At first glance, this might seem like nothing more than a retread of the classic The Wham of That Memphis Man, as the disc includes all 14 songs from that album. This is a quality upgrade/supplement to that record, though, adding 11 more tracks of 1963-1967 vintage from both rare singles and previously unreleased outtakes. This is hardly filler that only collectors will care about; it's good stuff, sometimes ace stuff, that's almost all on the same level of The Wham. "Oh, I Apologize," a cover of ...   [ read more ]

CD $21.83

Washington may have been a journeyman at what he did, but he was at the very top of the journeyman class, and what he did--a hybrid of blues and soul--is not as overmined a genre as many blues styles are. That means that if you like blues-soul crossover, you will almost certainly like this compilation of late-'60s and early-'70s sides, which represent the peak of Washington as a recording artist. Most of these were done for Fraternity from 1967-1970, and show him comfortable in deep gospelly South...   [ read more ]

CD $21.83

As the third and final volume of the trilogy of Ace compilations covering Lonnie Mack's 1960s Fraternity recordings, this at a glance looks like a mop-up of the bottom of the can. If that's so, though, it's quite an enjoyable mop-up, albeit with an erratic streak in both the quality and form of the material. About half of this is previously unreleased, including some alternate takes of officially released sides. Some of the 1963-1967 singles are really fine, like the instrumental "Nashville," w...   [ read more ]

CD $21.83