USED VINYL ALERT:

Heading downstairs for this week's USED VINYL ALERT, we've got a little of everything for you this week, with major emphasis on jazz and country.

Let's start with the country! Hoo wee its a lot of great names this week, in addition to a lot of cool obscurities, compilations, and early archival editions for the deep heads, we've got hot ones from Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, Alabama, the Allmans, Waylon Jennings, Garth Brooks, the Louvin Brothers, Sleepy LaBeef, Wanda Jackson, Randy Travis, Johnny Cash, the Highwaymen, Ramblin Jack Elliott, Guy Clark, Joe Ely, Arlo and Woody Guthrie, Steve Earle, Vernon Dalhart, the Statler Brothers, Loretta Lynn, Marty Stuart, Mickey Newbury, Glen Campbell, and Emmylou Harris!

The selection of jazz this week is a true thing of beauty, ranging from early boogie woogie and ragtime, to NOLA brass classics from Queen Ida, the Dirty Dozen and the Preservation Hall band, to classic Blue Note, ECM, and Impulse, with a bit of fusion, exotica, organ and guitar groove thrown in. Check out names like Horace Silver, George Russell, Louis Armstrong, Cannonball Adderley, Airto Moreira, Lalo Schifrin, Lee Morgan, Mal Waldron, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Smith, Oliver Nelson, Gerry Mulligan, Oscar Peterson, Yusef Lateef, Roland Kirk, Jimmy McGriff, Wes Montgomery, Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus, Jackie McLean, Ramsey Lewis, Chick Corea, Ray Bryant, Kenny Burrell, Dave Brubeck, Vince Guaraldi, Anthony Braxton, Donald Byrd, Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber, Bud Powell, Sun Ra, Quincy Jones, Ahmad Jamal, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, Herbie Mann, and Cal Tjader!

Plenty of pop, rock and folk heavy hitters this week from names like Tom Petty, the Grateful Dead (plus some Garcia side excursions), the Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, Tom Waits, David Bowie, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Joni Mitchell, Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, Paul Simon, CCR, and Janis/Big Brother.

The rock continues with deeper selections from King Crimson, Bruce Cockburn, the Waterboys, Keef Hartley Band, John Prine, the Walker Brothers, Kiss, Krokus, the Kinks, the Incredible String Band, Levon Helm, the Illusion, Ronnie Lane, Jimmy Buffett, the Feminine Complex, the Humblebums, Sammy Hagar, the Pentangle, Sir Doug, Merle Saunders, Robyn Hitchcock, Murphys Law, Hanoi Rocks, and Iggy Pop.

Some great soul in the house this week coming from Earth Wind and Fire, the Stylistics, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Otis Redding, Diana Ross, Billie Holiday, the Incredible Bongo Band, Tower of Power, James Brown, Bootsy COllins, the Bar-Kays, Jerry Butler, Smokey Robinson, Curtis Mayfield, the Isley Brothers and many, many more.

We close out with some classic soundtracks, a couple of hard to find children's records (check your Raffi wantlist), some blues from BB King, Howlin Wolf, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Little Brother Montgomery, and Otis Spann, some fine reggae from Bob Marley, Max Romeo, UB40, Major Lazer and Sly & Robbie, and some more recent releases from Nightmares on Wax, Aldous Harding, Marnie Stern, Regina Spektor, and a rare one from Feist!

Ben Haprer & Charlie Musselwhite return March 30th with their new collaboration, No Mercy In This Land. In the meantime, swing by and pick up a fresh 7" that features tracks from the album plus an exclusive B-side version not available anywhere else. The 7" is $2 and includes a coupon for $2 off the full release.

JIMI HENDRIX LITHO FREE WITH NEW CD/LP:

Our next MUSIC TRIVIA at the High Noon Saloon is Tuesday, April 10th. Registration starts at 5:30 with the first question from Angie and Marty at 6PM. Save the date for May 8th!

OTHERS TALK BACK:

This isn't the spot to lay down odds on the third race. OTB is where Others Talk Back and give you the lowdown on what they've been feeling lately. This one's for the customers.

Erasure – “World Beyond”  For their seventeenth studio album, Vince Clarke and Andy Bell, have ditched the electronics and the over the top production and replaced them with a small string section.  Any Erasure fan knows that is a very definite change in sound.  Since Vince Clarke, however, is a master songwriter and arranger the new music is extremely effective and fascinating.  The strings give the songs a haunting and dramatic touch that electronics just can’t.  When I first listened to this album I had to stop and check the disc to see if it was truly an Erasure album.  Then I stopped worrying and just started to enjoy their new sounds.

Jimi Hendrix – “Both Sides of the Sky”  This posthumous collection’s main selling point is the ten so far unreleased cuts.  All of the cuts on the album were recorded in the studio.  And most were recorded after the Experience broke up.  A good amount of the tracks were recorded with the Band of Gypsies.  Any music fan would suppose that after almost fifty years since his death this would be a bottom of the barrel stuff.  That is not the truth of this album.  The music is top-notch, with some of the cuts equal to any late period Hendrix material.  The most fascinating cut is his version of Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” recorded along with Stephen Stills.  I have learned that this is the last album of a trio of albums dealing with unreleased studio material.  It speaks volumes of Hendrix’s talent that there is still strong material in the vault after his death in 1970.

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats – “Tearing At the Seams”  I had thought that Mr. Rateliff and the Night Sweats had a whole bunch of studio albums out.  I looked and found out that “Tearing At the Seams” is only their second studio release.  There was an ep and just last year a live album though.  Rest assured, if you loved any of the past releases you will love this one.  The sweaty soul and r&b is still in full force, and sounds somehow even more ferocious on this new album.   It is safe to say that Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats may be one of the best bands of the neo-soul revival yet.

Jonathan Wilson – “Rare Birds”  On his two prior albums, Mr. Wilson was a new century practitioner of the early seventies Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter rock sound.  On those two releases, some of Mr. Wilson’s songs approached some of the best songs from the classic artists of that long ago era.  You know performers like Jackson Browne. Joni Mitchell and CSN&Y.   On his third album, Mr. Wilson has added a wide variety of new sounds and influences.   Mr. Wilson has zeroed into the eclectic sounds of English prog artists such as Pink Floyd and Genesis (post Peter Gabriel era).   The songs also have an instrumental lushness to them that is very compelling.  Without a doubt, Mr. Wilson’s new music is less acoustic and a lot more electric, and spacey.  Don’t worry, his songwriting hasn’t deteriorated; it is still top-notch.  In fact, you could say that it has gotten more sophisticated and even better.  Both of Mr. Wilson’s past albums have been excellent, and “Rare Birds” continues that streak.

Titus Andronicus – “A Productive Cough”  Much like Jonathan Wilson, Titus Andronicus has moved beyond their comfort zone and branched off into new territory.  Titus Andronicus’ former sound was a wild mélange of punk, indie rock and prog that was certainly unique and idiosyncratic.  On “A Productive Cough” Titus Andronicus still creates a gumbo of sound.  But they have added a new ingredient and emphasis into the mix.  The band has developed an interest in folk music and folk rock that while was present to a very small degree before, certainly was not as prevalent as on this album.  On the other hand, Titus Andronicus really can’t do anything straight, and their version of folk has their own stamp on it.  You really have to hear their version of Dylan’s “(I’m) Like a Rolling Stone” on the album to appreciate their take on it and folk and folk rock.  The skinny on Titus Andronicus is same band, but with a different sound on their fifth album.