Compact Capsules Best of 2007 by Dan Ferguson Mary Weiss, Dangerous Game (Norton) Hands-down the comeback album of the year comes from former Shangri-Las front-lady Weiss backed by garage rockers The Reigning Sound. Talk about a marriage made in heaven. (www.nortonrecords.com) Detroit Cobras, Tied & True […]
Compact Capsules for 12/19/07 by Dan Ferguson Heavy Trash Going Way Out With Heavy Trash Yep Roc Records YEP2133 It begins with a raw-as-red-meat slab of primitive rockabilly, hiccupin’ vocal patter and all, called “Pure Gold”. Ghosts of Charlie Feathers looming in the grooves? Sure as […]
Compact Capsules for 12/12/07 by Dan Ferguson Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings 100 Days 100 Nights Dap Tone Records DAP-012 At 51, Sharon Jones is a soul survivor. Hailing from the same Georgia ‘burg that gave us J.B., Jones, along with her Dap Kings band, […]
Compact Capsules for 12/05/07 by Dan Ferguson Elizabeth Cook Balls 31 Tigers Records TOT3101 Right off the bat, it takes balls to call an album Balls, especially if you’re a woman. Coming from a free thinker like Elizabeth Cook (who by the way, now hosts her […]
Compact Capsules for 11/26/07 by Dan Ferguson Dwight Yoakam Dwight Sings Buck New West Records NW6129 Here’s thinking that good songs are easily half the battle when it comes to making a decent record. When it’s an album of all Buck Owens covers, I’d have to […]
Compact Capsules for 11/14/07 by Dan Ferguson Johnny Cash The Best of the Johnny Cash TV Show Columbia Music Video 88697-04026 One word describes the 66 clips comprising this DVD of performances culled from Johnny Cash’s short-lived, circa 1969-71 variety show. Essential. Considering Cash’s own market, […]
Compact Capsules for 11/07/07 by Dan Ferguson Deadstring Brothers Silver Mountain Bloodshot Records BS-147 A serious jones for the circa-1970s Stones fills the grooves of Silver Mountain, the latest from Detroit-based Deadstring Brothers. Where they break free is female vocalist Masha who’s a most satisfying counter […]
Compact Capsules for 10/22/07 by Dan Ferguson Charlie Sizemore Good News Rounder 0591 I vividly remember the first time I heard Charlie Sizemore. It was 1993 and an album called Back Home. Still pining over the tragic death of country singer Keith Whitley, it was hard […]
Compact Capsules for 10/10/07 by Dan Ferguson Roger Wallace It’s About Time Natchez Street RW-6000 What with it five years since his last longplayer, the title of under-the-radar honky tonker Roger Wallace’s new album is quite appropriate. Listening to the crafty songs comprising this latest, his […]
Compact Capsules for 10/02/07 by Dan Ferguson Bettye LaVette The Scene of the Crime Anti Records 86873 Boil and simmer, simmer and boil, that’s how it goes on Bettye LaVette’s The Scene Of the Crime. The setting is the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, the […]
