Houston Person & Etta Jones - Don't Misunderstand, Live in New York, 1980

Oh my, on my, this is some recording!!!!  OK, I LOVE these two together. So I AM biased. They are great live. When I saw them in 1990, they put on a wonderful show at the Blue Note. But I never saw them like this.

Houston, Sonny and Frankie take the lion's share of the CD. But Etta's performances are really there - particularly the title track, which is another object lesson in how Etta can GET you! It is almost in a different galaxy to the version she recorded about three years before on the "My mother's eyes" LP. But Etta and Houston are kind of known factors.

THERE IS A REVELATION IN HERE - it's SONNY PHILLIPS.

I've got everything Sonny recorded, but he never really CONNECTED with me 'til now. His playing here is awesome; no guitarist, so he is taking the load. And he plays really so much MORE than I've ever heard him before. Maybe, simply because he's taking the load, what he's playing is so much more in your face than usual. He also takes a bass solo, which not too many organists have tried (only Lou Bennett, I think, and that was on a trick machine).

All organ fans should have this album!!!!! End of story - AM

Allan's review originally appeared on Organissimo - Ed

 

Interpol - Our Love to Admire - Capitol

Several of the reviews I’ve read of this album have remarked on the perversity of starting with the long and dirge-like Pioneer to The Falls but as many of the writers have been quick to point out Interpol’s similarity to Joy Division, what else do they expect? Having said that, Our Love to Admire isn’t as upbeat or catchy as Turn On The Bright Lights or Antics and ends with the even more dismal The Lighthouse, which really doesn’t have much to recommend it at all.

Between those two lows, and Pioneer isn’t half-bad, there’s much to admire. The Heinrich Maneuver is as good as anything on the two previous albums, and I remain happily baffled by the reference to seven ancient pawn shops on Mammoth. Wrecking Ball is slower and sadder and a great piece of song writing, as is Rest My Chemistry, but there isn’t really a bad track apart from the final one.

Expect the usual guitar-drenched Interpol sound with a few extras and best listened to on the excellent LP you can buy from Diverse Vinyl.

Seasick Steve - Dog House Music B000JU7ITW

Well if you're a Blues fan this really hits the spot. Not sure how I've missed him up to now. Seasick Steve plays Delta slide blues, usually on an old Trance guitar with only three strings - but he makes it sound as full as can be. These are modern tales of the hobo life, the southern states and a man struggling against the odds. Think of a hard blues Tom Waits with a guitar and tattoos...but when he starts his Trance Boogie, banging his mississippi drum machine (aka a wooden box) I defy anyone to stay still.