International Submarine Band- Safe at Home

Safe at home

Just before Gram Parsons cut a wide swath through American music with Sweetheart Of The Rodeo-era Byrds and the Flying Burrito Bros., he forged a new musical genre with the seminal 1967 country-rock sides he cut with his legendary International Submarine Band. Sundazed Music, in conjunction with Shiloh Records, is proud to present a compact disc release of the ISB’s highly collectible Safe At Homealbum, taken for the first time from the pristine, two-track stereo LHI-label masters, now sporting accurate original artwork, rare photos and a revealing new essay by noted author Sid Griffin. We’ve added the last piece to the jigsaw puzzle by remarrying the originally unissued track "Knee Deep In The Blues" (recorded during the Safe At Homesessions) to this resoundingly important musical statement. It’s a young, confident Gram Parsons here, showing the world he’s ready for business and firing the first volley in an amazing—if too brief—career that would soon stand the! rock ‘n’ roll world on its ear.

Graham Nash- Songs for Beginners

Songs for Begineers

These quiet singer-songwriterish tunes are very much in the soft-pop mould of the Crosby, Stills & Nash ensemble, which was in one of its periodic stages of disintegration when this album was recorded. David Crosby and Jerry Garcia pitch in from song to song, adding a melodic country-ish feel throughout. Overall, this is possibly the best of Nash's solo albums, a cohesive, beautiful, heartfelt set of twee counterculture lullabies. The dewy-eyed, tender romanticism of Nash's love songs heightens the painful anguish of the political material, the anthemic "Chicago," which served as a harsh postmortem of the chaotic demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic Convention, and the simpler (and more powerful) "Military Madness," which gains considerable strength from its understated tone. This disc also features some of Jerry Garcia's best pedal steel work, particularly on elegaic tunes like "I Used To Be A King." I could go on and name all the other songs; in my opinion there isn't a weak tune in the bunch... If you're a staunch, sneering, anti-hippie type, I know -- from experience -- that there is little that I can do to convince you that this record isn't just a bunch of stoned-out, goopy-headed pablum. But those of you inclined to be more open-minded may find this disc to be quite rewarding. It's sugary, but also quite sweet.

Richard Betts- Highway Call

Highway Call

This is the album that bridged the boundaries between country, rock, blue-grass and jazz in the most perfectly realized way possible. In the final analysis, it's the special vibe of this album that sets it apart from other blue-grass/rock fusion albums. What Betts and gang seem to be wordlessly communicating as a subtext to all the music is a bond between different generations of musicians from the South that's created solely from their dedication to being free spirits no matter what different paths they might have taken to get there. This is not just a foot-stomping backwoods party album. There's a completely laid-back lack of rigidity, a beautiful melodicism and deep romanticism that could only come from Betts' leadership and the hippie legacy he brings from the Allman Brothers Band. There's philosophy and deep meditation behind this music that communicates very intensely even if it was only 'the spirit of the times' that was subconsciously affecting the proceedings.

The remastered album sounds fantastic. I played this one back to back with Greg Allman's classic "Laid Back" (remastered by the same people and released at the same time as the "Highway Call" remaster here) and the recording quality and production and the way the remastering brings it out on both just blew me away. I wonder if the musicians heard themselves sound so good on the studio playback monitors back then! If you want to be even more impressed, put some mikro-smooth polish from mapleshade audio products on the CD to eliminate laser jitter and you will be knocked out of your seat at how great the tones created by these master musicians 33 years ago sound today.

Charlie Daniels Band-Te John and the Wolfamn

Te John and the Wolfman

This is Charlie Daniels at his lean and basic best. It's not a bad album to listen to, considering that his previous debut album took off barely. This is the album that got his career off to a small start. It would take 2 more releases before he hit the stratosphere. For the serious CDB fan. This album is a mix of blues and country. Great Big Bunches of love, starts off the CD.  This is a rare CDB album if you can find it.  Te John, Grease, & Wolfman is a studio album by Country rock artist Charlie Daniels. The name comes from the Charlie Daniels Band members' nicknames. "Grease" was keyboardist Joel DiGregorio. Charlie Daniels was just "Charlie", sometimes, "the Fat Boy". It was released in 1972, courtesy of Kama Sutra Records.Te John, Grease, & Wolfman received three and a half stars out of five from Michael B. Smith of Allmusic.[2] Smith concludes that "Daniels rocks with the intensity of a downbound train on "Great Big Bunches of Love," and on his cover of the Jerry Lee Lewis chestnut "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee." A true Southern poet, Charlie Daniels is seen here in the infancy of his artistic development, but even at this early stage, the poet is alive and well.".[2]

Black Oak Arkansas -1st

Black Oak Arkansas

This is Black Oak Arkansas' rookie effort. It is helped by Mike Pinera's and Lee Dorman's (both ex-Iron Butterfly) excellent production -- in fact, given their past experiences, this is a surprisingly crisp and clean mix. This isn't really southern rock -- this is southern boogie. I know Rolling Stone years ago said that they had three lead guitarists which didn't even add up to one, and that lead singer Jim Dandy sang with marbles in his mouth, but, ( ), I like this album. Starts out with an upbeat stomper in "Uncle Lijah", which has the infamous line "...he jumped in bed with his ma and pa, and told 'em that the devil was in Arkansas." Poe it is not, but in the rock context its pretty good. "Memories at the Window" is probably the only tune in Black Oak's career Dandy really tries to "sing". And not too bad at that. The gut of this album comes on side 2. "Hot and Nasty" has that classic drum intro, and the lead guitars effortlessly slide in and out. "Lord Have Mercy" is an eerie, lost rock classic. The intro monologue actually is entertaining more than self-serving. Finally, "When Electricity Came to Arkansas" is a good, rousing instrumental finale. Remember, Dandy played the scrub-board, and it is in full glory here, as the entire group gets into some real wild banchee screaming and boogieing. Overall, not as good as the live "Raunch and Roll", but quite impressive for a rookie effort.

Lynyrd Skynyrd-Turn it Up

Turn It Up

This is a "greatest hits" album cd of the "modern version" of Lynyrd Skynyrd. It consists of 12 great songs, taken from their studio album cds from the 1990's. The songs are "Born to Run" (Their song not Bruce's song - Skynyrd's song is better), "One thing", "The Last Rebel", "Devil in the Bottle", "Edge of Forever", "Money Back Guarantee", 'FLA", "Smokestack Linghing", "I've seen enough", Travelin Man (with the late Ronnie Van Zant singing along), "Never too Late" and O.R.R. (Outlaws, Renegades, & Rebels). This is a great cd and a "must-have" for any Skynyrd fan!!! Thanks and may God Bless!!!

Little Feat- Dixie Chicken

Dixie Chicken

Little Feat was reinvented during the interim of Sailin' Shoes as bassist/founding member Roy Estrada left after its release in Feb. of '72. For the next few months, Lowell George, Ritchie Hayward and Bill Payne were augmented by bassist Kenny Gradney, percussionist Sam Clayton and an old High School friend of George's, guitarist Paul Barrere whom, later in the year, began the sessions for Dixie Chicken and thus entering into the 2nd phase of the band.

This is probably the most significant and important album for the band as it truly establishes a unit that really defines what Little Feat music is all about. Although the first two releases are the foundations from which they were built on, the opening title track shows an influence rooted into New Orleans-styled funk/rock which was refined and honed by bands like the Meters, and begins the record off in a very strong fashion. Two Trains follows in and has a sweet R&B shuffle to it and the slide flourishes of George propels this number into another instant classic tune. Roll Um Easy is an acoustic track that is sparse, yet beautiful, coupled with some great vocal harmonies and also, some electric slide to help accentuate the quiet power of this number. On Your Way Down is an Allen Toussaint song covered by the band quite well and has a laid-back bluesy arrangement rendered within its five and a half minutes. Kiss it Off is an eerie, quieter song that has elements of tablas and synthesizer wrapped within George's sweetened tenor range that results in a number that is kinda the backside of the previous Roll Um Easy.

Fool Yourself begins with a simple kick/snare beat and the plunking of Payne's electric piano notes introducing a positive vibe to this upbeat number. Paul Barrere proves to be a great accomplice alongside George within the guitar arrangements and his playing throughout the disc is noteworthy. Which leads to the next track, Walkin' All Night; written by Barrere and Payne, this song is an ode to the "sidestreet swingers" of the night which has a great funky/rock arrangement coupled with Barrere's debut vocal sounding like a rougher version of Lowell. Fat Man in the Bathtub would become another Feat concert staple and has the quirkiness of early Feat within time signature changes and odd chord progressions, a pure classic! The album bookends with George's Juliette, similar in tone to the previous Kiss it Off, and features a flute part courtesy of George, yet another glimpse into his talents as a musician. The quiet, stately Lafayette Railroad ends the record on a wonderfully mellow mood and is an instrumental performance driven by George's whining slide guitar, Gradney's solid bass, Payne's moody electric piano and the sparseness of Hayward and Gradney's percussions.

Dixie Chicken is by far, a deliciously produced package of great popular music and is truly a release that should be in everyone's classic album collection, bar none. 5 big stars.