plumb fantastic. Langford rips it up on this phe- nomenal Texas-style blues anthem as Ziro belts smoldering blasts of harp. Shakey holds nothing back as he hammers out a heavy tantalizing beat. It sounds great. Their cover of Elmore James’ “Sunnyland Train” is a delight to hear indeed. Too Slim’s slide guitar is outstanding as usual. In western gunslinger fashion, Kasik breaks out the banjo and spins a wonderfully ominous tale with “Sure Shot”. It’s always a treat to hear Jason Ricci perform. The harp licks he throws down on the “Platinum Junkie” hit with hat-dropping pre- cision. I love how this Kasik-penned song coolly walks the line between blues and funk. In a provocative John Fogerty-style, Too Slim takes an up-close, hard look at the current political situa- tion in “Think About That”. Rosenblatt brings his harp for a guest appearance on this deliciously swampy song. Too Slim and the Taildraggers remain one
of my favorite bands as they continue to stay on point. This new batch of songs in The Remedy is fresh, poignant, and fearlessly packed with that punch which Too Slim delivers oh so well.
-Phillip Smith
The Staple Singers Let’s Do it Again: Soundtrack Pass it On Family Tree Unlock Your Mind (Omnivore) No conversation about
soul music of the 60’s and 70’s would be complete without singing the praises of the Staple Singers. The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award win- ners (and members of both the Gospel and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) that gave us the award- winning Mavis Staples enjoyed a long string of hit albums and singles in the day, and they all sound just as good now, over 40 years later. Let’s Do it Again, the soundtrack to the
motion picture that starred Jimmy “JJ” Walker, Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby was produced by the legendary Curtis Mayfield. While most sound- track albums have one good title song and a lot of “filler,” this is far from the case with Let’s Do it Again. The soundtrack plays just like another
Staples album, full of soul, funky grooves and gospel-tinged vocals. It’s “Dy-no-mite!” (As I write this I realize I just seriously dated myself, but hey, I’m proud to have more rings than an old oak tree!) Not only are the vocal tracks excel- lent, the instrumental pieces are much more than background for the movie. They sound just as well as the singing. In 1976, the Staples went back into the stu-
dio with Mayfield, who once again produced and played guitar, along with his hand-picked session musicians, each one top flight. The product from those sessions was Pass it On, another classic. For the follow up, Family Tree, the group hired Chicago based producer Eugene Record, pro- ducer and lead singer of the Chi-Lites. While the album was good – it’s hard to go wrong with the angelic voices of the Staples- the group found themselves slipping from the record charts. They knew something had to change. Remembering that all of their biggest hits, including “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There” on the Stax label were recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama backed by the “Swampers,” the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, they returned to Muscle Shoals to record Unlock Your Mind, produced by the leg- endary Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler along with Swamper Barry Beckett. Wexler had worked with all of the legends of soul including Aretha and Pickett, but this was his first session with the Sta- ples.
During the 1970s the Staples had 13 sin-
gles on the US Pop Chart and 20 on the R&B charts. These four remastered albums truly add to the legacy of the great Staple Singers. Each CD is lovingly packaged with liner notes, photos and more.
-Michael Buffalo Smith
Neil Young Homegrown (Reprise) Homegrown is the
greatest Neil Young album you never heard. It’s the never before
released album that was
supposed to come out between Harvest and Comes a Time. Recorded between June 1974 and
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