surprising novelty to them. Back on Top is actually in many ways a reflection on Morrison's own crushing, soul-killing ambition ("always climbing, always striving way beyond my will/same old sensation, isolation at the top of the bill"), but it carries a strut that is impossible to resist. High Summer is an attempt by VM to imagine himself in a different light: as a child of God who tried to be what he was made to be, and then was shot down by the "angels" of the biz because he refused to play by their rules -- a bit preening, but not as bad as a lot of Morrison's similar stuff. New Biography is a rocking piece that actually works as a condemnation of the cult of personality in the entertainment industry, of all the people who play the "name game" based on their superficial connections to the famous -- if you know anyone who endlessly talks about the time they talked to famous person x, then you'll get the message of this song. Yet Morrison also seems genuinely to be confused about what his fans want of him; listen to the way he inflects the lyrics ("what exactly are they looking for, just a hobby on the internet?"). He's surprisingly vulnerable in his confusion here, even when he snarls out some of the choruses.
   
   When the Leaves Come Falling Down is a nice gentle meditation on autumn, and perhaps on the obvious metaphor of time passing. Precious Time is a rollicking, infectious romp about mortality. Again, in the background we hear Morrison reflecting a bit on his own neuroses. His religious trip is over ("It doesn't matter which path you take, sooner or later your heart's gonna break/No rhyme or reason, no master plan, no Nirvana no Promised Land"), which, if you've followed VM through his questing albums, is a sad, though not entirely unexpected, result. But he also notes his own continuing search for "immortality," and it's uncertain whether he's referring to his soul or to his hoped for status as a musical legend. Still, Morrison recognizes that immortality "is so beautiful but she's gonna die one day/everything in life just passes away," and he seems to be willing to celebrate that here. Believe me, you'll be singing the tune in your head when it's done.
   
   Finally, Golden Autumn Day is a deceptive song. Cheery on the surface, Morrison sings about trying to soak up some beautiful weather. But he has to try hard, to pretend it's paradise, because life is much rougher than that. In one verse he sings about getting mugged, and realizing that "things ain't just what they seem" in "this godforsaken place."
   
   This album has soul, if in a darker shade than in earlier VM albums. Yes, he spends a lot of time trying to make sense of his own ambition and his love-hate relationship with fame. What makes it work is that here Morrison invites you in to share his experience, to stand a bit dazed and confused and numb and lonely, then to come back and rock out with him anyway. The instrumentation and vocals are all carefully and richly done. All-in-all, this is the only essential Van Morrison album of the past 10 years.