MidwestRecord.com 9/7

TIM HARDIN/This Is: This was kind of a curious album as it appeared after he was already on Verve Forecast and it confused hippies making them wonder how he could hop around. Actually a collection of demos he recorded for Atlantic before his Verve contract and his subsequent success and recognition, this offbeat collection shows just how much Village and blues influence he had early on. An oddball outing to be sure, but since he s one of those you won t be seeing again anytime soon, if you are an uberfan you will want this for your collection.

6746FLORA PURIM/Nothing Will Be as it was Tomorrow-Everyday Everynight: A pair of interesting bag breakers from Purim s stay at WB when they were making their late 70 s commitment to jazz. Pairing with Michel Columbier for a set that let their wild sides run free, half of this twofer charts some pretty uncharted ground. The other set is a pretty straight forward 70 s jazz into funk into Brazil kind of set that had a lot of high spots that shined well.

She made her mark back then and this twofer is a tasty part of that legacy.
JANIVA MAGNESS/Do I Move You? The answer is a resounding yes to this lusty blues lady that continues to pick em up and lay em down without stopping to take a breath.

Striking the right sparks with producer Colin Linden, these Canucks show their appreciation for the blues and it s form with a rollicking set that might never break her out of the roadhouse but will always be a welcome haven for her. Taking her place with all the rest of her sisters that know how to dish it out, Magness has earned her place right in the front lines of contemporary blues women that know how to get it done.
MATT ANGUS: A New York area gadabout with his fingers in a lot of pies, we find Angus making his 4th record and surrounding himself with Woodstock/New York players that are right on the front line.

With such good company around him, he rises well and offers up a rootsy date that isn t afraid to rub some nerves raw in the service of the song. A political troubadour in the Phil Ochs mold, Angus opens the ears almost in a Michael Moore kind of way and let s you know where he stands and who he is. Interesting throughout and a nice high water mark for contemporary lo-fi efforts.

JEFF JONES BAND/Biscuits Gravy: With a little bit tongue in cheek, the pride of the Lake Tahoe music scene takes the plunge with a national release that should let the world know there s more to Tahoe than a bunch of Sammy Joey s playing casino lounges. With a roots attitude to the core, Jones and his acoustic crew know how to ring sounds out of their axes that make it seem like they ve got things amped up. A high octane session that merrily genre splices with aplomb and style, this is the kind of lo-fi set that catches fire when no one is looking and somehow cuts right to the chase in a grand fashion.

Offbeat and left of center, this is a solid set for those looking for something out of the ordinary with a lot on the ball.
MARK EGAN/As We Speak: The Champ fretless bassplayer gets back in touch with his personal roots on this double cd that finds him hooking up with old compadre Danny Gottlieb and paying spiritual tribute to bass ace Dave Holland in a free wheeling set that s powered by bass trio improv with Holland co-hort John Abercrombie anchoring the connection on guitar. Long after proving he has nothing to prove, Egan just lets it fly being intimate and emotive at the same time.

With the freedom of having his own label, it s funny that a cat of his caliber should have to make DIY records, he calls his own shots showing he certainly doesn t need anyone looking over his shoulder to make sure he gets it right. Clearly a contemporary jazzbo tour de force by a cat continuing to be at the top of his game.
MITCHELL FORMAN/Perspectives: An interesting musical travelogue from the esteemed piano jazz man that has played with a wide range of talent over his 20 decades of doing this right.

How often to do you see tribute albums to musos like John McLaughlin, Keith Jarrett and other hip cats like that? Forman has played with them over the years and makes this set a trip through his back pages. Distributing the kudos evenly among a wide range of talents, and not leaving himself out of the mix, Forman and his well traveled co-horts serve it up hot for a tasty jazz set of modern jazz sure to please any contemporary jazzbo.

Well done.
MARIO ADNET/From the Heart: Adnet has been involved with some of Adventure Music s most rewarding sets and here he gets the chance to step out of the producers chair and shine the light on himself. Making this a family affair, the guitarist brings his wife and daughters into the realm for a warm engaging set sure to open the ears of any world guitar fan and many guitar fans in general.

Unabashed in his love for the sound of Brazil, Adnet opens doors and ears as the skills he s brought to the fore in the service of others shine and impress when used for himself as well. A tasty treat genre fans are well advised not to miss.
THE 88/Over and Over: One of those nutty stories that comes along and keeps you believing.

An unsigned band with loads of well placed fans and supporters is used in movies and tv without label support and simply goes out and plays and has a good time. Art meets pop by some talent kids that have eaten their 60 s references for breakfast, they are doing something different that is really clicking, and they continue to do it all unsigned without the machine behind them. Pop has become so mutated that you might not even know what it is anymore, but sets like this bring it back into focus is quite a grand way.

ROB MULLINS/Standards and More: With almost two decades under his belt, Mullins is often one of those jazz piano cats that you don t know you know but you recognize the sound. Like many others, here s a cat with chops to spare that is being pushed to go DIY and knows how to make the best use of that freedom from restriction and interference. Never pushing his chops for the sake of pushing them, he can apply his magic equally to originals, jazz classics or classics.

A nicely well rounded date that has the right moves and grooves and is simply fun to listen to.
GREG SMITH/Above the Clouds: Here s a guitar cats that has an impressive pedigree, has been at it for 40 years and wraps the sum total of his experience around this smooth jazz collection that is just that out of the ordinary jazz item you are looking for when the usual suspects seem to preoccupied with fitting the format and you need some meat to chomp down on. Smooth jazz with an edge, this is the kind of cocktail music you want playing when you let the day slide off your shoulder at quitting time and need something to help you ease into the next stage.

Tasty work that acquits itself nicely.
DIZZY GILLESPIE ALL STAR BIG BAND/Dizzy s Business: A big band staffed with a multi generational crew of hitters that can only be summed up as too cool and all united by their love of Gillespie s music, this crew topped off by Slide Hampton and James Moody merge and meld bebop into big band with balls and brass that don t quit. Tasty high octane set that goes beyond the normal tribute repertoire and never let s things fall out of high gear.

Any jazzbo that knows which end is up will gravitate to this historical minded session that doesn t leave itself in the dust.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO/Gently Weeps: The Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele continues to expand and grow as one of the hottest little cottage industries in Hawaii. Since last checking in with us, he s gone on to play with everyone, be the official tourism spokesman for Hawaii pitching to Japan and conquer almost everything under the sun he sets his mind to.

This new set reflects the solo touring he s been doing and solo rock ukulele is kind of mind blowing to first encounter. Simply put, if one of the big guns doesn t see fit to exploit this guy for their own gain, they simply don t care about the future of the record business. With the chops and passion that make him much more than a novelty act ever could be, you ve got to check out Shimabukuro is you want to hear something different that ll blow your mind.

If we handed out stuff like Pick of the Week , this would be a leading contender. Hot stuff.
DJ BOOTSIE/Silent Partner: A dj album that slide under the radar, oddly since he s part of bigger story that has made a big splash, The Quiet Hungarian mixmasters his way back to the mid 90 s with the samples and sounds of the era.

With an accent on wacky, Bootsie has an appetite and affinity for the junk culture of crime jazz, far eastern cheese, and other artifacts from an era that was really a state of mind in the first place. All that and he knows how to make a killer groove. Clearly a fine set for left leaning tastes.

SABORIT/Que Linda Es Mi Cuba: So you were wondering what would be the next Buena Vista Social Club? Check this out. These Cuban countryside cats have been playing fro 40 years, have been a band for over 20 and are fixtures in their neighborhood right around the corner from Gitmo, but they ve yet to get the heroes welcome as elder statesmen and barged into an audition riding in on a tractor.

And you thought West Virginia was a piece of work. Their Cuban fusion that is the other side of BVSC so moved the producer they came to impress that he was impressed and you have the proof on this disc. Ethnic party music that comes from the soul and builds a bridge across cultures, count on this world beat excursion to open your ears.

GUITARISTS 4 THE KIDS/various: With the wide range of participants on board here, it just shows that when you offer to do something for the kids that need it, you never know who will take you up on it. A charity album with diverse people from Bob Fripp to session cats, new agers, punks, blues babes coming out of retirement and more, this collection has some specially tailored moments to lift it above being a well intentioned repack. If you want to take a guitar trip around the horn and do something good at the same time, this set fills the bill.

LANTANA/Unbridled: Positioning themselves as the Dixie Hens since they are just coming into their own and over 30, this distaff country trio plays up the female experience with a country beat and all the trimmings. Giving women country fans an alternative to horny housewife helper, this isn t exactly an Oprah taping, but there s a lot going on here about empowerment and other contemporary issues even if is hidden in the music. They ve got a good shot at breaking out and going a long way.

AL DiMEOLA/Consequence of Chaos: You have to remember that when DiMeola first started out, he was still a kid and he had the chops and passion even if it came out a little dry sometimes. Six million records and 30 years later, the proof is definitely in the pudding. Taking his place among the giants of contemporary jazz, the revered ax man goes back to his roots with the lessons he s learned along the way and fulfills all the promise the early fans touted which is why he s a legend today.

With cats like Chick Corea and Steve Gadd popping in to lend a hand, this is a first class, first call set that melds the influences he s picked up along the way and offers up a fusion guitar date that s hard to beat. Pretty much a winner throughout.
DIANA ROSS/Ultimate Collection: Packing in 10 #1 s from various label stays, this is a pretty interesting repack of Ross s canon.

It s hard to stray far rom the super hits, but in the course of the disc, they manage to program up a future Northen Soul classic by mixing in cool stuff you wouldn t normally associate with a Ross hits package. Not bothering with chronology, the songs flow smartly and you don t need to put this on random play to shake it up. This package is a ground zero lesson in Diva 101 that a lot of today s crop of wannabes could learn a thing or two from.

MAVERICKS/Gold: With 41 remastered tracks on board, you get all the Mavericks you need from their prime and fertile period in the 90 s. Graced with previously unreleased in the US tracks, there s enough here to make long time fans come to the well again for this country crew that tickled with pop overtones. With their diversity on display in the song stack, this is a nice walk down memory lane.

STEVE EARLE/Definitive Collection 1983-97: To contain this rebel for the masses properly, a best of set isn t enough, a box set might be too much. Pulled from his prime years when he was at his bad boy best and could have been the poster boy for insurgent country if it was happening at the time, MCA Nashville and others tried their best to fit this round peg in the square hole until he finally found his footing and voice on his own. The same demons that drove him sideways also lead him to lay down one of the main blue prints for alt.

country as well as keeping the Texas tradition of hard living alive. This material still has the snap it had the day it was made.
BEST OF MIAMI VICE/various: With the movie hitting screens, the original tv soundtrack is taking a bow too.

Released right before the onslaught of soundtrack albums as marketing tools, this is big, bold brassy look back at the 80 s with a slew of iconic chart toppers in tow. Time will make it look like just another K-Tel collection to young whippersnappers, but there was a time when this was the touchstone in commercial cool.
HUMBLE PIE/Definitive Collection: From the glorious days of when you could have loads of talent, be seen as underachievers and still make you way in a world that didn t expect platinum every time out.

Peter Frampton s employer until he was plucked to turn the business on it s ear, this band was about rock and rocking, like many of their compatriots of the day. Post psychedelic/pre arena, this is what it was like to hang at the rock venues of the day when you could see, hear and party without Ticketmaster laying on the charges. Just right for your 70 s indulgence.

DAVE MASON/Definitive Collection: Journey man rocker that left the bulk of his catalog at Columbia but had enough solo and group stuff under the Universal umbrella to left behind a respectable body of 70 s rock with many hallmark and touchstone tracks. Never really seeming to wear the rock star mantle, Mason came out of the era when the music was the thing and it showed once he let his guitar do the talking. With the crush and of time and tide, it s nice to see material like this not forgotten.

TANYA TUCKER/Definitive Collection: A no brainer collection of all hits in which you literally get to listen to Tucker grow up, this covers the goodies from 1972-88, and there were a lot of goodies to be had when she wasn t busy growing up into the Lindsey Lohan of her day and leaving tabloid fodder in her wake. Enough of a pro at a young age that she knew how to leave her personal life at the studio door and hit her marks when the tape was rolling, this is a great companion piece to the Capitol box set of several years back. A dandy country collection with a lot on the ball.

GAP BAND/Gold: Still going strong with an afterlife in sample heaven, this is a well documented collection of 32 remastered funk classics that s ready for samplers or listeners alike to kick back and enjoy. With a healthy catalog of hits under their belts, there s pretty much never a dull moment on this collection of well known quantities. If you ve got a bad retro funk jones going on, this collection was stacked and tracked just for you.

TERRI CLARK/20th Century Masters: The girl that brought ten gallon hats to the distaff side of country is repacked nicely with this greatest hits set that shows her skills in a solid, concise fashion. Giving you a dose of all the good stuff, this is why she s still out there tearing it up on live dates no matter what s going on in the business these days. A nice collection of full bodies performances that recall why country owned the business int e profitable part of the 90 s.

SUBLIME/10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition: In which we find contemporary skate punk becoming deemed classic enough to merit deconstruction. With the album restored to the original running order and fleshed out with video, plenty of unreleased material, alternate mixes and a cavalcade of that kind of extra, anyone who loved this album and doesn t feel like they ve outgrown it is going to fall in love with the double cd edition all over again. A nicely done massive undertaking that opens the door to a new age in oldies marketing.

SHELBY LYNNE/Definitive Collection: From her early days as an insurgent cowpunk they were trying to pass off as an ingenue up through her Grammy win, this is a single disc outing of all the Lynne you need or can handle. A mystery to the business that kept trying to pigeon hole her instead of give up on her, Lynne stayed in the game because she knew how to wring the most there is out of a song. All that s on display here.

With her full career on board, you get to gloss over all the filler tracks that held back a lot of her albums and get to the heart of what Lynne is about. This is the kind of collection that could put the spotlight right back on her.
WAYLON JENNINGS/Sings Hank Williams: Recorded in 1985 when Jennings was taking a breather, tipping the cap to Williams seemed like a good idea but the labels at the time didn t think so.

Some stuff simply has to exist out of time on it s own and this is one of those records. It s not like we need a Jennings tribute to Williams, but he really feels these songs and any Jennings fan will probably wonder why these recordings took so long to surface. We can at long last answer the question that Waylon thinks Hank really done em this a way.

When stuff like this comes from the heart, it s purely unstoppable.
IGGY POP/20th Century Masters: One of rock s great enigma s stopped at A M long enough to drop a song about heroin that wound up being the commercial for a cruise line. Go figure.

It would have been logical enough to think he would have been a footnote after 1973, the Igster just kept coming back for more and just kept finding labels that would write the check to have the experience. Hard rocking set that defies it s times and offers another insight into why he might be one of rock s greatest cult acts of all time.
KATHY MATTEA/Definitive Collection: Before Ms.

Twain became the chick of the walk, mattea and Mercury Nashville cut quite a swath through the country charts and on radio. Pulling 20 complete and total no brainer hits from her long label stay, this is a power packed country greatest hits set for the fans that have stayed with her and worn out heir old vinyl a long time ago. Like a postcard from another time zone, this is a nice reminder of how things were when pros roamed the earth and the quest for the buck had some real underpinnings to it that made you feel good about giving up that buck.

TOM JONES/20th Century Masters V.2 Country Hits: The most identified with Jones song on this set is probably Green Green Grass of Home . While he often worked country songs into his sets, he wasn t really as known for them as he was for carrying on about Delilah, Pussy Cats and the rest of the stuff that made him one of the 60 s prime slices of horny housewife helper.

Coming from the Welsh country side, hitting the country side of things probably wasn t that much of a stretch for him and he does this set of covers justice.
OVER IT/Step Outside Yourself: SoCal skate punks so wet behind the ears they think stuff from the early 90 s is heritage music. Influenced by everything from Fat Wreck to Beach Boys, they gleefully mixmaster it all into their tunerizer, hype it all into melodic thrash and come with a sound that ll really play well with disaffected heartland kids looking for a way out.

With a good understanding of the minds of their compatriots, they merrily let the buzz saw rip, mostly because seems like they don t give a rip, and get the party off to a proper start. They ve been bubbling around the underground for a while and this sounds like a really right on next step.
LOS STRAITJACKETS WITH THE WORLD FAMOUS PONTANI SISTERS FEATURING KAISER GEORGE/Twist Party: The Straitjackets made us believers several sets ago with their inverted Residents from Mars stance combining Mexican wrestling with surf music and the kitchen sink.

Here, on this cd/dvd combo, they continue to prove the underground is the place to be as the fuse with a top burlesque revolution troupe for pure nuttiness. Fueled by retro elements that are revered and done right without being taken overly seriously. Expect this collection to bring stuff like Daddy-O back into the lexicon.

With enough friends in high places, they are given the latitude to continue with their free wheeling ways for some of the best unnameable pop fusions around. Anyone bored with the current pop landscape ought to check out what s going on here. Crazy fun throughout.

FRIENDS WITH MONEY: A Cinderella tale for our times, this is more tv friendly than it was theater friendly as it follows the story of three friends who hate their upscale lives and worry about their down market friend. It ends with an appropriate comeuppance that makes this the distaff companion piece to 40 Year Old Virgin . With a solid ensemble cast of alt.

cinema pros making a bid for the mainstream powering this chick pic, it s witty in a low key way that can make some of the fine points slide right past you. Clearly a pic to be watched with girl friends when the guys are out doing guy things.
MY SUMMER STORY: The only thing wrong here was that no one locked up Darrin McGavin for the sequel and it was unfair to foist Charles Grodin into the part of The Old Man after McGavin made it his own.

This is the follow up to the contemporary classic, Christmas Story with writer Jean Shepherd reprising his role as the narrator. Since everyone has seen and loved Christmas Story , the Grodin faux pas is a little jarring to overlook, bit beyond that, anyone with a taste for Shepherd s gentle but often searing observational humor with enjoy the ride into the following summer. Well made and sturdy, this is what Midwestern humor was made of before Prairie Home Companion , even if it took performing it from New York to get the point across.

JOE DIRT: Produced by Adam Sandler, who knows a thing or two about trademarking personae, and written by David Spade, who needs to leverage his misfits into a character that can drive sequels, we have a mullethead s quest to find out where he came from, with all the attendant misadventures along the way. Still timely since we are in the age of redneck humor, Spade s loveable (after a while and some vindication) loser assumes another skin and drives the picture home. Nicely done low brow humor that aims low and hits the target.