Laid Back
Artist: Gregg Allman
Community Score: 10.00

Recorded in the same year as the Brothers and Sisters album, this solo debut release is a beautiful amalgam of R&B, folk, and gospel sounds, with the best singing on any of Gregg Allman's solo releases. He covers his own "Midnight Rider" in a more mournful, dirge-like manner, and Jackson Browne's "These Days" gets its most touching and... Read More

Rising Sons Featuring Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder
Artist: Rising Sons

Their lone single and unreleased album form the core of this 22-track reissue, which features imaginative rearrangements of standards like "Corrine, Corrina," an obscure Dylan cover ("Walkin' down the Line"), rocking originals, a confident performance of Goffin/King's "Take A Giant Step" (later Mahal's signature tune), and nifty guitar interplay... Read More

Live - ROUNDER
Artist: John Hammond, Jr.

John Hammond has dealt with issues of authenticity and origin, both musical and personal, and moved beyond them. This 18-song session, recorded live in 1983 and recently reissued on CD, may have been his definitive session. It was certainly a masterpiece, with Hammond doing confident, thoroughly distinctive versions of signature Delta and... Read More

Hot Tracks
Artist: John Hammond, Jr.

In September of 1979, John Hammond went into Vanguard Records' 23rd Street Studio in New York with the Nighthawks -- Jimmy Thackeray, guitar; Mark Wenner, harmonica; Jan Zukowski, bass; Pete Ragusa, drums -- and cut this record, one of his best (and which might've sold better with maybe some better cover art). The sounds are alternately hot and... Read More

I Can Tell
Artist: John Hammond, Jr.

I Can Tell boasts an all-star backing band of rock & roll stars, featuring everyone from Bill Wyman to Robbie Robertson. Hammond leads the band through a set of Chicago blues standards, reaching deep into the catalogs of Willie Dixon, Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, and many others. Although the performances can occasionally sound too studied, the... Read More

Big City Blues
Artist: John Hammond, Jr.
Are You Ready
Artist: Pacific Gas & Electric
Community Score: 6.50
Heads Hands & Feet
Artist: Heads Hands & Feet
Trackside Blues
Artist: Brunning/Hall Sunflower Blues Band
The Best of Canned Heat - EMI
Artist: Canned Heat
Community Score: 4.50

This ten-track set contains essential sides from the classic rock blues and boogie combo Canned Heat, culled from their first four long-players: Canned Heat (1967), Boogie With Canned Heat (1968), Living the Blues [Akarma] (1968), and Hallelujah (1969). Notably, this discounts Canned Heat Cookbook (1969), a hits package that cashed in on their... Read More

Long as I Have You
Artist: John Hammond, Jr.

John Hammond's latest album marks a major departure in one respect -- for the first time in anyone's memory, he sings, but plays nothing on one of his records, while Little Charlie & the Nightcats, led by guitarist Charlie Baty, handle the guitars and everything else. The difference is very subtle, the playing maybe a little less flashy than... Read More