Lonnie Mack The Wham of That Memphis Man! 1963

Like there could actually be someone who invented blues/rock guitar soloing. Well, if anyone should get credit for such an honor, it's Lonnie Mack. His debut album from 1963 shows off his impressive skills both on guitar and as a fine soul singer. 

Instrumentals Wham!, Memphis, Bounce, Down and Out, Down in the Dumps, and Susie-Q all feature killer, absolutely super hot guitar. And not just a phrase here or there, but extended solos. Hot licks on Baby What's Wrong and Why, coupled with Mack's blue-eyed soul vocals make for some genuinely rocking soul/blues. Where There's A Will, Satisfied, and I'll Keep You Happy all feature his impressive vocals as well as fine saxophone solos. There isn't a weak track.

Guitar really wasn't played this way before Mack did it. Ok, there were the Ventures, Duane Eddy, Dick Dale, and other rock instrumentalists, and plenty of guitar solos by guys like Ike Turner and James Burton, but the blending of blues and rock in more than four-bar, extended solos was unique to Mack. Not only his guitar, but his soulful singing put him in a category with very few white singers.

That's why Jimmy Guterman in his 1992 book The Best Rock 'N' Roll Records of All Time put this record at number 16. Admittedly Guterman's is an unusual and somewhat controversial list, but this record clearly deserves more praise than it typically receives, and it's a pure joy to hear.

The list of accolades on the Lonnie Mack Wikipedia entry is impressive. I like this quote from Duane Allman, "Now, [in 1963], there was a popular song on the radio called 'Memphis'—an instrumental by Lonnie Mack. It was the best guitar-playing I'd ever heard. All the guitar-players were [saying] 'How could anyone ever play that good? That's the new bar. That's how good you have to be now."

Nick Lowe Indoor Safari 2024

Nick Lowe made four excellent "crooning" records between 1998 and 2011. They were fine outings each one, and established a distinguished late career revival. Lowe toured these records mostly solo and those shows were killer, and of course he did a few of his earlier hits as well. In 2013 he made the unusually good holiday record Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for All the Family. When he toured the record he began his association with Los Straightjackets, and a live album from the tour was released in 2015. There was also a hot live record (download only) Live at the Haw River Ballroom in 2020, again with Los Straightjackets. It is super good. Check it out.

Los Straightjackets have returned Lowe to some of the rockabilly of his early outfit Rockpile, and they can play just about any style. Eddie Angel is a wonderful guitar player and Chris Sprague stands out behind the drum kit. They have brought back the rocking to Lowe's performances. It's not the basher of old, but there's energy that those 1998-2011 records lacked. 

Between 2018-2020, most of the songs on Indoor Safari were released as singles and EPs. There's only two songs here that haven't been previously released in some form, but most have been newly rerecorded for this record. And what a swell record it is. Lowe is still in laid back mode, but with Los Straightjackets things are going to rock, and that they do. Lowe has written a bunch of great songs, as usual, with good melodies and hooky chorusses, and his singing is his not-so-secret weapon. There's only one slow ballad, the lovely Different Kind of Blue, and the rest swings and pops and rocks.

Standouts include Raincoat In The River, an old Ricky Nelson song, and Bert Bacharach and Hal David's Blue On Blue, first recorded by Bobby Vinton in 1963. Lowe's humorous Went To A Party, sad Love Starvation, the bad girl can't be resisted Jet Pack Boomerang, and rockabilly Toyko Bay are highlights. An unusually happy Lay It On Me, the lyrical twist of Don't Be Nice To Me, and especially the play that sad song one more time of Trombone show Lowe working his talented pen, and Los Straightjackets keeping the backbeat coming. There isn't a clunker in the set. Every Eddie Hazel lead guitar break is perfect. 

Lowe has never made any bad records, and since the career standout The Impossible Bird in 1994, he's been on a thirty-year hot streak. 

I did a career overview here.

Kirsty MacColl Titanic Days 1993, Free World 2023

Great news for vinyl lovers. For Record Store Day 2024, Kirsty MacColl's Titanic Days was reissued on (green, not that it matters) vinyl. While she made several great records, this has always been her finest work in my view. This is the record's first appearance on vinyl.

From my From Croydon To Cuba review: Produced by then husband Steve Lillywhite, Titanic Days has it all: bright love song You Know It's You, tales of very bad men (to which MacColl seems drawn, at least in her lyrics) Titanic Days, Can't Stop Killing You, and Bad, and the sentimental melancholy of Soho Square. The airy, dreamy Angel and Tomorrow Never Comes are beautiful. Lillywhite's production and the backing of crack musicians help realize MacColl's most consistent songwriting, and her performances are both cool and riveting.

I also recently discovered that a new double vinyl best of set titled Free World was released in 2023. It is a thoughtful collection that doesn't bring any new surprises, but collects most of the essentials, and it's available on (yellow, not that it matters) vinyl. There are too many compilations of Kirsty's work, and some are not really hits collections, but this one is a good selection of songs, spans her career, and gets most of the important picks right. Of course if you are a big fan of Ms. MacColl's work, you probably have most of these songs, and if you're a casual fan, maybe you've got one of the decent single CD overviews. So I guess this is mostly for those of us that would want to hear these songs on vinyl rather than CD. Most of her work is available on original vinyl releases (and recent vinyl reissues) of the individual albums.

The Electric Flag (An American Music Band) A Long Time Comin' 1968

Michael Bloomfield was an enormously talented blues and rock guitar player. He first came to notice on the first two Paul Butterfield Blues Band albums in1965-66, Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited 1965, and frequent session work. In early 1967, he formed The Electric Flag in San Francisco with an outstanding line-up of musicians. Harvey Brooks on bass and Buddy Miles drums and vocals held down the rhythm, Nick Gravenites on guitar and vocals, Barry Goldberg on keys, and a smoking hot horn section with Marcus Doubleday on trumpet, Peter Strazza on tenor sax, Stemsy Hunter on alto sax, and Herbie Rich on baritone sax. 

Bloomfield and Goldberg saw the group as one which would feature an amalgamation of American music styles of soul, blues, rock and R&B, and on their audacious debut, they achieved that goal. 

The set kicks off with Howlin' Wolf's Killing Floor, with Nick Gravenites' smooth vocal, hot guitar from Bloomfield and killer horn charts. Ron Polte wrote three songs for the record, and Groovin' Is Easy is all smooth soul, hippie vibe, and hot horns. Over-Lovin' You from Bloomfield and Goldberg is an uptempo soul that gets a really fine Buddy Miles vocal and horns, horns, horns. She Should Have Just from Polte's pen again is more terrific R&B that sounds like a future Tower Of Power hit. Side one ends with Wine, sung by Bloomfield (or Herbie Rich?) is fast blues with a very cool jazzy outro.

The second side is almost as good. Buddy Miles rips another tasty vocal on Texas, as Bloomfield solos throughout the entire song. Barry Goldberg wrote Sittin' In Circles, with it's complex arrangement and another melodious Gravenites vocal. You Don't Realize is a great Bloomfield blues ballad that has everything except the guitar solo it practically begs for, and it's still solid. Another Country, again from Polte's pen, starts as a mid-tempo rocker with classic sixties paranoia/escapist lyrics, slides into a too long music concrete collage, followed by a jazzy section featuring piano, and finally returns to the first verse and chorus with up-tempo guitar and horn charts. It's an impressive piece, but at nine minutes it's just a tad too long. The record ends with a 53-second East Rider with Bloomfield teasing us with some nice licks.

Another Country is a good song, and was ahead of the curve with the music concrete section, but it is a thing of it's time, and you might need to be high. The rest of the record is near perfect.

Bloomfield and Goldberg would leave the band before their second record, and Buddy Miles, Herbie Rich and Nick Gravenites tried to produce a follow-up, and almost got there with An American Music Band, also in1968. It's OK, but doesn't have the magic or the songs of A Long Time Comin'. Miles and Gravenites were not the songwriters that Bloomfield, Goldberg and Polte were. Two from that follow-up, Bobby Hebb's Sunny, and Mystery from Miles's pen, both have strong vocals from Miles and were added to the 2003 CD reissue of Long Time Comin' along with two obscurities, one with some hot Bloomfield guitar. 

There were plenty of horns on soul records of the time. But this one in 1968 was before Chicago, Sons of Champlin, and Tower of Power. It isn't just the horns that make this record so special. Great songs, singing, guitar, the blues/rock/soul blend, and an all-star band make this a lost classic of the first order.

Lucinda Williams Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road 2024

Lucinda has been darn busy since recovering from her 2020 stroke. During 2021/2022 she released six Lu's Jukebox recordings of cover sets featuring an individual artist or a thematic thread. All six were recorded live in studio during Covid days. I discussed them all here. Then last year she came out with Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart, a solid outing that compared favorably with her recent work.

And now comes Lu's Jukebox In Studio Concert Series Vol. 7. Covering the Beatles is pretty ballsy, but hey, she did a good job on the Rolling Stones on Vol. 6. This time, and for the first time in the Lu's Jukebox series, she has her core touring band with her, and they are smoking hot. David Sutton bass and Butch Norton drums are as good as any rhythm section. The guitars of Doug Pettibone and Marc Ford are tremendous. Richard Causon organ and Siobhan Kennedy background vocals make generous and talented contributions. 

Not everything works, but most of it does. Song selection is mostly good but a few don't seem to be right for Lucinda. Don't Let Me Down opens the record, and why not - it's perfect for her. With hot organ and guitars, it's a great version. Next, I'm Looking Through You starts with just guitar and vocals, and then Bam!, it rocks out. Nice quick tempo, and more of Causon's fine B3 work. Can't Buy Me Love seems an odd choice, but an interesting guitar break and good backup vocals from Pettibone and Kennedy help a bunch. A better fit, Rain is a pretty straight cover, but it misses the studio effects of the original. Then the guitar monster of While My Guitar Gently Weeps comes, and Lu and the boys tear it up. The guitar interplay is great, Pettibone and Ford rock it hard. The dirge-like Let It Be follows, and it's a pretty straight cover that's almost saved by the guitars. 

Side two kicks off with Yer Blues, another great fit for Lucinda's voice and attitude, with lots of reverb on her vocal, and it is big stomping blues. I've Got A Feeling holds true to the original, and the guitars and organ stand out again. After that I'm So Tired should be the perfect fit, and it is. Something is taken a little fast, and it's good, but it could be anybody's version. There's a million versions of this lovely Harrison song, but none better the original. Lucinda does a melancholy take on With A Little Help From My Friends, and surprisingly it works. Big hot arena guitar rock doesn't hurt. To close the record, they do The Long and Winding Road, a little fast again, and while the band is super, Lucinda's vocal seems almost perfunctory, which is odd.

Twelve songs, three that are a bit weak or odd choices, five that are must-hear excellent, and none of it at all bad. I can't say enough about Pettibone and Ford, they are consistently great. Butch Norton is also stellar all the time. Not surprisingly, Lennon's songs work better for Lucinda than Paul's, but the odd or less ideal choices are all Paul songs. The more times I listen to it, the better it gets. For a Beatles cover record from an artist that would never be the first person you'd think would cover Beatles songs and do it well, she and the band pull it off. A late arrival for the best of 2024.

The Best of 2024

I really shouldn't call it the "Best of". Maybe "My Favorites of 2024" would be better. I've looked at the lists on most of the major music publications, and there's a lot that I haven't heard. I actually got through Charli XCX's Brat, and Beyonce's Cowboy Carter (Beyonce was mildly entertaining). I couldn't make it through Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet. Hey, I don't really like music that is manufactured rather than performed, so there's that. I did appreciate a few songs from contemporary popular artists on a stroll through The Best Songs of 2024 from a mainstream publication, but not enough to run out and buy or bookmark anything. So, here's the one's I liked a lot this year:

The Lemon Twigs A Dream Is All We Know

New York's finest power-poppers come through in spades. Beatles, Beach Boys, Byrds, Raspberries, they do it all and make it sound fresh and new.

Fantastic Cat Now That's What I Call Fantastic Cat

An indie rock "super group" of singer songwriter multi-instrumentalists makes a rollicking fun record with a positive attitude. Only slightly more rocking than power-pop, think Rockpile, Cheap Trick and a touch of Americana.

The Weeklings Raspberry Park

This one forms a great power-pop triumvirate with the two previous. Weeklings have made their mark as a Beatles cover band, and a really good one. The originals are all solid pop/rock. Super covers of She's Leaving Home and I've Just Seen A Face, and a mash-up of Satisfaction and Mr. Soul that is brilliant.

Nick Lowe Indoor Safari

Not really a new record, but a collection of singles and EPs from the last ten years or so, all done with Los Straightjackets. It's nice to have it all in one place, and they have really become a great band together. The excellent Trombone and Don't Be Nice To Me are standouts, but it's all solid Nick Lowe after ten years since his last LP. 

Bill Charlap Trio And Then Again

Just one great jazz trio doing standards. But with Charlap and his talented sidemen, it is inventive and spontaneous jazz with what Downbeat magazine calls "seamless interaction and extrasensory communication". Great jazz.

Jenny Scheinman All Species Parade

Scheinman has been making interestingly unique jazz for quite a while, and almost all of it is easy to approach and yet challenging in it's own way. Featuring a cast of greats that Scheinmen has worked with before, everything comes out very fine. The sound of a mature artist with ideas to spare.

The Palomar Trio The Song In Our Soul

Hearkening back to the early swing jazz of the 1920s and 1930s, and featuring songs from that era, this record is just a joy. Tap your foot, sway in your chair, and smile, smile smile. 

Louis Cole nothing

Jazz fusion/pop/funk/ electronic/orchestral music. When have you heard that combination before? Louis Cole teams up with the Metropole Orkest jazz orchestra to produce a great record that is a genre to itself.

Continental Drifters White Noise & Lightening: The Best of Continental Drifters

A "best of" from a band that last recorded in 2001. I really loved everything they did (all four records). One of my favorite neglected bands of all time.

Shelby Lynn Consequences of the Crown

We've been waiting for twenty years for I Am Shelby Lynn #2. This isn't quite that, but it is closer than she's ever come, and one heck of a great record. 

St. Vincent All Born Screaming

Another solid outing from Ms. Clark, with great songs, killer vocals, and scary aggression. What can't this woman do with a guitar? 

Vampire Weekend Only God Was Above Us

The smartest indie rock band around gives us a great one, the best since Contra. If you were a little disappointed with Father of the Bride, they are back in spades.

Willis, Carper, Leigh Wonder Women of Country

A six-song EP that lives up to the title. Everything's good, and there's two new ones from Kelly Willis' pen. Carper and Leigh hold up their end of the bargain just fine.

Lance Cowen So Far, So Good

A respected Nashville publicist makes his first record in his sixties. A little bit like a new Guy Clark album sometimes, and of course that is high praise. He can sound a bit like John Denver, and he can get a little twee, but there are lots of great songs and beautifully recorded acoustic instrumentation.

Wings Band On The Run (Underdubbed Mixes)

Often considered McCartney's best Wings/solo effort, it sounds even better stripped of the orchestration. The live-in-the-studio One Hand Clapping from the same time period is big fun too.

John Leventhal Rumble Strip

After producing a gazillion great records, Leventhal steps out on his own. Gentle, lovely, mostly instrumental acoustic gems with two vocals by wife Rosanne Cash. Relax and listen to some darn good music. 

Mark Knopfler One Deep River

Craftsmanship. Since 1996, Knopfler has made one subtly great record after another. Yes, he's a wonderful guitarist, but he's also an equally gifted songwriter, and his singing has a heartfelt and well-worn comfort to it. You can get just over Dire Straits by now. 

Zappadan 2024

It's Zappadan again. The celebration of the life and art of the iconoclast Frank Zappa.

There's Zappadan on Facebook, Instagram, X, Reddit, and of course in the blogosphere.

Zappadan can be found around the blogosphere at Mad Blog Media, Arts Meme, And Now It's All This, eVille Times, You Call That News?, Cirdec Songs, Ketchup Is A Vegetable, We're Only In It For The Music, and archival posts at Fried Green al-Qaedas, Mark Hoback's blog. Mark was there at the beginning, along with Blue Gal when Zappadan was birthed.

I've written extensively for the celebration in the past. It's all right here. There's even a few Zappa posts in addition to Zappadan content, and that stuff is included here.

You can listen to my personal favorite Zappa record at YouTube.